New Power Soul

Prince

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 30, 1998)
• Original Release Date: June 30, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Npg Records
• ASIN: B000009N83
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #62,923 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
After Emancipation's three discs and Crystal Ball's four-pack, here's good news for folks with day jobs: Newpower Soul is one CD. The bad news? It may be less than two hours long, but it isn't any less indulgent or erratic. The fault lies in the Artist's seeming unwillingness to keep abreast of musical trends. It's odd that a musician who, at his height, redefined black music by going against the grain is now content to dredge up the most innocuous prefab funk and expect his fans to take it as innovation. Where once we partied like it was 1999, now the former Prince just wants us to "Push It Up!" to a woeful reprise of Emancipation's bland "Jam of the Year." This is funk as good-time boogie music, which of course it can be, but once he infused the bass line with a sly apocalyptic vision that meant more than just "get down." Unfortunately, on Newpower Soul there's little to be heard of the Artist's raging guitar lines--a sign, perhaps, that the prolific star has a rock record in the works? Best are midtempo tracks like "Come On," which motivates on a slinky slurred synth pattern and has that winking sexuality we associate with the Artist. Not bad but not great either, Newpower Soul is a minor speed bump on the long road that is the Artist's spectacular career. --Amy Linden

New Musical Express
Most of "New Power Soul" is bad George Clinton right down to the rubber-kneed basslines and appallingly shoddy cartoon sleeve. It's not a question of needing to know your porno-funk history to appreciate it either: stupid-fresh retro chic or not, this is ripe tripe on a silver platter.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars His Royal Blandness..., December 21, 2001

By	RjR (London, UK) - See all my reviews

Wtih this album, the "Artist" really hit a nadir after a long, disappointing slide into irrelevance and self-indulgence which began - arguably - with 1992's "Symbol" album.

This is bland "party" music, with a capital "B" - although there are a couple of nice touches here and there such as the instrumental coda to "If You Love Somebody", "New Power Soul" is totally lacking in any excitement, originality or great songs.

When you think of what the guy is capable of, you can understand why he was loathe to put his own name as the "artist" or as Prince or whatever to this utterly insignificant recording (it was credited to the NPG). This one really is for the diehards (like me!) only.

PS. If you wanna check out some quality post-"Diamonds & Pearls" stuff by the Purple One, I would invest in "The Gold Experience", his most satisfying 90's collection or check out his latest, "The Rainbow Children" - a startling return to something approaching Prince form.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Creative No Question!!, August 31, 2006

By	Krisztian J. Kovacs "kriszthehun" (Burbank,Ca.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is my first review on a Prince album. I can not beleive there are reviews that negative about this gem! I mean sure we all have different tastes and we are not alike, thankfully. Anyone who says this album is not any good, has really not even listened to it at all, AT ALL, seriously, this has got to be the most creative, sexual, one of them all, and not to mention all the different styles and effects on this one! "The One" is truly beautiful typical Prince song and all the great stories like on "Shoo-Bed-Ooh", and the hardcore dance grooves like "Freaks on this side" and "New Power Soul" and "Mad Sex" and "Push it up"!!!! Come on now people, please do not keep others from this one, cause this is it! Prince shines on this album, he is at almost his finest!
You all will love this album, trust me, get it, sit back and INJOY! I know I do, even after all these years, and do not let the fact of that there were no songs that were commercial on the cd stop, songs do not need to be commercial to be good!!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Weak, uninspired album with one decent, hidden track, April 14, 2005

By	M. McM "AOTT-TMF" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

I love Prince, but this is his weakest album to date. Prince actually played some AMAZING shows with Chaka Khan and Larry Graham in support of this album, and he also had complete artistic control making it; knowing this makes NEW POWER SOUL all the more disappointing. It sounds musically uninspired - a lot of Prince's trademark moves are here, the multi-track vocals, the nice licks, risque lyrics, etc. and the production is pretty smooth, but the final result sounds languid. In fact, compared to 1996's EMANCIPATION or 2001's RAINBOW CHILDREN (two better examples of his post-Warner Bros. work), NEW POWER SOUL sounds pretty boring.

"New Power Soul", "Mad Sex", and "Push It Up" have their moments, but they fizzle out quickly. The single "Come On" is the best upbeat tune/jam on this album, but after that first chorus, the funk doesn't hold up. There's some rudimentary bottleneck guitar to shake things up, but it comes off pretty weak. The other single, "The One," did better on the charts, but not enough to be called a 'hit,' not even a modest one; compared to "Adore" or MUSICOLOGY's "Call My Name," "The One" sounds really weak.

The one track worth your time is "Wasted Kisses." It's a hidden track - you have to skip past a whole bunch of blank tracks to track #49 to hear it - and it's a fine ballad. Easily the best thing here by a wide margin, if iTunes's online store ever sells it, I'd get it instead of buying the whole CD.

Luckily, a LOT of people seem to be selling this disc used for $1, so if you find a cheap copy, consider getting it for "Wasted Kisses," but don't pay much more for it.