Prince Album: “94 East: The Artist Formerly Known as Prince”

This is a very early Prince record and shouldn't be judged in comparison with something like "Purple Rain" or even his first album "For You". This is Prince on a roll with a group named 94 East. The songs aren't actually songs rather than exercises with dance music in new fun ways. It's a little bit of whatever you had in mind, funk/dance wise. A whole lot of fun can be found the first two tracks like the synthesizer excess of "One Man Jam" and the R&B club sound of "Dance To The Music Of The World". Jazzy Hip-Hop sways on "Games". You get into the rocky/disco feel of "If You Feel Like Dancin'" quite easily. The funky experiments at the end aren't as capturing as the beginnings. "If You See Me" is Isaac Hayes like funk on a roll with pretty strong vocals (not Prince though). An iffy slow jam is found in "Better Than You Think", but again it's not Prince's voice heard here. In fact, expect for the few strums here and there, I don't feel him on this rather ordinary song. Not near the rank of a Prince album, but for a little funky fun you might want to check it out.

This is not typical Prince but it is a very good sound. It is not a rock quality but rather a R&B sound. It is different for Prince but I really liked it.

This album is a good, but dated album. I do, however, suggest that instead of this one you pick up Minneapolis Genius(Pepe Wille, Andre Cymone, and Prince). It is comprised of this album[94 east] plus "Just Another Sucker" and more. This is a ripoff unless you can't find Minneapolis Genius and want to make your collection as comprehensive as you can at the moment.