The Truth (Album)
| The Truth | ||||
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| Prince's studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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admission |
Fall 1996 |
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| Label (s) | NPG Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
43:25 |
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| occupation | All songs were produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince. The following people completed the recordings:
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Studio (s) |
Paisley Park Studio ( Chanhassen ) |
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The Truth ( English for Truth ) is the 21st studio album of the US musician Prince . It was released on January 29, 1998 by his music label NPG Records and is the fifth album that he released under his unpronounceable symbol as a pseudonym . The Truth is an acoustic album and is only available as a bonus CD to Prince's 20th studio album, Crystal Ball (1998). Initially the album could only be purchased through Prince's website at the time . It was only in December 2015 was The Truth as a separate album at Tidal as a download available, since 2018 it also offer other music streaming - services to.
The music of The Truth belongs to the genres of funk , pop , R&B and rock music . Prince did not do any music promotion to speak of, and commercially it did not achieve gold or platinum status internationally . Most music critics rated The Truth positively.
Emergence
After Prince finished his album Emancipation in October 1996 , he recorded all of The Truth's songs in his Paisley Park studio in Chanhassen , Minnesota , in the fall of 1996 . Originally, the album was to be released worldwide by the music label EMI-Capitol, with which Prince had signed a contract. But in April 1997 this label belonging to the EMI Group was closed and the release plans could not be realized. Instead, Prince announced that the Truth could be ordered online as a limited edition compact cassette from May 1997 via his website 1-800-New-Funk. But for reasons unknown to the public, he rejected this plan. Ultimately, The Truth was only released in late January 1998 as a bonus CD for the Crystal Ball box set .
Design of the cover
Since The Truth is integrated into the Crystal Ball box set as a bonus CD , the album does not have a separate cover . Art director and photographer Steve Parke (* 1963) was responsible for the cover design of the unpublished edition as a compact cassette . He was disappointed with the non-publication; he had already completed a “complete layout” and said that the photo he took of Prince was “also quite good”, but as a CD cover it was “great”. Prince gives away the unpublished compact cassette to friends and colleagues such as sound engineer Hans-Martin Buff. The copyright mark on the CD is dated "1997" even though the album was released in January 1998.
Music and lyrics
The music on the album falls into the genres of funk , soul , contemporary R&B , pop music and rock music . While an acoustic guitar is consistently the dominant accompaniment instrument, Prince added embellishments and plays bass guitar , percussion, and keyboard in many songs . He wrote the two pieces Animal Kingdom and Man in a Uniform with Rhonda Smith, who was the bassist in his backing band The New Power Generation at the time. In addition to his characteristic falsetto singing , Prince also uses lower voices.
According to sound engineer Hans-Martin Buff, Prince recorded the first two songs, The Truth and Don't Play Me, "from start to finish in one go," exactly as they can be heard on the album. Both songs lend an at times intimate atmosphere. The sparse staging of The Truth contains a typical Prince scream in the final chorus . Don't Play Me has some unusual sound effects that can be heard subtly in the background; for example, you can hear the sound of a radio jumping from station to station.
Circle of Amour has one of the more memorable tunes on the album and is about how four friends from Central High School form a sex circle. 3rd Eye is about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden . In the lyrics of Dionne to Prince sees as a spurned lover who her the " Champs Elysees under the sun could have shown" or its "until dawn" to the music of Henry Mancini could have danced. As inspiration for the lyrics, Prince used a girl who lived in London, he said in 1998. In real life, he could have meant the American Dionne Farris (born December 4, 1969), former singer with the band Arrested Development ; Farris said after Prince's death in an interview in October 2017 that she met him in 1995, "exchanged numbers" and stayed in contact with him for three years. It is not known to the public whether the two had an affair with each other.
In Man in a Uniform , Prince describes the female fantasy of wanting to have sex with a man in a uniform . Animal Kingdom contains some unusual recordings, such as a distorted lead vocals and a guitar solo played backwards . In the lyrics, Prince describes the joys of veganism . In The Other Side of the Pillow, sung exclusively in falsetto, Prince desires a woman who is both "cool as the other side of the pillow" and "depraved as Bonnie" by Bonnie and Clyde . The song is also available as a live version on his album One Nite Alone… Live! (2002). Fascination has influences from the Calypso musical style ; Hans-Martin Buff said US drummer David "Fingers" Haynes recorded the bass drum on the song , which Prince did not mention in the credits. As Prince claims in the lyrics to One of Your Tears , the song was created out of revenge for a used condom sent by his lover.
