Tonight I am going to dip my pen in a topic near and dear to Nago... What in the hell happened to Prince?
I watched him on the tele presenting at the Grammy's last night. He looked good for a man his age. Honestly, he looked good for a person of my sons age. Dude just doesn't age physically.
I remember the last time I saw Prince kill it. He played lead on My Guitar Gently Weeps at George Harrison's Solo induction at the R&RHOF induction ceremony in 2004 (9 years ago for those keeping score). His playing starts at 3:28, and it is great. So much vibrato in his right hand...
That performance justified what I had said since 1984, that Prince was underrated on guitar.
Before you say it, yes, I saw him perform at the Superbowl a few years ago. I guess it was controversial, but to me it seemed so staged and un-geniune (unlike his performance above).
Disclaimer: I am now, and forever will be, a Metalhead. I know...I know... Metalhead? Nago Blogs bout classic rock, he records acoustic albums and is a sucker for Bad Religion. THIS BLOG IS ABOUT PRINCE!!! How in any light is Nago a Metalhead?
It's easy folks... I am smarter than the Chris Brown / Beyonce / Katy Perry crowd. That's right, SMARTER! Anyone who ingests that crap with conviction is dumb. It is throw away rubbish.
My son, Mocha, thinks that my musical taste is very European. I tend to agree, at least when it pertains to modern music. I love Opeth and I love the Beatles. If you can't make the connection, then you are the one with an issue, not me.
However, I like to think that I can recognise true talent when it does a split in white leather pants right in front of me. Prince was the phucking King. I thought he was just as good as Michael in 1984, and better post Thriller. Until he got weird. Neigh, he got really weird... Not LAPD strip search weird, but weird none the less.
Before I go there, I want to go to the goods. The best in fact:
Purple Rain is a true classic. There is so much emotion in that song that it bleeds with raw intensity. Everything about it is perfect. As a matter of fact, the whole album is (almost) perfect. The movie adaptation is not the worst movie ever either (anyone who has seen "Streets of Fire" can vouch for it's cred as "not the worst"). It is a period piece that is somewhat self indulgent, but Morris Day and the Time are in the house!!!
Oh, but I dare go deeper than that... I love "When Doves Cry" and "I would Die 4 U", but in truth, that whole LP is a not-so-guilty pleasure for me. I really do hold it in high regard. I actually sampled it in 2008 for the song "Barstool". All of the nicks and pops on the track came from my Purple Rain LP. We recorded the scratches organically in the studio on an old school portable record player. The scratches were gained over time, and Prince has no right to them, lol.
So, beyond the Purple Rain brilliance, there was "Under the Cherry Moon". Raspberry Beret was likable, but not brilliant. I did really like the "You Need Another Lover, Like you Need a Hole in Your Head" jammie, but it was still not brilliant.
To be fair, Prince made a few top 10 hits in and after the Cherry Moon era:
- Kiss - No. 1 - 1986
- U Got the Look - No. 2 - 1985
- Sign of the times - No. 3 - 1987
- Alphabet St. - No. 8 - 1988 (seriously???)
- I Could Never Take the Place of your Man - No. 10 - 1988
- Batdance - No. 1 - 1989 (can't make this shit up)
- Cream - No. 1 - 1991 (get on top - bitches)
- 7 - No. 7 - 1993 (So ironic - so good)
- The Most Beautiful Girl in The World - No. 3 - 1994 (I have sung this to every one of my neices since)
So there it is. A decade of art that is stupidly effin influential, and it does not even include the 1999 era (anyone remember Little Red Corvette???).
I was unfortunate enough to give Prince too much credit after 1994. I actually bought 1996's "The Gold Experience". What a piece of total garbage.
So answer me this... At what point does an artist lose all sense on melody, artistry, touch and responsibility?
Many have recovered. Sir Paul put out some ducks in the early 1970's (and even in the 1980's - Spies Like Us), but recovered to give us classics like "Live and Let Die".
We want to love you bro, we really do. Gotye AND Kimbra praised you last night. I was like "Oh snap, It's Prince.... Hell Yeah!", but then I remembered how disappointed in you I am.
Prince, I beg you... Please rock again. Re-hire the Revolution. I'll even take the New Power Generation, they kind of owned... HOWEVER.. Prince took all of his material off of the Internet, thus - no Prince + NPG video to enjoy, which kind of bums me out.
PLEASE DO SOMETHING AWESOME!!!!! Please, at least phone one in for me.
Until then, I leave you with the absolute perfect package.... Ani DiFranco singing "When Doves Cry"
This is what it sounds like, when nerds cry..
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