Publication: The Washington Post [US]
Date: August 21, 1991
Section:
Page Number(s):
Length:
Title: "Prince, After the Reign; In N.Y., 'Diamonds' in the Rough"
Written By: Richard Harrington

Prince played at the Ritz Monday night, and it was hard to tell whether it was a canny move or a desperate one. After all, the occasion was a private party celebrating MTV's 10th anniversary, which meant that most of the crucial music television folks were there, along with a fair number of music industry hotshots. The canniness? Well, Prince's "Diamonds and Pearls" album is in the wings and after some disappointing projects during the past few years -- notably the "Graffiti Bridge" soundtrack and film --Prince needs a friend in high places and he's not finding any on the radio side.

Already, the album's single "Gett Off" is slipping off the Billboard charts. After debuting at a respectable No. 66, it fell to No. 78 in its second week, even as a Prince -penned-and-produced Martika song, "Love ... Thy Will Be Done," jumped from No. 57 to No. 45 in its third week. On Billboard's club play chart, Prince and the N.P.G.'s "Gett Off" is only No. 21, while B.G. and Prince's "This Beat Is Hot" is No. 4. N.P.G. stands for New Power Generation, Prince's new band; B.G. stands for Bernard Green, a Suitland-bred performer who chose to stay in Germany after his military service and now records dance hits in the C&C Music Factory mold. He's a nobody, basically, but right now he's doing better than the man hailed in the mid-'80s as one of the most vital and promising voices in pop.

HearingPrinceplay Monday was a bit like being at his Minneapolis club Glam Slam. When it was good, it was like being there during his "Purple Rain" reign; when it wasn't, it was more like those excruciating "Graffiti Bridge" scenes. Highlights included Prince's emotional reclaiming of "Nothing Compares 2 U," visceral guitar histrionics on "Purple Rain" and "Baby I'm a Star," a terse falsetto-fueled "Kiss," and backup singer Rosie Perez's high-energy reading of the Prince -penned Tevin Campbell hit, "Round and Round. "Prince also unveiled a half dozen songs from the new album, the bestof which were the slinky title cut, "Cream" (a funky "Take Me to the River" riff that will be the next single), "Daddy Pop" and "Gett Off," more convincing live than in its silly "Caligula"-inspired video.

Despite having one of the most ridiculous hairdos (called a "typhoon," perhaps an unconscious concession that it's a disaster) since '50s R&B singer Esquerita, Prince showed flashes of brilliance, vocally and on guitar. The N.P.G. was skintight, propelled by heavy drummer Michael Bland, but the band's precision dance moves seemed archaic (in pop terms, that's two or three years out of style). It's here that Prince undermines the credibility his music demands, as the focus shifts to the visual. And if the "Under the Cherry Moon" and "Graffiti Bridge" movie disasters taught Prince anything, it's that he should forget playing to the camera and just play the music.

That's the problem with the "Gett Off" video, which features Prince bacchanaling on a Roman-style set with look-alike "mascots" Robia La Morte and Lori Werner (as Diamond and Pearl) . Like some of his dance moves, Prince's lyrics seem out of step with the times, his old-fashioned randiness seemingly diluted in the age of explicit lyrics. When Prince croons about "22 positions in a one-night stand," and then lists a few ("we can do it in the kitchen on the floor/ in the bathroom on the tub and holding on to the rod" etc.), you've just got to laugh.

And just who might director "Randee St. Nicholas" be? Well, Randee's about to show off his talents in a 30-minute maxi-video coming out early next month as a companion to the five-mix "Gett Off" single. The maxi-video will include four previously unreleased video clips, such as the eight-minute-long "orgy/club mix," in which Prince blindfolds D&P and leads them from his Paisley Park studio to his Chiquita-yellow house. Other video mixes sure not to get airplay: "Violet the Organ Grinder," featuring Prince draped in chains and four sex-starved gal pals dripped in gold paint; and "Gangster Glam," described as an erotic behind-the-scenes peep at a day in the life of Paisley Park. Madonna, eat your art out.

"Diamonds and Pearls" was supposed to be released in mid-September but it's been pushed back to mid-October, possibly because there's a glut of superstar product coming out before then and partly because the ever-visual Prince came up with a hard-to-manufacture hologram sleeve design ( Prince staring from behind a string of pearls as guess who move their hands up and down his chest). A tour will follow, and it will be interesting to see where Prince plays this time around: Only a few years ago, he could sell out four nights at Capital Centre, but 1989's "Lovesexy" tour had trouble selling out two nights.

The Tin Machine Coverup

Don't look for Prince -talk, though the current Spin cover story promises "a rare interview. " Unfortunately, Scott Poulson-Bryant ventures to Paisley Park but basically forgets to ask any questions, much less hard ones.