Prince RIP

the unpublished rolling stone piece from 2014 was also tinged with sadness and delusions.

i can sympathise that it must be hard to bear not being at your former commercial peak but its odd for any artist in his 50s to wonder why beyonce gets to play her current music on talk shows, while he is asked/expected to play something old (not that this is even 100% the case from what i can see - he still seemed to be playing songs from his not esp great newer albums like funk n roll etc).

funniest part of the RS piece is that prince, away from WB, suddenly seemed to understand why they might not want to release music all the time (or at least, found that his new freedom meant that he didnt have to release all the time). he was a good contrarian, prince, always kicking against whoever he felt was controlling him, or going against the internet trend of newer artists putting up everything for people to hear. i wonder if he was a newer artist today, if all those vault songs would have been up on soundcloud.

i just clocked this mix that stirmonster made:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03rymc8

DEA is launching an investigation:

DEA Agents Revisit Paisley Park As 'A Component of a Complete Investigation'

Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration revisited the scene at Paisley Park in Chanhassen Tuesday evening as "a component of a complete investigation."

Investigators brought a large suitcase on wheels into the compound, big enough to hold the paper trail they're following. Fans, like Dan Hedrick, who watched also wondered, "You would think there should be something they can look at this doctor giving drugs to him."

Multiple law enforcement sources say the DEA is probing the link between Prince and the addiction doctor in California, if someone else gave Prince the narcotics and if Prince was using his real name or an alias to get painkillers.

Authorities are searching for paperwork to support their theory, including records like canceled checks, credit card charges and statements, bank documents and examining Prince's medical history, even his personal relationships. One fan lingering outside the compound Tuesday said, "sometimes you don't even want to know really what a legend does, but I'm here because of course curiosity, " according to Kim Ensminger.

The visit follows the release of a search warrant for Prince’s medical records, which shows the musician received a prescription shortly before his death and that the physician who prescribed it worked for North Memorial Clinic in Minnetonka.

The physician, identified as Dr. Michael Schulenberg (although misspelled as "Schulemberg" in the warrant), said he prescribed Prince medication on April 7 and that it was to be filled at a Walgreens, according to the warrant.

Prince also underwent tests on April 20, according to the document, and Schulenberg was dropping off the results at Paisley Park on the following day, the day of Prince’s death.

A North Memorial spokeswoman told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that Schulenberg was no longer employed at the clinic and had no further details . Schulenberg is also no longer employed at Ridgeview Excelsior Clinic, where online records showed he worked, according to a woman who answered the phone at the clinic.

The search warrant also states investigators were told Prince was treated for an illness sometime in 2014 or 2015 at Ridgeview Hospital in Chaska. There were no details explaining why he needed treatment.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reported prescription pills were recovered at Paisley Park the day Prince was found dead.

Meanwhile, according to two law enforcement sources close to the investigation, the potent painkiller Percocet was found in Prince's system. Percocet contains oxycodone and acetaminophen, which also showed up in his system, according to sources.

While Prince had known hip problems, it's unknown whether he was taking Percocet to treat the pain. The sources also said Prince had a dangerously low red blood cell count, meaning he had been sick.

Investigators still do not know Prince's official cause of death - that is part of the toxicology report, which has yet to be released.

http://kstp.com/news/prince-search-warrants-medical-records-north-memorial-clinic-prescription-dr-michael-schulemberg/4133344/

Ronin Ro book is fine. But after reading that and several other things, I just got the Per Nilsen book out of the library and it seems like with much of the material he got there first and also provided a little more detail.

Meanwhile that infuriating Matt Thorne book is Amazon's #1 Best Seller in Soul Music.

To pick a few random but serious nits, off the top of my head - u see what eye did there? There is a point a few chapters in where he talks about Prince starting to record for Warner Brothers but there is absolutely prior to that about his initial interactions or negotiations with any label at all, WB or otherwise. Also, he seems to think the term "to gaslight" originated in a Steely Dan lyric. Finally there are several bizarre paragraphs in which he takes Prince to task for reading some kind of New Age Self Help book, something to the effect that "I expect I have to tolerate a little bit of this from my idols and other creative types but really, Prince, in this you've gone too far." Atrocious.

