My early years took place in that terrible time of flux as the 80s closed and the 90s opened up.
The Berlin Wall was crumbling, Thatcher was on her way out, the greed-is-good years were still in full swing. So how the hell did the grown-ups of this era not do better than Saved by the Bell, Baywatch and Pat Sharp?s inhumane hair?
Thankfully we've been able to brush most of this era under the now-tastefully-plain carpet and are free to enjoy The Hoff?s slide into implosive alcoholism without red Speedos sullying anyone?s eyes.? However, this weekend saw a blast from the past. Much like long-forgotten pictures of you sporting yesteryear?s fashion you may remember this particular blast fondly, but would never admit that to your friends. PRINCE IS BACK!
OK, so Prince never really went anywhere, he's not really stopped cashing in on his days at the top. But more than that, He's actually been releasing at least one album every two years since 1978. His latest 20Ten has probably created the most fuss about the tiny, gender-bending tunester since he changed his name into ?Love Symbol #2?. Tool. So explosively exciting world-stoppingly remarkable is this new release that it's being given away free in The Mirror.
Oh come on! This is Prince! I'd expect some roaringly camp announcement of purple smoke, explosions and deed polling, not a freebie that's more likely to be tossed out with the recycling than be listened to. But having had a listen, that seems about right. Prince is trying to recycle his 80s/90s sound.
Fashion goes in 20-year cycles, it's the only reason flares aren't totally extinct and the jumpsuit seems to reappear once in a while. Thankfully music doesn't do this quite so much, there's always a slightly new take on the original. Someone should tell Prince.
The album opens with the familiar and dated crash of electro-synth and drum machines that we all got bored of by about 1993. It's angering to listen to the tiny bloke rolling out the same pompous toss, only it's new so we can't get nostalgic about it and are forced to admit that it's just crap.
The third track on the album, Future Soul Song, is as overbearing as it sounds, trying too hard to capture the ambience of the opening bars of Purple Rain, but sounds more like the soundtrack of a particularly clumsy porn film. The whole album continues on this vein, being dated and wildly uninteresting, never coming close to the highly marketable bulls-eye of ?this song might be tacky wank but I had some great times when it was on.? Hell, it even misses the dartboard of ?this is tolerable to listen to?.
I wonder if the symbol has seen what a great rise in sales Michael Jackson has had in the last year and thinks all the 80s stars are on the up. If we're not careful Terence Trent D?Arby will reappear with an equally forgettable release.
Thankfully 20Ten only cost me 65p and I did get a whole newspaper full of stories about mad Geordies with guns, which makes me think – Raoul Moat called it quits at about 1am, probably about the same time The Mirror was starting to deliver 20Ten to the nation. It all starts to make sense now.
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JMTaylor says
Disagree, I thought 20ten was great. I realise it is much easier to write negative reviews than positive ones (hell I do it myself all the time) but did you actually listen to the thing more than once? Do I detect a hint of snobbery that it was given out free with the tabloids? Oh and it wasn’t just the tabloids who wrote about Raoul Moat, at least one of the broad-sheets had an in-depth analysis on the topic. Am guessing that the use of the ‘mad geordie’ tag is because you are looking down your oh so refined southern nose at anything that doesn’t happen or come out of London.