Hi everyone!

Wondering if I can pick your brains and ask for a bit of collective purple love with this interview, to find out who the interviewer was!

Here's the interview :

https://www.mixcloud.com/Kierienos/prince-interview-with-mick-boskampamsterdam-1981/

It says on that link that it's Mick Boskamp, but I've spoken to him and it's definitely not Mick. Someone else suggested Steve Sutherland, so I've managed to speak to him and confirmed its definitely not him either! It's not Tony Mitchell, Chris Salewicz, Roberto Palombit, Louis Du Moulin or Jim Farber! (I've been able to track all those journalists down and its for sure not them).

It's a great interview, really rare and one of the few times Prince opened up a little about his origins, so well worth a listen anyway. I think it's from 1981, but hey, could be wrong.

If anyone knows where this might be from I'd be eternally grateful, really hitting a dead end with this one!

Peace and be wild x

[Edited 5/29/18 7:00am] - added a bit more info about the year it came out

[Edited 5/29/18 7:01am]

OMG this is amazing. I've never heard this.

Read this and see if it's connected. I'm wondering if that "missing" 90-minute tape was actually sold to someone else.

http://bestclassicbands.c...w-4-22-16/

[Edited 5/29/18 9:26am]

https://www.discogs.com/P...ase/811245


EG

it's not THAT rare, i've had it for 20+ years now on a bootleg disc that came with,
i think a bootleg concert or something like that. might have even been a bootleg

single of Sexy MF back then. some semi legit/semi boot release. iirc i bought it in

an actual official recordstore

laytonian said:

Read this and see if it's connected. I'm wondering if that "missing" 90-minute tape was actually sold to someone else.

http://bestclassicbands.c...w-4-22-16/

[Edited 5/29/18 9:26am]

Thanks that's a great read! The interview is deffo not American though, the accent the interviewer has I was thinking either Dutch or maybe French?

IstenSzek said:

it's not THAT rare, i've had it for 20+ years now on a bootleg disc that came with,
i think a bootleg concert or something like that. might have even been a bootleg

single of Sexy MF back then. some semi legit/semi boot release. iirc i bought it in

an actual official recordstore

In terms of the audio you can find it online, if you know where to look haha. I'll see if I can track down a Sexy MF disc with it on! Did your disc have any more info that could help narrow down the search? Like when/where its from?

ElGorillos said:

https://www.discogs.com/P...ase/811245


EG

Thanks! Yeah I saw that link but when you contact the supposed distributor "baktabak" they no longer exist and keep absolutely no libraries of what they sell, not really surprising for a bootleg I guess...

edieberry said:

IstenSzek said:

it's not THAT rare, i've had it for 20+ years now on a bootleg disc that came with,
i think a bootleg concert or something like that. might have even been a bootleg

single of Sexy MF back then. some semi legit/semi boot release. iirc i bought it in

an actual official recordstore

In terms of the audio you can find it online, if you know where to look haha. I'll see if I can track down a Sexy MF disc with it on! Did your disc have any more info that could help narrow down the search? Like when/where its from?

there is a slim chance that i still have it in storage in the cellar. i'll have a look for you later today.

IstenSzek said:

edieberry said:

In terms of the audio you can find it online, if you know where to look haha. I'll see if I can track down a Sexy MF disc with it on! Did your disc have any more info that could help narrow down the search? Like when/where its from?

there is a slim chance that i still have it in storage in the cellar. i'll have a look for you later today.

That would be great! Thank you

They both sound very similar...https://www.facebook.com/...mp;theater

[Edited 5/30/18 5:28am]

CherryMoon57 said:

Ooh now that's very interesting because not only did I always believe that it was Mick Boskamp doing this interview, but Mick himself seemed to think so too... Are you sure it was Mick you had spoken to? https://www.facebook.com/...mp;theater

Sadly it's a completely different interview if you have a listen to the both of them. Mick did interview Prince at the same time, which is why I think lots of people think it's him as the interviewer sounds Dutch. Mick was absolutely lovely and sent me a transcription of the full interview he did, what a nice guy!

edit- misspelled a word

[Edited 5/30/18 5:27am]

[Edited 5/30/18 5:28am]

^ Yes, I just realised this and was just amending my post. This is quite a mystery, I hope we find out and give him all the credit he deserves!

http://prince.org/msg/7/33377

i've looked in the storage boxes but i don't seem to have the interview disc anymore.

