Album Review: Prince The Gold Experience Warner Bros 9362-45999- 2

Welcome to the Dawn, Playground for the New Power Generation," coos the sultry interactive voice-bite that links the tracks on The Artist Formerly Known As Prince's new album, assuring us that "there are over 500 experiences to choose from". But of course there's really only one experience available on this particular infonet, and it's the oldest of them all. As the little symbol himself admits at the end of the horrendous power-ballad "Shhh", "Sex is not all I think about - it's just all I think about you." Well, thanks, but no thanks.

Musically, it's a case of here comes the new power generation, same as the old power generation: The Gold Experience is predictable in every respect and, apart from the sublime "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", it's as insubstantial and fake as a Lenny Kravitz album, which never used to be the case.