THE GUARDIAN
Friday March 31 1995

NEW POWER GENERATION
Exodus (NPG)

PRINCE without his backing band is easy to conceive, but backing band without Prince (except on backing vocals)? Yet here they are, with a lengthy album of funk jams sprinkled with un-Princely violent imagery. The playing is as flawless as you'd expect, though backing singer Mayte and her "Spanish vibe" are almost imperceptible. What's missing is a direction. Few tracks develop into much more than a bunch of very good musicians having a Sunday-afternoon practice session. There's a running gag over several songs that the NPG are watching TV while they play and, sure enough, Exodus does make you seek a diversion about halfway through. 2 stars (out of 4) (CS)

THE OBSERVER
2 April 1995

CRITICS

POP RELEASES Neil Spencer

The fingerprints of are all over his backing band's album. Tedious spoken dialogues interrupt some slamming if predictible funk workouts.

The Age
Friday 18 August 1995

MUSIC

SHORT CUTS

Funk-based songs layered with some explicit narrative, with the pulling-power presence of Prince. Listener friendly, dance oriented, without too much repetitive techno beat. (IB)