RSSUntrammeled by Newman's somewhat haphazard-seeming book, these songs are rich. They mock rock, religion, musical comedy, the classix, and American culture all at once. God is a palavering politician, the Devil a midlife whiner, Faust a bigger creep than both of them put together. Yet the pleasure Newman takes in his own artistic hubris is so ebullient that his satiric vision never turns cheap or shallow, as it has in the past--the love songs he gives Ronstadt and Raitt are his warmest ever. Musical comedy is the perfect medium for his unique synthesis of soundtrack grandeur, blues-savvy studio rock, and general Americana. If he ever does reach Broadway with this thing, he'll put Hair and Tommy to shame--and maybe Sondheim, too.
The Artist Formerly Known as Prince hasn't been as far gone as his pathetic or tragic attempt to reconstitute his artistic identity leads some to think. This is not to predict that The Gold Experience (Warner Bros./NPG) will completely revive his commercial identity. But it is to insist that the strongest tracks here--namely, P Control and Endorphinmachine--funk and rock as outrageously and originally as anything he's ever recorded.
Playboy, Oct. 1995
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Sept. 1995 | Jan. 1996 |  |