Prince & the New Power Generation
Diamonds and Pearls (Super Deluxe Edition)
WARNER
The original version of 1991’s Diamonds and Pearls came just in the nick of time to save Prince’s then-flailing career: The record’s 1988 predecessor Lovesexy became his least successful album since 1981, while his film and accompanying music for 1990’s Graffiti Bridge was a mess. Pushed by Warners’ execs to come up with a smash, Prince did something he rarely ever did in the past: he tapped into the then-current landscape of R&B and hip-hop, dominated by Teddy Riley’s new jack swing dynasty, the slick soul of Jam & Lewis, and the popification of rap, and righteously concocted the salted-caramelly Diamonds and Pearls.
Carried out with his most flexibly rhythmic and fusion-everything New Power Generation ensemble (then featuring jazz drummer Michael Bland, bassists Sonny T. and Levi Seacer Jr., along with keyboardist-singer Rosie Gaines), Prince found a fresh approach to new music in a manner equal to that of his hero Miles Davis. How Miles-loving was Prince? See the trad-jazz of the instrumental “Letter 4 Miles,” one of this release’s many Vault finds.
Spruced up with an even greater bottom end than the 1991 original, the 2023 Super Deluxe Edition over-emphasizes the punchy basslines of “Money Don’t Matter 2 Night” and “Gett Off,” the latter with its innuendo-laden come-ons. The remastered album up-jumps the boogie on the baritone nether-brass of “Cream” while capturing the warm, stormy-weather whoosh of “Insatiable” and the epic title track. Even emcee Tony M.’s raps, which didn’t sound so fresh the first time around, suddenly seem nimble and more cutting with age (at least Public Enemy’s Chuck D thinks so, as he and Prince biographer Duane Tudahl complete the history of Diamonds and Pearls with essays and info-packed liner notes on every track).
As rarities are the bonus beat of every new Prince deluxe reissue, this one benefits from over 30 never-before-heard “Vault” tracks—or heard first from other artists for whom Prince wrote—as well as a Blu-ray of his Live at Glam Slam Minneapolis concert captured in January of 1992. This time out, the finds include the haunted blues of “I Pledge Allegiance to Your Love,” the era-appropriate, slick soul balladry of “Standing at the Altar,” the slow, forlorn funk of “My Tender Heart,” and the rude R&B of “Open Book”—each featuring the vocalist in his finest, fullest flower as a lover man extraordinaire. The catty, over-heated “Work That Fat” and the loopy, 1999-esque “Alice Through the Looking Glass” are quaintly dated, but cool to hear, as is the not-so-new but still-jacked-up swing of “Skip to My You My Darling.”
The Glam Slam concert alone is worth the price of admission of the Super Deluxe package, which in total includes 12 LPs or seven CDs, not counting the Blu-ray. Here, Prince and his NPG rev up, blister down, and vamp their asses off through the Diamonds and Pearls tracklist along with busting up the stage on heady medleys such as “Cream” / “Well Done” / “I Want U”/ “In the Socket” and the mightier-still “1999” / “Baby I’m a Star” / “Push.”
