CD of the week
The Artist’s name was Prince, and he was funky. And then, due to a combination of legal problems and indiscriminate releases, he wasn’t. Since his dispute with former label WEA over the rights to album masters, his funkiness diminished even as his output increased. A new LP seemed to appear every six months – 15 since 1990.
Luckily, the 41-year-old sex thimble realised he needed help in accessing his inner funkster. After signing with Arista, who pointedly state that Prince will retain ownership of his albums, he booked an array of big names to guest on Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (Arista/NPG). The result: Prince got his mojo back. It’s not just the sparkling contributions from Chuck D, No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani, singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco and an improbable Sheryl Crow, but the renewed funk-soul-pop vitality evident on nearly all 18 tracks. It’s too long, and he still has a 15-year-old’s obsession with you-know-what, which is conveyed in the most unappetising ways, but it’s a winner nonetheless.
He shows off his mastery of a dozen instruments and as many genres, slipping easily from that raucous falsetto on the title track into a macho rock rumble on Crow’s Every Day Is a Winding Road. In one of the drabbest musical years on record, we should be grateful for the smallest signs of life. Right about now, Prince is the funk-soul brother once more.