Originally posted by Conchis
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I had a vague memory of Prince doing a tune in tribute to Joni so I went for a look...a very fine version of 'Case of You'.
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That's new to me - and I like it a lot. The sensitive instrumentation especially. Surely "Case" is fast becoming one of Joni Mitchell's most covered songs. Words aren't flowing as naturally as they sometimes do. Also, I only want to come in at an angle on the comments in the OP and other contributors. I regret that means a bit of wittering as follows. First, the interesting facts. According to authoritative sources, Prince had recorded virtually every live concert since 1982 and there's enough previously unheard studio/session material for a new Prince album to be released every year for over a hundred years. Additionally, there are many unreleased videos. In volume terms, this could be interpreted as a bid for Dylan size status and legacy. And we don't know him. I don't think that any of us knows or knew Prince. We don't currently know the scope or full heights of his achievements.Originally posted by johncorrigan View Post
I confess my CD shelves are not loaded with the albums Prince did release. Normally I like individuality in music and those individuals who are clearly of a standard but difficult to categorise. In his case, it could all seem just a little too nebulous, accompanied by some suspicions of not fully justified hype. Was he really a strong song writer? Initially "When Doves Cry" appeared more intriguing than substantial. "Little Red Corvette" seemed at best half a pop song. "Purple Rain" is half a very solid rock work-out. But the quality was in the textures and the atmospherics, two of my favourite words in music. In "Corvette" as in the later "Diamonds and Pearls", those crept up and crept in to really make the structures into works. And they have a classicism which sets them in the longer term while vividly defining the time and place of their first hearing. It was his magpie approach to genre that contributed to the long-term positioning. He could be Hendrix or Arthur Lee. He could be Michael Jackson, Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic or Marvin Gaye. But equally he was alongside Cameo, Art of Noise, Lenny Kravitz and the Stone Roses. That is to say he was simultaneously quintessentially the 1980s going someway into the 1990s.
Vocally it was - when he offered a form of soul - on the cusp of old style "proper" soul which did largely emanate from the gospel tradition and the emerging trends of stylizing which continue to this day not always for the better. I would suggest that of itself is significant. And then just as one is tempted to question the ability for obvious classic songwriting, the whopping and uplifting "1999" and the psychedelic nursery rhyme "Raspberry Beret" come to mind. They and other songs suggest that such questions should at least be questioned. So, yes, enigmatic was the word. The output was full of outlines and fragments coloured in. It veered here and there with considerable attention to detail and what probably was a very specific game plan. It was also genuinely in his character in the manner in which he combined celebrity and anonymity and sauciness with faith.
Bridges. Even with Joy Division, The Smiths and several others, the 1980s are still regarded by many as the poor cousin to the previous two decades, after which things moved on or harked back until they didn't hark back and we have what we have now. If they were an axis, who best straddles the before and the after other than Prince? Probably no one. And there is a race dimension which I won't avoid. There have never been masses of black rock stars. Most who could fit into that category had significant white followings. In the footage this week, what is notable is that Prince did speak to black people in large numbers and much as Gil Scott-Heron had done in a jazzier hue he spoke to their souls. So possibly.....just possibly, in ten or twenty years his status in music history will significantly rise. Certainly any newly released Prince albums will be eagerly awaited by many.Last edited by Lat-Literal; 24-04-16, 01:17.Comment
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Thanks Lat...shining a light as usual. Certainly, listening to the output of Prince these last few days I feel I may have ignored him because of all the hype and perhaps it's a case with me of 'don't know what you got till it's gone!' I keep hearing new things that are not only musically interesting but have such strength in the message. But I've been enjoying a lot of his playing ability, like the piano on 'Case of You'. He turns up with what I thought was a terrific bit of solo electric guitar about halfway through this version of 'While my guitar gently weeps' from Concert for George.
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Yes absolutely - and that clip "roots" him. It is interesting to note that he was signed up as a teenager in the 1970s and recorded his first album as early as 1978. The record companies would have originally perceived his abilities in that time context. On the politics, among the reference points for "Sign of the Times" are "What's Going On", "Whitey On The Moon" and aspects of "Psychedelic Shack". On this weeks "Virtual Jukebox" (R5), the vocal influence of Curtis Mayfield and Joni Mitchell (!) was added to those previously mentioned. Of the records played, the one listeners chose was "Nothing Compares 2U". Plus there is apparently an album he recorded with Miles Davis somewhere in the vaults!!!Originally posted by johncorrigan View PostComment
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