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Prince Appreciation Thread - For Fans

www.rollingstone.com

Inside Prince's Brilliant 'Piano & a Microphone 1983' Album

The audio engineer who recorded it and one of the artist's Revolution bandmates explain why it's a pivotal recording in his life.
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com

“I WAS ALWAYS hoping that these recordings were still around because of the feeling that’s in them,” Don Batts, Prince’s personal recording engineer in the early Eighties, tells Rolling Stone. He’s reflecting on a demo cassette he made with the artist released Friday as Piano & a Microphone 1983, 34 minutes of Prince sketching out song ideas by himself. “It’s just him pounding this idea out so he could come back later and fill in the blanks. These were his little grooves.”

Beginning with an airy recital of the “When Doves Cry” B side, “17 Days,” and ending with the contemplative, previously unreleased “Why the Butterflies,” the recording is a rare look into how the artist’s mind works. He dashes off a minute and a half of “Purple Rain,” a couple minutes’ worth of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” and a long, passionate riff on the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep,” which he intercepts with the lyrics to his single “Strange Relationship.” He does his best husky-voiced James Brown impression (which he called his “Jamie Starr” voice, a reference to the producer alter ego he used when working with his Purple Rain rivals the Time). And he tries out a few ideas he never recorded again. It’s entirely stream of consciousness, which makes it a release that will likely appeal most to diehard fans, but he’s still putting his full stage power into the performances.

At the time of the recording, Prince was already famous. He’d put out five albums, the last of which – 1982’s 1999 – charted in the Top 10 and earned him his first Grammy. The following year, he’d appear in Purple Rain and become one of pop music’s brightest megastars. But on this cassette, he’s simply riffing on songs in their most basic form, using only his voice and 88 keys. Batts called them “refs” – the essence of a song – and Prince used them to develop his ideas ully later on. Many of the songs here show Prince playing wide jazz chords on the piano, beatboxing drum lines and trying different vocal approaches. They were for his use only.

“He never played us a tape like this,” says Lisa Coleman, who played keyboards with the artist from 1980 until 1986. “He would [instead] sit at the piano and start calling out chords or playing the guitar and we would follow long. He would never play us something like this unless it was a totally recorded, finished song.”

When she listens to the tape now, she’s struck by how it shows Prince’s process. She’s fascinated by the early version on the tape of “Strange Relationship” – fully developed on 1987’s Sign ‘O’ the Times – and “Wednesday,” a short interlude he’d been playing with since he met her but never officially recorded. “An artist can write a song and record it, and it’s beautiful, but then you take it out on the road and you play it for a while and it evolves,” she says. “Then you feel, ‘Oh, this is the song,’ and ‘I should record it now.’ So Prince had the luxury of being able to spend some time with a song. With a couple of these, he’s just getting it into his body.”

“I don’t think people realize that this was recorded in a basement, basically; in a family room,” Batts adds. “I got the funds later to create a nicer room that we did ‘Little Red Corvette’ and some other stuff like that in, and a lot of the gear ended up out at Paisley [Park]. But this is an old, Yamaha piano – an old CP-70 – in the corner and an [AKG] 414 mic.”

The release is also part of the way the artist’s estate is rolling out items from his archives in small, easily digestible doses. Now that they’ve gotten things in order and appointed Spotify’s global head of creator services, Troy Carter, as their entertainment advisor, they’re slowly unveiling the relics they’ve uncovered. The estate released a demo of “Nothing Compares 2 U” in April and recently made much of his [COLOR=var(--color-black)]Nineties and Aughts recordings available[/COLOR] on streaming services for the first time. Piano & a Microphone 1983 was one of some 8,000 cassettes that vault master Michael Howe discovered, by happenstance, in a box that had been sitting in Paisley Park.

Both Batts and Coleman are hesitant to guess at whether or not this is the sort of thing Prince would have put out in his lifetime, but they’re happy it’s finally getting an airing. Coleman believes he may have been getting near a release like this, though, since he had embarked on a “Piano and a Microphone” tour in the last year of his life. “It scared me when I heard he was doing a Piano and a Microphone tour,” she says. “My first reaction was, ‘Why?’ because it felt to me like he was giving up. Then when I heard how he was telling stories, it seemed like maybe he was ready to look back at things and reflect and tell the story about what happened. I think he really went through a lot of emotional pain in the last year of his life, and that just kills me. I think he was trying to find an outlet by just showing up by himself and playing for people.”

