Prince on SNL this Weekend

On paper, this weekend’s Saturday Night Live is looking mighty fine: host Steve Martin with musical guest Prince. I’m going on 22 years as Prince fan. His output over the last many years by and large hasn’t done a whole lot for me, but I still buy everything he puts out, I’ll catch him when he’s on the tube, and I most definitely catch him live whenever possible.

Most likely because it’s tied to my adolescence and all the memories associated with it, I’m partial to Prince’s 1980’s output: (not in chronological order) ‘Sign o the Times’, ‘Purple Rain’, ‘Around the World in a Day’, ‘1999’, ‘Parade’, ‘Controversy’, ‘Dirty Mind’, the ‘Black Album’ and ‘Lovesexy’ (okay, 1989’s ‘Batman’ soundtrack, but that didn’t do it for me).

His 12″ maxi-single releases during this era were always something to look forward to, because they would be extended remixes of the album versions. One of the cool ones was Lovesexy’s “I Wish U Heaven”, which was stretched out to 10 minutes. The soft funky pop of the album version gives way to a couple of funky sojourns into Prince’s creative genius. I miss that era of being a Prince fan.

Prince: I Wish U Heaven (Parts 1,2, and 3) 12″ Maxi-Single Extended Version
– original version found on ‘Lovesexy’, a great album which spawned one of the more unfortunate album covers in musical history.