ON THE BACK OF THE CD BOOKET is a disclaimer by the Artist Formerly Known as Prince: "Originally intended 4 private use only, this compilation serves as the last original material recorded by 0{+> 4 Warner Brothers Records." His ongoing war of protest and whining against his record label is also reflected in the photos adorning the pages of the Chaos and Disorder booklet: a syringe with a dollar bill rolled up inside, a toilet with a heart floating in the water, and the master-tape vault inside Paisley Park Studios, framed by gold records. Before you hear a single note, you're prepped for a halfhearted transaction from a self-pitying celebrity. The whole album --- its vibe, purpose and effect --- is summarized in the self-aggrandizing "I Rock, Therefore I Am." Elements from the proverbial kitchen sink --- blaring horns, funky, stuttering drums, police sirens, rap-cum-reggae-style toasting --- bracket defiant lyrics that flash hints of social commentary to mask what is essentially 0{+>'s taunting of his record company. The lyrics gracelessly confuse the personal with the political. Chaos and Disorder is distinguished by its confusion; even the title admits that the album's fractured parts never resolve into a thematic whole. At its best, the record sounds like a collection of polished demos. More often, though, it seems like the work of a Prince impersonator --- someone who has closely studied the star's moves and mannerisms but has nothing new or substantial of his own to say. It's a drag act that becomes a drag real quickly. 0{+> sings the delicate "Dinner With Delores" in a high register, his lead vocals backed by a breezy, softly cooed chorus. Yet the result is still a less attractive twin of Sign o' the Times' "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker." The title track has a searing organ, Rosie Gaines' fiery backing vocals and wild drumming that suits 0{+>'s manic blasts of lead guitar. It's wildly energetic --- but also completely generic. Whether he's just distracted by his record-company battles or has truly shot his wad, it's been a while since 0{+> has really had anything important to say in his music. It doesn't matter what the Artist Formerly Known as Prince calls himself. Chaos and Disorder is the sound of the man repeating himself badly. --ERNEST HARDY (RS741)
ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS Ex-innovator ex-Prince serves leftovers Truman Capote once issued one of the most memorable one-liners in book-reviewing history: "That's not writing. It's typing." A similar thing could be said about the artist formerly known as Prince's new album, "Chaos & Disorder," which hits stores Tuesday. Unlike the bulk of the Prince/TAFKAP catalog, "Chaos & Disorder" appears to be an uninspired collection of warmed-over jams, sketches, snatches and leftovers. With apologies to Capote, it's not record making. It's recording. Which, no matter what your feelings are about the former Prince's public image, has never been the case before. He may be unfathomable to most anyone outside the music world, but whenever he gets in the studio, he has always been consistently innovative, and usually something interesting (at the least) occurs. Not this time. Even his previously tossed-off works -- the hastily composed "Lovesexy" (1988), the batphoned-in "Batman" (1989) and the sketchy, if underrated, "Come" (1994) -- had unifying themes. But for the first time, TAFKAP has released an album that sounds void of his usual visceral focus and inspiration. Beyond the shock appeal he has become known for, Prince, with almost every one of his previous 17 albums, has always given fans and critics plenty to chew on musically and lyrically. But on "Chaos & Disorder," the disappointing follow-up to 1995's tour-de-force "The Gold Experience," there is a creeping feeling of déjà vu -- a feeling that, even if we haven't heard these particular musings on love, sex, spirituality, human rights and the afterlife, we've heard him do it before. And better. The Warner Bros. bio for "Chaos & Disorder" would have us believe that this is another guitar record, on a par with the fireworks that fuel "The Gold Experience." But where those were lithe, compact, and purposeful moments, the guitar work on "Chaos & Disorder" is typically flashy but emotionally stingy. I admit that I yearn to hear ex-Prince dueling with a second guitar again, in order to bring in da funk, bring in da noise. Perhaps the biggest shame about "Chaos & Disorder" is that it tarnishes the reputations of the otherwise spectacular New Power Generation -- so regal and powerful on "The Gold Experience" -- which sounds an awful lot like a band being put through its paces or on the verge of getting the pink slip (which happened earlier this year). Even TAFKAP's ubiquitous ear candy is applied much too literally to be compelling: revving motors behind a lyric about cars, a radio DJ behind a lyric about Top 40 radio, a moaning woman behind a lyric about orgasm, a siren behind a lyric about domestic abuse, etc. Once upon a time, the former Prince would throw in a sound bite that gave the track a freaky quality. It made the song blow up in your headphones and imagination. But here, everything is carefully scripted for the listener. As a result, "Chaos & Disorder" is sonically stuck in the 80's, at a moment in time when Beck's "Odelay" and others set the standard for cutting-edge recording artistry. Maybe the reason "Chaos & Disorder" is so disappointing is because of the high standards TAFKAP sets and usually hits. And, of course, as with any TAFKAP album, there are some choice morsels to