Prince RIP

The one Prince biography I remember liking the best is Liz Jones' Slave to the Rhythm: The Artist formerly known as Prince, or at least that was the most illuminating on Prince the person and not just Prince the recording artist. (The Nilsen book is good for record collectors and trainspotters, but it can get pretty boring with endless details on recording dates, instrumentation, release dates, etc.) It was published in 1997, after Emancipation, and after the death of his and Mayte's and child, so a pretty crucial and tragic time for time, and those details are included in the book (though obviously Jones had started writing it long before that).

IIRC it was the first biography written with Prince's blessing, and it includes extensive personal reviews with him, though it isn't the sort of full "in my own words" type of biography I think it was originally meant to be. (The tumult in Prince's life around the time of writing probably caused that change.) Still, of all the Prince biographies I've read it seemed to get deepest into what made him tick. Though obviously it ends before any of his latter career stuff: the JWs conversion, the internet releases era, the critical and public reapproriation of the 00s, etc. Someone would still need to write a proper book on those years.

"so a pretty crucial and tragic time for him"

alan leeds is brilliant; he wrote the liner notes to that series of james brown singles reissues and they are great. they should put him in charge of any prince vault releases if the legal stuff is ever worked out.

alan leeds is a really unlikely combo of music-business stalwart and an actually fairly brilliant music critic. it seems almost miraculous to me that someone who was james brown's tour manager would also happen to be one of the most insightful explicators of james brown's music.

maybe "explicator" isn't the right word but you get my drift

whitesplainer?

niels, all those copies of Lovesexy are outside the US, and shipping is around $20

kinda blows my mind that almost every single copy of the US pressing that's on sale has been bought by ppl in other countries, I see this with other records as well

― the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Wednesday, May 4, 2016 3:29 PM (3 days ago)

had not noticed that, strange indeed! maybe I'll see if I can bulk collect and ship a whole bunch to scott's record store and then he can distribute to interested ilxors lol... never thought of it as a rare record anyway, but rn ofc people are overpricing a bit in Denmark as well

there's this sense that he's never displaying the full extent of his abilities, so even his fake jazz moments are interesting for the clues they provide.

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Thursday, May 5, 2016 6:47 PM

this is so otm, huge part of the appeal of both live and album stuff and similar to a sexual tease

I think that sense of holding back and teasing is also a demonstration of complete control, which is then balanced with playfulness, improvisation, unpredictability... saw the Motherless Child video yesterday and it's amazing esp because it looks like a jam where none of the musicians, Prince neither, know where it's going - and then it goes to some amazing places!

also think that's what makes the While My Guitar solo a standout - Prince let's loose and it's fun to see him go all in but at the same time you get the sense of exhilaration that nobody knows where he's going to go, what's going to happen

that Empty Room solo is unbelievable, too, thx for sharing

amateurist otm. The fact that Leeds was able to do that specific, very practical, job yet still has the ability to articulate his story from an insider's perspective so well without being dishy ,cagy, evasive or hiding behind some bland nu-speak, while at the same time is able to speak to larger issues without seeming to grind his own particular ax, such as Prince's battles with WB, and can even talk insightfully about aesthetics and the way the fans receive the music is nothing short of amazing.

but he did grind a particular sax

No, silly, that was his brother.

Forgot to post a link to an interview with him: http://prince.org/msg/7/171968

I think that sense of holding back and teasing is also a demonstration of complete control, which is then balanced with playfulness, improvisation, unpredictability.

the essence of funk from James Brown's best bands onward imo is restraint

Yup. That is the difference between the True Funk and, say, some jazz cats slumming playing a vaguely funky beat. Of course nowadays lots of cats can actually play a funky groove.

And speaking of JB, here is another interview with Alan Leeds, which in the end is about Miles Davis and Price but has a ton of information about his relationship with the Godfather.
http://thelastmiles.com/interviews-alan-leeds.php

The one Prince biography I remember liking the best is Liz Jones' /Slave to the Rhythm: The Artist formerly known as Prince/, or at least that was the most illuminating on Prince the person and not just Prince the recording artist.

Was gonna say...I think this book is incredible. Interviews with Prince, Susan Rogers, reviews at the back of all the music from pubs at the time. It absolutely fed my obsession when I got it.

But wasn't it called Purple Reign? Or did Jones re-title it when he changed his name back?

UK/US titles maybe?

The Per Nilsen book is outstanding if you want to get into the details of recordings, production, personnel. How the music was made, essentially. That's why I love it. Personally, I'm not that interested (though I am a little) in who he slept with or how good he was at ping pong or what he represents for race or gender studies.

And speaking of JB, here is another interview with Alan Leeds, which in the end is about Miles Davis and Price but has a ton of information about his relationship with the Godfather.
http://thelastmiles.com/interviews-alan-leeds.php

― Wrecka Stow Ralph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, May 7, 2016 8:49 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahaha:

Prince was loath to give out his number and I was one of a couple of people who would handle most of his calls. So, whenever Miles was trying to find Prince, he'd call. Sometimes I'd come back from the grocery store and there'd be this raspy voice on the answer machine saying "tell that little purple motherfucker to contact me!"

omg, only now got a chance to read further in that interview and just got to the dinner part.

