For serious fans this is a revelation! Err i dont think so! For newbies maybe!

"New Prince album: why posthumous releases can sell both artist and fans short" on The Conversation ("Academic rigour, journalistic flair"): http://theconversation.co...ort-103304

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Excerpt of a much longer article:

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Ahead of the release, the record company has drip-fed fans with three songs. I’m looking forward to hearing the whole album, but here is my impression of what I have heard so far.

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Mary Don’t You Weep is a gospel classic covered by artists including Aretha Franklin, The Swan Silvertones, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen which was originally recorded by gospel pioneers The Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1915. Prince reinvents it as a deep minor blues track that focuses on the secular blues theme of male abandonment rather than the African-American Christian narrative of resistance that the song traditionally embodies. Prince’s voice swoops and growls through the octaves with the sparse rhythmic piano accompaniment providing the perfect backdrop for his impassioned vocal.

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At six minutes 22 seconds, the song 17 Days is a more self-indulgent number based around a repetitive two-chord vamp that at times strays into “jazz odyssey” territory with an ill-advised piano solo that doesn’t come off. In an almost shockingly intimate exchange that smashes through the fourth wall, we hear Prince say to the sound engineer, “Is that my echo?” and “Can you turn the lights down?”

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Why The Butterflies is the third of the tracks released so far. There are several false starts until Prince settles into a key and rhythmic shape. You can hear him playing with melodic and rhythmic ideas gradually teasing out lines from what was maybe just an initial lyrical concept – it certainly isn’t a fully developed song at this point.

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So is this hard-nosed critical appraisal is really fair? And will his “true” fans really care if the finely wrought production that is the hallmark of the best of Prince isn’t present here? Is this album selling both artist and audience short?

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databank said:

Review by Jon Pareles in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2...eview.html

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BartVanHemelen said:

Review by Jon Pareles in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2...eview.html

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he "sniffles"...? yeh right

https://theartsdesk.com/n...phone-1983. This is a five star review.

Knowing a deceased artist's archives are available for re-release is a double edged sword. Wil there be a shoddy flood of any and every old bit of tat a la Jimi Hendrix? Will there be half-arsed, half-finished and even fake songs bodged together by trashy but popular modern dance remixers like Michael Jackson? Will the vaults just stay infuriatingly locked? With the impossibly prolific, but often self-indulgent Prince, it is doubly worrying: who has the rights? What will the quality control filter be like?

Well, thank all that is holy, on the evidence of this release they're taking the right path. This is music from one single cassette-recorded tape, doing exactly what it is on the tin, unembellished, unremixed, unadulterated, and it should have fans doing backflips with its evidence of him at the absolute height of his powers, just before the start of his imperial phase of megastardom.

In theory, it should be just for the fans, filed under that critical cliché “for completists only”. It's heavy with tape hiss, there are occasional recording glitches, and Prince is clearly in playful mood: sometimes banging notes seemingly at random, letting his voice dart around the melodies, trying vocal tones and registers out for size, and otherwise goofing about. But it's a measure of his talent that none of this matters. It's still great.

His piano playing is extraordinary – it's heavy on the gospel and blues, but in the same way Nina Simone made the blues futurist and cubist, he shatters it and throws it around willy nilly, but always with paradoxical total control no matter how arbitrary the notes might seem. The same with his voice – that sense it could go anywhere gives you a sense of his creative process at work, especially on early versions of “Purple Rain”, “17 Days”, and an amazing “S

“Strange Relationship”, which wouldn't see release for another four years after this recording.

It's very relevant that he covers Joni Mitchell's “A Case of You” here. Just as much as Prince was soul, funk, gospel, he is in the tradition of Mitchell and Simone, androgynes who mastered, then destroyed every convention they touched. Even his most playful deconstructions are, like “Joni's weird chords” (as she self-effacingly put it), as devastating in their re-configuration of reality as a Picasso sketch. This intimate snapshot is evidence that Prince's genius, beneath all the showbiz, all the costumes, all the spirituality, all the sex, was still genius.

More New Music on theartsdesk

If they ever release a good compilation of his Piano and a Microphone tour, I want to find these writers' reviews and see if they are as glowing. If they are, then I will not dispute their honesty. If they aren't, I will wonder if it is 80's bias. But I am happy about the reviews and I hope other releases of later work (especially if it is as organic) will garner the same praise. Maybe these hard to please critics really just wanted his core a bit more than the flash. Time will tell. I haven't said yet, but I really love listening to 17 Days and Mary don't you weep on my streaming service in my car (even though I had already heard the scratchy versions on youtube..) It might be doodling but its great in my opinion. Also, really love his vocals so far.

