muppet hi fi wrote:A story about one of the times I worked for Prince, circa 1996.
I was working a Prince gig at his Paisley Park studio in 1996 for an album release party for his 'Emancipation' 3CD set. The show was (supposedly) the first ever live Internet streamed concert. The call time for the load out was midnight (I was a Local 13 IATSE stagehand); I get there and we're all standing around waiting for our cues, but the man wouldn't stop playing! Finally he does. (we were all told to never look at him directly in the eye; so just as I'm saying these words to my buddy: "...yeah, and a bunch of expensive hands hanging around getting paid to hear him rock out, not bad!...", the little dude walks literally right in front of me and wouldn't you know it - he was looking RIGHT AT ME! Smiling too! My buddy says "Well, that's it for you, pal. You'll never push a broom in this town again.").
Anyway, he went back onstage and played for another hour or so, doing long extended jams and lots of improv. It was incredible (and I was getting paid!!!)
Nice! By the way how much did you get for your old broom?
Pffft... So the next time I worked out at Paisley it was a short call - set up an extra rehearsal space in the main loading dock (complete with basketball hoops); my $85 check wouldn't clear at the bank (his bank). I was so pissed off (two of my brothers had had this problem on their checks as well, and this is AFTER we had to send the checks back originally because they were un fucking signed!); I had a plan: there was a Minneapolis cop working security at the old Norwest bank; I was going to refuse to leave until I was paid, and get removed or arrested, and then contact all the local media and tell them how Prince could'nt pay his employee $85!
Fortunately the bank manager took the funds out of a different account of Prince's. But boy was I steamed!...
At least Prince got a song out of you.
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
I've been listening to a lot of Prince and I am blown away by his incredible talent. It's a shame that it took his dying for me to push past Greatest Hits/Canon Album status with him, but I've also got this massively deep back catalogue to swim in. It's an idiom that I'm less familiar with than the scruffy punk rockers, reggae, Irish, mod-soul, and country that makes up a lot of my obsessions, and all the more intoxicating because of it. The closest I can get to comparison is someone like Sly Stone or Bowie but there's a control, a tight as fuck understanding of how music fits together that's transcendent. An emotional range that the vast majority of artists don't approach.
Anyway, no one needed me to tell them how great Prince was, but I'm delighted to really find out.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison
Silent Majority wrote:I've been listening to a lot of Prince and I am blown away by his incredible talent. It's a shame that it took his dying for me to push past Greatest Hits/Canon Album status with him, but I've also got this massively deep back catalogue to swim in. It's an idiom that I'm less familiar with than the scruffy punk rockers, reggae, Irish, mod-soul, and country that makes up a lot of my obsessions, and all the more intoxicating because of it. The closest I can get to comparison is someone like Sly Stone or Bowie but there's a control, a tight as fuck understanding of how music fits together that's transcendent. An emotional range that the vast majority of artists don't approach.
Anyway, no one needed me to tell them how great Prince was, but I'm delighted to really find out.
All the more amazing because he was self taught.
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D'you know that you can use it?
Silent Majority wrote:I've been listening to a lot of Prince and I am blown away by his incredible talent. It's a shame that it took his dying for me to push past Greatest Hits/Canon Album status with him, but I've also got this massively deep back catalogue to swim in. It's an idiom that I'm less familiar with than the scruffy punk rockers, reggae, Irish, mod-soul, and country that makes up a lot of my obsessions, and all the more intoxicating because of it. The closest I can get to comparison is someone like Sly Stone or Bowie but there's a control, a tight as fuck understanding of how music fits together that's transcendent. An emotional range that the vast majority of artists don't approach.
Anyway, no one needed me to tell them how great Prince was, but I'm delighted to really find out.
I took a slightly deeper dive a few years ago, and it was largely rewarding. I'm getting deeper still now, and I'm having a hell of a time.
However, it's one of his biggest hits that is suddenly in my brain nonstop. Jesus, "When Doves Cry" is a fucking monster.
”INDER LOCK THE THE KISS THREAD IVE REALISED IM A PRZE IDOOT” - Thomas Jefferson
Silent Majority wrote:I've been listening to a lot of Prince and I am blown away by his incredible talent. It's a shame that it took his dying for me to push past Greatest Hits/Canon Album status with him, but I've also got this massively deep back catalogue to swim in. It's an idiom that I'm less familiar with than the scruffy punk rockers, reggae, Irish, mod-soul, and country that makes up a lot of my obsessions, and all the more intoxicating because of it. The closest I can get to comparison is someone like Sly Stone or Bowie but there's a control, a tight as fuck understanding of how music fits together that's transcendent. An emotional range that the vast majority of artists don't approach.
Anyway, no one needed me to tell them how great Prince was, but I'm delighted to really find out.
Definitely. Sly and Bowie, but also George Clinton and Kate Bush fit that model too.
Hope your Prince exploration makes life a bit sweeter for you, Murph. I bet it will.
Strong shoes is what we got and when they're hot they're hot!
- Marky Dread and his fabulous Screaming Blue Messiahs
The most amazing thing about Prince's mid-80s albums is that they sound completely of their time, but he does it so well that even with the ridiculously gated drums and tinny synths they sound timeless in a way that nearly identically produced albums don't. I was driving around today listening to a mix I threw together for my car, and the drums in When Doves Cry were kicking my brain apart.
”INDER LOCK THE THE KISS THREAD IVE REALISED IM A PRZE IDOOT” - Thomas Jefferson
JennyB wrote:Imagine how great a Prince version of Overpowered by Funk would have been.
That's exactly the sound they were going for on "Overpowered By Funk": the precise tonal quality of those cheesy but brilliant synth stabs, the vocal add-libbing, Joes "oooohh" falsetto bit, the whole concept of the song screamed "The Minneapolis Sound". I've been telling peeps that since the summer of '82.
Yeah - it would have been great to hear Prince do stuff like "...is my name in there?..."
Strong shoes is what we got and when they're hot they're hot!
- Marky Dread and his fabulous Screaming Blue Messiahs
Prince was covering "Train In Vain" at some shows a couple of years ago. There's a comment at the bottom of this review where someone is bizarrely angry about it:
Prince is a fucked up stupid worthless cunt for trying to rip off The Clash! This may not be one of The Clash’s best songs but it doesn’t give him the authority to copy them. He should just stick to his Purple Rain so we can all be happy. As Joe Strummer would say “SHUT UP WILL YOU YOU STUPID CUNT!”
Wolter wrote:The most amazing thing about Prince's mid-80s albums is that they sound completely of their time, but he does it so well that even with the ridiculously gated drums and tinny synths they sound timeless in a way that nearly identically produced albums don't. I was driving around today listening to a mix I threw together for my car, and the drums in When Doves Cry were kicking my brain apart.
Yeah, I was thinking about how strangely un-dated those albums were. I think they're using those tools in a fresh, interesting way which always has a timeless sound. Just compare BAD's limp, funkless version of 1999 with the original. Knowing what you're doing can get you a long way.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison
So the next time I worked out at Paisley it was a short call - set up an extra rehearsal space in the main loading dock (complete with basketball hoops); my $85 check wouldn't clear at the bank (his bank). I was so pissed off (two of my brothers had had this problem on their checks as well, and this is AFTER we had to send the checks back originally because they were un fucking signed!); I had a plan: there was a Minneapolis cop working security at the old Norwest bank; I was going to refuse to leave until I was paid, and get removed or arrested, and then contact all the local media and tell them how Prince could'nt pay his employee $85!
