Better Late Than Never: Prince & the Revolution
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 by Darren Robbins
The weird thing about being into music as much as I am (much to the chagrin of every girlfriend I’ve ever had) is that I still end up missing out on a few — okay, a few hundred — really cool artists along the way. It’s just not possible to be up on all the cool music out there. It isn’t. Believe me, I’ve tried.
Of course, if you were anything like me when you were younger, you were quickly jaded to the greatness of certain artists who were, for lack of a better term, fucking huge. And it’s not just my generation — my parents were kinda “meh” about the Beatles because, near as I can tell, those guys were everywhere, and just about everybody and their freakin’ brother liked them. If I’d been alive, or at least old enough to give a crap when the Beatles were still together, I probably would’ve written them off too.
Thus there are quite a number of bands that were still together when I was old enough to give a crap and their crazy level of success and/or popularity made them like Kryptonite to me. My thinking was: if all the nimrods at school like them, how good can they be?
Case in point: Huey Lewis & the News. How does a cat go from palling around with Nick Lowe and Declan McManus to, ahem, wanting a new drug?
Then there’s Def Leppard. Forget that I was the first kid in my school to own 1981’s High ‘n’ Dry — the fact that everybody else soon owned a copy of 1983’s Pyromania quickly reduced Def Leppard to Loverboy status in my book.
And Prince? Don’t get me started.
Circa 1985 you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting at least half a dozen teenyboppers who had pictures of the Purple One adorning their locker doors and hand-drawn Prince logos splashed across their notebooks. My girlfriend at the time was one of them, but even her relentless adoration of Prince Rogers Nelson could not sway me to the Purple Side.
Even years later when I recorded at Paisley Park and had a brief brush with the diminutive Artist Formerly Known as You-Know-Who, I still had little use for the dude.
I admit to buying Around the World in a Day (in the cutout bin, for three bucks) and maybe half liking a couple tunes. I also picked up Diamonds and Pearls the minute it came out in ‘91 because, well, I kinda dug the cover, and I figured the coast was clear now that the Purple Reign had cooled considerably.
Then one day not too long ago, it happened.
Itchy for something different to listen to, I bought a used copy of Purple Rain and was absolutely floored at the artistry, the raw sexuality, and the ceaseless self-confidence that fueled each and every song.
Even though I was quite familiar with many of the songs already — how could you not be? — enough time had gone by that they were fresh again, and I was able to hear them without being made to feel like I was supposed to like them because, well, everybody else already did.
From there I sought out 1999, and one listen confirmed the truth of a long-held myth: that this 1983 double album was about one album too long and that Prince was one self-indulgent sumbitch. But that, of course, is ultimately what makes the album so great. “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” is over seven minutes long, but who cares when the funk is this solid? By comparison, I’ve heard many a three-minute pop song that seemed like it might never end (Avril’s “Girlfriend,” for instance).
It’s my personal opinion that, song for song, 1999 and Purple Rain are easily the greatest one-two punch since Rubber Soul and Revolver. Why is that, you ask? Good question, and I think I have the answer. Four words: Prince & the Revolution.
See, these weren’t just Prince albums the way Dirty Mind and Controversy were Prince albums. They were Prince and the Revolution albums. In other words, they were collaborative efforts — as collaborative as it was ever gonna get in Prince’s world, that is. Let’s not kid ourselves: Prince single-handedly played a majority of the instruments and produced both albums, but he was selfless enough to share some of the spotlight with the likes of Dez Dickerson, Andre Cymone, Lisa Coleman, and Wendy Melvoin.
Most importantly, the songs are ace. It’s important to note that Prince was firing on all cylinders during this period. Seemingly everything the man touched was turning to gold and platinum. In addition to 1999 and Purple Rain, Prince wrote and recorded two albums for the Time while also writing career-defining hits for the likes of Sheila E., Vanity 6 (which became Apollonia 6), Sheena Easton, and the Bangles (”Manic Monday” was initially recorded in ‘84 for Apollonia 6’s album but was pulled by Prince prior to release).
