- About the magic of a human vibe -

* An escalation by BeautifulExperience *

The first time I heard about Prince was in 1982. This crazy tune called Sexuality had been played in my club, and I thought that our DJ was out of his mind to play something like this. I hated the aggressive sounding song, and I loved it three years later:

"No child is bad from the beginning, they only imitate their atmosphere."

The atmosphere in my club was made by teenie boppers, and we were all looking for our first kiss that really mattered: The kiss that would lead to more adventurous things. But we felt like children, and although we realized the power of this new wavish song we couldn't think about the impact it would have on us three years later. 1983 there was this song 1999 on the radio, and this one I fell in love with instantly. Sometimes I danced to this tune in the little room I shared with my brother, but it was just a good song, it had nothing to do with the guy with the strange name Prince. It needed Little Red Corvette on MTV to let me become aware of the artist, this strange and alien-like looking creature with the impressive voice, a voice I heard nearly everywhere I went:

"I guess I should have known by the way U parked your car that it wouldn't last. Because you're the kind of person that believes in making out once, love 'em and leave 'em fast."

It crept in my mind, and with the beautiful synthesizer line I sang along, and the album 1999 was the first record I bought from Prince. There were only five tracks on this disc I liked at the time: 1999, Little Red Corvette, Let's Pretend We're Married, Something In The Water (Does Not Compute) and International Lover. The rest felt in the best odd and in the worst like real crap for me, and had Little Red Corvette not been on MTV so often, I would have forgotten this album really fast.

Then 1984 came, and in may there was this edited single When Doves Cry in my local record store. I couldn't get why there was this excitement about it in the U.S. until I heard the original, unedited version of the track on the soundtrack album Purple Rain, but from that moment on I fell in love with Prince. I bought every single album he had released before, and "new" songs like I Wanna Be Your Lover, When We're Dancing Close And Slow, It's Gonna Be Lonely, Dirty Mind, When You Were Mine, Uptown, Controversy, Do Me Baby and Private Joy became instant classics to me. 1984 was the summer of Prince, and turning on my radio it seemed to be so all around the world. Everybody loved him, everybody cared, at least everybody felt something about him and the image he created. And as Prince seemed to become the greatest star in the world, the purple rain was over.

He released Around The World In A Day, and the revolution really began. This was the evolution of a musician, and he created different incarnations of songs and colorful extended versions that made a big, big picture: Paisley Park, Raspberry Beret, Tamborine, America, Pop Life, Temptation, Hello, She's Always In My Hair and Girl will stand out forever as genuine and original tracks no other musician could have created.

Now, twenty-five years later, he released this new album 20Ten via european magazines and newspapers, and sure, Purple Rain is nice and created a hell of a buzz, but 20Ten shows the better musician. It's a work of art, full of love, not made to show off but to show things that could be important to everyone of us. Its ten songs full of positive vibes are carefully put together, and if I listen closely (yes, I have to put on my headphones!), there are so many secrets in the mix that I want to listen to 20Ten again and again. It's a wild ride ending with the sing-along Everybody Loves Me, but if I'm willing and able to enjoy the silence of the sixty-seven following tracks I'm rewarded with the futuristic and real dirty funk of Laydown, a monumental but short powerhouse of a track that reminds me in its essence of another unforgettable tune: "I've seen the future and it will be..."

Just listening now to an unreleased song called Player, and if I had a wish I'd want this gem right now in a proper sound quality. But I think this wish will be unfulfilled, the song will remain unreleased, but nevertheless it's one of the most beautiful pop songs ever written:"Player - If I had U girl I wouldn't be one." There are so many of them, for Prince maybe just notes on his way, sort of a diary. And that is part of the grand progression, the evolution of this human being, and thank God we're living in the same time where the purple Yoda shares his music and his beautiful vision with all of us.

Coming soon: LE PETIT PRINCE and the days of wild

[Edited 10/12/10 11:40am]

[Edited 10/12/10 11:44am]

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[Edited 1/27/17 3:12am]

lopez568 said:

Wonderful post

Are you by any chance a creative writer?

It's very refreshing to read POSITIVE posts on this board about the man, his music and his influence.

Keep it coming!

Thank you very much for your feedback. No, I'm not a creative writer; I just write down what I think and feel. It's not so much fun to write in a sea of negativity, and so my posts will be published primarily on another forum where the vibes are better until now.

lopez568 said:

Wonderful post

Are you by any chance a creative writer?

It's very refreshing to read POSITIVE posts on this board about the man, his music and his influence.

Keep it coming!

Well, I think I'll try another one...

Wow, I have avoid posting on here for a bit of a while but your post made me look back on my great love for all things Prince. Although, I was a fan who jumped on the bandwagon from the 1st single what you wrote actually is basicly how I have felt since the late 70's. I find the negativity here so uncomfortable sometimes that I look and just keep it moving because it gets very frustrating to keep hear nothing but hate spewed by what are supposed to be people who like Prince. And as a artist, sometimes the words that others write about you can affect you. I often come away hoping that Prince never see any of what his supposed fans say or write about his work because they can be just hurtful. If I didn't like something someone put out then I would not continue to buy their product. Not that I like everything that Prince has made but I can appreciate it for the sake of his art because it is his work. I did not like Everybody loves me initially and my daughter and wife were just eating it up. They would request that song when she came over and I finally started to really listen to it and now I too love it as well. I truly wish that I could purchase this cd when and if it is released in the US but so far nothing has happened. But I will always be a diehard listener of his art and see it all as what it is. ART. Just as I know that not everyone would love each of my drawings and paintings but hopefully they can see that I had fun making it and sharing it. Great post from you. I truly enjoyed it and it made me think back to when I was in college and I would go to my friends room just so I could listen to Something in the Water almost everyday because I didn't have a record player. But I was experiencing that record and wanted to hear it to get me motivate to go to class and walk across campus around all these people and get my education on. Lol. Those were the days and these are still the days because I am still enjoying Prince everyday. Love my music funky and rocking still. 20Ten is the bomb to me and I will enjoy it like every disc of his music comes my way cause I am a music lover especially of Prince's music.

