Album Of The Week

The Artist: "New Power Soul" (NPG Records)

He still goes by an unpronounceable squiggle, but the Artist Formerly Known As Prince has finally opted to bypass the major labels and license his records through his own NPG label. Although the diminutive one's talent has become too watered-down to create a masterpiece like Sign 'O The Times, he still has the power to stir up some funky, lascivious tunes like Mad Sex, Shoo-Bed-Ooh (geddit?) and (oo-er, missus) Push It Up. The ex-Prince might be enjoying some new-found contractual freedom, but his music is still stuck in that old-skool r & b sound which marked albums like Lovesexy, Diamonds And Pearls and The Gold Album. Having talked dirty for the past 20 years, ol' Squigglehead's double-entendre disco is becoming a little tired, and all that lyrical guff about "getting down" with the "new power soul" is, frankly, old tat. He might go on about soul power, but the former Prince no longer says anything to the soul, and even the pathostinged Until You're In My Arms Again, written for his baby son who died a few months after birth, fails to move on a deeper level. The real strength of New Power Soul is The Artist's intuitive musical rapport with his New Power Generation band, and the jazzed-up jam sessions are led by a man who no longer sees himself as a solo artist, but as part of a finely-tuned funk collective. When U Love Somebody, Come On and current single, The One, are impeccably-performed r & b mastercuts, old-gold treasures from the Paisley Park trove, but these days there's a touch of tinsel trailing along in the man's princely wake.

Kevin Courtney