Pages tagged “Prince”

Since being harvested from Minneapolis R&B band Flyte Tyme by Prince in 1981, The Time has broken up and re-formed somewhere around four times (we lost count after the third line-up change), the most recent of which was its gig filling in for Toni Braxton at the 50th Grammy Awards this past February.

It's hard to believe everyone's favorite gender-bending, hypersexual, king of funk-pop is 50. Yes, that is correct, Prince, he of the high-heeled manboots and synth-backed falsetto, celebrated the big 5-0 on June 7.

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What happens when a now-copyright-conservative artist covers a blockbuster from a copyright-radical artist at one of the biggest music festivals of the summer? In this case, the video goes up on YouTube, and is then promptly removed. To add insult to injury, the clip of Prince’s seven-minute rendition of “Creep” was replaced with a snore-worthy clip of two birds preening. We tell no lies.

Welcome to High Gravity, my new blog for daily nuggets of music, film and culture. I plan on using this space for quick, throughout-the-day updates on whatever comes across my desk or crosses my mind, from news about Thom Yorke making sure Prince's Coachella cover of "Creep" gets unblocked by YouTube or Liz Phair performing Exile in Guyville in its entirity (June 23rd at the Fillmore in San Francisco, 24th at The Vic Theatre in Chicago and 25th & 26th at the Hiro Ballroom in New York) to my own Top 10 lists, favorite new discoveries and, yes, beer recommendations.

My New Discovery of the Week
Johnny Flynn: Listening to 60-something entries for our Best of What's Next issue in September last week, the one that I keep going back to is Johnny Flynn. A bit Robyn Hitchcock, a bit Sixteen Horsepower, but with the exuberance of The Waterboys, this Londoner has won me as a fan. Only after visiting his MySpace page did I realize that I'd had his upcoming album sitting unlistened on my desk, courtesy of Lost Highway.

Best Sitcoms Since 1980
I don't have much of an opinion on sitcoms that predated me, so we'll go back to when I was nine. I'm curious to hear which ones you think I've overlooked, so let me know what rip-roaring laughs or laugh-tracks I've been missing. And before you say Taxi, just know that it debuted in 1978 (which is why I had to delete M*A*S*H, long may it rerun).

Three weeks ago, the L.A. Times set off an intense swirl of Internet rumors when the paper's music blog published the news online that the artist formerly-and-presently-known-as-Prince would be appearing as a headliner at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. The news was posted shortly after the announcement that Goldfrapp, Kate Nash and Aphex Twin all had been added to the bill, so it seemed plausible.

However, the rumor was quickly squashed by Coachella promoters, who stated that it was "absolutely not true" that His Royal Badness would appear.

Today, it appears that the L.A. Times' sources hadn't lead the paper astray. Prince, The Purple One, The High Priest of Pop, has officially been added to the fest as a Saturday headliner.

Your move, Lollapalooza...

Related links:
Coachella.com
News: Coachella '08 line-up announced, All Points West confirmed
News: Prince, fans in funky feud

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Here's one for the "he said," "she said," "they said" file: a consortium of Prince fan websites dubbed "Prince Fans United" has accused the singer and his team of lawyers of trying to shut them down over the use of Prince related-images. That includes just unauthorized photos of the guy, but even "fan’s own photographs of their Prince inspired tattoos and their vehicles displaying Prince inspired license plates," according to a statement released by PFU.

Hmm... sounds pretty fishy.

Prince's U.K. promoter AEG promptly returned the volley:

"Prince is not suing his fans, is not looking to penalise fans and nor is he looking to or inhibiting freedom of speech in any way. In fact, he is simply looking to provide Prince fans with exclusive music and images entirely free of charge, and bypassing unofficial and unauthorised phoney fan sites that exploit both consumers and artists."

And then PFU responded to these charges on its website... and so on, and so on. You know how these things go.

So where has Prince been in all of this squabbling? Just cooking up one of his funkiest songs in recent memory in response to the whole situation. You can stream it in its entirety here. Sounds like he's not siding with PFU. Either way, both sides say that they're trying to negotiate a settlement right now. The whole thing makes you wonder whether Prince will ever sue the various artists who have copped his style over the years.

Keep up to date with all of the developments in this story at The Daily Swarm.