go along with the leftovers. By my count, there are four strong cuts: * "Chaos & Disorder." The record kicks off with a bang, thanks to this wicked quasi-anti-drug rocker's bloody-raw vocal performance. Salient lyric: "I'm just a no-name reporter / I wish I had something to say / Look into my new camcorder / Trying to find a crime that pays." * "Same December." A hopped-up big-band rave on race relations, punctuated by the scintillating NPG horns. Lyrically, it's the latest in a long line of utopian visions from Prince/TAFKAP. Musically, it features a chorus worthy of T. Rex, a hook worthy of classic Prince, and it could be a monster hit for a radio format that doesn't exist. * "I Rock Therefore I Am." Even though the lyrics are more of the same "I'm an artist, dammit, don't tell me what to do!" variety, this is an irresistible dance-hall number buoyed by the NPG horns and cameo vocals and reggae raps from Rosie Gaines, Scrap D. and Steppa Ranks. * "Dig U Better Dead." A genuinely weird and thoroughly ebullient dance workout that can stand with the nastiest mechani-grooves in the Prince catalog. The rest of "Chaos & Disorder" is remarkably unremarkable. (Has there ever been a more forgettable Prince single than "Dinner With Delores"?) Which brings us to the conspiracy theory. "Chaos & Disorder" is the last studio album the former Prince is required to release on Warner Bros. Records, his record company since 1978. (A forthcoming three-CD set of outtakes and unreleased material, "The Vault," is reportedly the final release, which will fulfill his contract.) Given all that, and the fact that his first album was titled "For You," the last song on the CD, the one-minute, 26-second "Had U," could be read as a final kiss-off from the "Slave" to Warner Bros. that says, in its entirety: "Missed you / called you / found you / begged you / convinced you / saw you / held you / kissed you / fondled you / attempt to / undress you / smelled you / wanted you / asked you / thanked you / mounted you / hurt you / disappoint you / f--- you / had you." His war with Warner Bros. has been well-documented here and elsewhere, and from the sounds of it, "Chaos & Disorder" is merely a homework assignment. A means to an end. But the biggest mystery is why would an artist so proud, and so fiercely competitive and trailblazing, release such a mediocre work? I do not believe, as some critics do, that the former Prince has hit his creative ceiling. But the truth is, as he sings on "Zannalee," "If you want to be a headline, you've gotta be all you can be." I hope that "Chaos & Disorder" is just the dusk before the dawn. In "I Like It There," the former Prince sings to a female conquest, "What can I say [that] Shakespeare hasn't said before?" It's a throwaway line from a throwaway album, but at this juncture in his career, TAFKAP could learn a little something from the bard. Such as: "Weigh'st thy words before thou givest them breath" (Othello), "Sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste" (Richard III), "Let each man do his best" (Henry IV).
Not Just Anotha No-Name Reporter One day, when I was walking through the streets of my former neighborhood in Venice Beach, California, I saw the artist formerly known as Prince. He was sitting on the stoop of a house near the ocean, accompanied by a beautiful young woman, and he saw me seeing him. He put a finger over his lips and mouthed, "shhh." "Look!" my friend Mark nudged me, "Prince has a secret." We smiled and walked off, our brush with Greatness whisked away with the sound of whitecap hitting sand. Prince, AKA The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, AKA 0{+> or ™ has virtually been uncategorical since he began his recording career in the late 1970s. Originally seen as a high-energy guitar-rock-funk disciple of the likes of Jimi Hendrix, George Clinton, James Brown, and Stevie Wonder, TAFKAP has crossed the line from "influenced by" to being unquestionably a genuine influence himself. His latest CD -- his final recording in his 18 year contract with Warner Brothers -- demonstrates that TAFKAP can, essentially, do what he wants with music do it well, and still maintain that quality that is unmistakably, well, Prince. In Chaos and Disorder, do not bother looking for an "Erotic City," "Kiss," "Let's Go Crazy," "You Got the Look," or even a "Love Song" (the dark and disorienting song he produced for Madonna in "Like a Prayer"). What you will find instead is a solid and cohesive, if not uncooked and undecorated, collection of funk-rock guitar jams. And with those songs, you can at least take solace in the fact that, after 20 albums and 18 years, TAFKAP still irks, offends, and baffles in a manner unprecedented in artists of the last two decades. In C&D, TAFKAP even breaks new ground for himself. From its relentless alarm-clock opener in the title track, to the hauntingly eerie kiss-off close in "Had U" 39 minutes later, TAFKAP maintains a tight, raw and loud energy level unlike other records released by his Purple Highness. Most of all what stands out in C&D is its uncharacteristic simplicity. Unlike much, if not most or even all of TAFKAP's previous work, C&D parts with deep philosophical sentiment in favor of straightforward rocking nonsubversiveness. He rocks, therefore he is. That's all there is to it. For this reason, I wish I could say that C&D harkens back to the days of 1999 (still my all time favorite Prince album), but I cannot. Where is the experimental risk-taking and high power genre-jumping complex and compelling excitement that made us all disco on our rollerskates when we heard "I was dreaming when I wrote this so forgive me if it goes astray ..."