First time poster, long time lurker. I felt like I wanted to join so I could share in my love for P and commiserate with people who are having as hard a time with coping as I am. I don't really have anyone to talk to about it and all of y'all seem like nice people.

The main purpose of my post though is to share my love for the Purple Rain performance of The Beautiful Ones. https://youtu.be/1JEKDIgiHes Is it just me or does 3:20 onward drive anyone else crazy? The intensity and passion of his voice and his body language are just too much.

everything about it is pretty stunning. the build, the intensity & emotion he gets to... it's almost a lullaby at first, the way he gets from that to thunderous pleading is just, I don't even know how to describe it. That's one of his PERFECT songs, truly!

luvgirl said:

My sister who wasn't really into Prince and always gave me hell about my love for him, cried her butt off watching him sing The Beautiful Ones when we went to see Purple Rain together the weekend after his death. She never really sat through the whole movie before, so never saw him perform The Beautiful Ones, or Darling Nikki for that matter. Needless to say, not a day goes by that she's isn't texting me some comment or picture from that Purple Army Facebook site about Prince. Two words. Turned out...

It's hilarious, the people who somehow missed the awesomeness, it was there waiting for them all this time

Thanks for the welcome, guys!

I truly can watch that sequence on repeat. It blows my mind. Oooh I've never seen the version with Misty. Need to watch that!

Ah Computer Blue is so incredible too. He's such a badass with that guitar and yes, when Wendy is giving him guitar head my insides turn to jelly. lol

LRCdancer88 said:

Yes, yes, yes, yes...and yes. This performance is like a roller coaster, the build up going up, up on the track like on a ride is from 0:00 to 3:19, and then at 3:20 and on, that is when you go down the track on the roller coaster and u feel the chills and thrills. This performance is one among a couple of reasons why I think Purple Rain was so successful as a movie. Prince was intriguing as a mo fo and you wished Prince was singing that song to u! It is so good, I still get chills at that part of the song since 1984, and still going on strong...

The Beautiful Ones

Magnificent performance.

I just watched the Prince/Misty version of The Beautiful Ones and as a ballerina myself and a big Misty fan, I loved it. Very sexy and smooth but I don't think it had the same unbridled passion that the PR version did (at least IMO).

I also love the expression in his eyes/face when he sings "I know what I want" during that sequence. He has this crazy look in his eyes that is actually really sexy to me haha. Related to that, I have to say that I have always admired the passion he performs with (and hell, the passion he seems to do everything with).

LRCdancer88 said:

I still can't listen to this song right now...

LRCdancer88 said:

Yuuuuuuuuup it's an incredible song

LRCdancer88 said:

First time poster, long time lurker. I felt like I wanted to join so I could share in my love for P and commiserate with people who are having as hard a time with coping as I am. I don't really have anyone to talk to about it and all of y'all seem like nice people.

The main purpose of my post though is to share my love for the Purple Rain performance of The Beautiful Ones. https://youtu.be/1JEKDIgiHes Is it just me or does 3:20 onward drive anyone else crazy? The intensity and passion of his voice and his body language are just too much.

Welcome 2 The Org.

Make sure you find some proper ripped vinyl.

TBO, in its analogic glory and sub-basses and analog distortion,
is simply out of this world and is probably one of the best productions and arrangements of all time,
up there with Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, and such.

Much props to Albert Magnoli, and his slow zooming in on Apollonia in the movie.
Quite the climax.

The end of the song is a bit painful to watch, the dying synth sound, and him eyes wide open...

best pitch envelope since Blakes 7

bonatoc said:

LRCdancer88 said:

First time poster, long time lurker. I felt like I wanted to join so I could share in my love for P and commiserate with people who are having as hard a time with coping as I am. I don't really have anyone to talk to about it and all of y'all seem like nice people.

The main purpose of my post though is to share my love for the Purple Rain performance of The Beautiful Ones. https://youtu.be/1JEKDIgiHes Is it just me or does 3:20 onward drive anyone else crazy? The intensity and passion of his voice and his body language are just too much.

Welcome 2 The Org.

Make sure you find some proper ripped vinyl.

TBO, in its analogic glory and sub-basses and analog distortion,
is simply out of this world and is probably one of the best productions and arrangements of all time,
up there with Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, and such.

Agree!!! The build up. Impossible not to have an emotional reaction!

LRCdancer88 said:

For my money--the performance of The Beautiful Ones in the movie Purple Rain is one of the most electrifying contemporary musical performances EVER captured to film. You feel like you're in the front row--sweat dripping and breathless.

