Prince
Royal millenium
By Mike Joyce
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1999 was a very good year for Prince, (who at the turn preferred to be called The Artist), and not just because he penned the ultimate millennial party anthem. No, the reason had more to do with the release of Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, an album that contains some of The Artist's best work. It features collaborations with the likes of Ani Di Franco, Maceo Parker, Sheryl Crow, Public Enemy's Chuck D, R&B bass legend Larry Graham, and No Doubt's Gwen Stefani.
Justifiably proud of the multi-artist collaboration, the forty-something funkster even devoted considerable time to promoting the album via interviews in which he expressed himself with typical candor. The topics included major record label practices ("I have disdain for companies that take your money and don't give you ownership of your own work"); artistic integrity ("Don't sell out. Money is only paper and your picture ain't on it, but a good song never dies."); competition ("I'm competitive and I've definitely let my ego control me. But I've discovered that when it comes to music, ego has to sit down."), spirituality ("In the end, we are nothing without our souls, which we need to nourish."), and the little publicized success of Crystal Ball, the five CD set marketed over the Internet. ("When TLC is all over the charts with hits, they call their moneyman and he says, 'You're broke.' When I call my moneyman, he says, 'You've had a very good year.'")
He's had more than a few good years. The '80s, of course, were primetime for the
During the ensuing years he produced a still startling series of albums -- Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain, and Sign O' the Times. They reshuffled sounds on airwaves and dance floors around globe. It wasn't always pretty or poetic -- Dirty Mind instantly triggered charges of vulgarity and chauvinism -- but the music was unmistakably the handiwork of a prodigious talent, someone with the musical and production skills to attain virtually any goal in the studio.
The breadth of Prince's influences and interests, which ranged from Motown and slap-thumb funk to psychedelic pop musings, had a subtle impact on American culture too, blurring some of the racial and cultural lines that have traditionally divided pop audiences. For all its sexual thrust, Dirty Mind offered plenty of evidence that Prince could exercise his mind as well as his libido when writing songs. 1999, though now impossible to hear without prejudice, was even more impressive, if for no other reason than the triple play assault of the singles "Delirious," "Little Red Corvette," and the title track.
As for Purple Rain -- Prince's first film soundtrack, first album with a band (the Revolution), and his first across-the-board smash -- it demonstrated abundant pop, soul and rock ingenuity and not a little theatrical flair. Sign O' The Times, a sprawling double disc set, is another classic, with a freewheeling charm that stems from the way Prince willfully zigzags across the pop music map.
Inevitably, Prince's obsession with recording took its toll. The discs that he recorded since 1990 are notoriously uneven. It's not uncommon to find truly inspired music bracketed by failed experiments and utterly tiresome displays of self-indulgence and repetition. If none of his recordings can be dismissed outright, save for perhaps 1996's aptly titled Chaos And Disorder, listeners have to traverse a minefield of sub-par cuts on most of his '90s output.
Two exceptions, though, are Girl 6, a sexy and stylish soundtrack for the Spike Lee film of the same, and Emancipation, a surprisingly consistent triple CD set released by Capitol in the wake of Prince's acrimonious battle with Warner Brothers. (Intent on having the last laugh, Prince plans to reclaim his Warner Bros. albums by re-recording all of the music he released on the label for his own purposes and profit). Perhaps more than anything else, these recordings prove that Prince is full of surprises, and more than capable of producing music that brilliantly synthesizes a broad range of musical styles and production strategies.
When Entertainment Weekly once listed Prince among the greatest entertainers of the past half-century, independent artist Ani Difranco was given the last word: "Here's a guy who made some of the most incredible records of the last, I don't know how many, years, and he's still innocent whenever he picks up a guitar. After a while celebrity becomes a weight and it's hard to be re-inspired every day. But he shines every time."
Recommended Listening:
Prince, Dirty Mind
Prince, Purple Rain
Prince, Sign o' the Times
Prince, Emancipation
Prince, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
Prince, The
Santana, Abraxas
Sly and the Family Stone, Greatest Hits
James Brown, Star Time