? I appreciate the jaded, cynical edge that carries TAFKAP through the recordings, but I am just not convinced that the cliched sentiment that pervades "I Will," "I Rock, Therefore I am," "Right the Wrong," and "Into the Light" were truly meant to be ironic. That said, you'd do well to remember that the worst throwaway crap from TAFKAP outshines the vast majority of other current artist's most inspired efforts. The two best tracks are the ones that TAFKAP has aired, in different versions, before. "Zannalee" is a hard-edged 12-bar bluesy funk tune that guides us through a sexual encounter between The Royal Purple and two luscious sisters, as seen through the eyes of a Northern Midwestern Police Officer. "Same December" is a compelling and complicated R&B/rock anthem, if you can forgive the kitchy "Let's Go!" choruses that intersperse, and even end, the rock/soul/blues/funk medley. I also can't help but love -- perhaps against my better judgment -- the wild and angry title track ("I'm just a no-name reporter and I wish I had Nothing 2 Say/ Lookin' thru my new camcorder/ Trying 2 find a crime that pays") as well as the R&B dance jam, "Dig U Better Dead." The album further showcases TAFKAP's ingenuity with background sounds and, in particular, voices. In "Zannalee," TAFKAP narrates the threesome's love tryst with the same legitimacy as the officers in the Coen Brothers' recent film, "Fargo." In "Right the Wrong," TAFKAP drawls a nice country lyric to a gospel/R&B beat. In "Chaos and Disorder," TAFKAP decorates chords with feedback, dogs barking, and army troupe footstomping, and heartbeats, all of which qualify C&D as a nice "headphone" record. Strap it on the next time you go for a jog. If nothing else, you certainly will not have to worry about slowing down between songs, since one track blends into the next as seamlessly as any other carefully crafted theme record. Also uplifting is the return of Rosie Gaines, who proves herself again to be a gifted and powerful songstress. In fact, it is her presence alone that spares songs like "I Rock, Therefore I Am," with its please-don't-call-this-rap interludes, from the circular bins. The New Power Generation also revs up the energy in consistent form. If nothing else, TAFKAP has reclaimed his rightful position as one of the best large-band leaders alive. I just wish that TAFKAP would have spent more time showcasing his accomplished and eerily haunting electric guitar riffs, as he does in the CD's last jam, "Had U," and less time scratching records and letting mediocre rappers ("To the Maximum!" ... "Show me your titties!") take central stage, as in "I Rock Therefore I Am," even if only for a minute or two. A few of the songs also straddle the line between Prince and Pop a little too closely for my PurplePassiontaste. "Into the Light," for example, begins with an unmistakable ABBA "The Winner Takes it All," piano chorus, and transitions into -- and please don't kill me for saying this -- a Journey song. Similar comments can be made of "I Will" and "I Like It There." Depending on your mood, these songs can be entertaining and fun or more than slightly annoying. For example, "I Rock, Therefore I Am" is both a nauseating wanna-be hip hop rap jam and a lightweight hi-fi dance groove at the same time. Overall, the strengths of "Chaos and Disorder" outweigh its weaknesses. It is a straightforward, rough around the edges, unlaquered almost frenetic tribute to Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, and Sly Stone. As mentioned above, "Zannalee" are "Same December" are outstanding jams, and, of course, "Dig U Better Dead," "Right the Wrong," "Dinner with Delores" and "Had U" grow on me more and more with each listening. Out of 39 minutes and only 11 tracks, that hit list ain't half-bad. In fact, especially if you don't mind trading message and meaning for fluff and fun, Chaos and Disorder is more than half-good. Sure this review is confusing. But what do you expect? This is, after all, the latest work of an artist that goes by the name of an unpronounceable symbol that I am trying to summarize. Many other (less suave and more lazy) reviewers have taken the easy way out and brushed off C&D as a hastily thrown-together Warner Brothers kiss-off. In this regard they cite "Had U" as a farewell anthem, "I Rock, Therefore I Am" as a freedom plea, and a tiny mark on the CD's cover as an upside down Warner Brothers logo. To me, however, this theory smacks too much of Oliver Stone and Over Simplification. Had TAFKAP wanted to shortchange WB, he could have done so far more easily by going the route of many other musicians and releasing another greatest hits compilation, or else a live concert release, if -- not to mention -- an album of truly schlocky songs. Rather, Chaos and Disorder seems more accurately a risk-free musical experiment -- not unlike taking an exam without studying when you know that you are the smartest student in the class. After all, why would the Purple One spend energy on exacting revenge against someone when he has a lot of other things to think about -- namely, his wife and future child, the children's music record and book he is working on; and, last but not least, his first release to follow his freedom from the Warner Brothers -- the rumored-to-be-forthcoming Emancipation. Thus to me the true question is not what TAFKAP was doing with C&D, but rather is what he will do in the near future. Buy Chaos and Disaster. Psychoanalyze it. But don't expect to read TAFKAP's mind. After all ... (shhh!) ... Prince has a secret.
