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Rest in Peace, Prince


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Your comment about covers reminded me how disappointed I was learning there'd be covers on Emancipation, and even the first single was a cover! Prince don't do covers, man! People cover Prince!

 

I never got why a guy with 1000s of songs in the can decided to resort to adding Joan Osbourne, Sheryl Crow, and even Foo Fighters covers on record. It's one thing to do a cover live, heck I remember thinking how cool it was that he performed a bit of Joni Mitchell's A Case of You during the Purple Rain era, but yeah, a Prince record shouldn't have covers. I feel the same way about Dylan which is probably why I still haven't listened to his last record.

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I was a huge fan in grade school -- I had every song from 1999 and Purple Rain memorized -- but I got older and my taste in music changed to the point where I lost interest in his music.

 

Fast forward about 30 years to a couple of years ago and I was in Vegas for a friend's bachelor party when we heard that Prince was doing a last-minute show at the hard rock. None of us were particularly big fans but we decided to go on a lark. Suffice to say it was one of the best rock shows I've ever seen. Straight forward, no theatrics, just him & a 3-piece backing band making great music.

 

I'm so grateful to have had that opportunity -- it really changed my perspective of him. RIP

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He did make it hard to stay obsessed after a while, didn't he? My own obsession started with Sign O The Times, even though I was already a big fan before then (owned Purple Rain and Around The World In A Day). Sign O The Times hit when I was 14, as I was breaking free from my (4) elder siblings' (indispensable) influences. I feel like I matured from being a kid listening to that record (cassette, actually). It expanded my worldview and validated my more embarrassing thoughts and feelings. It's still my favorite of his. He remained my #1 over the next four years, through Graffiti Bridge (maybe his last all-killer/no-filler release). I became a Prince album completist in those years, and I loved nearly every tune. Diamonds & Pearls/The Glyph Album came out when I was busy in college emulating Jane's Addiction, mimicking the Beastie Boys, discovering Bob Dylan, so the early 90s took him down a notch. I still made my release day purchases throughout the decade, from the brilliant Come, the genius The Black Album (finally), the jaw-dropping b-sides collected on the Hits release, and the eventual unfurling gifts of the overstuffed Emancipation set (and Crystal Ball's collection of career insights via cutting floor nuggets), all the way to Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (which reignited my obsession in 2000, when I was already knee deep in that golden age of neo-soul, where every black artist on the radio was bowing at his altar, and he showed up to tell them how it's done - check out Man'O'War for proof). After that came The Rainbow Children, the first Prince album I ended up out-and-out dismissing. After that bad taste, his ensuing releases, though mostly energetic and focused, still carried that unfortunate safe/familiar feel that comes with age, even though they had plenty of bright spots (like Call My Name on Musicology and Valentina on MPLS Sound). Eventually he overwhelmed me with sheer volume, and I've lost count of the Prince albums I don't own. I didn't give the last few much attention. Now that he's gone, I probably will give it all another shot (except The Rainbow Children, that shit is a straight-up mess - but I look forward to discovering those 2014 albums). I'm glad I have it all to keep listening to, and although I was hoping I'd get to catch one of his Piano & a Microphone shows (a 20-min cellphone video I watched a few weeks ago blew me away,  I still have my three Prince shows to look back on. And the Sign O The Times concert film, which is pure lightning in a bottle. Thanks for the music Prince! And the fun. U skinny motherfucka with the high voice.

A+

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  • 4 months later...

Nice article, too.

 

Sadly, "Purple Rain" is starting to set up camp with "Hey Jude" - another tune I don't need to ever hear performed live again. I do like Yoakam's version, because he doesn't go on and on and on and on with the outro refrain.

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