Publication: New Jersey Online [US]
Date: July 29, 1996
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Title: New Jersey Online Review
Reviewed By: Scott H and Scott B

SCOTT H:
This is a fair-to-good Prince album. It's not a great Prince album. But it's better than anything he's done so far in the '90s.

What makes it good? It rocks. Prince has picked up his guitar again and, thankfully, remembered how much fun he can have with it. Songs like "I Like It There" and "I Rock, Therefore I Am" are among the heaviest things he's ever done. "The Same December" even has a blues feel to it. Also, the song structure is generally simple and danceable. There's less treacle than normal, with the notable exception of "Into the Light" (which is worthy of Michael Jackson on the syrupy-ballad rating scale).

So what keeps it from being a better album? Prince still doesn't seem to have all that much to say.

Great Prince albums -- from Dirty Mind to Sign O' the Times -- occur when the diminutive one gets out of his own head enough to relate his obsessions to the world around him. Bad Prince albums occur when he just raves about whatever is in his head at the time.

This one still has too much of the latter -- I don't really care all that much about the Chaos and Disorder going on in Prince's life. And I hope to never hear him try and talk like a cowboy again. But the music makes me dance -- and that's what makes this album worth a listen.

SCOTT B:
Though you vastly underrate this album, Hersey, you're on the mark about how rocking it is. Chaos and Disorder is Prince's most rock-influenced album since Purple Rain.

I love the dirty lead-guitar runs that screech their way throughout this album. Check out that blistery blues opening to "Zanalee" or the wild solo that rides out the funky "I Rock,Therefore I Am." This is a Prince who remembers the wonders of a searing guitar.

While a straight-out rocker like "I Like It There" is refreshing, the guitar gusto is most poignant when it underwrites the vibrating funk of The New Power Generation as it does on the title track and on "I Rock, Therefore I Am." Prince also gets across his softer, dreamier side on catchy pop tracks like "Dinner With Delores" and "The Same December." The only real problems on the album come on the ballads "Into the Light" and "I Will," both of which are shameful throwaways. But even with those water hazards, this is a strong release from one of music's most unpredictable practitioners.

SCOTT H:
You're right on the guitar parts, Brodeur. This album does rock. But the overall message here is still muddied. Prince does his best work when he has an overall concept and fits himself into it -- the growing-up story in Purple Rain, the crumbling world in Sign O' The Times. This album, despite the raw power, still suffers from a lack of message.

SCOTT B:
In your desperate thirst for a coherent, binding theme, Hersey, perhaps you've overlooked the title of this album. I think it's called Chaos and Disorder for a reason. Reprinted without permission. Read the original at http://www.nj.com/arts/music/sos/edition28/prince.html >From Nashville's "The Tennessean": The reign of his purpleness at Warner Bros. ends with a wet, wild kiss. This 39 minutes of mayhem -- the artist formerly known as you-know-who's last album with Warner -- finds him rocking hard and playing guitar with a fervor.

The first bars of the album-opening title track leave no doubt about that, and "I Like It There" keeps up the pace in a typically adult Prince romp includes the first of many terrific solos. "Dinner With Delores" slows the pace briefly before "The Same December" takes off again.

"Zannalee" finds Prince playing the blues and telling the story of what might have been happenning inside the Red House that Jimi Hendrix made famous.

Next up is "I Rock Therefore I Am," the album's high point. Starting with a killer rhythm, Prince weaves the voice of Rosie Gaines with rappers SteppaRanks and Scap D. The result is a supernatural force that overwhelms everything in its path.

"I Will" features a beautiful piano break that leads into a fluid Prince guitar solo that will put you in the mind of Carlos Santana while leaving know doubt who's bending the strings. "Dig U Betta Dead" [sic] is a rhythm demolition derby, hip-hopping furiously until your entire your entire body's twitching in time.

Is this Prince's best album with Warner Bros.? Probably not, given the amazing quality of the likes of Dirty Mind, 1999, and Purple Rain, to name only a few of the albums recorded since 1978. But it is a superb effort.

More Prince: While this is the performer's last "new" album for Warner, it's not the last album. The label has unreleased Prince music in its vaults (the prodigous performer produced more than they wanted to release) and karen Lee of Warner confirmed there would be a "new" Prince album this fall.