NME.com Prince : Chaos And Disorder
2/10
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY 'Chaos' Theory -- A Symbolic finale from the erratic 0{+> Each new release by 0{+> only makes you anticipate the compilation that will rescue its two or three stunners from the dross. CHAOS AND DISORDER (Warner Bros.) repeats that scenario for the fifth or sixth (I've lost count) consecutive time. Just when you're ready to write 0{+> off as a casualty of ego and self-indulgence, the imp delivers. "i like it there" is three rapturous minutes of hard-rock guitar and drooling lyrics, and "dig u better dead" makes its didactic, choose-life message palatable with a warm-hearted funk groove. Suddenly, hope springs eternal-or, at least, for 10 or so minutes. Otherwise, the title of Chaos and Disorder serves as its own best review. The record again demonstrates the former Prince's formidable skill as a bandleader; few, if any, of his peers can adeptly shift the tempos and textures of huge ensembles the way 0{+> can. But the musicians' dexterity-and the album's lively, non-stop-party vibe-is wasted on apocalyptic lyrics with a New Age bent, campy dialogue bits, and too many songs that cross the line from energetic to cute. Humor could have rescued "i rock, therefore i am" from its title; instead, the song is an unwieldy mesh of a dancehall vocal, a lame rap, and a lyric that chastises those in the industry who want him to change. (You mean there are some who would brazenly suggest that he not release every scrap of music he records?) The explanation for the chaos may be simple: A liner note says the album is a "compilation...originally intended 4 private use only" and will be "the last original material recorded by 0{+> 4 Warner Brothers Records." The implication is that Chaos and Disorder is a vault-clearing throw-together meant to fulfill a contract. No longer content to wallow in a persecution complex, 0{+> now apparently feels his fans have to pay for the cross. C+
BILLBOARD MAGAZINE "Originally intended for "private use," as the self-deposed 0{+> states in the CD booklet, this album is a new recording by the enigmatic artist and his longtime band, the New Power Generation. Musically, the release bears two distinguishing features: it is predominantly a rock'n'roll record, and it is refreshingly rough around the edges. Rather than the self-aggrandizing, media-conscious Prince of the late `80s and early `90s, this is the artist who simply likes to make music for its own sake. Fans will enjoy the raw quality of these tracks and appreciate the fact that the artist decided to release them after all. Initial single "Dinner With Delores" could find a home at mainstream rock, top 40, and R&B radio, and other tracks could follow suit. A welcome return to basics.
ORLANDO SENTINEL 4 Stars (out of 5) C & D Prince doesn't mind telling everyone this is a contractual obligation album. It says so right on the back of the CD booklet. But the stuff that Prince shovels out of the back of the vault is better than most folks greatest hits albums. While not as stunning as last years The Gold Experience, C&D is a worthy addition to Prince's catalog. Some of the tracks are light weight but likable. "Zannalee" is a sort of musical Penthouse letter, in which a policeman (with a Fargo like Minny accent) spies something naughty through an open window. "Dinner With Delores" is a sultry mid-tempo number. Then there are 2 rather overdone anthems, the gospel flavored "Right The Wrong" and the rock operatic "Into The Light," which sound like something Gloria Estefan might record for the next Olympics. The best cuts are the rockers, including the socially conscious title track, the salacious "I Like It There" and the menacing but humorous "I Dig You Better Dead." The slamming "I Rock Therefore I Am," with its dancehall reggae influence, is just the kind of modern mission statement George Clinton could have used on his recent album.
