the Artist formerly known as Prince: Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic

Prince+Artist=Master?

Prince Rogers Nelson. That was the name he used in a recent lawsuit against several of his fanzines for copyright infringement. So, as it turns out, Prince never legally changed his name to that stupid symbol anyway. The symbol was just his own way of divorcing himself from his '80s self. But curiously, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, one of his most enjoyable and varied efforts of the '90s, credits an estranged friend of Symbol Man as the producer: Prince.

And from the sound of Rave, the Artist reaches back to the days of 1999 (how appropriate) for inspiration—this collection is every bit as challenging and impenetrably great as 1999, even if it's not quite a classic in the same way.

"So Far, So Pleased" blazes along in the wake of "Little Red Corvette" and caps it off with a frothily insinuating guitar manifesto. A sugary muted guitar pulse carries the warmly cheesy "Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do" along its path of pure pop joy, while the soulful harmonies of "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" trump his 1992 hit "7" in melody and infectiousness.

Even so, Rave's wildly frustrating inconsistency—there are plenty of clunkers here, like a misguided cover of Sheryl Crow's "Everyday is a Winding Road"—can make it a difficult album to digest. But the dreck is no match for the great moments, the greatest of which is "Prettyman," an un-listed track at the end of the disc. Maceo Parker's sax bursts propel this monstrous James Brown-like funk workout into the canon of the Artist's—and Prince's—very best work. It's a masterpiece, combining the carefree flash of the Prince of the '80s with the focused musicianship of the Artist of the '90s. Just like 1999, Rave sounds incomplete but gives the sense that there's something great to come. Maybe the purple rain will come down in 2000. (Arista)

—Jackson Danger

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