Releases...2002
Prince |
Associates |
| Prince & The New Power Generation - One Nite Alone... LIVE | |||
Performers: Prince & The NPG
Highest Pop Chart Position: |
Notes | ||
"Real
music by real musicians" is the only way to describe the first (and
hopefully not the last...) live set to be released on CD by Prince
twenty-five
years into his career. On a collection of three CD's, Prince seamlessly puts together some of the
finest moments of the recent, highly successful One Nite Alone tour
based around the critically acclaimed, jazz influenced Rainbow Children
album. |
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| Prince - One Nite Alone | |||
Highest Pop Chart Position: |
Notes | ||
A
demo album of solo piano and voice is the first of 4 new releases
exclusive to members for year No.2 of Prince's NPG Music Club. |
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| Brownmark/Cryptic - It's Been A While | |||
Producer:
B Marx
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Notes |
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| It
sure has
been a while since Brownmark's (aka B Marx) last release in 1989.
Over a decade has passed,
musical styles and tastes have changed... particularly in urban black
music. Now with his own independent label named after his new band
Cryptic, Brownmark has wisely moved with the times with a generous collection
of contemporary funky mid-tempo r&b and slow jams self produced and written/co-written
(barring "Where Is Love?" written and performed by Kip Blackshire), that would
blend easily into anything played today on urban radio. Vocally
Brownmark has never sounded better, stronger, more assured, confident - he even raps
convincingly along with band member SenSwal. Precise crisp basslines... everything here is very well produced and executed.
But with 18 tracks the album suffers unfortunately from being overlong
with too many songs sounding alike and formulaic. A third of the material could have
been edited from the final mix to make for a tighter product. The 10 year
absence from the scene has obviously built up a backlog.... but the old
saying 'less is more' would certainly ring true for this project. Standout Tracks: Let's Talk About (Us), Take A Ride With Me, Do I Wanna Do This?, I Don't Care Paisley Involvement: None Experience Rating: It's great to see you back B Marx! (7/10) |
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| Various Artists - Black Archives/Minneapolis Funk | |||
Producer:
Various
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Notes |
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A release from the French division of
Warner Music Group, Minneapolis Funk is (presumably) supposed to represent
the best of Prince influenced music. The compilation restricts itself to
the Warner’s archives and therefore barely scratches the surface of what the
“Minneapolis sound” was really all about. A vast number of artists that
really defined the golden age (1984 – 1990) of the Minni sound are sadly
(but understandingly given the back catalogue restriction) excluded (with
the exception of Brownmark who was signed to Motown). One questions the
inclusion of Karyn White and Michael Jeffries albeit produced by Jam & Lewis
– their respective tracks are more New Jack Swing influenced than Purple. |
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| Milenia - Our Story | |||
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Producers:
Kirk Johnson, Kip
Blackshire,
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Notes | ||
| Sisters Mikki, Niyoki and Tia
White are Milenia, a 3-piece (formerly
4-piece) vocal gospel group from Fort Wayne, Indiana. They toured briefly
with Prince and did backing vocals on Prince's Rainbow Children
album. This independently released cd showcases the group's tight vocal Destiny's Child-like harmonies and songwriting talents. Produced by Former NPGers Kirk Johnson and Kip Blackshire, the weak musical production is a let down and comes across like a poor mans Timberland, which unfortunately don't do the vocals or the songs much justice. Standout Tracks: "Forget About It" "Promise" "Mike (With The Light Brown Eyes" "Turn It Over" Paisley Involvement: None Experience Rating: The Story Continues....(6/10) |
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| T.C. Carson - Truth | |||
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Producers:
T.C. Carson, Andre Cymone
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Notes | ||
| Actor and cast member of hit US TV series "Living Single" feat. Queen
Latifah, TC Carson turns his talents to cutting a record with former
Prince sideman Andre Cymone co-writing, producing and playing guitar on
all tracks. The album is an interesting mix of jazz, soul and African
rhythms and not what you'd normally expect of Andre Cymone. Other top class session musicians on this album include the super talented keyboardist Patrice Rushen (her keyboard performance on "This Time" is nothing short of spellbinding) and renowned drummer Ndugu Chancler. TC Carson has a voice like smooth dark chocolate, very reminiscent of Will Downing or a young Jon Lucien (jazz heads will know who I'm talking about) and is a revelation... The opening two tracks are musically stunning pieces of melodic jazz fusion of the highest quality. "Lordy Please" is the only track that hints at Andre Cymone's MPLS funk roots and slams like a muther!. The only truly bad track in the long-winded, cringe-worthy, cheesy "Momma's Song" (dedicated to TC's Mom), Carson attempts singing falsetto throughout this song which is truly awful...press the skip button here. All in all an impressive debut. Standout Tracks: "This Time", "All You Need", "Waiting For You", "Lordy Please", "Life Is Just A Dance". Paisley Involvement: None Experience Rating: Laid back/mid-tempo, soothing, melodic, jazz/soul with African influences (8/10) |
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