• Prince

    Prince’s Response Song: PFUnk

    Prince’s response to Prince Fans United? Why, Prince Fams United, of course. Which features a “response” song, I guess, called “PFUnk”. And it just happens to be one of the funkiest songs we’ve heard from him in years.

    This is what we’ve been aching for…

    My natural instinct is to post the mp3. But I’ll resist temptation *slap* and point you toward the tune. Click on either of the links to hear it.

    Prince Fans United (Fan Site)

    Prince Fams United (Prince/NPG Site)

    Fans vs. Fams
    : for some quick background, Prince doesn’t refer to his admirers as “fans” , because he says it’s short for fanatic. He prefers “fam” because we’re like – um – family.

    This is going to get interesting….

  • Prince

    Dear Prince

    I’m glad to see that your strong armed tactics against your own fans are starting to get some more media attention. Your hired goons (Web Sheriff, your legal team, et al) have been trawling the internet for copyright violations. Going after sites that post your released works? Totally understandable. But threatening your most loyal fan sites for posting pictures of Prince-inspired tattoos, license plates, and any image or likeness of you? Universal Music Group going after a young mother on your behalf for posting a video of her toddler dancing to “Let’s Go Crazy”? Come on, Kid.

    Don’t forget how you got where you are now. It’s people like me who have spent our hard earned money on concert tickets to see you over the last 20-30 years. It’s people like me who have purchased every last piece of art you’ve released. We’re the ones who carried you through the tough times.

    We bought New Power Soul.

    We bought Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic.

    We paid to see Graffiti Bridge on opening night in a movie theater, for crying out loud!!

    We bought your “internet only” Crystal Ball 3 disc set in a cheap plastic ball with no booklet, only to find it in Best Buy a few weeks later for less money, with normal packaging and a booklet! Man, I almost fell off the boat on that one.

    Give this one a rest, Prince. Enough is enough. You’ve been a pioneer in so many ways, including your use of the internet to further your career. You seem to be savvy in so many ways. And your Jehovah’s Witness-ness seems to find you in a good place spiritually.

    But the threats directed at your most loyal supporters, and your obsession with tracking down all copyright “violators” – as you choose to define them – seems… counterproductive. You know the clichés: shooting yourself in the foot… biting the hand that feeds you.

    I’ve removed all images of you on this web site. I have permanently shut down my Prince forum, a place where a hundred or so like-minded people from all over this world gathered to discuss your art. This is what you want? You don’t see that sites like this benefit you more than hurt you?

    Your music has been a huge part of my life for the last 24 years, and will be for the next 24 too. You’ve hooked a lot of us in, and call us crazy, but we – the hardcore supporters – are still going to support you – we’re still going to hit the record store or iTunes on release day.

    But beyond what is your totally legitimate right to have full control over your music and how it is disseminated to the public, give us a break on the rest of it, will you? We’re here to help you. And going after the internet this voraciously is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge – once you think you’re done, it’s time to start all over. There has to be a happy medium, my friend.

    I’d much rather promote your latest projects and live gigs (and bring in a few new fans in the process). But for the foreseeable future, it looks like I’m relegated to posting pictures of Prince spaghetti and whining about copyrights and web sheriffs.

    11/8 Update: from the PFU web site….

    PFU has been contacted by Prince’s Management and we are currently in discussions.
    We are hopeful that an amicable resolution can be reached wherein all can co-exist peacefully on the internet. However, if the talks are unsuccessful, the Prince Fans United Group vows to continue its fight. In the meantime, Prince has provided “Prince Fans United” with the song named “PFUnk” for your listening pleasure. [emphasis mine]

    Go to PFU to listen to “PFUnk”. Camille returns…

  • Prince

    Prince In London Video

    Since Prince is deputizin’ Web Sheriff to take back the internet from the Youtube’s and those troublesome fans of his music, I won’t try to embed the sweet video he has up on his site, or post an image of his purpleness. But that looks like a pretty sweet Prince tennis racquet.

    The video is Prince during one of his recent London shows, plowing with great force through “Joy in Repetition”, “Anotherloverholenyohead”, and “Peach”. But ya can’t view it here. That would be unacceptable.

    Here’s the Link to the video on Prince’s site, 3121.com; All Praise to Paisley Park Enterprises; May U Live to See the Dawn and not a Cease & Desist Letter from the purple lawyers: http://www.3121.com/joy/

  • Jazz,  Prince

    Sometimes It Snows In September

    Fuzzy

    Outside of the guitarist community there are probably not too many folks who know Israeli born guitarist Oz Noy. A long time fixture of the NYC music scene he seamlessly blends jazz, soul, funk with a dash of pop for good measure into his own very distinctive groove. His resume includes backing everyone from Harry Belafonte to Toni Braxton to Nile Rodgers but it’s his solo outings where he truly shines and his new release Fuzzy is no exception. And how pleasantly surprised was I to find a very familiar title in the track list. “Sometimes It Snows In April” is (for me) one of Prince’s masterpieces and I think that Oz pays beautiful homage.

