November 15, 1996

Where did The Artist -- as Prince Rogers Nelson shall now be known in the third phase of his musical career -- put his former funky self?

The latest indication, that syrupy sweet new video for Symbol Man's new single, a cover of the Stylistics 1972 hit Betcha By Golly Wow!, is that he's getting more conservative by the minute.

The video, which had its Canadian premiere this week on MuchMusic, begins with His Purpleness being paged by his pregnant wife Mayte (pronounced Mai-Tai, like the drink) who's in the hospital getting her temperature taken.

Really exciting stuff.

Then the 'action' cuts to a fashion catwalk in a large white studio where, for some inexplicable reason, Olympic gold-winning American gymnast Dominique Dawes does a tumbling routine down the runway while dancers (also dressed in body-hugging white leotards) gryate around her.

It's all very puzzling, not very watchable and in the end a major disappointment.

It's especially disappointing given that The Artist has made such a big deal about his long-awaited break from Warner Bros. records and his own Emancipation, also the title of his new triple CD out on Tuesday.

In fact, following the video premiere, there was a live telecast from Paisley Park in which The Artist and his band, the New Power Generation, performed a dynamite half-hour set including Purple Rain and a cover of Joan Osborne's hit One Of Us. (The other two covers on the new album are Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me, and the Delfonics' La La Means I Love You.)

So at least we know that in concert, Purple Power still rules.

Dressed in flowing purple (what else?) and playing a white guitar in the shape of his symbol, he danced, pranced, sang and played his heart out.

It was nice to see the wee pop star genuinely enjoying himself after years of writing SLAVE on the side of his face whenever he performed publicly to protest the lack of control he had with Warner.

Now if he could just work on those videos.

Marketing the album includes an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Thursday and a two-year stadium tour, which is rumored to be coming to Toronto in January. (How about launching it here?)

In the meantime, you can hear all 36 tracks off Emancipation when it hits record stores next week.

It would have been nice to tell you about all of the music but advance copies weren't available due to restrictions by Warner, oddly enough.

Still, some of the song titles -- Sex In The Summer (on which his unborn baby's heartbeat was sampled), Face Down and Sleep Around -- signify The Artist hasn't completely forsaken his naughty ways.

Even if he did tell the lastest issue of Rolling Stone the album is full of "sentimental stuff." Just ask Madonna. Having a baby will do that to you.