Prince plays comeback exclusively on an acoustic guitar; in the lyrics of the song he affirms his belief in the afterlife , including the lines of text “If you have lost a loved one, never think that he has left you. He will come back ”. Prince said he wrote the song for a "lost friend". It has been speculated that he indirectly addressed the death of his son in October 1996, which Mayte Garcia , Prince's wife at the time, confirmed in her autobiography from 2017; he was actually inspired by her late son in the lyrics.
The lyrics of Welcome 2 the Dawn (Acoustic Version) are about the importance and responsibility of making the right decisions. Prince had already released the song in January 1997, one year before the release date of the album The Truth , as the B-side of the promo compact cassette The Holy River . The compact cassette was only sold through the international book retailer Borders Group , which became insolvent in 2011 .
List of titles and publications
| No. | song | author | length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Truth | Prince | 3:33 |
| 2 | Don't play me | Prince | 2:47 |
| 3 | Circle of Amour | Prince | 4:43 |
| 4th | 3rd eye | Prince | 4:53 |
| 5 | Dionne | Prince | 3:10 |
| 6th | Man in a uniform | Prince, Rhonda Smith | 3:05 |
| 7th | Animal Kingdom | Prince, Rhonda Smith | 4:01 |
| 8th | The Other Side of the Pillow | Prince | 3:20 |
| 9 | Fascination | Prince | 4:55 |
| 10 | One of Your Tears | Prince | 3:27 |
| 11 | comeback | Prince | 1:59 |
| 12 | Welcome 2 the Dawn (Acoustic Version) | Prince | 3:17 |
The Truth was released on January 29, 1998 as a bonus CD for the Crystal Ball box set . Initially, the album could only be ordered through Prince's website at the time. On December 3, 2015. The Truth as a separate album at Tidal than downloading published and since August 2018 can with other music streaming - services are downloaded.
Single releases
On February 14, 1997, a year before the album was released, Prince brought the title track as a limited CD single for a purchase price of US $ 15 (around DM 25 at the time ) via his then website 1-800-New-Funk.com out. In addition to the song The Truth , the second track on the CD single is Don't Play Me . Prince did not produce music videos for songs from The Truth album .
Cover versions
Only two cover versions are known of the album songs: the two Norwegians Sofian and Ole Staveteig released a new version of The Truth on the 5-CD box Shockadelica - 50th Anniversary Tribute to Prince , on the occasion of Prince's 50th birthday in June 2008. In June In 2020 Maceo Parker covered the song The Other Side of the Pillow and brought it out on his album.
reception
Press
Music journalists wrote for The Truth Although receptions , which were mostly positive, but gave the album not have a rating score. The scores given relate to the entire Crystal Ball box set .
Mike Goldsmith of the British music magazine New Musical Express was enthusiastic about The Truth and gave seven out of ten points. He described the album as a “minor revelation” and said it was Prince's “unplugged album” on which he “easily” glided between musical genres such as 1960s soul, acoustic funk and easy listening . Goldsmith particularly praised the track Comeback , which sounds like nothing Prince had ever recorded before.
Denver Sidewalk and Mark Brown of the Internet portal Sidewalk.com , now known as Ask.com , awarded four stars out of five. The album seems "sharp, jagged and lively". Prince's voice alone is "so convincing that you can hardly say how good the songs are". The play Circle of Amour is "one of the most beautiful ballads" that he has written in a long time; the execution and production are perfect. The Animal Kingdom lyrics about veganism were described by Sidewalk and Brown as "a bit crazy at times" and an "anti-milk anthem".
James Hunter from the US music magazine Rolling Stone gave three and a half stars out of five. On the title track, Prince works like Tracy Chapman's older brother, "the formal genius". It is interesting to hear him without his usual musical constructs. With songs like Don't Play Me and One of Your Tears he reconstructs his sensational studio style and polishes everything on one or two guitar lines to a fine shine. "The shocker" of the album is the ballad Circle of Amour, reminiscent of Joni Mitchell , with a quietly turned rhythm track.