    Buy Fuzzy: Oz Noy - Fuzzy | Amazon

    Link: Official Site | MySpace

  • Prince

    Prince’s Paris Affair

    While Prince is in the midst of his 21 night stand in London town (which doesn’t include his early morning aftershows), I thought I might take the rest of us back to ’87 for a “Paris Affair”. Sign o’ the Times turned *gasp* 20 years old this year! It was released as a double album, and soon after as a “concert” movie. I say “concert”, because the majority of the footage in the movie was filmed at Paisley Park outside of Minneapolis. The original intent was to include footage from some shows in Belgium and Holland, but the quality was apparently lacking, so they re-shot it at Prince’s home sound stage.

    As you’ll hear, Prince and his gang are in prime form this night in Paris, and lucky for us all, the sound quality of this show is Superb.

    Prince
    Palais Omnisports de Bercy
    Paris
    June 17, 1987

    1. Sign O’ The Times
    2. Play In The Sunshine
    3. Little Red Corvette
    4. Housequake
    5. Girls & Boys
    6. Slow Love
    7. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
    8. Hot Thing
    9. Now’s The Time – Sheila E Drum Solo
    10. Let’s Go Crazy
    11. When Doves Cry
    12. Purple Rain
    13. 1999
    14. The Cross
    15. It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night

  • Prince,  R&B

    31 Positions On 21 Night Stands…

    21 Nights

    21 Nights of Prince and the question stands… will he play the same set every night? Will we get 21 identical sets? Add 21 after shows with 21 versions of “Footprints”, “Stratus” and “Crazy”?

    What do you guys and gals want (or not want) to hear?

    It looks like the whole UK shebang was kicked off with “Purple Rain” and after hearing the 7/7/07 show I have to say that it’s beginning to really sound like he wants to ‘get it out of the way’ as opposed to the celebration that it was as recent as the Musicology tour and the spectacular (albeit abbreviated) Super Bowl performance.

    Booking a 21 night stand is a pretty risky proposal for just about any artist. But Prince has the catalog, hits and all, to back it up – provided he does not do the unimaginable and leave his song book at home. It’s time to show and prove Prince, don’t you wanna come…

    Link: Official Site

  • Prince

    Prince covers The Cars

    Prince blew us all away earlier in the year with his take on Foo Fighters’ “The Best of You” at the Super Bowl. He’s always capable of delighting us with the seemingly random cover. So who would have guessed that on July 7th, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Prince decided to channel… Ric Ocasek? That’s right, Prince reached back to the Cars’ 1979 album Candy-O, and unleashed the hit single “Let’s Go” on his hometown crowd.The Chipmunks, who covered “Let’s Go” in 1980, could not be reached for comment. But it looks like the purple man knocked the ‘Munks down to # 2 in the Best Cars Cover category.

    Now, if someone could convince Prince to cover all of Candy-O from start to finish, then we’d be in business.

    Buy Planet Earth | Candy-O

  • Prince

    Prince’s Planet Earth – A Review

    This Tuesday, Prince’s new album, Planet Earth, will be released in the U.S. This past Sunday, British fans could pick up the album by buying an issue of a newspaper, The Daily Mail. Thanks to a fine, upstanding Brit, I got a copy. It’s been on steady rotation here this week, and I thought I’d share my initial thoughts. As with all albums, opinions shift over time. I could feel differently in 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years. But this is how Planet Earth sits with me after a few days. Here’s a song by song review….

    “Planet Earth” – I take my Prince album openers seriously. Take a look back to the golden era: “Dirty Mind”. “Controversy”. “1999”. “Let’s Go Crazy”. “Around the World in a Day”. “Christopher Tracy’s Parade”. “Sign o the Times.” All became classics, and gave you the feel you were in for something special.

    As Prince has done with most of his studio albums, he kicks it off with the title track on this album. It has an ominous, apocolyptic feel to it. Not a feel-good opener, but then again, there’s an ominous, apocalyptic feel to the state of our planet today, right?

    “1999” had its apocalyptic message, but the way Prince dealt with the end of the world was different then, when he wrote the song in his early 20’s: “Everybody’s got a bomb / We could all die any day / But before I’ll let that happen / I’ll dance my life away.” It may be the end of the world, but damned if he’s not gonna party until his dying breath.

    On “Planet Earth”, the party’s over, and it’s time to get serious: “Just like the countless bodies / That revolve around the sun / Planet Earth must now come into balance with the one that caused it all to be / Then we’ll see His kingdom come / So shall it be written, so shall it be sung” – Sheesh, too heavy for me. The teachings of Jehovah hath crept into Prince’s pen. Sure, he’s always thrown his brand of religion into the mix, but he used to serve us with equal portions of sex (“Erotic City” vs. “God”). Yeah, I’m one of those who misses dirty ol’ Prince. Not a bad opener, though.

    “Guitar” – This song was first offered as a download on Prince’s site (for a fee). Then, another version soon showed up on Verizon’s TV commercials. *sigh* We lose another one. Oh well, we still have Springsteen, who will never sell his art to the advertisers. I have to admit I’m not crazy about “Guitar”. It’s a funny, silly song (“I love you baby, just not like a love my guitar”), but just seems a little bland for my taste.

