prince

I will never understand people who think Prince was a bad singer

People think that?

I have seen people post elsewhere that Prince was not a "very good" "technical" guitarist.

I think that as a *lead* guitarist he is still very good, but on that front a lot of people lean hard on "Purple Rain" (the album) as proof, even though on that album he's kinda cheesing it up with effects and stuff. But as a rhythm guitarist he is next level. Esp. throughout "Controversy" and "1999;" the guitar touches in "Lady Cabdriver" are crazy tight.

Either way, wouldn't kick him out of my band to make room for anyone.

The bit of that concert that blew my mind was when the band dropped out during "I Would Die 4 U" and Wendy just tore up that insane rhythm guitar part

Wendy playing that fast part on the "Computer Blue" solo, too, is just incredible.

I felt really bad for Dez and his bad vocal day; his low range was completely gone

Was Dez in the band at that point?

lol I have thought Brown Mark was Dez Dickerson for decades, apparently

I had to blink last week and look it up to remind myself tbh.

I thought Modernaire was Mountaineer for decades.

I mean I knew it wasn't Dez–or André!–but for some reason couldn't remember BrownMark's name.

I thought Modernaire was Mountaineer for decades.

― peace, man, Monday, May 18, 2020 10:44 AM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lolol

He did do a song about “Mountains” so not so far off

So anyway, I carved out some time for myself and watched this whole thing last night. Loved it of course. But did anyone get the feeling like they were having monitor troubles in the beginning? There were a few songs where they just weren't sounding tight to me. I don't remember exactly which ones and I wasn't taking notes, but it was a distinct impression that I got through several songs. Of course, there were also reworkings of songs that were intentionally looser, but this didn't feel like that, imo. I was also pretty stoned though, so that's another alternate theory.

Before it aired I did a quick scan of social media, and Prince diehards were apparently super disappointed that of all the reportedly filmed sets, they chose to air the same show that was released on VHS back in 1985, then later as part of the "Purple Rain" 2017 reissue. Still awesome, though.

I used to have a boot of I think the final "Purple Rain" show in Miami, so curious I looked it up and found this awesomeness instead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4I7Fuosx-s

This is a cat whose *soundchecks* were apparently epic and impeccable.

yeah I have listened to that soundcheck a bunch it's a really hot one

I thought that other live broadcast was supposed to go away after three days, but it still seems to be playable.

the Dead had great soundchecks, they often went on for three or four hours

Reminds me of some quarantine meme I just saw on Friendbook.

https://i.imgur.com/VrilQfe.jpg

https://youtu.be/m8mg7CxAYUM

I am in love with Wendy and Lisa. This video for “waterfall” slays: https://youtu.be/mdfAhCG3oDo

Just listened to that album a couple days ago

god help me i'm starting to fall for computer blue

yes, Lisa

i can't imagine a time before having fallen for computer blue. but the 'hallway version' took it to a whole new level

otm

I’ve been thinking about the Prince/Sony deal.

Prince’s songs that were written for the original cut of James L. Brooks’ 1994 film I’ll Do Anything have been unavailable since the film was re-edited to delete all of its musical numbers. With Prince’s catalog with Sony, and the film being a Sony/Columbia property, is there a possibility that his demos and/or the original cut of the film (which has been bootlegged) can be released?

Granted, with the songs included, the film is still a total shit show. There is one scene where Albert Brooks tortures the audience by singing among a parade of limousines that I can’t unsee

i honestly didn't know about this and would like to see this bootleg! somebody ilx a fellow or let's ilplex this up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9fTd776KZI

Cinefile Video in L.A. (the last and the best video rental establishment ever), has it for rent. You can probably find it on backchannels, too. It’s a sixth-generation VHS dupe of a workprint; don’t expect it to look presentable

I am kinda not expecting it to either look or BE presentable honestly but am morbidly curious; somebody plz ilxmail me if you got it digitally.

Whoa. Love the psuedo-New Orleans groove on that one.

Wouldn't know how to begin finding the actual movie online, but a trailer of the original cut remains! A few snippets of some musical numbers, plus the music that soundtracks the trailer (what sounds like a "cast" version of the Prince song above). Apparently James L. Brooks has said, recent-ishly, that he would like to put out the original cut of the film sometime, but who knows if that'll ever happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-V5nw8KI08

really painful hearing him do this less than a month before his death :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfGoNojom7A

So wished I got to saw ‘The Piano And A Mic’ tour...I think that’s when he was at his best just sat playing the keyboard

https://open.spotify.com/track/4IR4v23yUq31dz4opUOpce?si=lZdmlfpPRtuu1MMlS4zBAA

A lost Camille track?

Actually, not a question. A lost Camille track. Despite it being a demo shopped around for other artists to sing. Not sure who would’ve tackled this successfully in the 86/87 Top 40 landscape tho.

I was just wondering last week what Prince might have been up to right now. Concerts from home? Tons of new songs and/or albums released? Protest anthems? Unreleased music dumps?

