Prince – Up All Nite With Prince (The One Nite Alone Collection)

Listened to each of the 4 discs twice now and watched the DVD once. Recorded at a time when Prince was far from his most critically successful, the box nonetheless captures everything that made Prince such a once in a lifetime performer.

You have lengthy funk jams, inspired covers of everything from Joni Mitchell to Led Zeppelin, reworks of classics, and of course, gorgeous solo piano numbers which make up the entirety of the first disc (the cover of Case of U is worth the first disc alone). Even the stuff of Rainbow Children (concentrated on disc two) demonstrate how Prince could make some of his more lackluster studio material shine in a live setting.

Discs three and four contain a lot more “classic” Prince (and Revolution) material. Of course, it’s brilliant. As an extra treat, there are some tracks that don’t get the usual live representation (2 Nigs United 4 West Compton, Dorothy Parker are a couple that I was really excited about it particular). Perfect from front to back.

Anyone who complains about the DVD is a stick in the mud. The VHS quality isn’t quite as bad as some might try to make you believe and many of us happily put up with that level of quality for years. It is what it is and at least the sound (which is way more important in this case) is flawless. Also, you get some really outdated video production touches (the inter-song slideshows crackme up every time) and it winds up being as much of a time capsule as you could ask for. The only way it could have been better is if they actually included a VHS in the box set. And once again, there’s a track (Got a Broken Heart Again) that justifies the entire disc, if not the whole set.

Lastly, my one complaint is the packaging. The set is really generous (5 discs with individual paper sleeves and a booklet housed in a slipcase) but the fucker started falling apart on me within the first week of owning it. Slipcase AND paper sleeves. I’ll break out the super glue and it’ll be fine, but still. That’s a weak shelf life. Hopefully the booklet’s bonding doesn’t explode on me the next time I’m flipping through it.

All in all, a great set that showcases Prince teetering on the edge of Adult Contemporary (the early 2000’s were a struggle; look at Prince’s outfit and some photos of the crowd as proof), but sticking the landing like only he could. Here’s hoping we get more live material (an official release of Small Club/Live at The Hague is long overdue), but this is definitely a gift. I miss the man, but have got to hand it to his estate for putting some real time into these releases.

Watching the DVD right now, the music is incredibly good of course, like it must have been experiencing this show live, but the picture is so damn bad, they should have remastered the video bit, I'm sure Prince won't be happy seing this reissued as this, almost VHS quality, SAD...