Publication: The Washington Post [US]
Date: August 17, 1994
Section: Style
Page Number(s): B7
Length: 1013 Words
Title: "Recordings; Nelson Or Prince, That Singular Guy"
Written By: Geoffrey Himes

Prince Rogers Nelson would like us to believe he can change personalities as easily as he changes names, but his recordings contradict him. For no matter what name he uses, Nelson's music is unmistakable. No one else puts such juicy, Motownish/Beatle-esque melodies to such funky grooves -- and no one else saddles such pleasurable music with such silly lyrics.

Nelson had his first stage name before he was even 24 hours old (courtesy of his prankster-musician father, John "Prince Roger" Nelson), a name the son eventually shortened to one word and finally to no words at all. The funk-rock star once known as "Prince" announced on his 35th birthday last year that henceforth his name would be an unpronounceable logo (a mishmash of the male and female gender symbols, the Christian cross and the Egyptian ankh, the crossbar given a paisley curl).

Nelson further proclaimed that because "Prince" no longer existed and thus could make no more new recordings, the mega-buck contract between "Prince" and Warner Bros. Records would have to be satisfied with unreleased songs recorded before June 7, 1993. As a result, "Come. 1958-1993.," Nelson's new collection of older, unissued tracks, is credited to "Prince" and has been released by Warner Bros.

By contrast, Nelson's recently recorded ballad, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," which became a hit single this spring, was credited to the new "Logo-man" persona and was released by NPG/Bellmark Records. "1-800-NEW-FUNK," a collection of 11 tracks by artists associated with Nelson's old custom label, Paisley Park, has now been released on NPG/Bellmark with an inaccurate label promising "All songs written & arranged by [Logo-man] (formerly known as Prince)."

Prince: "Come. 1958-1993." 1/2

In 1988, Nelson planned to release a collection of erotic R&B tunes called "The Black Album," but he changed his mind at the last minute and substituted the more upbeat, pop-oriented "Lovesexy." If "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" is the commercially savvy "Lovesexy" of 1994, then "Come. 1958-1993." is this year's hard-core-funk, sexually explicit "Black Album" (which was never released but widely bootlegged). The second half of the "Come. 1958-1993." title is a tombstone epitaph for Nelson's recently buried "Prince" persona, but the first half refers to the album's lead-off song, which manages to sustain our interest for 11 minutes of Jackson 5 imitations, jazz horn solos and explicit offers of oral sex.

Like much of what follows, the supple syncopation and early-'70s soul harmonies on "Come" are dazzling, but the comically soft-core lyrics and unwieldy structure defy commercial airplay. "Pheremone," also from the new album, boasts the squealing falsetto vocals and dance-floor funk of Nelson's '86 hit, "Kiss," but the song's hit potential is done in by a weaker melody and a frank discussion of voyeuristic masturbation.

"Solo," written with Broadway playwright David Henry Hwang, is one of Nelson's ridiculously overwrought meditations on spirituality, complete with angelic harps and thunder sound effects. The whole album ends with "Orgasm," a track of rock guitar, female moaning and Nelson commentary that leaves little to the imagination.

Several other songs, however, feature inventive horn charts that evoke the R&B heroes of Nelson's youth. "Race," for instance, combines horns, organ and answering female vocals to re-create the glory days of Sly & the Family Stone. The payoff is a catchy, funky plea for an end to racial divisions. The album's first single, "Letitgo," mixes punchy horns with Bernie Worrell-like keyboard squiggles and ensemble vocals to sound like a classic Parliament track -- and a very good one at that. On "Dark," Nelson adopts the whispery high tenor of Curtis Mayfield and sings a powerful heartbroken ballad against an old-fashioned Chicago-soul backdrop of horns and B-3 organ. It's such a terrific performance that one can only wish that Nelson will step out from behind his funny names and assume his rightful place in the long line of soul singer-songwriters that stretches from Sam Cooke and Smokey Robinson to Luther Vandross and Babyface.