The Hits, The B Sides, Prince (Warner) PRINCE often had to find ways around his record company, Warner, to get material out. Warner was anxious not to saturate the market. Left in its hands his career would have been far less prolific. The Hits/The B Sides Collectors Edition should be grabbed while you can.
This three CD 56-track boxed set is not packed with fluff. (Prince has produced little of that during his career anyway). And there are even five previously unreleased tracks.
During 15 years at the helm of his own pop sub-culture, Prince has managed to keep up a breathtaking output of material. He has been his own producer from day one and on most of his work he has arranged and played the lead instruments himself.
A perfectionist and an exhibitionist he has pulled off the ultimate pop-hero stunt, managing to carve his own niche and maintain control of his image. So secure is his position he has been able to swallow failure a number of times and emerge with dignityand, many would say, a little wiser.
Prince has not excelled in the hit department. There simply aren't enough chart successes to put together a chronological collection over three volumes. The diamonds like Kiss, When Doves Cry, 1999 and his biggest hit Purple Rain are placed at well-paceddistances, kept apart by lesser gems such as Alphabet Street, Little Red Corvette and U Got the Look.
Little curios abound, such as the live rendition of Nothing Compares to You, the one he gave away to Sinead O'Connor in 1988. Prince's version is as far from the Irish lass's tear-laden rendition as Minneapolis is from Belfast. It has lighter interludes but the song is equally powerful and perfectly at home with its creator.