But in 1983, he was playing just for himself. And even though it was likely only himself and Batts in a room, he was happy simply entertaining himself. “It isn’t a four-star recording, but it sounds pretty good in the feeling,” the engineer says. “I’m really glad the world is getting a chance to hear it.”
 
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Fuzball said:
Channel 4 weather report🙃
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Are you in the UK? I'm asking bc you mentioned Channel 4. OK, let me give this a whirl.

Back in the day (pretty sure it was 80's not 90's) there was a documentary on Prince - fairly sure it was C4 but couldn't swear to it. Prince didn't really interest me that much but I watched the doc and it was really good. Lovely footage of him at the piano, rehearsal or sound check, not a performance, iirc.

Have tried to find it, failed. Cannot remember name of doc, director or anything about it except it had the lovely piano footage.

Is this ringing any bells at all? I have looked loads. Nada.

I've just been looking at YT clips of him at the piano. Didn't see anything I recognised.

P.S. I'm asking bc you seem to be into him and I'm assuming you might have checked out this kind of thing, docs and so on.
 
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zinniabooklover said:
P.S. I'm asking bc you seem to be into him and I'm assuming you might have checked out this kind of thing, docs and so on.
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lol. no way I'm a Prince expert. I've started digging into his (lesser known) songs just after his passing.

Sorry, I can't help with any docs or tv specials. Perhaps, real (die hard) Prince fans can help with that.
 
Fuzball said:
lol. no way I'm a Prince expert.
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oh, my bad, lol. I was making assumptions.

Fuzball said:
I've started digging into his (lesser known) songs just after his passing.

Sorry, I can't help with any docs or tv specials. Perhaps, real (die hard) Prince fans can help with that.
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Nah, it's no biggie. I've looked for the thing sporadically and it never comes up which is weird bc it was a mainstream thing, not niche. But this is Prince we're talking about. It would be good to see it again but I'm not that bothered, lol. And the main reason I wanted to see it again was for the footage of him playing piano in rehearsal. Well, I now have a few YT clips showing exactly that so it's all good.
 
zinniabooklover said:
Back in the day (pretty sure it was 80's not 90's) there was a documentary on Prince - fairly sure it was C4 but couldn't swear to it. Prince didn't really interest me that much but I watched the doc and it was really good. Lovely footage of him at the piano, rehearsal or sound check, not a performance, iirc.

Have tried to find it, failed. Cannot remember name of doc, director or anything about it except it had the lovely piano footage.
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the beginning part of this Tokyo'90 concert upload has an attached soundcheck segment with P on the piano. Could this be the one you've seen on tv?

 
Fuzball said:
the beginning part of this Tokyo'90 concert upload has an attached soundcheck segment with P on the piano. Could this be the one you've seen on tv?

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No, I don't think it's this clip. I just posted this one upthread, actually. I posted a snippet ages ago and then a longer version the other day. That's the Summertime soundcheck. I think the one I saw, he was indoors. I could be wrong, it was such a long time ago. But I remember it as being indoors with low-ish lighting. He was doing something jazzy, though. That I do remember.

That said, this was lovely. Seeing him at the beginning having a laugh and being relaxed, that was nice. And then it goes into The Future at Tokyo which is one of 'my' songs. I think I posted that upthread, also. I'm not mad keen on Prince live but I do love this one. He does really good stagings. He really understands the space, he uses it so well.

That's as far as I got. I'll check out the rest later. Thanks for posting, though.

Also, I LOVE that striped shirt he's wearing when he's doing the Summertime soundcheck. 😲
 
Interview with Susan Rogers at Loop 2017 - 1hr 2m 24s

At 20m - 33m 30s she talks about Prince.
28m 55s - 30m 30s she plays an audio clip of Prince playing the intro to Erotic City. Live at the 1st Avenue Club, Minneapolis. June 7th 1984.
30m 35s - 32m 30s she mentions Michael


 
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i'm so late to the game. So it is most likely a repost.

