Publication: The Daily Telegraph [UK]
Date: August 13, 1994
Section:
Page Number(s): 19
Length: 694 Words
Title: "Reviews: The Barmy, Brilliant Sex Symbol Rock Records"
Written By: Charles Shaar Murray

Prince Come (Warner Bros)

PRINCE? Prince? That name sounds familiar. He was the guy who recorded a tune called My Name is Prince (punchline: "and I am fonk-eh") and then decided that it wasn't; thereafter demanding to be known by a strange little symbol, half-dagger and half-tadpole, and which no-one knew how to pronounce. Some called him "Symbol", some referred to him as "the artist formerly known as Prince", some continued to call him Prince, and others still used terms not suitable for inclusion in a family publication of this type. The dumping of what was the most felicitous given name in pop (this side of his contemporary, Madonna, that is) coincided uncannily with his severance from Warner Bros Records, and the formation of a new company of his own. Come is his swan song for the old firm as well as the last appearance (for the time being, anyway) of the old name. As well as the title track, its programme includes Pheromone, Letitgo and Orgasm; the latter being the single most absurd piece to which Prince has ever put either of his names. Urged on by Prince making Hendrix noises with his guitar and muttering encouragement, a woman - identified only as "she knows" in the credits - reaches a reasonably noisy climax which, appropriately enough, closes the album. It should have purchasers all over the world reaching hastily for their remote controls. Elsewhere, Come demonstrates that the little fellow is still brilliant, if still nuts; he can still teach virtually every other denizen of Planet Pop how to combine live and sampled sounds, especially since his samples appear to be entirely self-created. Musically, Come is as exquisite and intriguing as you'd expect; lyrically, it's as asinine as you'd fear.