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Prince
There is very, very little doubt that this collection is gonna piss Prince off. Remember when he appeared on television with the word ‘Slave’ painted on his face as a means of communicating publicly his outrage and anger for his (then) record label, Warner Brothers? Well, “Ultimate Prince” will do nothing to allay that anger, since it is a blatant attempt by Warner Brothers to capitalize (once again) on their catalog of Prince classics. The real problem, though, is that based on disk one of this two-disk collection, it is hard to see the point for this release. Virtually every track that appears on the first disk of this 2-disk collection already made an appearance on the previous Warner Brothers-based hits collection called “The Hits” (which was also marketed with a third disk as “The Hits/The B-Sides”), so it is at best a redundant listening experience. Furthermore, most of these tracks have been so saturated with airplay in the ‘80s that they now sound relatively dated - who hasn’t heard “1999” or “When Doves Cry” thousands of times already?
And yet, this collection has something to recommend it. Disk two culls special mixes of songs that are not featured at all on disk one, which means that “Ultimate Prince” is never redundant, as it splits Prince’s back catalog into two distinct halves. Disk one has all of the ‘classic’ mixes (ho-hum), while disk two plays with the listener a little bit by featuring dance remixes and extended versions of all-too-familiar material. In most instances, these remixes are good enough to revitalize the songs. “Let’s Go Crazy” has an extended instrumental break that only adds to the off-kilter tension of the original, while “Kiss” and “Cream” take advantage of their heavy grooves by driving them harder and farther than the original singles mixes. “Ultimate Prince” may not contain anything to genuinely surprise you, but it is valuable for casual fans and collectors who missed a few of these extended remixes. Meanwhile, though, don’t forget that Prince has an excellent new album, too.
Grade: 
 
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