Toure book was really engaging and he really gets at some great things I hadn't thought about. Made me laugh out loud a few times too. Also earned some eye rolls from me but that's ok. It helps digest the tone to know it was expanded from a series of lectures. He seems to have had some of his own conversations with Dickerson, Leeds, Fink, Susan Rogers etc too.

I think Prince could have been more contemporarily relevant toward the end, if he wasn't such a control freak dick. If you do everything your way and your way alone, you really can't be that surprised when no one else is on your wavelength.

Is it really not abundantly clear that doing everything his way and his way alone was infinitely more important to him than seeming "contemporarily" "relevant"?

if only Prince had done things Josh in Chicago's way!

Nobody called Picasso a control freak dick

That's not what I meant!!!! I meant that if he wanted to sell more records or whatever he prolly could have. I was referencing the post referencing the RS story, and conspiracies re WB, all the people keeping Prince down, or delusions of Larry Graham going gold. Just saying there were alternatives, but Prince was not one to compromise.

Whether that's for the better or not is a different matter. I know it's been noted that AOA, his best later album, was his only with an outside producer.

Was just saying that if popularity or album sales were ultimately that important to him, he could have made it happen, but at least partly on someone else's term, or in partnership. Like, a high profile reissue series, or even the Purple Rain 25th, which came and went despite news he reclaimed ownership and had remastered it. Just Prince being Prince.

Hadn't plans for vinyl reissues been inked before his death? Does anybody even buy CD reissues anymore?

AFAICT his stock, critically, seemed higher than it had in ages. He had a MOJO cover feature last year or the year before, right?

I think he could always pack arenas, land magazine covers, etc. But obviously he didn't make things easy for journalists! To entertaining ends. No recording, interview the band first, wait for hours, that sort of thing. He was brilliant and probably unique in preserving his mystique, often at the expense of others, not in a selfish way but as a means of maintaining control. Which was pretty impressive, but also ... capricious?

Meghan Trainor is contemporarily relevant

who the fuck cares about being contemporarily relevant

Did I misread the post? What shit do I give? The point is that Prince wanted to be relevant. In the RS interview, and Tavis, etc. But I don't think it was lack of ability or absent Muse, just his own professional eccentricity that made it more difficult.

He probably didn't need to be relevant but it does seem that, given the medium in which he worked, he still might have liked to be relevant and current.

Btw, in that infamous WMGGW RnRHoF video, who is the other guitar player playing the riffs off the record on far stage left?

Hmm. While in a sense I admire Prince for his attempts at keeping his music off the internet - which must have been a fucking headache to actually achieve - I do think keeping his music off Youtube and Spotify wasn't the greatest idea. The hardcore fans were always going to follow his music, but he often made it difficult for potential new fans, especially if he wasn't getting the airplay that he used to. People are more likely to try before they buy these days, that's the way it works now. You can't expect people to wake up one day and have some sort of revelation and say "I'm going to buy a Prince record" if they're unable to hear his music.

I deeply suspect that the re-emergence of stuff on Youtube, coupled with the press inches about his death, will lead to people jumping on board. This is the sad thing, of course, that it's happening now when he isn't around to reap the rewards.

yeah those great rewards you get from streaming videos on youtube. he's missed out on potential thousands of dollars.

meanwhile he has preserved a singular mystique so now maybe the first artist millions of millenials aren't able to just youtube and will have go actually discover through record store perusing, hearing his music at clubs, dance parties, etc.

Oh, how you do miss the point.

Those things aren't on a binary. Discovering him on YouTube has meant buying his albums in stores and playing him in clubs, as I learned a couple weeks ago.

also "record stores" in 2016?

Adam would condemn the kid in a metropolis w/out a record store to chew on Prince mystique for the rest of his life.

Alfred completely and totally OTM.

Oh, how you do miss the point.

are we talking about a specific post or article or something? maybe i am.

Prince not being reasonable is why he's Prince. it's why he has made so much otherworldly beauty.

wait did Alfred discover Prince on youtube?

Lots of my students at the radio station did.

and I've discovered lots of live shit in the last three weeks

cool.

sorry to hear there aren't any record stores where you live. i can walk to 2 in 15 minutes.