THE NEWS-LEADER (Springfield, MO) ARTIST REVEALS DEEP TALENT ON 'CHAOS AND DISORDER' In his liner notes, the Guy Who Was Prince says the 11 songs were not intended for release. He also says this is the last album for his recording home of 20 years. Whatever the motivation for planning to sit on these tapes and check out of his relationship with Warner Bros., these are hardly the throwaway outtakes some artists use to wrap up a contract. Done with the New Power Generation, most of the songs are lean rock 'n' roll with plenty of nasty lyrics and powerful guitar playing, especially on the blistering title track and erotic "I Like It There." He mellows out a bit on the easy rocking "Dinner with Delores"--the first single--a lengthy and wistfully spiritual "Into the Light" and ethereal "I Will." But most of the tracks have a harder edge--the jazzy groove of "Right the Wrong" and funky "Zannalee" and "Dig U Better Dead." No matter what he calls himself, formerly Prince is a deeply talented musician, writer and singer.
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 07/21 Last effort more princely than most label swan songs When most artists sign off from a record label, they turn in a live album, some outtakes or a greatest-hits collection. Of course, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince is not like most artists. "Chaos and Disorder", the record that terminates Prince's 18 year relationship with Warner Bros. Records, is a triumphant return to the layered, guitar-driven funk that blasted Prince out of Minneapolis. There's never a dull moment on C&D which rages from the fuzzbending title track through the bawdy blues shuffle of Zannalee. Prince blends a 1999 dance groove with 1996 hip-hop in Dig U Better Dead, before fading out into Had U, a sedated update of 1978's For U. Conversely, the album's first single, Dinner With Delores, recalls Prince's best pop efforts, such as Raspberry Beret & Manic Monday. Recorded earlier this year in Miami Beach, with finishing touches at Paisley Park in Minneapolis, the project's most ambitious track is I Rock Therefore I Am, a six minute collage of funk, rock & Jamaican toasting (rapping), featuring guests Steppa Ranks & Scrap D. Framed by the four piece NPG, Prince's production unites the diverse musical elements into a cohesive dance statement. Don't misconstrue C&D as prince's salute to Warner Bros. Rather, the 11 songs are a searing tribute to Jimi Hendrix, James Brown & Sly Stone, the cornerstones of Prince's kingdom. The back to the future result is Prince's best effort since 1984's Purple Rain.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS PRINCE This 11-track, 39-minute-long, rock album by TAFKAP is a peculiar follow-up to last year's underrated "The Gold Experience." Recorded in part at South Beach Studios and originally intended for private use only, "Chaos and Disorder" smacks at first like a kiss-off to Warner Bros., a way to fulfill his contractual obligations and move on, something TAFKAP has been pining to do. But the Purple One can't help himself. There are forgettable rockers (title track, "I Like It There"), standard-issue funk ("Dig U Better Dead") and unneeded curiosities ('60s West Coast folk rock revisited with "Dinner With Delores"). But there are also some inspired turns such as the country-R&B-jazz revue of "Right The Wrong," the blues boogie "Zannalee" and "I Rock, Therefore I Am," a delightful mess of a mix of funk, hard rock and R&B with some toasting, rapping and a tip of the hat to Marvin Gaye thrown in for good measure. Now and then, "Chaos and Disorder" suggests intriguing choices ahead for TAFKAP, but as a whole, it rarely becomes more than a well-crafted sketch pad. by Fernando Gonzalez
MICROSOFT CHAOS AND DISORDER There's probably a book's worth of conjecture and speculation under the heading "Prince and The Artist Formerly Known As Prince: What Went Wrong?" How did this salacious guitarist and songwriter savant go from being the undisputed king of all media in the early '80s to the quizzical, overly prolific enigma whose records in the '90s set new speed records getting from the new release section to the cutout bin? The fine new Chaos & Disorder -- according to the artist, his final effort for Warner Bros. Records -- offers a few explanations. Perhaps Prince and his alter-ego just wallowed in too much experimentation: For a while there, even his catchy choruses were buried deep in songs that wandered rather aimlessly. Or maybe he was too much of a preacher: The Gold Experience, his last album, contained a few absolutely riveting songs advocating togetherness and peace, including the zealous "We March." All on the positivity tip, but not enough, apparently, to motivate record buyers. Could be he got too clever for his own damn good. That's what the decidedly unchaotic Chaos suggests: It's a return to raw, basic rock 'n' roll. Its songs are bone dry and chillingly direct. Its reasons for being aren't exactly lofty. Rather than worrying about changing the world, the former Prince seems again inclined to party -- and play guitar. In a record that lasts under 40 minutes, he delivers some of the most thoughtful, flat-out exciting guitar solos of his career, from the agitated lines that pierce the Minneapolis strut "I Rock Therefore I Am" to the more subdued lyricism that underpins "Dinner With Delores." Not that this artist has ditched his ideology or his devotion to tricky musical interludes or those funny notions about sex-as-redemption -- it's just they're not so overtly front-and-center, where they sometimes ruined perfectly slamming musical accompaniments. He understands that a refrain like the one on "Dig U Better Dead" -- "In life, there's always peaks and valleys, and if you're lost, they won't show U the way / That same somebody said 'I dig U better dead' but I'd much rather see if your God is what U say" -- works better when the band is delivering knockout punches with every backbeat. So he's taking better care of his ideas, making sure the hooks don't get lost in reams of instrumental clutter. The result: a bright, buoyant collection of good-time music. A new Prince (er, Former Prince) party tape, complete with a rollicking blues shuffle "Zannalee." After years of unedited experimentation that yielded wildly varying music (some brilliant, some dismal), it's absolutely jarring to catch Symbolman in such a disciplined mood -- paying attention to the little details, making sure the music bounces between progressive-rock exploration and gospel jubilee and hard grinding funk without losing focus. It's about time.
