Original artwork for the downloadable versions of The Truth prior to the 2023 reissue image: NPG Records / Prince Estate
The Perks Of Exclusivity (For The Artist)
A strange thing happened to Prince’s career in the late 90’s. In some ways, you could be forgiven for thinking that he all but disappeared. In terms of public visibility, if you were not already a fan, Prince probably appears to have released three or four more albums in his lifetime. The real number, even counting double and triple albums as one, is at least twenty.
That sounds like Prince spent the last years of his life singing into the darkness, putting out album after album that nobody cared about. This is not the case, even though that seemed to be the narrative in the press, especially during the 0(+> years. What actually happened was Prince finally saw where the music industry was heading, and got ahead of the curve instead of being swept along in its wake.
True, in terms of the predominant sound, he would never truly be “relevant” again, but in terms of the business end of things and audience engagement, Prince was about to begin a process that would catapult him decades ahead of his peers. That process, which began with Emancipation, but would get fully underway with the release of Kamasutra and The Truth as part of the Crystal Ball package, would be rocky and full of mistakes and setbacks, and at one point Prince would even abandon it entirely, but it set the stage for many other artists who have come along since to follow his example.
In this case, Prince wanted to find ways to make his audience happy to receive music that wouldn’t normally be considered accessible in the normal context of Prince’s music. The first test for this was to include Kamasutra, a suite of music intended for the NPG Dance Company’s touring production as part of the direct order version of Crystal Ball. The idea seems to have been to throw it in and see how people reacted.
The Lost Is Found
On October 17, 1997, the NPG Dance Company premiered their show “Around The World In A Day” in Detroit. Larry Graham also attended with Prince, who appears to have postponed a tour date in Las Vegas to be there for the performance. “Around The World In A Day” had three acts. The first was older material from Prince’s Warner years, the third was new material from after the name change, and the second act was Kamasutra. As far as I can tell, this is the only time the show was performed, although I assume there were more dates on the tour. But not that many.
Kamasutra as a musical work was put together over a couple of years, largely between December 1994 and May 1995, with additional recording and orchestral arrangements by Clare Fischer happening sporadically all the way through Summer 1996. Much of the music was originally intended for a third Madhouse album, and so the basic tracks feature just Prince and Eric Leeds. Clare Fischer had his own musicians that he worked with, so the bulk of the musicians on the album are session players chosen by Fischer.
There’s really no point in going track-by-track with Kamasutra because it’s so obviously meant to be listened to as a complete work. Over the course of the album a few musical themes are introduced and developed over and over, often in conversation with each other. The most distinguishing feature of the album is that it is the rare work that exposes Prince’s limitations as a musician and a composer.
The NPG Orchestra = Prince, Eric Leeds and Clare Fisher. Image: NPG Records / Prince Estate
The Plan
It’s not a bad album by any stretch. When I listened to it in preparation to write this I hadn’t listened to Kamasutra in years and I remembered it being far cheezier, and even poorly mixed. That was not my experience this time. It’s not cheezy so much as Prince in a little over his head as far as his ambitions as a composer go. For me, the highlight of the album is “Kamasutra / Overture #8,” largely because it is the closest thing on the album to a pure Madhouse track.
“In a more formal jazz context, Prince lacked the full harmonic vocabulary that even the most conservative jazz musicians took for granted.”
-Eric Leeds, 2015
Prince is trying to compose something very close to a traditional ballet. He was obviously familiar with some of the history of ballet music and how and why forms of music other than classical have blended in with ballet over time, and he clearly was trying to use that to give himself some stylistic wiggle room because he knew he was not a classical musician.
The problem he had when he attempted to throw jazz and funk into ballet was not so much that things like this hadn’t been attempted before, but that he personally had a hard time accomplishing the task. In 1937, George Gershwin attempted much the same trick when he composed the score for “Shall We Dance,” but for all his genius, Prince was not George Gershwin – a classically trained musician who also had a wide background in the popular music forms of his time.