Related links:
3121.com (Prince home)
Paste: Prince - Musicology
Google Video: Prince - "When Doves Cry"

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

With his tiny and nimble (yet strangely sensual) hands on the pulse of Britain, journeying 2 the center of limey hearts over and over again (beginning with his CD giveaway in July), Prince concluded his 21-night residency in London-town last Friday with a guest appearance from Amy Winehouse.

The two reportedly rocked out on Winehouse's "Love is A Losing Game" at the final gig's aftershow party. Beverley Knight, too, was in their midst.

Prince shared the plan to invite Winehouse onstage during a press conference in May, when he announced that the recent series of performances would be his last before putting music on hold to due other things like sue the Internet.

Related links:
NPGMusicClub.com
AmyWinehouse.co.uk
Winehouse on MySpace

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Despite early reports that a lingering hip injury might tone down the glam factor on Prince’s scheduled Superbowl XLI halftime show, last night proved that the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As can still rock, deteriorating pelvis or not.

In what has been called the ”Best Super Bowl Halftime Show Ever,” Prince plowed through original favorites like “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Purple Rain” (performed in an actual downpour, as every blog post on the show has felt the need to reiterate), throwing in covers of “All Along the Watchtower” and the Foo Fighters’ “Best of You” for good measure. Even typically snarly Idolator mustered up some pleasant words about the show.

Those that missed it—and those that wish to once again bask in the awesome purple glow—can check out clips on YouTube (along with a number of last night’s soon-to-be-classic commercials).

Oh yeah, and some team named after some animal won that game thing. Foosball, was it?

Related links:
ESPN.com’s report on Prince’s hip injury
Brooklyn Vegan’s reaction to the show (includes YouTube clips)
Stereogum’s reaction to the show
Idolator’s reaction to the show

“Whenever I have a bad day, I just sing this in the mirror.”

Prince is sitting on a tall metal stool, strumming his acoustic guitar and slowly turning in circles to face every corner of the arena. He’s alone onstage, and when he dishes out the aforementioned aside, he’s right in the middle of his 1991 hit “Cream.”

Sporting a freshly shaven face (no sign of his signature goatee), Prince looks incredibly untouched and enthusiastic for a 46-year-old artist who has endured over-scrutinized fame and sometimes anguish for more than two decades.

The Philips Arena crowd sings every word with him—including the background vocals—with wild enthusiasm. For most the night, Prince is backed by a solid, meticulously chosen band, but right now he’s strumming and picking along to some of his best-known tunes all by his lonesome, armed only with his six-string acoustic guitar.

Kicking things off with “Little Red Corvette” and cruising through classic tunes like “Raspberry Beret” and, of course, “Cream,” the artist showed he can master any instrument he picks up, and that he still sounds phenomenal.

The night was a sweet mixture of stirring renditions of forever-ingrained hits and also some experimentation with new tracks from Musicology. The balance was striking, songs flowing seamlessly from “Musicology” to “Let’s Go Crazy” and “I Would Die 4 U.”

At the end of the show, Prince returned for a final encore. Dressed head-to-toe in a stunning deep blue suit, complete with sparkly heels, the artist proceeded to wrap up a stellar night with an equally stellar rendition of the epic rock ballad “Purple Rain.” And I for one cannot deny that a few flakes of that floating ticker tape got in my eye. Either that or “Purple Rain” actually brought me to tears.

By the time you read these words, you’ll likely be sick of hearing about “Prince’s second act.” A slobbering fan of his music since the early ’80s (my first honest-to-god “favorite album” being Purple Rain), I eventually wrote him off as closer to throwing out his hip than once more being considered hip. But here we are in the wake of already legendary performances at the Grammys and his own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, not to mention a wildly successful arena tour rolling along. All of this may scream out “comeback,” but what of the new record that accompanied it?

Musicology, released on (surprise!) Columbia Records, is without question a return to form (though Mr. Nelson himself might disagree). With moments ranging from classic Prince (“Musicology,” “Call My Name”) to truly funny (“Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance”) and overtly political (“Cinnamon Girl”), what comes through most clearly is that while most of us were looking the other way, Prince remained his same brilliant self. With funk rather than blood dancing through his veins, this “new” Prince may never again make anthems on the level of “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Purple Rain” or “Little Red Corvette,” but he’s still got it. And he still matters.