Prince album preview

[barger@ils.nwu.edu (Jorn Barger)]

The Sunday Chicago Trib this weekend offered this (Kateless) preview of
Prince's new album:

"Prince proves his star hasn't lost any of its luster"
by Greg Kot, Rock music critic

"Hey, check me over, do you like what you see?"
   By the time Prince closed a private show late Friday at a Loop hotel
with "Baby I'm a Star," the answer to that question was already sealed.
  With just a hint of a beard, a new "typhoon"-style hairdo, and an army of
form-fitting costumes that accentuated his feral sexuality, Prince sure
looked like a star as he wowed a gathering of industry high-rollers and
fellow entertainers-- from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Oprah Winfrey-- at
the centerpiece event of the Warner-Elektra-Atlantic empire's annual
conference.
   Prince hit the stage at the Hyatt-Regency with New Power Generation, a
6-piece band with three dancers, and offered a sneak preview of his new
album, "Diamonds and Pearls," which Warner will release Sept. 17.
   The cuts ranged from stripped-down funk to florid, neo-psychedelic
ballads-- in other words, a typically varied Prince menu.
   What's different is how these tunes, new and old alike, were performed. 
Eschewing electronic gimickry, the diminutive, high-heeled one from Mnpls
kept things raw, visceral and organic: real drums, gutsy voices and
booty-bumping bass to accompany the splashes and jabs of keyboards that
have become his signature.
   While digging closer than he has in years to his roots-- Sly Stone, Stax
Records, George Clinton, Jimi Hendrix-- he also incorporated contemporary
touches such as house dance rhythms and hip-hop vocals into his new music.
   With Rosie Gaines wailing over the top and drummer Michael Bland
excavating a groove as deep as anything since the heyday of Memphis legend
Al Jackson, Prince spun, wheeled and flew through "Daddy Pop" in tandem
with his acrobatic dancers.
   The set-closing "Gett Off" was a 10-minute funk monster, with a bass
line that evoked Godzilla plundering Tokyo.
   Interspersed throughout were classics such as "Kiss," "Let's Go Crazy,"
"Pop Life," and "Purple Rain," in which Prince all but ignored the vocal to
concentrate on a hypnotic extended guitar solo.
   On "Nothing Compares 2 U," Prince reclaimed his song from Sinead
O'Connor with a dramatic performance.  As his voice leapt to falsetto, he
dropped into a split, then rocked back into position just in time to grab
the toppling microphone stand.
   And while doing all this, he still had time to roll his eyes and purse
his lips into one of those can-you-believe-this expressions.  "Baby, I'm a
Star."  No kidding.