Prince RIP

he was already making jazz odysseys

Let us not forget Nocera while we're at it.

Come on - what's Madonna doing here?

i thought this was a good tribute -
http://pitchfork.com/news/65644-watch-neon-indian-and-friends-cover-princes-pop-life/
but im a NI fan, so...

also, im not sure why madonna is getting all the shit. stevie sounded awful too!

Yeah but he had to sing with Madge

stevie will seemingly show up to any event to sing w/ anyone

(not endorsing the madonna hate)

prince with miles davis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UoLkFQlmMI

I have to say, while I love both musicians deeply, I never thought Prince and Miles as being suited for each other musically.

i like to whom miles compared prince:

"James Brown—his father took him when he was young, he got on the stage and danced with him. He has that, he has Jimi Hendrix, and Marvin Gaye. He combines all that, all the time. That’s what he is. And his stage persona, that’s Charlie Chaplin."

though i have the impression that his guitar play was more inspired by carlos santana than by jimi hendrix.

another occasion to repost this wonderful live version of purple rain. the build-up is incredible and really sends me shivers down the spine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqBrvT3ShkY

the miles quote has basically become a way for prince fans to use as a defence whenever anyone says anything negative about him. 'well miles, a JAZZ musician, liked him so he must have been good'. but miles was obsessed with who/whatever was hot, so its no wonder he liked prince. but yeah, not sure they really meshed all that well. prince wasnt always that good at meeting other artists half way, esp not established artists. all that said, i dont mind can i play with you (though hearing it slower, and cleaner than my old bootleg makes it sound weirder). and i like hearing miles solo a bit with prince like in that youtube clip (it could almost be something from his 70s period, once the band quietens down and lets miles take over). the best thing you could have gotten from the two would prob be miles playing a solo on a prince song like above. or prince doing some rhythm work for a miles song. never heard the song that didnt make tutu (i think it was tutu that he submitted a song for).

the best thing you could have gotten from the two would prob be miles playing a solo on a prince song like above.

yeah I can envision Miles soloing over a Prince ballad. their respective versions of funk don't seem too complimentary though.

so speaking of high art signifiers, have y'all heard Prince's ballet, Kamasutra?
i bought the cassette off his website iirc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmfg3t3h9lI

i only know the plan from emancipation. is the whole thing any good? or is it something out of his grasp?

the title tune is okay, i honestly barely remember the rest. flipped through the songs and it seems sorta sub madhouse.

Kamasutra was also a bonus disc on some editions of crystal ball

Oh no, I have an (admittedly resistable) urge to buy Prince's "Emancipation" set!

i.e. Emancipation is essential

Which is ironic, because there is so much about it that is not.

Like the artwork?

https://youtu.be/rDFXlYfEHuI

the SHOCK of the NEW

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

Also, even though it is nowhere to be found on the internet I am quite sure that decades ago I read an interview with Randy Newman in which he told the interviewer "Springsteen couldn't shine Prince's shoes as a songwriter."

could it from old billboard quoting playboy

under nelson george's rhythm and blues column

Thanks!

This was around the time Newman was mocking Springsteen in "My Life Is Good" (well, a couple years after)

that was very sweet of burt to say that, unprompted. but did he really say prince was a better dancer than MJ?

Not sure. I got lost at a few points about what he was trying to say and that was one of them.

I feel like he was trying to say something to the effect that "his only real competition was Michael Jackson who, by almost any reckoning was the better dancer but even in that area Prince could more than hold his own, etc." but he was overcome by emotion and time restraints so he couldn't quite produce the necessary elegant formulation.

That was like Simon Cowell last night, he tried to say "You're likeable, I wish people liked me like that" or something, and he ended up saying "You're likeable, I wish you liked me"

Ha, good example.

The one celeb commentary that I found a wee bit annoying was maybe the one from Lionel Ritchie.

semi-related - tom pettys quotes in that NYT piece on the while my guitar gently weeps performance at the RNRHOF ceremony reeked of BS. his face did not look like he was telling prince to keep playing like he was. he looked rankled.

totally. he's like "this is supposed to be a dignified tribute and here comes this showoff"

"keep playing like you are (see what happens)"

Just think of what might have ensued if he HAD gone to the "We Are The World" recording session instead of to the club. "We are the world... Kerrang!" etc.

thought this was a good tribute -
http://pitchfork.com/news/65644-watch-neon-indian-and-friends-cover-princes-pop-life/
but im a NI fan, so...

― StillAdvance, Tuesday, May 24, 2016 6:27 AM

Right. Tom petty is known for his highly expressive face and the pure joy he exudes therefrom. On the rare occasions that famous sunny smile is absent, ohh-wee, he's wall-punching pissed off.

It is a similar fine distinction to that of figuring out when TWU is in a bad mood vs. when he is merely let down once again by the faulty reasoning of his inferiors.

If modern people being dumbasses made me mad, that throbbing vein in my temple would have burst long ago.

http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/Vg5gPnUdbc8/hqdefault.jpg
Your world frightens and confuses me

would rather the grammy-type tributes be handled by the likes of janelle monae / miguel. obvious choices but good ones.

xxp

― dc, Friday, April 22, 2016 6:05 PM (1 month ago)

I just rewatched "Gently Weeps," if you look around the 5 minute mark you can see Petty and Prince clicking in together. I don't think Petty's bullshitting, I think that that was probably a fun thing to be part of.

janelle did that at the BET tribute in 2010. her voice seems a bit ill equipped for it, not sure why. or maybe shes trying too hard.

http://pitchfork.com/features/greil-marcus-real-life-rock-top-10/9895-i-need-to-scream-what-it-means-to-be-a-fan/

small greil marcus bit on prince, which includes the line - “Does this mean that because he died intestate his lawyers stopped enforcing his copyright claims for fear of not getting paid?”

im still not sure why but im assuming this is it. i suppose even this, which he was so focused on while alive, wasnt planned for.

Qui sait?

In any case, have been meaning to watch this New York Dirty Mind tour show:
https://youtu.be/gyh2AFZnicQ

Hang on
http://www.youtube.com?v=gyh2AFZnicQ

Hang on.. must..get this.. right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyh2AFZnicQ

Original, Family version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" is somewhat similar in spirit to "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me." No wonder Burt Bacharach was a fan.

Still keep turning over in my head what is so compelling about the guy's work and how to say anything about it without either damning with faint praise, overstating the obvious, lapsing into rock crit parody or rehashing all the many good points already on the thread. He was just some kind of incredible combination of gifts and talents and work ethic plus esthetic concepts, like a great studio house band and songwriting arranging team (Funk Brothers + Holland Dozier Holland) + super-energetic rock band (The Cavern Club/ Early Beatles) + old time tunesmith (Irving Berlin) + ntergender/pan-human pop/funk/rock cartoon afronaut (sly &the famiy stone/jimi/p-funk) all rolled into one five foot two package, with one decade in which he was at the very top of his game, on top of the world, firing on all cylinders, working on all kinds of projects and plenty of other decades in which he did all kinds of other pretty high quality stuff some of which we haven't even heard yet.

(Hoping that perhaps writing a sufficiently cringeworthy post may perhaps break the spell)

That's a good post, James Redd.