independent and unofficial
Prince fan community
Welcome! Sign up or enter username and password to remember me
Forum jump
Forums > Associated artists & people > Andre Cymone - "Hallelujah" (premiere)
« Previous topic  Next topic »
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
Author

Tweet     Share

Message
Thread started 09/23/16 2:03pm

purplethunder3
121

avatar

Andre Cymone - "Hallelujah" (premiere)

Andre Cymone - "Hallelujah" (premiere)

BY EVAN SAWDEY

23 September 2016

PRINCE'S CHILDHOOD FRIEND AND BASSIST CAME BACK WITH SOCIALLY-CONSCIOUS ROCK IN 2014, BUT WITH HIS NEW EP, ADDRESSES AMERICA'S RACE ISSUES HEAD-ON.
PHOTO: KATHERINE COPELAND ANDERSO
.

Andre Cymone‘s place in history—as a childhood friend of Prince who was also his early bassist, to say nothing of his own unique solo career—is absolutely secure. For Cymone, however, that doesn’t mean he’s comfortable.
.
Following the release of his hit 1985 solo set A.C. (with the Prince-penned number “The Dance Electric”), Cymone turned his talents towards production, working on albums with the likes of Evelyn “Champagne” King, Adam Ant, and eventually Jody Watley. Yet Cymone wasn’t one to stay silent, and in 2012, started putting out songs that talked about Barack Obama, Trayvon Martin, and other issues that were defining America’s racial identity in new and sometimes horrifying ways. Dropping the synth-stylings of his ‘80s efforts in favor of clear-cut rock guitars, 2014 saw Cymone finally put out his fourth solo effort, titled simply The Stone.

.

Now, still responding to a shifting, dividing nation in the middle of one of the most contentious election years in history, Cymone is dropping a fiery new EP titled Black Man in America on 30 September 2016. He partners with PopMatters to premiere a new song from the set, “Hallelujah”.

Speaking to PopMatters about the song itself, he notes how “‘Hallelujah’ was a song I heard written by Leonard Cohen but recorded by Jeff Buckley a couple years back. I listen to it and thought ‘Wow, I could flip that kinda the way Hendrix flipped some of those Dylan songs.’ So I gave it a shot and I love the way it came out.”

.

In describing the song’s place on Black Man in America, Cymone tells us that “It’s a bridge between all the brutality and injustice. It’s the redemption song, a celebration of the power of music and how music can speak directly to the heart.”

.

Listen to the new song "Hallelujah" below:

.

Read more: http://www.popmatters.com...z4L7BcnTuj

[Edited 9/23/16 14:03pm]

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #1 posted 09/23/16 3:09pm

djThunderfunk

avatar

Thanks for this. Should be in the associated artists forum... it's Andre!!

Liberty > Authority
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #2 posted 09/23/16 4:24pm

purplethunder3
121

avatar

djThunderfunk said:

Thanks for this. Should be in the associated artists forum... it's Andre!!

I know but the last time I posted there no one read it. And then later someone posted the same story here...where it was read. razz lol

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #3 posted 09/27/16 9:03pm

EddieC

On one listen, I say it wasn't great--but it was better than it could have been. I actually liked it, in the main, but I think the "Come ons" and "Oh yeahs" appeared too early and too often (and too routinely, honestly. They sounded kind more forced than natural.) I liked the general feel of the record, but I also would have liked another turn or opening up musically. I mean, the basic groove was okay, but an interesting solo, or maybe a new bridge would have helped. The song is so familiar (and I'm a huge Cohen fan, so I've heard tons of performances just by him, besides all the covers) but also so consistent in the way people perform it, and Andre's rocking it up works, but it doesn't tip over into the sort of thing that Hendrix did with All Along the Watchtower. That's a lot to live up to, of course--but if Andre hadn't brought that comparison up, I probably wouldn't be holding him to that standard.

I'd say a strong B, though. Maybe B+. But that's on one listen, and one listen is almost meaningless. I'll give it more, and I guess that's what counts.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #4 posted 09/27/16 9:08pm

babynoz

Put some respeck on 'Dre's name. cool

Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Forums > Associated artists & people > Andre Cymone - "Hallelujah" (premiere)