Interview with Mel B [ Spice Girls fame] talking to him. Just watched now.
Good Interview. Great chemistry.
 
Another version of 'The Ladder', Tokyo, Japan 15 Nov 2002 - One Nite Alone Tour

John Blackwell Project (drums), Rhonda Smith (bass, vox), Renato Neto Official (keyboards), Greg Boyer - Trombone (trombone), Maceo Parker (saxophone) 😲

5m 33s

 
wendijane said:
^ thanks @Fuzball


So, watching the ;LoveSexy 88 tour . 4 the first time
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This is my favorite part from this show, so cozy, classy and masterful performance in both vocals and piano by the man. Such a sweet little break from the rest of the show. Shows his artistry perfectly in my opinion, it's amazing.
 
N.I.O.47 said:
This is my favorite part from this show,
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i Oh , Yeah . It was a bit of a shock , that.
N.I.O.47 said:
so cozy,
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Yeah i felt that too.
N.I.O.47 said:
classy and masterful
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Yes! @N.I.O.47
N.I.O.47 said:
performance in both vocals and piano by the man.
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Yeah... :unsure: 😔
N.I.O.47 said:
Such a sweet little break from the rest of the show.
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Yes This . He was a pretty majestic person.
N.I.O.47 said:
Shows his artistry perfectly in my opinion,
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You know , I am so livid at Batman 89 because i pretty much cancelled him out as a kid cause of that one music video. [with the exception of Thieves, which was of course , a year later~ because that was the only song which retained my attention then stop-]
N.I.O.47 said:
it's amazing.
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Yes. His artistry is intriguing. I have just sat and watched UTCM for the very first time today 😌because i am now the proud owner of the special edition reissue box set of his three films.
I decided on the physical releases because i know we can also order those online in an instant. But i am old skool so it was on DVD, 😂 took a while because the order had to go back the first time for 3 reasons. 1] it was blue ray
and 2] i saw a [in my opinion] more familiar cover , so preferred the 2004 reissue and had to look around for that
and 3] no , sharyn what are you doing? but I pushed past 3 , fixed up 2 and 1 - and It was well worth the wait. And well ,im going to be corny now but i can say i let that film took my prince virginity 2day. Yeah truly . Blown away. I love him for that film. I couldn't believe what i was watching. In my opinion, It's bloody brilliant!
 
wendijane said:
I am so livid at Batman 89 because i pretty much cancelled him out as a kid cause of that one music video.
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Funny, if you mean the Batdance one, that was the first Prince-related thing I saw and heard of him on my own. I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it a bit confusing back then (even though I liked and enjoyed it a lot for what it is), what with all the ravings people had on his persona and music, but right now I honestly think that was the better choice I could've made as it didn't set any exact expectations on what, generally, his music was like (since I knew it was most probably a special case with that one song); so later on I could find my way with his music through works like TGE and PR, already in a positive manner due to that video (and eventually with Batdance becoming one of my most prefered songs to listen to of his).


wendijane said:
I have just sat and watched UTCM for the very first time today 😌
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Being honest, I haven't been interested at all in his theatrical work since I've never expected much from that side of him. I still personally think he can at least act pretty well, but honestly I would simply rather just listen to his albums on my own and at my own pace, even if Parade and Purple Rain are amazing (with me liking the former a bit more). Glad to hear you could get the boxset eventually though!
 
N.I.O.47 said:
Funny, if you mean the Batdance one,
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Yeahhh . this piece of art indeed. 💔i was thrilled You replied actually , because seems you are an OG Prince supporter so you can hopefully teach me lol since @Fuzball :rolleyes:has bloody slackened on his otherwise recommendations. :ROFLMAO:He recommended Papa , :unsure:which is on Come ! so .. yeah, got him to thank for that one.:cautious::ROFLMAO:

