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Prince
Listening to this disk, I can’t help but wonder if Prince might have stayed too long at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. I mean, I wonder if the guy has gone totally loony, or if he just needs some fresh air. Another possibility is that he is no longer concerned whether anyone likes his music or not, and he is making music for his own sake now. On The Rainbow Children, Prince sounds as if he’s been stewing in his own juices for too long. This is perhaps the most self-obsessed, solipsistic record I’ve ever heard. You don’t need a doctorate in theological psychology to see that Prince has set himself up as an iconic figure, with the ‘Rainbow Children’ representing his inner core of followers.
The Rainbow Children is a theme album, but it might be better described as a ‘funk opera’. A funk opera? Either way, the story line makes about as much sense as that description does. If Prince were half as spellbinding as we all know he is capable of being, I could put up with whatever pretense he conjures. Unfortunately, though, most of this CD is….. boring. Maybe all of those multi-disk packages he’s been releasing has dried him up, but it sounds more like he has abandoned any conveyable sense of direction. The production is still fascinating, and the musicianship is truly awesome throughout, but there is little to latch onto. The subject matter is Biblical in nature, but makes little sense in the context of a pop artist communing with his fan base, unless of course, said pop artist developed some type of ‘God’ complex. It’s all so weird, and I couldn’t help thinking that at any moment he was going to tell everyone to drink their allotted amount of Kool-Aid.
The best tracks on the disk appear late in the program. Until then, there are moments that are almost excruciatingly ridiculous. "Family Name" and "The Everlasting Now" are my picks for the two best tracks on the album, appearing as tracks 12 and 13, respectively, and even they lose some momentum when the Artist Once Again Known as Prince lapses back into the album’s theme with some quasi-jazz funk themes. At one point, he shoots for some all-too-obvious humor, playing a scene where a fan says, "Y’know this is funky, but I wish you’d make music like you used…" and then SLAP!!! He knows what we’re thinking, but just doesn’t want to hear it. This just makes it all the more obvious that The Rainbow Children is an extremely self-conscious effort made by somebody who has withdrawn from normal contact with the outside world. I’m thinking that Prince ought to get outside and take a walk, before the remainder of his fan base tells him to take a hike.
Grade: 
 
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