I don't know that song, Player. Is it included on the work 2.0 ?

trickykid59 said:

I don't know that song, Player. Is it included on the work 2.0 ?

Never heard it myself either. What type of song is it?

jimmyrogertodd said:

Wow, I have avoid posting on here for a bit of a while but your post made me look back on my great love for all things Prince. Although, I was a fan who jumped on the bandwagon from the 1st single what you wrote actually is basicly how I have felt since the late 70's. I find the negativity here so uncomfortable sometimes that I look and just keep it moving because it gets very frustrating to keep hear nothing but hate spewed by what are supposed to be people who like Prince. And as a artist, sometimes the words that others write about you can affect you. I often come away hoping that Prince never see any of what his supposed fans say or write about his work because they can be just hurtful. If I didn't like something someone put out then I would not continue to buy their product. Not that I like everything that Prince has made but I can appreciate it for the sake of his art because it is his work. I did not like Everybody loves me initially and my daughter and wife were just eating it up. They would request that song when she came over and I finally started to really listen to it and now I too love it as well. I truly wish that I could purchase this cd when and if it is released in the US but so far nothing has happened. But I will always be a diehard listener of his art and see it all as what it is. ART. Just as I know that not everyone would love each of my drawings and paintings but hopefully they can see that I had fun making it and sharing it. Great post from you. I truly enjoyed it and it made me think back to when I was in college and I would go to my friends room just so I could listen to Something in the Water almost everyday because I didn't have a record player. But I was experiencing that record and wanted to hear it to get me motivate to go to class and walk across campus around all these people and get my education on. Lol. Those were the days and these are still the days because I am still enjoying Prince everyday. Love my music funky and rocking still. 20Ten is the bomb to me and I will enjoy it like every disc of his music comes my way cause I am a music lover especially of Prince's music.

First I have to thank you for his wonderful feedback; it's great to meet someone who isn't shy to write and to discuss a topic in more than a few words. I think it's a sign of the times that people tend to drag things in the mud; perhaps it gives them a feeling of pretended supremacy. And yes, you have to be a very strong character if you will be able to stay unaffected from such really bad vibes.

"Not that I like everything that Prince has made but I can appreciate it for the sake of his art because it is his work."

Yes. There will always be songs that don't get to you first (or maybe never), but are these songs crap due to this? Surely not. I love the scene you described with your wife and daughter, and perhaps sometimes we have to see things with the eyes of a child to appreciate their worth. Things as much as songs don't have to be complex to touch one's heart.

Thanks again for all the time you put in your answer, and I thank you especially for the depth of your post.

jimmyrogertodd said:

trickykid59 said:

I don't know that song, Player. Is it included on the work 2.0 ?

Never heard it myself either. What type of song is it?

I have difficulties to describe a thing when it comes to music. Player has a beautiful melody and synth line in it that's in a similar way hypnotizing as the one in 1985's Girl. To me it's an awesome love song, and listening to it it feels like watching a wonderful sunset at a lake - no, better: Let's watch it on English Bay in the downtown of Vancouver. Or imagine a drive by night through the colorful lights of a city - take an open car, and just turn on your stereo:

"So there U are
About time U showed up
Yea, I know what U heard
But let me talk

Baby, take a look outside your window
And see your future standing there
I've been here 4 a while now, baby
Or maybe U weren't aware
I knew that U heard every single story
About all the friends that I've got
But baby, if U give me 7 years of your time
All the friends I would have not

Player - If I had U girl, I wouldn't be one
Player - If U'd let me in the mix, we could have fun
Player - If life was a movie, U'd have the main part
Girl, U're number one with a bullet on my charts"

jimmyrogertodd said:

trickykid59 said:

I don't know that song, Player. Is it included on the work 2.0 ?

Never heard it myself either. What type of song is it?

Or to cut it short: It's about looking in a mirror and realizing how you failed when it comes to your greatest love.

trickykid59 said:

I don't know that song, Player. Is it included on the work 2.0 ?

I don't know what's meant with "the work 2.0". Could you explain it to me?

Very cool words. It is refreshing to read positive words. This place has mainly become a cesspool full of people who get off on being ugly and negative. Its ironic since that is the complete opposite of the message Prince has preached for years. But in a way i don't think they can help themselves.

tricky99 said:

Very cool words. It is refreshing to read positive words. This place has mainly become a cesspool full of people who get off on being ugly and negative. Its ironic since that is the complete opposite of the message Prince has preached for years. But in a way i don't think they can help themselves.

Thank you for reading, and I'm honoured by your kind feedback. And yes, it's difficult to understand that a musician who wrote all his life extremely positive music that made people feel good often gets so negative response - at least in this forum.