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PRINCE - The Hits / The B-Sides
Small of stature but large of persona, Prince's
pop approach was never a straightforward affair. His music was almost
always laden with sexuality, both blatant and alluded. This and an overall
romantic air combined with his often feminine touch blew up radio stations,
clubs and live audiences on tour with healthy doses of scorching funk,
old school R&B and hard rock. Uncompromising, Prince
rose to the top of the charts, becoming a phenomenon unto himself. This
mammoth 3-disc, 56-track collection of the music (prior to the time he
changed his name to a symbol), constitutes his greatest work. While the
expected favourites like 1999, When Doves Cry, Raspberry Beret, Kiss
(also covered by Tom Jones
with Art Of Noise),
Sign O' The Times, Purple Rain, Controversy, Diamonds And Pearls and
U Got The Look feature here, the more rare B-Sides and live recordings
expand this into a real fan treat, many of these songs still holding up
brilliantly (and not just for 1980s nostalgia in particular). You also
get his versions of songs written for, and popularized by other artists
like I Feel For You (Chaka Khan)
and Nothing Compares 2 U (Sinead O'Connor).
Then of course you alos get Cream, Peach, Alphabet St., I Would Die
4 U, Dirty Mind, Head and more. Amid the mix of serious, fun, daring,
pensive and lascivious songs walking the line between commercial and dangerous,
the odd silly track also got recorded (like La, La, La, He, He, Hee
and Delirious), making for a musical force that has become an institution.
While the necessity for live bodies in the concert environment was essential
(in the shape of The Revolution
and the New Power Generation),
Prince was always a
one-man show, writing, producing, arranging and performing his own work
from the get-go since the mid-'70s. An insightful biography of around
10 pages by Alan Leeds (written in 1993 before the whole symbol debacle)
makes for a great read while Prince
struts his stuff in the background.
5 / A
- PB
1
2 3 4 5 6
A - B - C
other available Prince releases
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