NY DAILY NEWS 07/16/96 "Sour deal finally ends in 'Chaos'" The self-destructive tendencies of The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (TAFKAP) just reached a dizzying new plateau. Not content simply to erase his name, undermine his record company and release scads of substandard songs, he's now letting the world know he never even intended his latest album for release. Tucked inside the cover of his latest platter is a warning that the LP was "originally intended 4 private use only. This compilation serves as the last original material recorded by (TAFKAP) 4 Warner Brothers. May U live to see the dawn." Translation : "Songs this junky should've never made it out of the studio. But since I can't stand my record company, and I couldn't care less about my fans, I put them out anyway -- the better to give Warners one last reason to be sorry they ever crossed me. True to those sentiments, "Chaos & Disorder" ranks as the worst TAFKAP album ever released. Worse than the "Batman" soundtrack, worse even than "Come". It's a forced, overwrought mess. So terrible is the album that listeners with a refined sense of camp, and cash to blow, may want to race out and pick up a copy before it inevitably vanishes from shelves in weeks. At least you can't fault the thing for lack of consistency. While TAFKAP labeled the work a "Compilation", implying multiple sources, it reeks of one tragic brainstorming session. The album proposes to be a guitar-rock opus, allowing few nods to funk. But don't expect a rock classic, a la "Dirty Mind" Expect instead a kind of geeky "rock-opera." All the songs feature the garnish arrangements, ersatz guitars and overenunciated choruses you'd find in the most spine-tingling of theater rock. "Into the Light" could have come straight from the depths of "Godspell", while "Same December" offers R&B as conceived for Las Vegas show-stoppers. Such things make TAFKAP's ridiculous lyrics all the more mind-boggling . God save us all from another of hi political diatribes, like the title track -- one of those evidence-free, "the-world-is-a-going-to-hell " assessments. He crams it with lines like "gay used to mean he's happy /nowadays happy ain't allowed." What, exactly, does that mean? In the singularly silly "I Rock Therefore I Am", TAFKAP even takes time out to bitch about losing royalties to record clubs. Like we care. Unfortunately, the silliest of TAFKAP's new words and music reflect not just a passing perversion but something rooted in his character -- a lingering '80's part of him evident in his still-frilly clothes and cheesy-sounding synths. Never before, however, has TAFKAP's tacky side been allowed to rule a project wholly unchecked by soul to conviction. The question is: Did this happen simply because TAFKAP wanted to whack Warners or because he's finally gone completely insane? May we all live to find out.
July 16, 1996 By NEIL STRAUSS The artist formerly known as Prince (hereafter abbreviated as "Prince") seems to be in a hurry to get out of his six-album contract with Warner Bros. Records. In less than a year he has put out three albums, the latest of which, "Chaos and Disorder" (released Tuesday), concludes his relationship with the label. As if the title and lyrics like "I wish I had nothing to say" don't lower the expectations of fans enough, the album comes with an apology on the back of the CD booklet that notes that the music was "originally intended 4 private use only." "Chaos and Disorder" is essentially a rock album, with Prince wailing away on electric guitar as if he were a funky Jeff Beck. It is also, for the most part, an album of throwaways. But even throwaways from Prince can have their moments of pop splendor. "Dinner for Dolores," a '60s-style psychedelic ballad in which Prince for a change criticizes a woman for being too wanton, is one of the album's saving graces, as is the minimal "Had U." On "Zannalee," Prince and his group, the New Power Generation, turn into a bar band playing a 12-bar blues in which police officers spy on his erotic adventures with two sisters. The album's weakest link is the six-minute, inanely titled "I Rock, Therefore I Am," which combines the kind of raps that marred his 1991 "Diamonds and Pearls." Prince should know by now that he doesn't need to update his sound, since so many pop stars still copy it; he just needs a better screening process for the songs he releases.
