I read this really awful review in the (generally good quality) british black music mag Echoes. R&B artist Monica is on the cover. first of all, i think its a really late review, maybe it got held back or something, but to add insult to injury, they then only gave it 3 stars. journalists can be so annoying. (sorry this was meant to be in the other forum)


PRINCE
ONE NITE ALONE… LIVE! (NPG)

Prince is one of the most bootlegged artists to ever record but officially speaking, his tours have never been documented. For the faithful few though, 2001’s jazzy The Rainbow Children was something of a return to form, if not quite that form, and this is the live complement with a few concert staples thrown in as legacy-reminders. As admirable as Prince’s quest for stretching out of his usual comfort zones seems, on this evidence, jazz tends to be a regrettable keyword for either a) a veritable smorgasbord of smooth and shiny adult contemporary-isms with none other than elevator king Najee on sax b) typical notions of musical maturity/respectability/complexity or c) a soundtrack for a porno set in a Las Vegas supper club. The approach works appropriately enough for the newer material but the between-song banter about performing “real music by real musicians” is at least one way of explaining why everything is so over-embellished and blandly bashed out. Strange Relationship, How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore, Sometimes it Snows in April, nothing escapes the too-full band treatment. There’s nothing wrong with these versions, but there’s nothing interesting about them either. That said, when he isn’t making painfully duff adlibs (‘Who knows about the theocratic order?!”), reinventing himself as a reverend preacher doing stand up or coming off like someone’s uncle trying to be down (“You better ask somebody!”), Prince shows his voice has aged in his favour. And while there isn’t always enough to flatter his more ingenious pop/rock/soul/funk strengths, his underrated guitar work is arguably better than ever. Not the all-conquering live statement hoped for but there’s always bootlegs!
***
Sunil Chauhan
[This message was edited Wed Jul 23 15:10:41 PDT 2003 by funkbabyandthebabysitters]