So, while Kamasutra is an interesting work, it is ultimately a middling, nonessential album in the Prince discography. Its only releases on physical media are the original cassette release and the CD release as part of Crystal Ball. During his lifetime, Prince did make it available on his own download stores and it’s now on Tidal and several other streaming platforms and download services. Especially if you have a Tidal subscription, it's worth checking out, but like I said, it's a middling work. His later instrumental albums are all much more satisfying.
My original copy of The Truth has exactly this much packaging and liner notes. image: NPG Records / Prince Estate
What If Half The Things Ever Said Turned Out To Be A Lie?
The idea that Prince would release his own “unplugged” album is still surprising to me. Although, full disclosure: The Truth is not the “solo acoustic guitar and voice” album its billing claims. Like his “Live” albums and his “Solo Piano And Voice” album One Nite Alone, it’s more accurate to say that the sound is focused in the direction of the stated theme as opposed to strictly adherent to that sound as a rule.
On the other hand, over the weekend, I mentioned The Truth to my partner and she indicated that my prior mentions of it made it seem like the album was no good. This is not the case. It is among Prince’s best albums between 1995-2005. It’s just that it’s not so much “unplugged” as “acoustic guitar forward.” And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Just be ready for various vocal effects, a few acoustic and electric pianos, some acoustic and computerized drums, acoustic, electric and sequenced bass, and other instruments as well. They are used sparingly, but they do intrude on the “acoustic” nature of the proceedings.
Tracklist
The Truth / Don’t Play Me
The first two tracks on the album were both recorded on December 1, 1996 in a single, continuous take. They are among the closest to the advertised “solo acoustic guitar and voice,” but there are multi-tracked vocals and a few effects.
“The Truth” is a variation on a 12-Bar Blues, and it definitely has that “back porch” ambience combined with clean studio sound that I associate with recordings by Keb’ Mo, Chris Thomas King and other latter-day acoustic blues players. It has an odd distinction among Prince tracks as well: I’m pretty sure this is the very last time Prince uses the f-word in a song. He played this song during acoustic sets for the rest of his life, and the ease with which he removed the offending curse says that perhaps he didn’t need it in the first place.
This is cover art for a direct order single (very rare) that is the only promo material for the album. Image: NPG Records / Prince Estate
“Don’t Play Me” would be the kind of song I would skip if it didn’t have an amazing guitar lick rolling along beneath it. Prince had been accused of whining about his treatment by the press and his record company before, and I felt that was largely unwarranted. This song, however, is pretty whiny, lyrically speaking. It is worth a listen, though, if only for the guitar work and the short run time.
Circle Of Amour
At a time when Prince was angling away from more explicit language and lascivious content in his music, this voyeuristic fantasy out of a teenage boy’s imagination about three high school cheerleaders and their slightly Goth friend Denise would stand out a lot more if Prince didn’t also try to add so much genuine affection into the characters (including himself). It’s the kind of song that never would have made any album if not for this one, and I’ve never been sure how I feel about it. It’s simultaneously a weird attempt at “Hot Wet American Summer” kind of nostalgia and pointlessly lurid erotica. And it’s kind of a good song?
This one actually is fully acoustic except for some light drum programming by Kirk Johnson.
3rd Eye
I like this song, but I have absolutely no idea what the hell it’s supposed to be about. The original CD I got with Crystal Ball had basically no information with it, but I looked up the lyrics online. Not that the words Prince was singing weren’t clear, I just hoped that being able to see them on a page would help me to make sense of it all.
Nope.
It seems to have something to do with the Bible, time travel, and sex.
Anyway, it’s a great song even if it does sound like a mystical mad-lib. Acoustic bass guitar by Rhonda Smith anchors the whole sound nicely. Even from these early contributions, it’s easy to see why Prince kept her around for so long.