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY A note on the sleeve speaks volumes: 'This serves as the last original material recorded by 0{+> 4 Warner Brothers Records.' That'll be the contract satisfied then. While most of this is the sort of stuff he can grumble out whilst having his teeth brushed by a phalanx of strangely servile amazonians, it's worth remembering that the dirt which collects between his toes is funkier than most other performers' highest moments -- and the title track, the Sign O' The Times-era flavour to 'Dinner With Delores' and 'Right The Wrong' are all well worth checking out. Importantly, this record contains the line 'You know how much I love you -- more than I love my hair'. By Damien Love
MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE This recording carries the following announcement -- or disclaimer -- on the back: "Originally intended 4 private use only, this compilation serves as the last original material recorded by Prince 4 Warner Bros. Records." In other words, Prince's heart isn't in this album (in stores today). Still, for a slapped-together throwaway, it's no bad. A lot of funk-rock, a dash of pop, a taste of jazz and blues, a couple of nasty dance numbers, lots of Prince guitar work. It's mostly retro-sounding -- like Prince of the mid-80's. At times, "Chaos and Disorder" sounds like a cut-and-paste job, with lots of musical flash and fun and little emotional investment or conviction. But Prince's leftovers are often tastier than other artists' main courses. The number that stands out is "I Rock, Therefore I Am." This declaration of self-confidence is funky, slinky, freaky and the only hip-hop thang Prince has ever done that seems natural. This dynamite dance jam goes dance-hall with a guest reggae rapper rhyming about Kirby Puckett and other things Minnesota. The best dance workout is "Dig U Better Dead," a nasty mechanical funk jam promulgating the philosophy that life is full of peaks and valleys and that if you're lost, the naysayers say you're better off dead, but Prince would rather see you turn to God. Those are the high points. The low points are perhaps the nadir of Prince's 18 years on Warner Bros. "Into the Light," an adult pop song, is one of the schmaltziest and schlockiest things he has ever released -- until the ensuing "I Will," a piece of fluff that sounds like a chorus and keyboard riff stretched into an incomplete song. "Chaos and Disorder" ends with an 86-second self-absorbed kiss-off to a lover (or a record label), "Had U," framed by hauntingly warped strings and guitar. Prince still seems as irresistibly mysterious and weird now as he did on his first Warner Bros. album, "For You," in 1978. (Jon Bream)
MR. SHOWBIZ "File Next To: Dirty Mind, 1999, and Prince's other great albums. Halfway through Chaos and Disorder, Prince declares "I rock, therefore I am." That's good news, because when Prince cranks it up, he tends to turn out winners--think Dirty Mind, Purple Rain, Sign O' the Times, and even last year's underappreciated The Gold Experience. Chaos and Disorder definitely rocks: it's thirty-nine minutes of guitar-drenched hard rock, blues, and funk, happily void of the labored thematic constraints Prince has placed on so many of his recent efforts. It's also his last record for Warner Bros. following a protracted contract dispute; maybe that's why Prince sounds so liberated. Between the notes, of course, he still has plenty to say: in the title track, he surveys society as a "no-name reporter"--an in-joke, perhaps, given his attempts to shed his name--while in "The Same December" he makes a passionate, "can't we all get along" plea to his listeners. But what really catches your ears are the grinding guitars and whirling Hammond organ of the former, the paisley tones and sing-along chorus of the latter. Elsewhere, the lusty "I Like It There" has a retro, New Wave feel straight out of Dirty Mind, while "I Rock, Therefore I Am" blends Jamaican and West Coast rap styles with a stomping funk beat. In the homestretch, the spiritual "Into the Light" and "I Will" form an over-the-top melange of ethereal ambiance, album-rock power balladry, and guitar heroics. Ultimately, Chaos and Disorder is a great, big sonic circus of an album, a work that recaptures the adventuresome abandon of the early-eighties records that first established Prince's genius. The album notes claim that these songs were recorded for private use; it's our good fortune that they've seen the light of day rather than become yet another batch of sought-after rarities in Prince's already overcrowded vault. --Gary Graff
THE SUNDAY TIMES WITH its big funk bassline and driven rock guitars, the title track opens Chaos and Disorder more powerfully than any Prince work for some years. As the second tune shapes up in much the same way, though, two thoughts strike the listener. One, this is pretty good rock music; and, two, it is very much what Lenny Kravitz has been trying to achieve for more years than you care to remember. This, in turn, leads to the melancholy realisation that the names Prince and Kravitz have just run through your mind within a few nanoseconds of each other. The problem for Prince is that, after the infinite richness of his prime, and in particular his crowning achievement, Sign o' the Times, it has been well nigh impossible for him to surprise us in the way that we had come to expect. Sensibly perhaps, he has stopped trying, preferring to dazzle us with his traditional songwriting and production techniques. There are plenty of tasty morsels here, but the qualities suggested by the title are in extremely short supply. I Rock, Therefore I Am is big and brash, full of well-chosen musical quotes from Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone. Dinner with Delores is breezy and sweet. Dig U Better Dead and Had U, bringing up the rear, are interesting. The rest is fine. just fine.
