Princely Smut

Raunch and sex can save most works from obscurity--but should they fail, they doom a piece to the purgatory of sleaze. Eroticism is a province of the mind; if the artist doesn't stylize his sexual themes so that they involve more than the gonads, he (or she) sinks to vulgarity.

On his most recent musical venture into the exploration of the sexual, Prince attempts to take us for a joyride and succeeds minimally. His latest offering lacks Prince's usual creativity and comes across as immature sexual bravado.

Since Prince's debut in 1978 with For You, the combination of raunch with a twisted kind of spirituality has been His Purple Badness's forte. His unconventional equation of sex with art has been rivalled only by Madonna. Whether he's crooning about his latest conquest or trying to entice a woman to fall into bed and in love with him, his musical virtuosity has always shined through his licentiousness.

Not so long ago, Prince brought mischief, art and passion to his music's sexual excesses. "U Got the Look," performed with Sheena Easton for his sixth album, Sign o' the Times, was blatantly sexual, yet playful and entertaining.

"Little Red Corvette," from his mainstream breakthrough record 1999, could not have expressed a one-night stand in a more inventive and lyrical way. The overt sexuality of Prince's music could not be denied--it was neither pointless nor unimaginative.

Nor did his talents just revolve around the physical. His ballads of the pain and joy surrounding love and sex were some of his best work. The lyrics of "When Doves Cry" on the Purple Rain soundtrack evoke terrific images. From the anguished guitar to the tortured verse, Prince goes on a voyage to hell and back and we go with him. The darker side of love and lust were no strangers to Prince.

His Batman soundtrack matched theblackness and quirkiness of the film. He treatedthe audience to a stylistic journey ofimpressionistic music. Each track was written forparticular characters and actions in the filmgiving them his own peculiar spin. From thedanceable "Batman" to the haunting "Arms ofOrion," Prince demonstrates his creativeabilities.

His creativity not only extended to love, sexand bats but to serious social issues. The titletrack of Sign o' the Times speaks aboutghetto life with painful honesty. "Money Don'tMatter Tonight," another foray into seriousness onDiamonds and Pearls, is a thoughtful takeon many social ills.

Prince's talent as a songwriter not onlysurfaced on the tracks he wrote for his ownalbums, but also on those he wrote for otherartists. Sheena Easton created a new image ofherself as a sex goddess when she sang the Princecreation "Sugar Walls." He alighted briefly onpoignancy with "Nothing Compares 2 U" for SineadO'Connor's disk I Do Not Want What I Haven'tGot.

Music was not the only medium for Prince'sartistic expressions. He ventured into the filmindustry producing everything from flops--Underthe Cherry Moon--to the well-acceptedproduction Purple Rain.

Even if Prince's controversial music of filmshaven't convinced one of his genius, hisversatility does deserve respect. He makes smoothtransitions between overbearing sexuality and deepfeeling. His facility for switching from music tofilm and back again is incredible.

Prince's work--no matter the medium--is unitedby a single theme: sex and music. This is usuallya theme he develops well, giving it character andinnovation, freshness and style. On his latesteffort, which is titled simply by a curioussymbol, Prince does not deliver with his usualflair.

He appears to be a shadow of his former self,appealing to the lowest common denominator of thelistening public. His tracks lack originality anddepth. He takes the same song about sex and playsand then replays it for us.

This is not his usual variation on a theme ofadventuresome sexuality, but an attempt to sellrecords sans effort. Prince seems obsessed withhow many times he can shock us. But he shocks mostwith his cliche-salted lyrics.

The words to his songs are predictablyself-absorbed and audacious. On the first track,"My Name is Prince," it's the same old Princetalking: "In the beginning God made the sea/ Buton the 7th day He made me."

On top of his unrestrained egotism, Princeexpects useless sexual bravado to suffice astracks. In the verse "Close your eyes and count 2ten and when u open 'em/ I'll be standing nakedwith nothing but a smile on..." from "Blue Light,"the disk's sixth song, Prince fails to tantalizeus, instead conjuring a horrific image of himselffor anyone who has seen the cover ofLovesexy.

From his previous albums, we know Prince iscapable of more, even when he's reinventinghimself. The pseudo-ballads "The Morning Papers,""God Created Woman" and "Sweet Baby" do not standup to the standards set by previous works "WhenDoves Cry," "Nothing Compares 2 U" or even theupbeat "Delirious," from 1999.

If this is Prince's libido on parade, then ithas seen better days. Nothing on this release cancompare to the ingenuity of earlier sex-mindedtracks like "Kiss" (from Parade) or, forvulgarity comparisons, "Darling Nikki" (fromPurple Ran).

The only redeeming factor of this album is themusical arrangements. When Prince declares in "MyName is Prince," "My name is Prince and I amfunky/ My name is Prince--the one and only...,"the music elevates his words from banality tobelievability. Prince is not particularlyversatile verbally on this LP, but Prince is stilla musical dynamo.

From funky, bluesy, James Brown-inspired "SexyMF" to the grinding, hip-hop, jamming "The Max,"Prince is musically up to snuff. His tracks--likealways--are made to make you sweat on the dancefloor. The only real letdown is the loungelizardy"Damn U." It's Prince meets a Holiday Inn grandballroom.

While danceable, "the untitled album" is notPrince's best work. It hardly lives up to thestandards he set for himself--and for modernrock--with his previous records. We can only hopethat with his versatility, musical genius andpenchant for reinvention, Prince will get back ontrack and never release an artistic blunder likethis again.