    “Somewhere Here on Earth” – Now we’re talking. This one quickly became a favorite. A classic old school vibe, complete with the sound of a needle hitting the record at the onset. It’s soft, it’s sweet, with muted horns right out of “Adore”. For fans of Prince’s slow jams (‘Insatiable”, “Scandalous”, “Adore”, “Damn U”, etc.), you’ll like this one. Odd lyric: “in this digital age, you could just page me”. Isn’t “paging” more 80’s / 90’s? I guess he couldn’t work “text message” into the mix.

    But this is classic falsetto, slow jam Prince. Excellent song.

    “The One U Wanna C” – A killer Prince pop song. My other favorite on the album. He has a cool effect going in this one where the guitar sounds like it’s being played underwater. Our boy is back:” U don’t need 2 fix your hair / 4 somebody u don’t care 4 / U don’t need 2 shave your legs / If it ain’t me that’s knocking at your door…. If u wanna get creamy / I’m the one U wanna C”. My only gripe is the fade out during a guitar solo, which just begs for a classic 12″ extended remix.

    “Future Baby Mama” – Another slowed down, old school Prince vibe. Sure to make all the future baby mamas swoon. Nice.

    “Mr. Goodnight” – “All over the world they call me Prince, but you can call me Mr. Goodnight.” Prince brings back his seductive rap for this one. Another fun one with some interesting lyrics. Case in point: “I got a mind full of good intentions / And a mouth full of Raisinets”. Alrighty.

    When I first heard the “rap”, my instincts said “Uh oh.” But I enjoyed it, and it grows on me more each time I hear it.

    “All the Midnights in the World” – If you’ve waited for the day you’d hear Prince sing the words “prickly-fingered scallywags”, then your day has come. This one clocks in at under two and a half minutes, the shortest song on the album. The lyrics show this tune has great potential (“Amethyst and rubies / Crystals and black pearls / I’d trade them all, just to spend with U /All the midnights in the world). But in the end it sounds to me like it was thrown together at the last minute.

    “Chelsea Rodgers” – The Chelsea Rodgers hype continues to build (her official web site is “coming soon”, but already it’s quickly evolving into an ad for Prince’s new perfume). Is this song another one of Prince’s clever marketing ideas? To announce a new protege with a song written about her? Well if she’s gonna live up to the hype, the song better be funky, right? And funky it is. Cool drum intro, retro-funk bass line, horns. But Prince doesn’t take the lead vocals on this one. There’s a female lead that I’m assuming is Shelby, who joined up with Prince and his gang at the end of last year. She overdoes it on the vocals, particularly during the opening part. It doesn’t ruin the song for me, but it distracts me from what could have been a standout tune on the album. Leaving her out of the mix would have taken this track to the next level.

    “Lion of Judah” – The opening guitar chord sounds like “Purple Rain”. The rest of the song is reminiscent of Musicology‘s “A Million Days”. More religious imagery in this tune. “Like the Lion of Judah / I strike my enemies down / As my God is living / Surely the trumpet will sound”. Can you picture a concert crowd singing along to this? Me neither. But this one has the potential to grow on me.

    “Resolution” – I remember when the album closers used to knock me out. “Temptation”, “International Lover”, “Sometimes it Snows in April”, not to mention the granddaddy of them all, “Purple Rain”. Yeah, I know it’s not the 80’s any more, but Prince is still Prince, he’s still capable of a solid album closer (and a solid album, I just know it!). But a knock out closer this ain’t. It’s more of a yawn than anything else. “Dropping bombs on each other / In the act of saving face / Tell me now people, how is that resolution?” You get the idea. A noble effort, but just ho-hum to me.

    As someone who’s been an avid devourer of Prince’s music since 1984, it’s hard for me not to compare every new Prince album with his 80’s output, the “golden era” of Prince, as many would agree. And it’s ridiculous to think anything Prince puts out will ever rival those albums. It’s a different time, and we’re all different people. But I’ll continue to follow Prince down any path he decides to wander down. He’s still creative, prolific, and at 49 – still one of the very best live performers around.

    Speaking of his live performances, he’s been all over lately. This past weekend he played for the rich folks in the Hamptons (“Lovey, did he just say masturbate with a magazine? Egads sweetie!”), then zipped over to the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Funny thing is, the only song he has played live from the new album is “Guitar”.  [Update: he also played “The One U Wanna C” at the Target Center on 7-7-07] What is he waiting for? He has some savvy marketing ideas, but this is one of the things that makes me go “Hmm.”

    BUY Planet Earth.

  • Prince

    Chelsea Rodgers

    “Chelsea Rodgers” is a song on Prince’s new album, Planet Earth. The woman above is apparently Chelsea Rodgers. Nobody really knows what role she’ll play. New Prince protege? His girlfriend? Who knows right now. Does it really matter? Not really. But I’ll just stare at this picture until I find out, okay?

  • Prince

    Prince’s Future Baby Mama

    Heard recently on an Atlanta radio station, and streaming on Prince’s site, it’s a hot new smooove jam from his forthcoming ‘Planet Earth’ CD, out on July 24th…Could you be P’s “Future Baby Mama”?