Prince and the N.P.G.: Diamonds and Pearls—Video Collection

Prince's 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls found him coming out of a commercial rut (for him, anyway), unveiling a talented new band (the New Power Generation, featuring rapper Tony M and singer Rosie Gaines), embracing the hip-hop sound, and ultimately enjoying his biggest success of that decade (it's one of five Prince albums to sell more than two million copies). What we have here is a collection of mostly slick, glossy videos made for the album, commingled with a few live bits—in short, nothing spectacular, but an entertaining portrait of a prolific (and prolifically talented), ever-evolving artist. Predictably, there's plenty of carefully choreographed stylin' by fly young women and sharp-dressed guys, with lots of dry humping and sexual innuendo; in fact, only "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" (with a non-musical introduction directed by Spike Lee) and the live "Live 4 Love" provide any grit to the glamour, by way of their messages about poverty and war. The music, delivered in Dolby Digital stereo, also includes Top Five hits like "Cream," "Diamonds and Pearls," and "Insatiable," and while some of the tunes don't amount to much more than beat-heavy grooves, the jazzier inflections of "Willing and Able" and "Strollin'" earn them a place among Prince's best work. Brief interviews with the band (but not the star) are interwoven. Boasting less than stellar visual quality, this grab bag will still appeal to Prince lovers, but is a strong optional purchase for others. Aud: P. (S. Graham)