Author | Message |
Prince ...beginning of greatness: 4U- Prince 1976-1980 pt 2 This one wasn't even 1/2 done yet before it closed... got lot's more 2 go
Minneapolis Genius ALPHA Studio 4.1979 LA
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
It was while Prince attended Central High School in Minneapolis, MN that he began his recording career. The first recording studio that Prince stepped into was MoonSound Studios in south Minneapolis. MoonSound was a small studio owned and operated by British born, Chris Moon, a talented recording engineer and budding entrepreneur. Chris first established MoonSound Studios in the basement of a small, single family home at about 57th and Stevens Ave. It’s unknown how Prince first came upon this specific studio, but it’s likely he had heard about MoonSound Studios through a variety of promotions that had been aired on the local “progressive rock” station, KQRS. At MoonSound Studios, Chris taught Prince the basics of multi-track recording and also provided him access to a variety of musical instruments like a piano, electronic keyboards, synthesizers, drums, etc.. It was during this time that Prince learned how to record and mix all intruments played. Chris eventually gave Prince a set of keys to his studio and Prince would show up after school and evenings. Chris Moon quickly realized that he had a true talent on his hands, and together, they began working on a demo tape that could be presented to record labels. The first few attempts to secure a record label failed and Chris soon realized that they needed to find someone with better connections to the music business world. As a result, Chris introduced Prince to Owen Husney- a music industry executive in Minneapolis – and they sent him a demo tape. Shortly thereafter Husney became Prince’s first manager. This partnership would eventually led to a record deal with Warner Bros and the rest is musical history.
In the early 1970s Chris Moon (a Brit) became interested in recording technology, he purchased a slew of advanced recording equipment and began searching for musical acts that interested him. He carted his equipment out to gigs and rehearsal halls to make demo recordings. Moon recorded several demos and live gigs with Skogie and the Flaming Pachucos before their move to Los Angeles in the summer of 1976. Chris Moon was one of the first to discover Prince's musical talent and he was an important factor in getting his career underway. They met in 1976 when Prince came through his Moonsound Studio to record material with his band, then known as Champagne.
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Keep it up. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
When Prince released ‘For You’, his self-performed, slickly produced R&B debut in April ’78, he was heralded as the new Stevie Wonder. But as that album’s guitar-crunching cut ‘I’m Yours’ suggested, Prince was on a mission to mix not just soul and funk, but also new wave and rock into one explosive cocktail. Up until this point, his main partner in crime had been his homeboy André Cymone, but Prince wanted his musical ambitions to be reflected by a racially and gender democratic band and his “rainbow coalition” concept began to take shape with the recruitment of drummer Bobby Rivkin and keyboardists Matt Fink and Gayle Chapman, all white. Prince recalled, “There was a lot of pressure from my ex-buddies not to have white members in the band. But half the black musicians I knew only listened to one type of music. That wasn’t good enough for me.”
After a dazzling audition, vital rock stimuli arrived in the form of ax-man, Dez Dickerson. This motley crew of musicians began rehearsals that November, feeling each other out and vibing. Writing in his autobiography, Dickerson remembers, “there was this explosive spark when we jammed – something about our collective styles and influences.” But these sessions had not yet yielded a cohesive or polished set by the time of their stage debut at the Capri Theatre in Minneapolis in January ’79. A mix of nerves and equipment failure meant that onlooking Warner executives were left feeling the band needed more time and they put the breaks on a planned tour. Suddenly left with a lot of free time, the band members began developing more material, but Prince withdrew to Los Angeles to record his sophomore album, ‘Prince’, which saw a return to his more controllable one-man-band approach. Aware of the disgruntlement this caused amongst his band members, and by way of appeasement, Prince announced his plan to record a side project called The Rebels, an album that would bring everyone’s ideas to the fore.
The concept was that all the band members, including Prince, would remain anonymous (and be represented as silhouettes on the cover) and Prince hoped that The Rebels project would allow him to explore punk rock and new wave without confusing his R&B “Prince” persona. The 12-day recording sessions began on July 10th in Boulder, Colorado and Prince’s management intended to bankroll the project and have Warner reimburse them upon delivery of the tapes. Prince wrote four songs for the album, whilst Cymone contributed two and Dickerson three. Refusing to rely on black music clichés, the material ranged from bluesy Stone-esque romps (‘Hard To Get’ and ‘You’), nasty slices of Minneapolis funk (‘Thrill You Or Kill You’) to Moroder-infused machine rock (‘Disco Away’). The Rebels made a conscious decision to destroy preconceptions of how black artists should sound, but whilst Prince, Cymone and Dickerson were excited about the project, the other members weren’t so enthusiastic and questioned its validity. By the end, Dickerson had also begun to have doubts, asking, “what are we doing? Where are we going with this?” Eventually, the album and tapes were never presented to Warner; it seemed that a collective band effort had again faltered.