The situation Alfred describes is exactly how I'd expect people to discover and purchase music in 2016. Keeping your music from being heard isn't "mystique", it's just plain fucking stupid. On one hand, Prince was irked that his music wasn't getting the same level of contemporary recognition as a new Beyonce product, but on the other he wasn't willing to do what Beyonce did in order to get stuff heard. You can't have it both ways.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/04/ee/6d/04ee6dc2bdc2d974fbe3bd030493c670.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/04/ee/6d/04ee6dc2bdc2d974fbe3bd030493c670.jpg

let's all talk about the dave clark five's "mystique"

Let's discuss Mystique

http://www.cinemablend.com/images/news_img/68327/Mystique_68327.jpg

Agree w Josh on this. At the end of the day, selling records was important to Prince. And it's pretty clear from all the interviews with the likes of Mo Ostin and the fact that Prince actually kissed and made up with WB that his issues were a lot less with his label than with the frustration of depending on a corporation to sell records and be relevant.

Btw, in that infamous WMGGW RnRHoF video, who is the other guitar player playing the riffs off the record on far stage left?

― The Pizza Underground Is Massive (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, May 14, 2016 8:23 AM (1 hour ago)

Marc Mann.

Hadn't plans for vinyl reissues been inked before his death? Does anybody even buy CD reissues anymore?

The vinyl reissues have been quietly released. In fact, if Prince hadn't died I probably wouldn't have known about them in the first place. As for the CDs, it seems like a well-managed reissue campaign would have been on par with something like the Beatles remasters or something. Prince's WB stuff is one of the last major artist catalogs to be overhauled, with his core fanbase are highly likely to have their numbers also counted among those who are still into physical media, be it CDs or Vinyl.

Did someone upthread mention SIGN 'O' THE TIMES getting a vinyl reissue this year?

Also, I think Purple Rain vinyl has already been re-released. Saw tons of new copies over past couple weeks. Nothing else.

Thanks, Tim.

SOTT vinyl reissue out Aug 23.

i guess this hasn't been posted here yet? pivotal performance in keeping current with that early 90's audience imo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcMJ6l7Y5cs

The vinyl reissues which had already come out (everything up through/incl parade) were remastered for the occasion, by the way. The versions which were then sold on HDTracks for about a year were these remasterings. They sound fantastic. I hope they will again sell them digitally in addition to physical vinyl. Hell, maybe even cd???

If SOTT is finally coming out on vinyl reissue, hopefully that means it went through the same remastering the prior ones did.

yeah i wasn't arguing that Prince didn't care about fame or selling records. his maybe at times aggressive issues towards the industry are duly noted. i think it makes him what he is. it is part of him. it fuels his art. people think he should have done things differently, they want the same person who wears assless pants to be more reasonable in his business decisions. i say let his freak flag fly and that makes him even more unique. the business side of things was always a point of contention with him. i don't think if he joined in more with the exploitation that it was going to make him happier with the situation.

But obviously he didn't make things easy for journalists! To entertaining ends. No recording, interview the band first, wait for hours, that sort of thing.

god yeah, this is nuts, a nightmare. but being a friend of a couple who interviewed Prince the last few years, i think ultimately they considered it all part of his 'uniqueness'. I know some of the trickier interviewees I've dealt with have delivered the more interesting features, often precisely because they are so weird.

ALso, I had a brainfart and didn't realise you were referring specifically to that RS feature above - apologies Josh, I get where you're coming from more as a result.

In any case, stuff is starting to disappear from Youtube so the mystique is starting to coalesce again.

I'm really glad we had that window to get a glimpse of what we are missing. I downloaded as much of it as I could

If they are finallystarting to take stuff down off YT, I must direct you all immediately to the very rare official video for Automatic, in the last couple of minutes of which Jill Jones and Lisa tie Prince to a bed and whip him

There are lots of videos I've never seen. That being one of them. There's so much on YouTube though that newbies would need a curator I think. Watching rehearsals and stuff is very cool but only really worth it if you've seen the proper shows.

The thing about Prince and fame is that virtually all his best music came as he was still a big star. He didn't get weirder or more experimental on his own. He got more conservative. He needed an audience to feel emboldened. And also to duck with.