Baktabak's interview discs (vinyl & CD) weren't exactly bootlegs. They weren't official releases of course, but, there was some legal loophole, at least in Europe, that allowed for releasing interviews on album without the permission of the artist (kind of like the loophole that allows live broadcast recordings to be sold after an artists death). So, these records were available in stores that otherwise did not sell bootlegs. In the late 80s & early 90s these were common and could be found at any (U.S.) record store that sold imports. You could find them for many popular artists, not just Prince, and Baktabak was not the only label that put them out, just the most popular.

I have a few releases (vinyl and CD) with this Melody Maker interview:











I also have a couple more from another interview, from late 1985, iirc:

Prince: I dunno. I think I'd, um... that's not exactly what I'd want to be doing after I get done with this. I just said that's one of the things that interests me. I like going to movies, um, or maybe I'd like to be a grip on the set of one or something.

When me and my friends first heard this interview in 1993... we fell down laughing at this part.

Here's your typical grips on a movie:

[Edited 5/31/18 7:47am]

IstenSzek said:

i've looked in the storage boxes but i don't seem to have the interview disc anymore.

That's a shame but thank you so much for looking!!

Wow these pics are awesome thanks for posting them! I think they must have labelled them wrong from source, unless Steve Sutherland is remembering wrong of course >_< I sent Steve a copy of the interview online and he said it's not his audio so that's me stumped. Would be great to know who it is and give them the credit for such a great early interview!

djThunderfunk said:

Baktabak's interview discs (vinyl & CD) weren't exactly bootlegs. They weren't official releases of course, but, there was some legal loophole, at least in Europe, that allowed for releasing interviews on album without the permission of the artist (kind of like the loophole that allows live broadcast recordings to be sold after an artists death). So, these records were available in stores that otherwise did not sell bootlegs. In the late 80s & early 90s these were common and could be found at any (U.S.) record store that sold imports. You could find them for many popular artists, not just Prince, and Baktabak was not the only label that put them out, just the most popular.

I have a few releases (vinyl and CD) with this Melody Maker interview:











I also have a couple more from another interview, from late 1985, iirc:

edieberry said:

Wow these pics are awesome thanks for posting them! I think they must have labelled them wrong from source, unless Steve Sutherland is remembering wrong of course >_< I sent Steve a copy of the interview online and he said it's not his audio so that's me stumped. Would be great to know who it is and give them the credit for such a great early interview!

Wait, Turn It Up & Discogs are wrong? It's NOT the Melody Maker interview?

I sent a copy of the audio to Melody Maker and according to Steve Sutherland who was the journalist that conducted the interview for Melody Maker in 1981 it's 100% not him. He said he did record his interview but the tape was leant out and never returned (wonder where that got to...)

Melody Maker / Steve Sutherland print interview here:

https://sites.google.com/site/prninterviews/home/melody-maker-june-1981

He said "the interviewer doesn't even sound English!" which makes sense as he sounds Dutch or maybe French. It's definitely a confusing one....

djThunderfunk said:

edieberry said:

Wow these pics are awesome thanks for posting them! I think they must have labelled them wrong from source, unless Steve Sutherland is remembering wrong of course >_< I sent Steve a copy of the interview online and he said it's not his audio so that's me stumped. Would be great to know who it is and give them the credit for such a great early interview!

Wait, Turn It Up & Discogs are wrong? It's NOT the Melody Maker interview?

there are 2 of these from the same time... In the past I have had both but I am not sure any more. But I know for a fact that there were 2 of these recorded interviews from the dirty mind time frame.