Anyway trying to find your way through this guys catalogue/mind is a vast , overwhelming , overflowing and almost still daunting experience in itself in my opinion! :ROFLMAO: I keep hearing / reading about a beautiful experience and an Eye Hate u and a ....Gold experience and i am all side eyed at all these experiences i am yet to ...experience ha !
N.I.O.47 said:
that was the first Prince-related thing I saw and heard of him on my own.
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Yes exactly this. The very first thing for me too. I was like 11 so maybe i could be forgiven ,still not yet 12. it was released exactly two month before i hit 12. But i never really you know...
N.I.O.47 said:
I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it a bit confusing back then (even though I liked and enjoyed it a lot for what it is),
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Mm . I was very disturbed about it. because it seemed like it went on and on , and it did - it was indeed an extended piece of experimental art. And to this day i have not seen or heard nothing like it since! [That calls my bluff don't it ]. I still won't listen to it .That is one thing i will miss out on revisiting. To me, a kid not yet a teen , it was scary cos i never really got Gotham city or BM or the joker dammit. The sound was freakish, try listening to that in bed late at night ... and the video did not help matters at all, It was that which that created a problem seed for me in all this,
The video.... that ... that Joker... thing i wanted to smash the telly when he kept popping up on that . I really hated that imagery ~that kept talking , laughing with all his mates - to me , Was laughing so evil and twisted ~ to me , The character he was playing The Joker thing was possessing the pretty boy who was trapped on the keyboards ,!!!!!!!!!!!!!!that is how it looked to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111 :eek:and i wasn't about to save him.☹️ I mean how could you save him from that bloody thing? It was bloomin' terrifying. I should have Wonder ! womaned /Super! girled up ~ha! and done exactly that, because it was only me who hurt my little kid self by cancelling out a wealth n decades of artistry and intelligence.
N.I.O.47 said:
what with all the ravings people had on his persona and music,
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I didn't get that far ..I hope the media treated him alright ..They just sexed him all up for me . 😔
N.I.O.47 said:
but right now I honestly think that was the better choice I could've made as it didn't set any exact expectations on what, generally, his music was like (since I knew it was most probably a special case with that one song);
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I blame ....the media ! and ..... Warner ! and ....bloody Tim Burton lol I have to blame someone lol ...........................................ugh! *a million tears*
N.I.O.47 said:
so later on I could find my way with his music through works like TGE and PR,
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Yes i am finding myself doing that now. And there is alot i am so overwhelmed by how much material he actually left. You what i am excited about? The Black Album? because yet another character... Camille . oh my gosh that ...the whole concept of Camille. I plan to follow closely ! happy 2 say!
N.I.O.47 said:
already in a positive manner due to that video
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Mmm that is the right attitude/outlook to have in all this. You know , the very first thing i found with this guy , last week . was- he was really dark:eek: and i will say complicated ...can i say that ? But i feel really addicted to his art. and to older him , he was looking good in 2016. :eek: :eek: :eek: This is moreso projection and my fantasy because i like thin lizzy . paul ~ anyway , but yeah he def. does something for me. maybe not much his younger self not after GB ,but his mind was pretty unique. I am not sure what i am doing with him [since i 'belonged' strictly to m in my child's mind], maybe i am trying to piece out what he left for us all together and fit him in there in my own life.I kind of need him - everyone else seemed to. All my friends totally did.
N.I.O.47 said:
(and eventually with Batdance becoming one of my most prefered songs to listen to of his).
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That's the 1 i just can't make peace with. Just that 1 ...so far. Maybe i will find another thing to pick on.
N.I.O.47 said:
Being honest, I haven't been interested at all in his theatrical work
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UTCM is beautiful . And it is filmed in Black & White and you still see all the glamour and splender. It is a real masterpiece i thought , and his clothes.....I couldn't take my eyes off the screen for it. I do keep returning to it. I have done that twice now. Christopher T is holy [in the sense of awe] magnetic 🖤⚔️
N.I.O.47 said:
since I've never expected much from that side of him.
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And the thing is with that , He had so many sides, And acting i think is the one huge one for me. :unsure: So , with his films - I quickly gravitated /revisted towards GB and can fully appreciate it . PR still not so much. [ Although When doves cry , cuts deep now.. [makes me cry , because the lyrics were very biting , Bit slashed ~stingy and 2 harsh for me back then, even now but... funny enough , the first song i ' revisted.'..]
UTCM & GB is where it's at [ currently] for me on the theatrical side of his mind.
N.I.O.47 said:
I still personally think he can at least act pretty well,
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If he had been an actor looking like The Kid in GB and stayed like that , then i would have got him straight away. Absolutely. But then, i just made him boring . How dare i haha
He created so much.. SO much. 🤨 Tora Tora is another.. And i couldn't keep up i think, Or cope- because every time i turned the telly on , The guy looked different. And when he 'wouldn't let you pronounce his name '.... These [now ] genius quirks grew me a blocked wall with him ,You see.
Shamed to say it , a horrendous, mighty steel , titanium strong terrible & unforgiving wall.

