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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Back in form, albeit more stripped down and back to roots, March 23, 2004
Following the misfire of Graffiti Bridge, Prince pulled his career from the coals of doom, avoiding being labelled a legacy of the 80's, and reemerged the following year with a new band and new sound, more stripped down, lively, and natural, as if trying to get the feel of a live band rather than studio trickery, and adding hip-hop and rapper Tony B to his repertoire. Diamonds And Pearls may have yielded some radio-friendly singles, but the rest of the album's another matter altogether."Thunder" shows Prince as still a religious man, and at times reminds me of a stripped down "When Doves Cry," while "Daddy Pop" has identical instrumentations to "Cream," but with a more rapid beat than the single, and vocals from Prince and Elisa matching the beat. One of the better songs here. Add the romantic title track to another prime Prince ballad, with special vocal help from Rosie Gaines, whom Prince respected so much that he vowed never to play this song live with anyone else but her. Heraldic horns and guitars in the bridge add to the magic. While stripped down and simple, it's a far cry from sensually lush lovescapes such as "Do Me, Baby," "International Lover," and "The Beautiful Ones." That honour belongs to "Insatiable," which has a slow-dancing/bedroom tempo keyboards and percussion and Prince's crooning falsetto. "Cream, sh-boogie bop!" Measured and paced percussive beats, guitar and organ riffs, and a sound that turns dark coffee into latte, "Cream" stands as a fair single. "Strollin'" is a frisky musical leisure promenade sung in Prince's falsetto, with a simple message of relaxing by playing one-day hookey from responsibilities and gain that sense of feeling swell. The Steeles, whom Prince used on Graffiti Bridge, do a gospel-like power harmonies on the equally frisky "Willing And Able" a song on being confident enough to take risks, with a cards motif equating face cards with what it takes to follow one's dream Prince still had his overt and aggressive entendres with "Gett Off," which was probably his most suggestive song since "Darling Nikki," and experimenting with grinding hip-hop motifs. "23 positions in a one-night stand?" and "something about a little box with a mirror and a tongue inside"? A song showing that if a girl's a star, he's the big dipper, and a preview to the simpler but just as explicit single from his next album. The party atmosphere of "Jughead" takes rap a step further than "House Quake" did in Sign O The Times, with Tony M taking a more prominent role than Prince. On first glance, it seems to be about a dance, but it ends with a slick, Anglo manager delivering some "wheelers and dealers" royalties sales talk to Tony, who after delivering a rant on how managers are parasites who cheat artists out of their deserved royalties, settles the score with a slug. And it continued with one of the Cavallo-Ruffalo-Fargnoli team suing Prince for defamation. "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" is one of the better songs, a lush and leisure number that weaves losing at a blackjack table, an attempt to find partners for an investment, and killing children to control the oil supply. The key thing is that one's soul is more important than money. The musical motifs of this would be revisited in "Sweet Baby" on his Symbol album. "Push" is a song out of LoveSexy that has been given hip-hop arms and legs, rap scratches, and runs the 400 in quality time, with "Glam Slam"-like string synths, and a rap written on the sleeve verso mentioning the first seven songs in a verse. Prince's political consciousness is alive and kicking in "Live 4 Love," a story of a bomber pilot who after being hit in enemy territory, wonders just what he's fighting for, and makes his decision after coached by his guardian angel, who tells him "live 4 love, without love u don't live." Whereas the Revolution was an ethnic mix harkening to Sly and the Family Stone, most of the musicians here are black, showing Prince leaning towards a 70's style cultural nationalism stage in his career, and that would be taken to more on his Symbol album.
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by Prince & The New Power Generation 
