Any reviewer that gives New Power Soul less than 5 stars doesn't know what they hell they are talking about. This is definitely one of Prince's finest and funkiest works to date. I defy you to listen to "New Power Soul", "Mad Sex", and "Push It Up" and NOT shake your ass! And somebody please tell me why a brilliant song like "When U Love Somebody" isn't played on the radio every 10 minutes?! The only complaint I have about this album is the shortage of guitar. But where it lacks in guitar it more than makes it up with stone, cold funky horn arrangements. You want the funk?!?! You can't HANDLE the funk! If you think you can, then buy this CD...turn it up loud, and groove with one of the most amazing musicians of this century. New Power Soul y'all!

Wtih this album, the "Artist" really hit a nadir after a long, disappointing slide into irrelevance and self-indulgence which began - arguably - with 1992's "Symbol" album.

This is bland "party" music, with a capital "B" - although there are a couple of nice touches here and there such as the instrumental coda to "If You Love Somebody", "New Power Soul" is totally lacking in any excitement, originality or great songs.

When you think of what the guy is capable of, you can understand why he was loathe to put his own name as the "artist" or as Prince or whatever to this utterly insignificant recording (it was credited to the NPG). This one really is for the diehards (like me!) only.

PS. If you wanna check out some quality post-"Diamonds & Pearls" stuff by the Purple One, I would invest in "The Gold Experience", his most satisfying 90's collection or check out his latest, "The Rainbow Children" - a startling return to something approaching Prince form.

the one and come on are alright but far from anything worth owning on this filler happy album.very weak disc.

This is my first review on a Prince album. I can not beleive there are reviews that negative about this gem! I mean sure we all have different tastes and we are not alike, thankfully. Anyone who says this album is not any good, has really not even listened to it at all, AT ALL, seriously, this has got to be the most creative, sexual, one of them all, and not to mention all the different styles and effects on this one! "The One" is truly beautiful typical Prince song and all the great stories like on "Shoo-Bed-Ooh", and the hardcore dance grooves like "Freaks on this side" and "New Power Soul" and "Mad Sex" and "Push it up"!!!! Come on now people, please do not keep others from this one, cause this is it! Prince shines on this album, he is at almost his finest!
You all will love this album, trust me, get it, sit back and INJOY! I know I do, even after all these years, and do not let the fact of that there were no songs that were commercial on the cd stop, songs do not need to be commercial to be good!!!

I love Prince, but this is his weakest album to date. Prince actually played some AMAZING shows with Chaka Khan and Larry Graham in support of this album, and he also had complete artistic control making it; knowing this makes NEW POWER SOUL all the more disappointing. It sounds musically uninspired - a lot of Prince's trademark moves are here, the multi-track vocals, the nice licks, risque lyrics, etc. and the production is pretty smooth, but the final result sounds languid. In fact, compared to 1996's EMANCIPATION or 2001's RAINBOW CHILDREN (two better examples of his post-Warner Bros. work), NEW POWER SOUL sounds pretty boring.

"New Power Soul", "Mad Sex", and "Push It Up" have their moments, but they fizzle out quickly. The single "Come On" is the best upbeat tune/jam on this album, but after that first chorus, the funk doesn't hold up. There's some rudimentary bottleneck guitar to shake things up, but it comes off pretty weak. The other single, "The One," did better on the charts, but not enough to be called a 'hit,' not even a modest one; compared to "Adore" or MUSICOLOGY's "Call My Name," "The One" sounds really weak.

The one track worth your time is "Wasted Kisses." It's a hidden track - you have to skip past a whole bunch of blank tracks to track #49 to hear it - and it's a fine ballad. Easily the best thing here by a wide margin, if iTunes's online store ever sells it, I'd get it instead of buying the whole CD.

Luckily, a LOT of people seem to be selling this disc used for $1, so if you find a cheap copy, consider getting it for "Wasted Kisses," but don't pay much more for it.