After the summer, the band performed another showcase for the label executives in Los Angeles and this time the band was focused and ready. They revamped the electro boogie hits from Prince’s self-titled second album with crunching lead guitars; “after the first song, I could see that we had them. They had bought into Prince and his band big time and left the place absolutely buzzing,” recalls Dickerson. Warner’s faith in the band was renewed and it inspired them to push the ‘Prince’ album hard. Whilst in LA, Prince and the band shot two videos, including ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’, and an effort was made to present them as more of a group rather than a Prince solo project.
By the time of their promotional tour, the band had also stepped things up with regards to their image, with Prince, Cymone and Dickerson wearing brightly coloured spandex and see-through plastic pants, knee-high boots and suspenders. But critics were baffled by the band’s mix of funk, rock and new wave, and their manager insisted that Prince wear underwear underneath the tight spandex. Prince replied by wearing only bikini briefs for the remainder of the tour! Prince later reflected that “we all felt that we wanted to dress this way, talk this way, and play this way. When we first started out it was like shock treatment,” and for the band, breaking down barriers was key.
After the ‘Fire It Up’ tour of early 1980 (which saw Prince and the band blow Rick James out of the water), Gayle Chapman, who refused to sing the lyrics to Prince’s censor-defying, ‘Head’, was replaced...
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
is it a boy or a girl ? So evil girl, if one of us has a date,
With the undertaker, which one will it be? | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
What do you mean? That's Gayle Chapman during the Prince touring years. They previewed a version of Head during that tour and Prince would make out with Gayle during that song | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Obviously that's Gayle Chapman Prince is kissing lol | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Prince's Sarah | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
So Blue | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Just As Long As We're Together Released November 21, 1978 B-side:In Love
In Love
Ever since I met U baby, I've been wantin' 2 lay U down
CHORUS: Ever since I met U baby, there's been something inside of me
CHORUS Oh yeah {x2} I'm falling in love I'm falling, I'm falling In love
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Don't You Wanna Ride?
1 2 3… 1 2 3… | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
This era is amazing! 2 great albums and lots of great outtakes as well. Prince really showed his genius early Purple Music is my drug and I'm jonesin!!!!! | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Woaw never seen this pic be4!!! Thanks!!!!! "Money won't buy U happiness but it'll pay 4 the search." | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
There are about 4-5 shots of them kissing | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Crazy You | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Rolling Stone | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Possessed: the Rise & Fall of Prince Chapter 1 HOME
p 10-11
Prince's friend and surrogate brother, Andre Anderson, was also musically inclined, and the 2 began to jam together regularly in his mother's basement.
Upstairs, Prince shared a bedroom with Anderson. Despite being good friends, they were poor roommates; Anderson's side of the room was cluttered and disorganized, while Prince's was as meticulously ordered as a Marine barrack. Although he no longer lived with his father, Nelson's disciplined approach to life remained a significant influence on Prince, who sought greater order and privacy by moving into the basement...
Downstairs, he had much easier access to his instruments; already, Prince had started blending the distinction between home and musical workplace. Moreover, the basement became something of a private universe - a small slice of the world where he was in total control. A dark space with little natural light, it was nonetheless where he felt most comfortable, and it provided a prototype for the cloistered recording studios where he would spend the majority of his waking hours over the next thirty-plus years.
...
The Anderson basement - Prince's bedroom and rehearsal space - also represented his first attempt to create an alternative community based around music and, perhaps, sex. Years later in interviews, Prince would recall it as a hedonistic wonderland where he and Anderson engaged in carnal acts with a variety of girlfriends.
... "My impression is that there were a lot of girls in that basement," said Howard Bloom, Prince's press agent during the 1980s. "He had grown up in the 1960's and the message was make love, not war. In the basement, he was going for liberation and entitlement to any sort of sexuality, pleasure, and enjoyment."
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
In all seriousness, I think my heart just skipped a beat. This is so unbelievably beautiful. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Omg!!! Rudeboy!!! Pray Daily!!!!! RIP AMY WINEHOUSE Keep Calm, Carry on | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
My friend just gave me this album this summer, i guess its a keeper!! Pray Daily!!!!! RIP AMY WINEHOUSE Keep Calm, Carry on | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
U can actually hear a lot of future Prince music in these songs | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |