I was listening to the extended version of "Thieves In The Temple" in my car the other day (which was fortunately not one of the hits beaten into the ground by the mainstream in the past month). Anyway, when it got to the "put your foot on the rock" part I was singing loudly and off-key as always, be-bopping in my driver's seat at a red light...and for just a fleeting moment I wasn't thinking about his death. He wasn't past tense. There wasn't grief. I was just reveling in his genius and enjoying the moment the way I always did before April 21, 2016. Reality came back pretty quickly, but I had a fraction of that feeling again. It was joy and happiness, not sadness and hurt. And I had my first hope that that feeling will come back. I will always miss him and ache for his loss but I think the overwhelming joy of his work will come back to all of us, the way he always meant it to.

Anybody else starting to see some rays of hope? I don't want to be sad forever...

I know what you mean, renfield. I was listening to a live version of "Little Red Corvette" the other day and marvelling at how he extends and reworks the song and wondering how much rehearsal time went into not only that version of the song but others as well. His genius never ceases to amaze me, although I've listened to him since 1978. Things will get better for all of us. They will NEVER be the same, but we will get better.

renfield said:

I was listening to "Thieves In The Temple"......It was joy and happiness, not sadness and hurt.

.

Try listening to "Ripopgodazippa." Any sadness and hurt turns to laughing hysterics.

.

I have been listening to his entire catalogue straight through. Doing that got rid of the sadness. By the time I got to "Jack U Off" I was having a ball. Prince music was mostly about joy and fun. That's all still there.

renfield said:

I was listening to the extended version of "Thieves In The Temple" in my car the other day (which was fortunately not one of the hits beaten into the ground by the mainstream in the past month). Anyway, when it got to the "put your foot on the rock" part I was singing loudly and off-key as always, be-bopping in my driver's seat at a red light...and for just a fleeting moment I wasn't thinking about his death. He wasn't past tense. There wasn't grief. I was just reveling in his genius and enjoying the moment the way I always did before April 21, 2016. Reality came back pretty quickly, but I had a fraction of that feeling again. It was joy and happiness, not sadness and hurt. And I had my first hope that that feeling will come back. I will always miss him and ache for his loss but I think the overwhelming joy of his work will come back to all of us, the way he always meant it to.

Anybody else starting to see some rays of hope? I don't want to be sad forever...

happy to hear that. happy for you. I feel like these moments will start coming back to all of us. thanks for posting this

renfield said:

I was listening to the extended version of "Thieves In The Temple" in my car the other day (which was fortunately not one of the hits beaten into the ground by the mainstream in the past month). Anyway, when it got to the "put your foot on the rock" part I was singing loudly and off-key as always, be-bopping in my driver's seat at a red light...and for just a fleeting moment I wasn't thinking about his death. He wasn't past tense. There wasn't grief. I was just reveling in his genius and enjoying the moment the way I always did before April 21, 2016. Reality came back pretty quickly, but I had a fraction of that feeling again. It was joy and happiness, not sadness and hurt. And I had my first hope that that feeling will come back. I will always miss him and ache for his loss but I think the overwhelming joy of his work will come back to all of us, the way he always meant it to.

Anybody else starting to see some rays of hope? I don't want to be sad forever...

Your words are giving us hope. Thanks for sharing.

I listened to I Wish U Heaven part 1,2,3 and this track is probably my deepest Prince-lore cut that takes me into his imagination, it has so many twists and awesome elements as well as humor and contradiction, and the mix....

But I still started to feel very frustrated that he is gone.

I think I have accepted his death now, altough it still seems hard to believe. Prince always was such a mysterious/mythical person to me, it was almost like he was already 'unreal' to me during his life.

I had expected the sadness and mourning to be worse, to be honest. But I guess I didn't know Prince as a person and that is why probably his death hasn't affected me that much in the end. Of course I find it very sad for Prince himself, his family, his friends and his fans. His music and legacy will live on though, and I still enjoy listening to his music and watching live video's. Maybe even more than when he was still alive and I was spoilt rotten with new releases and still often complaining about them. Now that he is dead all of a sudden I seem to be much more grateful for what he gave us fans. May he rest in peace...

I'm afraid I'm never going to feel like that again. i can only get through half a song before I have to turn it off. it sounds so ALIVE and i just start to lose it. its like the hole thats left is magnified by how incredibly alive he sounds. each record infused with SO MUCH.

it's not digitally flattened out and its like too much feeling for me to process.

funkaholic1972 said:

Hell no

before 4/12 I was wondering if there was going to be a H&R part 3 or hoping for him to go to Europe with his microphone tour.

now, all of this is not happening, ever again!

so no, I will never have the pre-4/21 feeling ever again

but I still listen a lot to his music, just as I did before hell broke loose;

ilo said:

If I listen to older material I don't think about his passing at all. After all 80s Prince moved on many many years ago.

Yes I am finding the early material easier (apart from Purple Rain) and been listening to boots from the 80s - the rest of it will take some time though and before 21st April I was only listening to Piano & Mic but have not listened to it since and not even listened to the Atlanta ones at all yet.......some things will take more time.