Publication: Reuters [US]
Date: November 29, 1996
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Title: "Prince's 'Emancipation' Wonder-ful Echoes"
Written By: Franklin Paul

NEW YORK (Reuter) - He is a music superstar who has sold tens of millions of albums, a one-man band known no longer by his birth name, who settled protracted talks with his record label just before the release of what he has called his most important work.

In October, twenty years ago, that "he" was named Stevie Wonder. This month, "his" name is, well, it used to be Prince. These two "hes" share more than just a few unusual parallels -- some quite strange -- in their brilliant careers.

In the past month, the Artist Formerly Known As Prince has become a media darling, thanks to the resolution of his fight with Warner Brothers records, and resultant agreement with EMI records to distribute "Emancipation," his three-CD set.

To celebrate his newfound liberty (and, er, promote his three-hour, $25-plus work), he's done the Oprah Winfrey show, plans a December chat on American Online, and has hosted hordes of media junkets at his heretofore forbidden fortress, Paisley Park, located in suburban Minneapolis.

Interviews, a rarity at anytime in the performer's career, abound -- just as they did for Wonder in 1976 when he transported some 80 members of the press to a New England farm to hear "Songs In The Key Of Life," before its release.

Wonder, who had dropped out of sight for 26 months to give birth to the package, greeted his guests dressed like a western sheriff, and at times emoted a new pompous air, "answering questions about himself with a pontifical 'we,"' Newsweek wrote then.

Fast forward to 1996, to the former Prince, who, while listening to his own music, told the New York Times, "Sometimes I stand in awe of what I do myself."

Of course there are differences between these two artists. But clearly they are connected in more ways than just as prolific prodigal musicians. For instance: BACKGROUND:

Both men are sons of the midwest. Steveland Morris was born in Saginaw, Mich., while the former Prince Rogers Nelson still lives in Minnesota, his home state.

Both faced adversity that drove them to music. Stevie, born blind, silenced those whose thought his only future was in making potholders. Prince wasn't disabled, but he was fiercely teased about his diminutive stature. Music was his release, he told Winfrey.

THE PRODUCT:

Both men dropped double albums -- always a big risk due to high retail price and the danger of throwaway songs -- at pivotal times in their career. The 36-song "Emancipation" is the Artist's first disk as a "free man," and is the work he was "born to make," he says.

"Songs in the Key of Life" had 21 songs on two albums plus an extra seven-inch disk. "I hope you enjoy this," Wonder told Newsweek then, but concluded, "But it really doesn't matter. I gave it my all and all, and it's the best I can do."

And they both wrote, performed and produced every song.

INFANT INCLUSION:

"Isn't She Lovely," the first cut on the second disk of "Songs,"' prominently features the bathtub chatter of Wonder's 17-month old daughter Aisha. The Artist embedded the ultrasound heartbeat of his unborn child on "Sex in the Summer," the first tune on "Emancipation's" second disk.

FAT CONTRACTS:

Both singers have owned the record for biggest recording contract signed. In 1992, Warner Bros. and Prince negotiated a six-album deal potentially worth $100 million dollars.

In 1976, Wonder inked a seven-year contract worth $13 million, eclipsing deals signed by Paul McCartney and Elton John. It was his second top deal -- in 1971, he wrested artistic control from Motown, with a recording label and higher royalties thrown in.

FAT CONTRACT DISPUTES:

Wonder's landmark deal was signed after seven months of negotiations, and included a clause "that did not call for a specific amount of product." "The most important thing in my mind is that if it takes two years or seven years (to finish a disk), I must be satisfied when it's done," he told Billboard Magazine. Originally, record executives had called for him to drop an album a year.

Fecundity was a core issue in Prince's quarrel with Warner, but in reverse fashion to Wonder. Prince wanted to cut more albums than his contract called for, which is bad business practice, the company held.

SPIKE LEE:

They are the only two single artists to make soundtracks for Spike Lee films (Wonder - "Jungle Fever," Prince - "Girl 6").

It's too soon to know what history will say about "Emancipation." Though it is long, and its subjects varied, it is a high-quality work that reaffirms the Artist's place among the greatest pop musicians, and apart from today's relative nincompoops. Call him strange, but when relaxed, he is tender, funny, funky and can energetically drop anything from soul to show tunes to techno at the flick of a computer disk.

Like "Songs," the topics are varied, and each disk is its own self-contained joy. Ignore those who tell you it's full of filler -- long works like this do require the listener to be patient and to try to find the source of the Artist's stream of consciousness.

Millions took that challenge with Wonder's "Song" gem. It sold nearly 2 million albums in two months -- remember it was a double album -- garnered Wonder four Grammy Awards in 1977, and Rolling Stone Magazine named it one of the 10 best disks of the 1970's. Motown's $13 million investment was a bargain, it seemed.

The pair's parallel path encounters a fork when the "what happens next?" question arises.

Preceding "Songs," Wonder had dropped six hit albums in five years, including "Innervisions," and "Music of My Mind." After it, he made only five disks in the succeeding 10 years, and went into a serious creative slump, one from which some believe he has never recovered.

In 1979, he confused the market with another double-disk, "Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants," which, mercifully yielded the hit single "Send One Your Love." The next decade brought few highlights. Indeed, with soft, albeit popular tunes like "I Just Called To Say I Love You," and "Part-Time Lover," it seemed Stevie was mining more for jingles than jewels.

His 1995 work, "Conversation Piece," barely blipped on the radar. Nineteen-year-old "Pastime Paradise," however, sampled wholly by Coolio and renamed "Gangsta's Paradise," was the year's top-selling single.

While "Songs" may have weighed down Wonder's creative elevator, the Artist can do nothing but punch a higher floor after "Emancipation," that is, if he plans to keep on recording.

Partly due to the dispute between he and Warner Bros., some eight disks of his work have hit the street in the last five years, few with a marketing push or sales success, and none earning the (slightly unrealistic) reception that greeted "Purple Rain" 12 years ago.

Now 38 and married, the Artist has the freedom to create, record and promote new music. He can springboard to future success by learning from Stevie's mistakes -- don't necessarily do what you want, do what the market wants. In 1996, that means write singles, not "theme" albums, and repeat this mantra: "all publicity is good publicity."

In essence, he will have to be everything he despises.

The Artist's attorney says the market will determine the terms of his recording future. Indeed it will.

(Franklin Paul can reached at franklin.paul@reuters.com)