Many are under the assumption that the Revolution were nothing more than pretty faces, but judging by the live tracks below, I think it’s obvious they were a smoking hot live band and arguably the best lineup to ever support Prince.
Listen for yourself. If you’re not already a believer, these songs may sway you to the Purple Side once and for all.
Let’s Go Crazy
Delirious
1999
Little Red Corvette
Take Me With U
Do Me Baby
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore
Let’s Pretend We’re Married
God
Computer Blue
Darling Nikki
The Beautiful Ones
When Doves Cry
I Would Die 4 U
Baby I’m a Star
Purple Rain
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Thanks for the post.
Be careful that His Purple Majesty's attorneys don't find this blog.
what a pretentious little fuck you are
Darren, thanks so much for posting these! I’ve wanted these for ages!! I had a couple of the songs from this concert which I recorded onto tape about 28 years ago; recently I tried turning them into .mp3s; as you can guess the quality was a bit dubious no matter what I did to clean them up :c). Don't suppose you could post 'Irresistible Bitch’ & ‘Possessed’ which come in between ‘Do Me Baby’ & ‘How come U don’t Call’. Also, ‘International Lover’ which comes after ‘Let’s pretend we’re married’ & ‘God’; if you could that would be brilliant; and welcome to the purple side!!!
of course that should be "‘International Lover’ which comes after ‘Let’s pretend we’re married’ & BEFORE ‘God’!
I, too, in the last few years have just started to appreciate Prince... I think the first half of 3121 is great.
It's kind of silly, but when I was a kid (9 in '85), I felt like there was this Prince vs. Michael Jackson rivalry going on... Prince didn't have a chance with me. I was Michael all the way.
(Did I just admit that on Popdose?)
rahulgupta, I remember reading a quote sometime in the 90's where Prince said basically, 'so you thought *I* was the pervert back then, did you?' Can't always completely judge a person by their looks or their art, eh?
That's pretty funny...
And, no, you can't judge a person by their looks or art -- I'm actually a very talented white painter.
Oh, I really do look like Emma Peel and run around with a fake movie pistol. Avatars never lie.
Is "Do Me Baby" correct? The one posted seems to be cut off at the end.
I am a very recent convert to the purple one. I can remember really liking his poppier stuff like "Little Red Corvette" back then, but his funk side was totally lost on me. Besides, I was too busy listening to punk back then to be sidetracked by anything else.
But, as I've aged and grown wiser (maybe), I've seen the light. His R&B/Funk songs are excellent.
Thanks for the tracks (Eight E1 below is right, Purple Rain is a knockout!)
One good turn deserves another. In an amazing coincidence, I've just posted a link to a concert by The Time.
So, you can stop by and take a listen
Wombosi here from the Rope:
I used to hate on Huey Lewis until I heard "Do You Believe in Love" with fresh ears and realized that (a) the harmonies kick ass, and (b) Mutt Lange knows how to put together a killer song.
Having foolishly missed the Prince/Time/Vanity 6 "1999" tour in '82 when it came to my hometown, I wasn't about to miss the "Purple Rain" tour when it came to Chicago in early '85. Tix went on sale in early December--right during finals week at Northwestern, and I had two exams on the on-sale date. Back in those days, buying tickets for a Prince concert was a line-up-at-the-box-office affair; they opened the b.o. at the Rosemont Horizon at 9 a.m., and by the time Ticketron outlets opened an hour later, all the tix would be gone.
So my friends and I decided, screw studying, and trekked to Rosemont at 3 a.m. to get in line. We weren't even close to the front, and this was DECEMBER IN CHICAGO, but we bundled up and stuck it out. I got back to campus by 11:30--only to discover that instead of having finals at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., as I had thought, I had missed a 10 a.m. final. I raced to my prof and threw myself on his mercy; incredibly, I told him the truth about where I had been, and his first response was "did you get good seats?"
