Prince had validated his legacy as that DUDE numerous times by the time his instrumental album N-E-W-S hit the NPG club on May 26th, 2003, before arriving in stores on July 29th, 2003. N-E-W-S was Prince’s twenty-seventh studio album and his second instrumental album. N-E-W-S was an acronym for North, East, West, and South. Never one to pigeonhole himself, N-E-W-S finds Prince dabbling heavily into jazz fusion.
Containing only four tracks that run fourteen minutes each, N-E-W-S is a very eccentric offering. I remember purchasing the album at the age of twenty-two, but I didn’t fully grasp the instrumentation. I would revisit the album again three years later, during my first deployment in the United States Air Force, as a coping mechanism. At the age of 41 and with everything going on with the Tyre Nichols video, I decided to play the album again to bring positive energy into my life.
Since there’s no actual singing on the record, the best way to describe this album is mood music. I’ve heard that the intent behind N-E-W-S was a jam session, and that’s the vibe I got. With “North,” I got a vibe of funk. “East” gave off cinematic vibes. “West” starts a bit as a ballad before going back into the funk, and the closing number, “South,” puts me in the mindset of wanting to 2 Step.
N-E-W-S isn’t for all tastes, but You will enjoy this project from Prince the musician and his band a lot more if you avoid expectations and simply take in the joy of hearing them play.
Final Grade: B
N-E-W-S is available on all streaming platforms.
One of the great things about buying a soundtrack when I was in my DJ prime was discovering a slow jam that I could put on my mix CDs. For this week’s Slow Jam Saturday, I wanted to highlight one of the songs: Jagged Edge’s cover of Air Supply’s, “All Out of Love.”
After twenty-six years in the game, Atlanta-based quartet Jagged Edge is currently on the road celebrating the anniversary of their magnum opus sophomore album, “J.E. Heartbreak,” with a tour titled “An Intimate Evening With Jagged Edge.” To kick off our seventh wedding anniversary celebration, my wife and I will be the D.C. date on the tour this coming Wednesday.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I wanted to travel back to 1999 and show some love to R&B group Amyth, which was initially signed to LL Cool J Rock the Bells Records. Hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the group was formed in 1995 while the members were students at Southern University.