Tuesday, December 3, 2019

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: PRINCE - 1999 (Deluxe Edition)

The Prince reissue campaign is bearing some significant fruit for collectors, and surprisingly, it's being done with an eye to the consumer's pocketbook. As opposed to, for instance, the endless stream of very expensive David Bowie reissues, the Prince releases have been kept to a modest number, and marketed in a value-for-your-dollar way. This latest box set is the most expansive, but even it has a medium level price tag, and an emphasis on content over frills and pricey packaging.

If you have the bucks and interest, you can go for the 10-album, one DVD version of this at close to $300.00, but it's much more accessible at under $100 for five CD's and the DVD. The 50-page booklet may not be hardcover or coffee table sized, but it's packed with all the info and images you need. And best of all, the music is great from start to finish, and the bonus stuff is all very much worthy and welcome, and worth repeated play.

1999 was where it all changed for Prince, moving from funk freak and rising cult star to the mainstream. He was all attitude and act leading up to that album, but then he scored with actual hit songs, the title track and of course "Little Red Corvette." And it wasn't just those two. He was exploding with music, and would continue that way for years. This was a double album, there are a further two CDs of over an hour each of unreleased music, plus he had started producing and writing for other artists as well. What this box does wonderfully is show the full picture of that explosion.

Disc 1 holds the original, near 80-minute album, which in addition to the big hits held several more favourites such as "Delirious," "Let's Pretend We're Married" and "Automatic." Disc 2 has all the edits, 12-inch versions and a few tasty b-sides, including the concert favourite "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" and the typically suggestive "Horny Toad." Discs 3 and 4 are the packed vault collections, while Disc 5 and the DVD are two different live concerts from 1982, valuable visions of Prince's talent blooming.

If you look to these sets for the previously unreleased material, woah baby, it's hard to think of another album with so much to offer. Prince didn't make demos really, these were basically finished studio cuts, some of which he'd use, some of which he'd earmark for his other pals and projects, and seemed to have no end of song ideas. Most of these could easily have ended up on 1999 with no drop in quality. As he said at the time, he had enough material for a 1999 sequel, but didn't want to repeat himself. Since his next album was Purple Rain, it's hard to argue that logic.  What a bonanza that gives us now, as we hear him trying out different styles and possible routes. "Teacher, Teacher" is more of a rock song than he was doing in those years. "Yah, You Know" is the embryonic version of "Let's Go Crazy," developed  later for Purple Rain."Purple Music" is his explanation of important music was to his life, a manifesto, and it's surprising he left it off 1999. Then there's all the usual highly suggestive material, from a musician who'd learned the importance of shock value already. "Vagina" was apparently the original name for Vanity of Vanity Six, so at some point this was going to be that group's theme song. Title apart, it's a killer.

The live concerts are more proof of what a monster the guy was as a player and performer. His concerts were events, choreographed and visually rich, each musician in part an actor, and Prince a true showman. He dances, he struts, he shows off, he jokes, he whirls and twirls. To top it all off, he simulates sex on a bed (albeit with no partner). Some of the 1999 tracks have become set pieces of the show, such as "International Lover," where we're flying Purple Airlines or some such silliness. It all works, and was all aimed at building the Purple mythology, which it did to a T. The DVD is from a mediocre source, but thank goodness it survived, you have to see Prince in action to get the whole picture.

This is one of those good old box sets where you can dig in and spend hours enjoying. Best of all, at no point will you say, "Well, it's not his best." It's all grand.

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