Prince
THE RAINBOW CHILDREN/ONE NITE ALONE…LIVE!/ ONE NITE ALONE… THE AFTERSHOW/ONE NITE ALONE…
LEGACY/SONY
CHRIS GARNHAM THE PRINCE ESTATE/JAKE ARMOUR
Two albums from the extremes of Prince’s output get reissued in Legacy’s seemingly random ordering of his post-Warner catalogue. 2001’s The Rainbow Children is the nadir, an unlistenable honking freeform mess relieved only by the Gett Off-style funk of The Work Part 1, given away at the time on Napster. The sped-up subsonic voice of God should be kinda awe-inspiring, but is bleakly hilarious. For completists only, even if the free rainbow-coloured slipmat is gorgeous. The other studio album here, One Nite Alone…, ranks alongside Musicology as Prince’s best of the decade. Where its predecessor was self-indulgent and overly busy, One Nite Alone… is mostly Prince alone at the piano, similar in its intimacy to the recently unearthed Piano And A Microphone 1983. The aching U’re Gonna C Me is an overlooked classic, while a tender take on Joni Mitchell’s A Case Of You is up with Prince’s best covers. In between the studio releases came Prince’s first official live albums. It’s frustrating that One Nite Alone…Live! focuses on The Rainbow Children, as even Candy Dulfer, Maceo Parker and Sheila E can’t turn those songs into gold, though given Raspberry Beret and Strange Relationship to mess around with, it’s sometimes golden. Recorded during Prince’s late-night post-show jamming sessions, …The Aftershow is tighter than its parent album – check out the sumptuous Girls And Boys.