FLUCTUATING Understood to be the last album 0{+> will make for Warner Bros, Chaos & Disorder takes the endorphins-and-dolphins beatitude of the contractually disputed The Gold Experience, and stuffs it. No sexy voices Welcome U 2 The Dawn here. This is a sarcastic kiss-off to the banality, the corruption and the tragic lack of funkiness of the corporate caucasian world. The impersonal funk marathons of last year's Wembley Arena shows are withheld in favour of a small riot of diverse styles. The title track and I Like It There, which get things going, are two bursts of motorvatin' hard rock blues with lots of soloing. As a guitarist, 0{+> is at his foxiest in some time: Crosstown Traffic riffing iced with rococo flourishes of blissful fluency. Prettily sung, Dinner With Delores is as delicious as a strawberry, exactly the kind of melody we white heathens keep imploring him to do more of. He's equally obliging with Into The Light -- every bit as stirring as Dolphin on the last record -- and I Will, a lovely Stevie Wonder-esque balled. But what are we to make of Right The Wrong, his first ever country and western number? A terrible paleface pisstake ("yee haw!"), it's lyrics rail at slavery, the swindling of Native Americans and -- who knows -- the odd Warners exec. It's probably the worst song of his entire career. I Rock Therefore I Am transposes the same polemic to the most shudderingly ragga-boombastic soundworld the NPG can initiate. It's another awful song, though: a loud six-minute bore. No better is Zannalee, a horny blues snore of merciful brevity. Luckily, the last two songs glow with health. Dig U Better Dead is a featherlight scat-funk tune with a sharp lyrical edge, while the extraordinary Had U, a duet for mellotron and a guitar, sounds like 90 seconds of early King Crimson. What's 0{+> up to? The gluctiating quality of this music suggest a hastily assembled grab-bag of outtakes to see out the Warners deal, a suspicion borne out by an unusually short running-time, 39 minutes. If you skip the crap songs, you have a 25-minute album. The albums final. wearily-croaked words -- "Fuck you/had you" -- linger bitterly. -David Cavanagh
LA TIMES 7/7/96 4/4 Stars (Excellent) With a title like "Chaos & Disorder," you might assume that the 20th album by Prince would reflect a kingdom is disarray. His Paisley Park label has been disbanded; he's changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol; he's closed his LA nightclub, Glam Slam; he's at war with his record company; and in the most un-Princely move of all, he's apparently abandoned the hedonistic life to marry and have child. But C&D is Prince's most vibrant and even handed work in years. By restoring the electric guitar as the center of his musical universe and abandoning the confining dictates of dance music drum machines, Prince has produced a record that leaps from the speakers with a force that he hasn't mounted since he disbanded his band the Revolution. Beginning with the stripped down title track and the brisk "I Like It There," the album ranges from metallic to mellow. "Dinner With Delores," is a narrations that like "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker," wins you over with it's subtlety. The rollicking "Same December," and the brash "Zannalee," raise the volume and the energy. But what unites all the songs is Prince's soaring guitar. Every wail, sigh and delectable electric tease serve as the musical counterparts of the beating heart found at the end of the title track ---Cheo Hodari Coker
ROLLING STONE ONLINE Chaos and Disorder For a record allegedly conceived in desperation and issued under protest -- "Originally intended 4 private use only," according to Prince's disclaimer in the CD booklet -- "Chaos and Disorder" is a tepid tantrum, basically the sound of Prince repeatedly pressing the wounded-victim button in his finally concluded war of contractual liberation with Warner Bros. Records. The packaging is boorish -- images of a heart floating in a toilet bowl and a dollar bill rolled up in a syringe -- and the music, supposedly representing Prince's rage and frustration with corporate servitude, never achieves emotional liftoff, even when vocalist Rosie Gaines turns up the heat in the title track. There's enough screaming lead guitar on "Chaos and Disorder" to hint at the glory that once was Prince and the Revolution, but Prince blows it with the silly self-congratulation of "I Rock, Therefore I Am." Maybe he was just saving the good stuff for his new three-disc set, "Emancipation"; if so, the die-hard fans got hosed. And they're not the ones who made him a slave.
|
