"Please access another experience."
So sayeth the 'NPG Operator' during segues on the album, The Gold Experience.
Prince has 'accessed another experience,' but who would have imagined this was how it was going to go down? Stunning, really.
Two years ago at this time, I was preparing an essay in connection with the 30-year anniversary of Purple Rain. During that process, news hit that Prince and Warner Brothers Records had reached an agreement regarding the master tapes to Prince's albums released by WB from 1978 to 1996.
After a two-decade struggle, the masters were back with Prince, and the "reunion" with WB was to include a new album as well as a deluxe, re-mastered version of Purple Rain. I decided to table my essay until the re-issue happened.
It never did. Not that I was surprised. Despite the press release, as an artist, Prince was never really cool with looking back.
Now, instead of writing specifically about Purple Rain, I'm left to figure out how to encapsulate 32 years of "The Prince Experience."
It seems near impossible! The story of how Purple Rain the album, the movie, the singles and B-sides changed me is an essay unto itself. There are countless songs among the 600 or 700 I've heard that mean something. I've got a story for nearly every album. Lovesexy changed my life just as much as Purple Rain did.
What do I leave out and possibly risk that you, dear reader, will not understand just how much this man, his music and his lyrics affected me?
While I err on the side of honoring the man with 'positivity,' I also cannot ignore that being a devoted "fam" (short for family, which is what Prince was known to call fans) could be as frustrating as it was joyous.
I stayed with him through the breakup of his -still- most beloved band, The Revolution, the controversial nude cover of Lovesexy, the half-hearted incorporation of rap into his early '90s sound, and two 'flop' movies (although I personally adore Under the Cherry Moon).
Even at the height of the Warner Brothers "war," I bought the records that featured packaging that all but outright said, "This album is nothing more than a contractual obligation." You'd think the lack of 'fam' consideration in releasing music that he knew wasn't his best, as well as changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol while scrawling "slave" on his face would have had me running for the hills.
Not me. I saw past all of it. Perhaps my own Gemini nature (my birthday is the day before his) allowed me to understand the duality of both the music and the man better than most people. Something permeated to me. I "got it." I might roll my eyes sometimes, but I "got it."
I intuitively understood what was going on spiritually and contractually with the "name change." Even on the deliberately uneven records, there were several tracks of value to be found. I knew I'd be missing something if I skipped one album. I bought everything no matter what.
As a result of never 'losing touch,' I got to experience what I consider the best period of time to be a Prince 'fam', which was belonging to the NPGMusicClub from 2001 to 2006. I was a charter member.
Through the club, Prince gave exclusive access to unreleased songs of the past as well as freshly recorded songs. Even better, for his tour in 2002, members not only got dibs on the first few rows at concerts, but also were welcome to sit in on his sound checks.
In each city, depending on how much time the sound check would take, Prince would engage in "group talk" with 'fams.' It was the first ever instance of 'fams' having such a direct and personal line to an artist of "superstar" magnitude.
After eighteen years of devoted following, I would finally see Prince live at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis. Before my show date occurred, I'd read about the sound check "rap sessions" on the club community chat board and truly couldn't wait for the evening.
I anticipated my first sight of Prince might cause me to 'flip out' like I did when seeing other musical favorites in concert after years of waiting. To my great surprise, it was the opposite.
I did not feel a "star" walked onstage. It was as if I was seeing an old friend.
To my disappointment, he didn't have enough time to sit among the 75 club members (with plus ones) for a "group chat," but he did talk with us quite a bit.
After ten minutes or so, he and his band launched into their rehearsal of "The Everlast
So sayeth the 'NPG Operator' during segues on the album, The Gold Experience.
Prince has 'accessed another experience,' but who would have imagined this was how it was going to go down? Stunning, really.
Two years ago at this time, I was preparing an essay in connection with the 30-year anniversary of Purple Rain. During that process, news hit that Prince and Warner Brothers Records had reached an agreement regarding the master tapes to Prince's albums released by WB from 1978 to 1996.
After a two-decade struggle, the masters were back with Prince, and the "reunion" with WB was to include a new album as well as a deluxe, re-mastered version of Purple Rain. I decided to table my essay until the re-issue happened.
It never did. Not that I was surprised. Despite the press release, as an artist, Prince was never really cool with looking back.
Now, instead of writing specifically about Purple Rain, I'm left to figure out how to encapsulate 32 years of "The Prince Experience."
It seems near impossible! The story of how Purple Rain the album, the movie, the singles and B-sides changed me is an essay unto itself. There are countless songs among the 600 or 700 I've heard that mean something. I've got a story for nearly every album. Lovesexy changed my life just as much as Purple Rain did.
What do I leave out and possibly risk that you, dear reader, will not understand just how much this man, his music and his lyrics affected me?
While I err on the side of honoring the man with 'positivity,' I also cannot ignore that being a devoted "fam" (short for family, which is what Prince was known to call fans) could be as frustrating as it was joyous.
I stayed with him through the breakup of his -still- most beloved band, The Revolution, the controversial nude cover of Lovesexy, the half-hearted incorporation of rap into his early '90s sound, and two 'flop' movies (although I personally adore Under the Cherry Moon).
Even at the height of the Warner Brothers "war," I bought the records that featured packaging that all but outright said, "This album is nothing more than a contractual obligation." You'd think the lack of 'fam' consideration in releasing music that he knew wasn't his best, as well as changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol while scrawling "slave" on his face would have had me running for the hills.
Not me. I saw past all of it. Perhaps my own Gemini nature (my birthday is the day before his) allowed me to understand the duality of both the music and the man better than most people. Something permeated to me. I "got it." I might roll my eyes sometimes, but I "got it."
I intuitively understood what was going on spiritually and contractually with the "name change." Even on the deliberately uneven records, there were several tracks of value to be found. I knew I'd be missing something if I skipped one album. I bought everything no matter what.
As a result of never 'losing touch,' I got to experience what I consider the best period of time to be a Prince 'fam', which was belonging to the NPGMusicClub from 2001 to 2006. I was a charter member.
Through the club, Prince gave exclusive access to unreleased songs of the past as well as freshly recorded songs. Even better, for his tour in 2002, members not only got dibs on the first few rows at concerts, but also were welcome to sit in on his sound checks.
In each city, depending on how much time the sound check would take, Prince would engage in "group talk" with 'fams.' It was the first ever instance of 'fams' having such a direct and personal line to an artist of "superstar" magnitude.
After eighteen years of devoted following, I would finally see Prince live at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis. Before my show date occurred, I'd read about the sound check "rap sessions" on the club community chat board and truly couldn't wait for the evening.
I anticipated my first sight of Prince might cause me to 'flip out' like I did when seeing other musical favorites in concert after years of waiting. To my great surprise, it was the opposite.
I did not feel a "star" walked onstage. It was as if I was seeing an old friend.
To my disappointment, he didn't have enough time to sit among the 75 club members (with plus ones) for a "group chat," but he did talk with us quite a bit.
After ten minutes or so, he and his band launched into their rehearsal of "The Everlast