The music critics David Wilson and John Alroy gave three out of five stars. Some songs like the “gloomy” title track and “the gentle love song” The Other Side of the Pillow are “focused and captivating”. The album's “bare sound” is “effective”, provided Prince adheres to it, because “too often he can't let it be good enough”; For example, background noise or unnecessary keyboard parts like in the song Don't Play Me were disturbing . In addition, the album filled "a lot" of songs from the genre Easy Listening, such as Circle of Amour , Dionne and Fascination - soft rock in the style of Steely Dan is not Prince's strength. In contrast, Animal Kingdom is "shockingly good". In conclusion, Wilson and Alroy said, like most of Prince's works from the late 1990s, The Truth "has no appeal to the general public."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic also gave three out of five stars. The Truth is "a great little record" with a similar feel to the album Chaos and Disorder (1996), but with stronger material. It is a pleasure to hear Prince "work in such a structured way", he delivers an "entertaining pop record" with influences of blues and soul and proves that he has "not lost his gifts".
Jim Walsh of St. Paul Pioneer Press said he was very disappointed with the album. Many pieces contained Prince's finger snapping , an invented drum part that is spontaneously "spat" from his lips, a few sparse decorations, background noises and acoustic guitars that "would make Leo Kottke grin". In addition, Prince philosophizes unnecessarily and excessively in his lyrics. Songs like the "wooden looking" Man in a Uniform , "the pedestrian ballad" One of Your Tears and "the reincarnation infusion" comeback , as well as "a few summery, light confectionery pieces" like Circle of Amour are "easy to forget". Walsh described the piece Dionne as a "sluggish, slide-guitar flavored R&B song that floats on Prince's sweet falsetto." The Other Side of the Pillow is a “nonchalant love song” with a “kitschy background choir” and “equally kitschy text”. Walsh did not give the album a note.
Per Nilsen, author of several Prince books, was also disappointed with The Truth . He was of the opinion that a lot of music was sluggish and a little dark. Freed from Prince's usual elaborate arrangements and production techniques, the songs and melodies have to stand on their own, which is essentially the problem with the album: Many songs are harmoniously too monotonous and have melodies that hardly move up and down. In addition, half of the songs rely on tried and tested blues progressions and harmonies. The result is that most of the music is uneventful, sometimes at the risk of being boring. Some of the songs sounded rushed and unfinished, and only a few made a definite or lasting impression.
Charts
In March 1998, The Truth in combination with Crystal Ball reached number 62 on the US hit parade and stayed there for a total of five weeks. No chart positions are known in other countries. Crystal Ball was sold about 175,000 times worldwide, including sales on Prince's website at the time.
literature
- Jason Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). Chartwell Books, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-7858-3497-7 , OCLC 953599494 .
- Matt Thorne: Prince - The Biography. Edel Germany GmbH, Hamburg, 2017, ISBN 978-3-8419-0523-9 , OCLC 966421361 .
- Mayte Garcia : The Most Beautiful Girl: My Life With Prince. mvg Verlag, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-86882-897-9 , OCLC 1014191154 .
- Mobeen Azhar: Prince 1958–2016: His life in pictures and text. Edition Olms, Oetwil am See / Zurich 2016, ISBN 978-3-283-01265-6 , OCLC 951825985 .
- Uptown: The Vault - The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince. Nilsen Publishing, Linköping 2004, ISBN 91-631-5482-X , OCLC 186521364 .
Web links
- Princevault.com , information on The Truth album
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 410.
- ↑ Thorne (2017), p. 338.
- ↑ a b Azhar (2016), p. 90.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Uptown (2004), p. 411.
- ↑ a b c d e Thorne (2017), p. 339.
- ↑ Terrance: Dionne Farris Interview: Celebrating 20 Years of 'Hopeless'. In: rnbjunkieofficial.com. October 6, 2017, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Garcia (2018), p. 295.
- ↑ Garcia (2018), p. 388.
- ^ The Artist (Formerly Known As Prince) - The Holy River. In: discogs.com. 2020, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Draper (2016), p. 140.
- ^ The Truth. In: princevault.com. September 1, 2018, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Various –– Shockadelica: 50th Anniversary Tribute to The Artist Known As Prince. In: discogs.com. 2020, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Draper (2016), p. 141.
- ↑ Mike Goldsmith: NME: The Artist - Crystal Ball. In: princetext.tripod.com. 1998, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ^ Denver Sidewalk and Mark Brown: Crystal Clear. In: princetext.tripod.com. February 12, 1998, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ James Hunter: Crystal Ball. In: princetext.tripod.com. 1998, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ^ David Wilson and John Alroy: Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews - The Truth. In: warr.org. 1998, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Prince - Crystal Ball. In: allmusic.com. March 3, 1998, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Jim Walsh: 'Adult' artist again takes musical shots at the industry. In: princetext.tripod.com. February 26, 1998, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ CSPC: Prince Popularity Analysis. In: chartmasters.org. October 4, 2018, accessed January 3, 2020 .