Options 1 and 3, plus recording a slew of stuff he wouldn't release. Would all be on piano, which after four more years than he got he would feel he is finally starting to fully master as he felt it.

https://open.spotify.com/track/4IR4v23yUq31dz4opUOpce?si=lZdmlfpPRtuu1MMlS4zBAA🕸

A lost Camille track?

see for me it's different

for me it's thinking how prince would react to being called out for his abuse, for being called out as part of #metoo

thinking about how prince would react to some of us trans people pointing out that uh honestly "if i was your girlfriend" has some really big trans feels to it, given his documented hostility towards gay people

as devastating as prince's and bowie's deaths were and are, i find certain parts of their legacy easier to deal with knowing that neither of them are going around hurting anybody else

Didn't Prince's hostility towards gay people only come about because he joined the Jehovah's Witnesses, and as a result of their doctrine? Not that it's any excuse for his homophobia, but he was way more queer-friendly in the '80s, and the conversion was in the nineties. I know he stopped playing some of his more sexually explicit songs after that, but I dunno if the same happened with songs like "If I Was Your Girlfriend"?

Sounds like it. The Star Tribune in Minneapolis published an oral history on Prince in 2004, which was re-published right after Prince's death, and Wendy Melvoin touches on this:

"We tried to put together a (Revolution) reunion tour in 2000, and he declined because of my homosexuality and the fact I’m half-Jewish. It came back: Go have a press conference denouncing your homosexuality and that you’re converting to Jehovah. I was like: I guess we’ll never hear from him again. And I had to kind of mourn him. It was devastating to think we’ve kind of lost him."

FWIW, the article ends with this anecdote from 2004:

WENDY MELVOIN: Me and Bobby (Z) and Susannah wanted to go see him at the House of Blues [the L.A. club where Prince played on Grammy night]. I called his guitar tech to let Prince know that the Revolution wanted to be there. Bobby got this call saying, “Bobby can go for free, but everybody else has to pay.” What the hell is this? So we get there; none of us has to pay, but it was incredibly difficult to get in. There’s Steven Tyler [of Aerosmith] and Beck walking by us, and all these other people.

We finally got shuffled off to this room where there wasn’t a seat for us. He called a whole bunch of people onstage but didn’t call any of us. I thought, “Well, that’s it.” His wife introduced herself, and I told her to thank him for the tickets and goodbye.

Then the next day, I get this call: “Prince would like you to come and rehearse with him on acoustic guitar for `The Tavis Smiley Show’ he’s doing.” Curiosity got the best of me. I went down, and he was remarkably kind and open, and gave me a huge hug. He had me sit in with his band, and I hung with him for two hours.

The next day, it was just him and me, and he was gorgeous. He was the guy I knew when I first met him. He was the guy who spent the night at my and Lisa’s house on our pullout bed. I held on to him and kept kissing him and hugging him and telling him I loved him. I don’t know what to think of it. He knows we all love him.

He seemed to go full Witness starting around 2001, but I saw him play a club in 2000 and he was plenty profane. There must have already been murmurings of his religious turn, because it surprised me at the time that there was so much sex stuff and cursing, iirc. By the time of his Musicology arena tour in 2004, which felt like something of a big comeback, he had cleaned up a lot of the songs, but it didn't seem terribly disruptive or distracting.

Yeah, I don't think it really took over his music outside of the Rainbow Children album and tour. He may have toned it down afterwards, but one could have chalked that up to mellowing with age if they didn't know about Prince's conversion.

There were a few good stories related to all that after he died. My two favorites are probably the one where a Time reporter impressed him so much that he tried to convert him (helped that he did his homework and correctly guessed that Prince would be much more open to discussing Christianity in his interview), and Erykah Badu running down her encounters with Prince, including the following:

The time Prince "evolved " and wouldn't sign yo mama's 'Dirty Mind' album cover cause he said he wasn't into that no mo and yo mama told him "well you shouldn't have made it then" and you were embarrassed.
The time Prince had a "swear jar" and you just put a 20 dollar bill in it when you walk in.
The time Prince and Larry Graham had you cornered in a Jehovah's Witness...well, witness session.

iirc his deep dive into Jehovah's Witness madness was connected to the death of his child? Of course there's ample evidence that he groomed mayte around age sixteen.

That's a tough question to answer unless Prince left a more definitive statement somewhere. It's reasonable to think it played some role, even if it's indirect, but it's still speculation. Losing a child (and the miscarriage that came with their next attempt) meant a lot of plans and a lot of dreams or ideas about the future were let go, and that's obviously enormous, even traumatic.

It's been documented that Graham made in-roads with converting Prince when his family visited and there was an issue with taking them to his shows. I think the "Face Down" number (great track from Emancipation) was the one that brought this to a head, but generally it was Graham saying, "why do you have to do that on stage?" and that conversation became a bigger one that led to Graham convincing Prince to try a different direction in life. But the context of losing children and the prospect of building a family, etc. I think that probably played a role.

Question, I'm looking into Duane Tudahl's book on the Purple Rain sessions, and it looks like there are two versions? How can I tell them apart? I would like the expanded version if at all possible.