"tell that little purple motherfucker to contact me!"

i can 100% hear that in miles davis's voice and now my life is a lot better, thank you.

+1, that's story is awesome

Can't remember who, but somebody was saying the other day that when you tell a story about Miles Davis and quote him, it is mandatory that you try to imitate his voice.

i don't think i'd even heard Davis's voice much when i read his autobio yet i somehow heard that voice in my head

love the Per Nilsen book, not super well written but it's such a helpful crash course on the specifics of Prince's career

speaking of which, has anyone seen that don cheadle film about davis? i imagine it could be decent, but it could also be abysmal. don cheadle seems like a smart dude, so i'd bet on the former.

went to the los angeles memorial party outside city hall last night. kind of low rent and slapdash all around, but it ended with stevie wonder singing "purple rain" more or less, and they released a bunch of doves while playing a recording of "when doves cry," which was awesome, and bj the chicago kid did a pretty great "do me, baby." but hearing prince's originals blasted over a decent p.a. while thousands of devotees decked out in purple danced was the best part of all.

I will admit not to knowing much about Miles, but purely as a cinematic experience, it was middling.

The worst parts are the buddy cop moments which fortunately are only a quarter of it.

Xpost

Don't get a good vibe about that movie.

i got v drunk last night and passed out in my apt. i woke up about an hour later with tears running down my face and the cross playing on loop. i have no recollection of getting out my laptop, sitting it on my bed, opening my media player or putting the song on. still trying to understand the sigficence of this

i figure 1 of 2 scenarios are possible. either for the first time ever a drunk person forgot they did something while drunk OR angel prince visited my apt in a beautiful act of compassion.

def the second

adorable much? feel like its his take on the sexy librarian look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4odGpPzn2E

holyyy shit

i love how he never just casually does an appearance on a show, he sets out to melt faces every time

an afternoon talk show. fuckin crazy

That clip is at once the most delightful and the most heartbreaking thing I've seen in ages. As I think I commented back when that photo of him with Eva Longoria started floating around online just after his death, it is harder to see recent photos or clips of him where, far from being this distant figure from my childhood and adolescence, he was still going around being awesome with astonishing regularity. It makes me regret the only tangential attention I had been paying to his work in recent years--especially seeing the prices that the Lotusflow3r album is going for these days (that "Crimson and Clover" cover was only on the physical copies of the album--anywhere you can "acquire" it the album digitally is missing it).

Also, Sheila E!

Yeah the sexy librarian thing was done in 1987...with that double album he put out

he was really good at pulling it off.

sexy as hell imo

he just looks so damn great in that clip. sounds great. plays great. looks great.

sexy and so cute!

Unfortunately the guy seems more 'vital' in a way that it's hard to accept....whatever

He would seem 'vital' if he was playing a show tomorrow.

i love that he KNOWS how good he is. and how he loves being reflected back at himself

I think what I miss most about Prince 90s - studio work is that sense of nonchalance. It's atill there onstage. But he made too many things seem like too much hard work on record. That effortless melodicism was more or less gone.

I mean, Prince in the studio before the 90s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPHo9y4xxs8

Had completely forgotten about the original, musical version of the James L. Brooks film I'll Do Anything and don't think I ever knew that many (Most? All?) of the songs were written by Prince.

Yeah that's something I think is a bit undercovered right now -- the swathe of soundtrack songs and efforts he did beyond his three starring-role movies and Batman. Hell, he did a bunch of songs for Showgirls!

The IDA songs are pretty terrible. One or two popped up on the Old Friends 4 Sale compilation from the '90s while the rest are out there as boots.

interview with tavis smiley on BET in '98 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqyjwhFiQqg)

i'm still inconsolable

Some good stories about Wendy & Lisa's dads in Kent Hartman's Wrecking Crew book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItJO7VOXe8w

dick gregory getting conspiratorial on both how warners wanted prince dead (though he also seems to suggest prince didnt really own his masters when he died), how he wasnt ill/didnt have aids, etc etc. there will be more like this.

interview with tavis smiley on BET in '98

it's a fascinating interview, but also depressing to see just how delusional prince could be. he spouts a lot of nonsense, and his ambitions for the NPG label are alternately impossibly grandiose and (occasionally) modest. the idea that larry graham's album on NPG would sell 700,000 copies!! alan leeds apparently quit running paisley park b/c it was clear prince didn't really want to run a real label, and NPG was even more of a shambles from that point of view.

basically it sounds like a guy who is losing touch w/ his audience (and his muse, probably) and can't understand why. so he blames his lack of success on nefarious folks at warner bros sabotaging his releases. one can sympathize with prince in that moment and still recognize how he copes with the reality in large part by trying to create a world of his own making that only resembles the real world a little bit. granted he's nowhere near michael jackson levels of disconnectedness.

that said, the funniest part of that interview are the horrible DIY videos NPG put together in the late 1990s. this is obviously before hi-def cameras and sophisticated, easy-to-use linear editing suites became omnipresent, and your uncle could make a professional-looking video. prince's video looks like something a few high school bros might have put together over a free weekend.

i should have said that the videos are charmingly horrible. especially the low-rent video effects. reminds me a little of the bar mitzvah videos my cousin was shooting and editing around the same time.