Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune [US]
Date: February 2, 1999
Section: Pop musing
Page Number(S): 3E
Length: 592 Words
Title: "Prince More Imaginative On New '1999'; Fresh Sounds - From Hip-Hop To Acid-Jazz - Revive Hit"
Written By: Jon Bream

Prince is having a snit -- what else is new? -- because Warner Bros. Records has reissued his 1983 hit, "1999," without consulting him. He tends to throw a fit whenever things happen that are out of his control. This time, he's fighting back.

Today, Prince is releasing his own "1999 -- The New Master," seven new treatments of his old hit, to compete with the Warner Bros. re-release. (Prince's CD, on his own NPG Records, is available in stores and via the Internet at http://www.1800newfunk.com .)

At first blush, these new interpretations suggest that Prince sounds as out of touch with today's marketplace as he sounded ahead of his time back in 1982. Doug E. Fresh isn't exactly the hip-hop artist of the moment (or even this decade), but Prince collaborates with him anyway. (Wouldn't Lauryn Hill, Mystikal or Outkast's Dre have been a timelier choice?) And a house mix in 1999? Go figure.

Still, like every Prince project, "The New Master" is worth checking out. His new master of "1999" -- available in a 7-minute take and a 4½-minute edit -- is preferable to the current Warners re-release, which, frankly, sounds decidedly low-budget and thin sonically. (Remember, it was recorded in Minneapolis before Prince built state-of-the-art Paisley Park Studios.) Re-recorded with current equipment, Prince's longer version is less repetitious and more imaginative than the original album version. A rap section and a synthesized Latin break have been added, and there's a hint of the synthesizer riff from the Prince oldie "Party Up."

The synthesizer intro to the ensuing spoken-word treatment sounds like "Little Red Corvette." Rosario Dawson doesn't recite the words of "1999," but rather raises some questions about racism as we head into the new millennium. The concepts are similar to ones Prince has discussed on his Web site, http://www.love4oneanother.com.

Track 3 on "New Master" is an intriguing African percussion groove, dubbed "The Inevitable Mix," that is part hip-hop and part "Stomp," the percussion dance troupe.

Track 4, "Keepsteppin," is spaced-out hip-hop minimalism that eventually finds a percolating groove as the MC warns about Armageddon and "your destiny."

Track 5, labeled "In a Deep House," features singer Rosie Gaines with rapper Fresh and bassist Larry Graham. A wedding of liquid soul and acid-jazz with plenty of scat singing, this sounds like a completely different song from "1999."

The final version is "Acappella." Rather than being literally sung a cappella, this is merely a studio trick -- a hodgepodge of recorded vocal tracks thrown together with the backup instrumental tracks removed. This is the least interesting interpretation on "New Master."

"1999 -- The New Master" is not the first time that Prince has put out seven versions of one of his songs. In 1994, when he marketed the hit single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" outside of the aegis of Warner Bros., he offered up "The Beautiful Experience," seven readings of "Beautiful Girl" that showed what a terrific arranger and impatient musicmaker he is.

In both cases, the seven versions have seemed to be more a business decision than an artistic one. As a matter of fact, even though Prince has put six full-length CDs into the marketplace in the past two years, they consisted of either material from the vault (the four-disc "Crystal Ball") or a half-hearted party album ("Newpowersoul"). The last compelling effort from Prince was 1996's 3-CD "Emancipation," his first post-Warners project.

It's high time for this Minnesota musicmaker to get in touch with his Muse and make a CD for creative, not business, reasons.