Do they still make video albums like they did in the 1980s and 1990s? Not content to simply put together a compilation of video clips or live performances, some bands would combine the two and build a framework around them, creating a sort of video album. There would be transitions of some kind between the songs, usually short interview segments with music in the background, or some sort of dramatic clip. Diamonds And Pearls Video Collection is a classic example of the video album.

Diamonds And Pearls, Prince’s 13th studio album, was very much a change in direction for “The Artist”. His previous backing band, The Revolution, had parted ways, and filling that void was The New Power Generation (N.P.G) - a Prince side-project band. The lineup change was generally meant to appeal to a wider audience and, more specifically, to help Prince infiltrate the urban and hip-hop marketswithout sacrificing his mainstream pop appeal. It worked. Even though critical reception of the album was lukewarm - many people missed the “old” Prince sound - it was a commercially successful album, producing a number of solid hits. “Gett Off” was a huge dance hit, with a hook that was as catchy as any you’re likely to hear. “Cream,” a great, sexed-up pop song that’s easy to sing along with, received heavy radio rotation. When Diamonds and Pearls came out, MTV hadn’t quite self-destructed yet, and was still playing music videos on a regular basis. Prince’s material had always been popular on the channel, and the trend continued with Diamonds And Pearls.

The running link between the album’s videos is the story of two women trying out to be back-up dancers for Prince. These dancers, Lori Elle and Robia LaMorte (Diamond and Pearl, respectively), appear in the videos for “Gett Off,” “Cream,” “Diamonds and Pearls” and “Strollin”. They also appeared with Prince on the album’s tour. Naturally, with similarly themed music videos, it only made sense to release a video album. Here’s the track listing for those who require it:

• Intro
• Thunder (Live)
• Gett Off
• Cream
• Diamonds and Pearls
• Dr. Feelgood (Live)
• Call the Law
• Willing and Able
• Jughead (Live)
• Insatiable
• Strollin’
• Money Don’t Matter 2 Night
• Live 4 Love (Live)

Though entertaining, there are a number of problems in the presentation. First, the live tracks aren’t all complete performances of the songs. Second, some of the tracks seem a little out of place. While “Gett Off,” “Cream” and “Diamonds and Pearls” are intended to blend together, “Call the Law,” while a decent rap song, seems entirely out of place. In fact, “Call the Law” wasn’t even on the studio album; it was the B-side to “Money Don’t Matter 2 Night,” another music video that doesn’t seem to match the theme. Upon first viewing the introduction to this clip, with a black man addressing the President directly about not being able to afford food, I laughed, thinking how much this reminded me of horrible “stop the racism” Spike Lee nonsense… until I looked it up online and realized that it was horrible Spike Lee nonsense.

As opposed to simply presenting a collection of videos, the main feature includes interview segments that feel randomly tacked on. Perhaps I have just become too accustomed to standard video collections, but I don’t really care to hear how great the N.P.G. thinks it is to work with Prince, and I especially don't care to hear them talk about it while they're getting rubbed down by unseen women. This footage would be better off separated as an “extra,” but there was no DVD in 1992, so this is how it was implemented. And speaking of its conversion to DVD…

The DVD Presentation
If you bought the original VHS release back in 1992, you already have everything on this new release, which looks and sounds exactly like the VHS version. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Personally, I think it’s great that it looks like a new VHS tape. It helps to permanently archive the look of both the material itself and the way it was presented when it was new.

And the Extras Are?
Prince, no doubt busy doing very Princely things, was either not available or not asked to do any bonus materials. A release like this doesn’t necessarily require any extras, but it would have been nice to have the short-form versions of the videos that were played on MTV. I know, for example, that a shorter version of “Cream,” one without all the movie-ish fluff surrounding it, exists.

One of the main advantages of DVD over VHS is chapter stops. Before, we had to fast-forward, pause, and play. Now we can jump directly to a specific song in a single click. It’s something we take for granted nine years into DVD’s lifespan, but unless you have this collection on laserdisc, it is an undeniable advantage over the VHS version.

The Bottom Line
The N.P.G. era of Prince’s career isn’t my favorite by a long shot. I’m still a Revolution fan myself and probably always will be. But his work with the New Power Generation represents an interesting mesh of R&B, old and new school hip-hop, Motown, and pop music. Prince’s approach has changed considerably in the past 14 years, but it’s impossible to listen to his current work and not hear echoes of Diamonds and Pearls. While I’ve never been very impressed with the “video album” format, I have to recommend Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection to all Prince fans, or at least fans of this particular era. It’s a good, if not great, video and performance collection.