He let me take the final in his office later that day. I didn't do very well, but that's fitting; the class was "Dostoevsky," and the exam essay was all about Crime and Punishment.
The show was great, though. BTW, Dirty Mind is an insanely good album, and filthy as all get-out; I actually prefer it to 1999.
Wendy and Lisa's excellent "Eroica" album is a good fix for people who miss the Revolution sound -- they had a major hand in all the arrangements back in the Purple Rain/Parade era (including some cowriting credits). They make a reappearance on a couple tracks on "Planet Earth", most obviously to my ears in "The One U Wanna C", a great little number that would've fit right in back in the glory days.
Maybe I'd like Prince if he actually played the guitar more often. I'm only familiar with the hits, and so many of them sound like they are not much more than a drum machine and Casio (When Doves Cry, Little Red Corvette, 1999, Let's Go Crazy). However, I do remember the first Prince song I ever heard ("I Wanna Be Your Lover") and thought it was pretty good.
My "huge-band-that-I-hated-until-much-later" had to be The Police. When they were big and selling tons of records and were on the radio constantly, I had no use for a bunch of white English boys trying to play ska and fake reggae. But once I heard Synchronicity II, I was hooked. Then, after the breakup, I started getting into their catalog. Now I regard them as the best rock band of the 80's.
P.S. Def Leppard's debut "All Through The Night" is even better than "High n Dry". But yeah, your observation on DF was spot-on.
It's all about who lights that fire the first time. Like a lot of teenagers who also liked 'rock', we were torn, I mean Prince just shredded the guitar, but then he wore all those frilly outfits, what's a hetero teen male to do?
For me it was the older sister of my best friend Darren, Heather was her name. Heather was the embodiment of the perfect, blonde, hot seveteen year-old 'big' sister, the girl next door who wore a string bikini everyday in the summer I went over to Darren's house every day that summer, as he had a pool and both his parents worked and left Darren and his big sister alone. We'd sit around, eat Tombstone Pizzas and watch MTV. Heather was pretty cool about letting me and Darren listen to whatever music we wanted but she got to pick out stuff once in awhile. One day when she was tired of our Billy Idol, Van Halen and Def Leppard, she put on Purple Rain and proceeded to dance (in her bikini) to the entire album, including a sultry special dance for "Darling Nikki". I was hooked and can't hear any song off Purple Rain without thinking of Heather.
Did that sound too much like Penthouse Forum Letter?
Pretty close to Penthouse Forum...but you would have needed to use something silly - like "supple love bumps" to make it authentic.
Prince - my favorite artist ever. Completely unique and constantly not only adapting his style to remain relevant but not giving a sh*t if you like it or not. Plus, the guy records non-stop and constantly tosses out new songs, albums etc...to those that like him enough to dig past the chain store rack.
He's had his crap moments - like in the 90's when he was just tossing out records to get out of his contract (even those weren't that bad!) but to have 1999, The Love Symbol Album (His best album in my opinion) and 3121 - 3 great albums - 3 different decades. You don't get that very often these days.
So talented and so good!
That version of "Purple Rain" is absolutely transcendent.
Rob
EightE1
Are the Popdose folks telepathically wired to me?
The post earlier today on my blog – Play it And Be Damned (Thanks, Jeff, for the link on the left side) – talks about Prince's performance at the 2004 RnR Hall of Fame ceremony. I still think it is amazing.
But then again, not entirely unexpected given the guitar playing Prince displayed on 1999, Purple Rain ("Let's Go Crazy," anyone?) and his first post-Revolution album Sign O The Times. Too often, his personal quirks and narcissism obscure the fact that he is an incredible musician
Same boat here.
Look, where I grew up, you couldn't be a Rocker, Man!! and like Prince. Talented guy, plays a mean guitar, yeah, yeah, yeah... But there was something that an adolescent white kid looking to fit in just could abide by The Purple One.
In retrospect, damn it, I was wrong. I guess you have to get older to get over some of those bugaboos of youth, just to hear what's really there.