Dionne
One of the more whimsical songs on the album, a kind of wistful look back at having your heart broken. This is one of two songs on this album that are supposedly based on Prince being jilted by Dionne Farris. The chorus and bridge have arrangements so elaborate and lush it’s easy to forget that yes, this is all basically acoustic.
Man In A Uniform
I’m not sure I believe Princevault’s credit listing on this. Rhonda Smith has a credit as co-writer on the music, but is not listed as having played on the track. I’m going to call that unlikely. I’m pretty sure that’s Rhonda on bass.
It’s a song that sounds like what you would expect Prince to play around the bonfire at his own Labor Day cookout. It’s a shame he never played it live.
Animal Kingdom
At some point in the mid-90’s Prince became a vegan. It seems like near the end of of his life he may have started eating eggs, dairy and fish again, but at this point in his life he was very strictly against animal products in his food, personal care products and clothing. This song is the most explicit expression of that in his work.
The Other Side Of The Pillow
My favorite song on this album. A bluesy, swinging little tune in the key of E, it’s a great song that is recorded in a way that showcases this particular performance well. Everything is high in the mix and Prince is miked so close you can literally hear him smile. He played this song live regularly only through 2002 or so, and I think that was a terrible decision. This one should have been in the setlist as much as any of his biggest hits. I am sad I never saw this one live. Plus, not for nothing, but “You’re cool as the other side of the pillow” is a lyrical turn of phrase as good as anything else he ever came up with. He should have kept playing it until it turned into a hit.
Fascination
This was one of the last songs recorded for the album, over Easter weekend 1997, and it is the only full band performance on the album. This features the 1997-1998 NPG: Rhonda Smith on (acoustic) bass, Kirk Johnson on percussion and vocals, Kat Dyson on percussion and vocals (her usual instrument was lead guitar), Mike Scott played a guitar solo (he usually played rhythm), and another (non-NPG) drummer named David Haynes also contributed.
It's definitely a full-band effort and it sounds unlike anything else on the album, but in a good way. Almost like Prince was trying to create an insurance policy if he needed another single for the album for some reason.
One Of Your Tears
The other song on the album inspired by Dionne Farris. For something that was such a brief episode in his life (apparently) he got two great songs out of it. This one takes a minute to find its feet, but it’s worth the wait.
Rhonda Smith is on bass here and Kirk Johnson programmed drums.
Comeback
Recorded in the first week of December 1996, this is a brief song, clocking in at only two minutes, it’s easily the shortest power ballad Prince ever recorded. Probably one of the shortest ever recorded. This is clearly Prince trying to process his grief at losing his son, trying to find a story that makes sense to tell himself.
Welcome 2 The Dawn (acoustic version)
The album goes out on a positive note, and it leaves the listener wanting more, but this is the only acoustic guitar album he ever released. It remains to be seen if more songs like these are in the vault.
This song’s designation as an acoustic version seems to say that somewhere there is a version of “Welcome 2 The Dawn” that has electric instruments on it instead, but that has never made it into the wild as far as I can tell, except as a brief snippet used as hold music while waiting for a sales associate on the 1-800 NEW-FUNK lines.
Reissue Incoming!
Art for the vinyl reissue. Image: NPG Records / Prince Estate
The Truth was out of print for a long time. The only physical media release was the 1998 CD release that I’ve been talking about in this essay…until 2020. For Record Store Day that year, there was a limited edition vinyl pressing made available, which sounds amazing, and really made me realize what Prince’s engineer at the time, Hans-Martin Buff used to say about Prince wanting to mix everything so hot it was difficult to master his work for CD. Anyway – that was it, and the vinyl pressing was very limited, I think less than 10,000 copies. But this June, there will be a wide release of The Truth on vinyl, along with a similar wide release of The Gold Experience. These are both AMAZING albums, and are more than worth your money. Watch this space, and I will mention them again when they are available.
NEXT WEEK: The NPG release their final album (but y’all know it’s just a Prince record, right?) with NewPower Soul and along with it comes a companion piece in the form of a live EP called The War.
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