So when i look back now, he was doing a mile a minute- everything. :oops:Because when i next turned the telly on for him. he was now in yellow showing his butt . That was 1991. So that built me a stereotypical image of his artistry. In walks 1992 , and ....he was off with his DP which....well I liked the GO style , that video- ! :unsure:🖤😊 That headwrap was something else right???

He was all in black in there and those girls [twins?] were hot, and i adored what they wore. But i still didn't appreciate the art the artist was creating or... what the nameless artist was ' telling me' it was like,...:eek::unsure::unsure::unsure::unsure::sick:. he was an entity of his own artistry, ... even back then...i just couldn't handle that , :ROFLMAO: and i was just getting into m big time ,, me n m were making it big time ..i gave everything , all my energy n expectations to michael.. all i had. You had prince/ symbol fans and you had michael jackson fans in 1992 . That's it. [according to me]
So, that was my truth . I was a Michael Jackson fan hardcore and solid. I did not know of any Prince. Who was he? I was ... there is a song on The ...i am not sure which album but it was written for me. arrogance. Yep . i am yet to check that out you know 🧐🤨😒😟☹️😣☹️☹️☹️☹️
[all my faves hit at the same time i noticed sep - oct- nov- 1991... Just noticed that ! i guess, because i was coming of age. Pretty vital time ] but i just had no time for Prince..no time at all! The artist. Symbol Tora Tora ~ oh my gosh Camille ...what ? ..🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤:eek:.wow~ all wasn't in my vocab back then. no. :confused:☹️ and ...which i would say , because of my past , is why i never got this really richly, creative, wonderful sexy individual.😔
If he had been a little little eroticised , and if i had been a bit less brutal with chances ~maybe i think, and i probably would believe in my heart, i'd have picked back up on GO. and go from there. Maybe.......
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/54043264259353409/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/40250990402246881/
But I was happy in teen angst n evilness , and absolutely for sure, built that stigmatised wall. I was really happily and busily building that. and i built that tremendously well.🥺☹️
At 14 i thought he was 'dirty' [even though i was listening to rap at the time !!!!!] Shamed to say this - i really vilified him and the air he breathed. That is, untill now. Untill 2023. yh too late. that's what stubborness does 2 ya. 😖
N.I.O.47 said:
but honestly I would simply rather just listen to his albums
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Personally i appreciate 93 Come cd [ first thing i bought. a week or so ago ] there is something about that album which is a keeper.🙃😊His voice is like liquid.
N.I.O.47 said:
on my own and at my own pace,
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It's always nice and i agree here , because you can 'get to know' what he trying to ' give ' to ' you. ' And i do this through the books too.
N.I.O.47 said:
even if Parade and Purple Rain are amazing (with me liking the former a bit more).
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I was trying a little of his Controversy album or something at the weekend 😕 .. Again , the imagery took my attention . 🖤 We will see. Parade i am assuming is raspberry right? No maybe not.
N.I.O.47 said:
Glad to hear you could get the boxset eventually though!
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Thank You @N.I.O.47 I'm thrilled about that you know. I have got so far... 2 CDs . Come , and GB. the 2004 DVD boxset , and the book by his first wife and his um book by his personal photographer. Which was a good look into well , his clothes really. He was quite the model I would like to get his autobiography but what puts me off that is he never got to finish it ...and it is difficult reading Maytes account.
.. I will catch up ha! that i will.

Question ? Assuming his supporters have a name too , What are we called then? His Knights ? cos he is so dark n Princey and .regal & ... symbol ...maybe not.
I plan to be back !
 
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