In addition to the peformers--lots of credit to Albert Magnoli and cinemtographer, Donald Thorin. (October 12, 1934 – February 9, 2016)

http://www.hollywoodrepor...ain-888687

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004241/

[Edited 8/11/16 7:46am]

speakeasy said:

The single most incredible track that Prince ever created.

The Beautiful Ones Is Prince. So incredible.

LRCdancer88 said:

speakeasy said:

For my money--the performance of The Beautiful Ones in the movie Purple Rain is one of the most electrifying contemporary musical performances EVER captured to film. You feel like you're in the front row--sweat dripping and breathless.

In addition to the peformers--lots of credit to Albert Magnoli and cinemtographer, Donald Thorin. (October 12, 1934 – February 9, 2016)

http://www.hollywoodrepor...ain-888687

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004241/

[Edited 8/11/16 7:46am]

It is electrifying and you really do feel like he's singing to you. I feel like he commands the attention of everyone in the room even more than usual. I also feel this way during darling nikki.

YES!

I wrote the following about "The Beautiful Ones: on this thread: http://prince.org/msg/7/429517.

--------------------

Personally, I love everything about "The Beautiful Ones," lyrically, vocally, and of course the performance in the movie. Vocally, I love how he varies the emotion in his voice in the song.

--

I typically think of the song in 2 parts, with "What's it gonna be baby?" dividing the 2 parts. In the first part of the song, he sings much of it in falsetto, and the falsetto contrasts nicely with his deep speaking voice of "Paint a perfect picture...". And then in the second part of the song, he totally goes into his rocker voice.

--

The lyrics are the perfect soliloquy of unrequited love.

--

I think another aspect of the song that I love is how well the song flows even though it has a very unusual structure to it. It has this really interesting dialectic of stream-of-consciousness/improvisation feel while also being very structured in the sense of the song being very cohesive.

--

I hope what I've written makes sense. Gosh, I just love "The Beautiful Ones!" It's pure genius!

--------------------

From the same thread, here is my response to Mercurybebe:

206Michelle said:

I wrote the following about "The Beautiful Ones: on this thread: http://prince.org/msg/7/429517.

--------------------

Personally, I love everything about "The Beautiful Ones," lyrically, vocally, and of course the performance in the movie. Vocally, I love how he varies the emotion in his voice in the song.

--

I typically think of the song in 2 parts, with "What's it gonna be baby?" dividing the 2 parts. In the first part of the song, he sings much of it in falsetto, and the falsetto contrasts nicely with his deep speaking voice of "Paint a perfect picture...". And then in the second part of the song, he totally goes into his rocker voice.

--

The lyrics are the perfect soliloquy of unrequited love.

--

I think another aspect of the song that I love is how well the song flows even though it has a very unusual structure to it. It has this really interesting dialectic of stream-of-consciousness/improvisation feel while also being very structured in the sense of the song being very cohesive.

--

I hope what I've written makes sense. Gosh, I just love "The Beautiful Ones!" It's pure genius!

--------------------

From the same thread, here is my response to Mercurybebe:

Mercurybebe said:

206Michelle said: It is my all time favorite of his... Since I was 10! It has so many layers, intonations, and the lyrics... My favorite parts are the oooohh he sings when it goes to the piano break. And the way he sings "confused" .

I also love when he sings "confused." And then when he sings "looooooose," it's like he's going off an emotional cliff, seriously. At the beginning, when he sings "Baby, baby, baby, is it him or is it me?" - The way he sings him is like he can't bear the thought of her with another man.

--

Putting the movie aside, I would say that my favorite part of the song is probably where he says "Do you want me, I gotta know, I gotta know, Do you want me?" I love the way he sings it with such desperation, like his life depends on it.

--

But then WITH the movie, my favorite parts are "I know what I want" with that sexy shirt-pull and the devilish look in his eyes, and "YEAAHHHHHH, YES I DO, BABY BABY BABY BABY, I WANT YOU!" (in that screaming falsetto voice) while he writhes around on the stage...absolutely epic stuff.

[Edited 7/18/16 19:58pm]

I think my favorite part of that ending sequence (and probably my favorite of the song) is when he says the following:

I may not know where I'm going, baby

Woo, yeah

I said I may not know what I need

One thing, one thing's for certain baby

I know what I want, and

It's to please you baby...

The way he sings this part just drives me crazy!!!!!