Strive said:

databank said:

Thx Bart for posting all the reviews, keep up the good work!

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As I anticipated, we're getting positive to rave reviews. Let's see what happens as they'll keep coming but I doubt there will be many, if any, negative reviews. Those reviews comfort me in thinking that the Estate made the right decision by releasing this: while some fans dream of a release that could rival the popular success of the likes of Bruno Mars or Kendrick Lamar, there's no such thing in the vault and it was a smarter move to target critics as well as an older, more sophisticated audience in order to establish Prince as a serious musician as opposed to a mere entertainer.

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I have no doubt that this record will meet its audience.

I don't think the reviews are anything to go off of. This could be audio of Prince singing in the shower and it'd get 5 stars across the board because that's what's expected. This is a pretty horrible first glance inside the vault. Me and you know there's a ton of unreleased studio work in there. Most people that know Prince, don't. Imagine if they pulled together the best of his outtakes from 1985-86 for a vault release. It'd not only shake the public out of their view that the only thing of value Prince did was Purple Rain but it'd showcase that, yeah, there's truth to Prince's old claim that he saved some of his best work. Or to give a real world example, Experience Hendrix released First Rays Of The Rising Sun before they released Morning Symphony Ideas. There's room for niche releases but they shouldn't be the first out of the gate. Give the uninformed something they can enjoy before you force them to go deeper.

Reviews are good for the wrong reasons? You can't really do that, dude: either reviews are good or they're bad. Not that all those reviews are great pieces of literature, mind you: many do little more than rehash the press release, but they're the reviews and we have to deal with them the way they are.

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The "uninformed" have just been given 19 existing records, in addition to another 20 or so that were already there, to chew at on streaming services and online stores, this is what they need. What on earth do you expect the uninformed to do with a set of 85-86 outtakes if they haven't yet digested the whole catalogue and can't tell ATWIAD from 1999? How do you expect Adonis & Baatsheeba or Teacher Teacher to be a better entry point to Prince's music than Purple Rain or Parade?

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You're trying to force your perspective on the world but life doesn't work that way. Reviews are good and this release is the right release for its targeted audience, which isn't you nor the "uninformed", but those in between.

kitbradley said:

databank said:

Strive said:

databank said:

Reviews are good for the wrong reasons? You can't really do that, dude: either reviews are good or they're bad. Not that all those reviews are great pieces of literature, mind you: many do little more than rehash the press release, but they're the reviews and we have to deal with them the way they are.

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The "uninformed" have just been given 19 existing records, in addition to another 20 or so that were already there, to chew at on streaming services and online stores, this is what they need. What on earth do you expect the uninformed to do with a set of 85-86 outtakes if they haven't yet digested the whole catalogue and can't tell ATWIAD from 1999? How do you expect Adonis & Baatsheeba or Teacher Teacher to be a better entry point to Prince's music than Purple Rain or Parade?

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You're trying to force your perspective on the world but life doesn't work that way. Reviews are good and this release is the right release for its targeted audience, which isn't you nor the "uninformed", but those in between.

Let me rephrase my original point. This could be 30 minutes of Prince blasting echoey diarrhea shits into the toliet and it'd be getting 5 star reviews. He's a legend. He's dead. This is the first release. 5 stars! Point two. You know what one of those 19 records was? One Nite Alone. An album that does everything this new album does way the fuck better. It even has A Case Of U on it. So who is this release for? Who's the "targeted audience" Warner's going after with a 30 minute single take piano jam sourced from a cassette that was already circulating? You're saying I'm trying to force my perspective but my point of "oh hey it's a smart idea to release studio outtakes that could appeal to everybody and expand the public's mind past Purple Rain" is way less forced than "oh hey this piano noodling will establish Prince as a serious musician unlike the 35 years of work he released when he was alive"

I agree with you that ONA is a better record if we're to compare both as they share a concept, but you should have been here on the Org when ONA was released 16 years ago: it was an ocean of Prince fans saying ONA was utter shit and that Prince should have released Intimate Moments instead. I totally disagreed and still do, but it's really funny now to see the Estate releasing intimate Moments and those same fans saying "this shit shoulda stayed in the vault". If, as you say, critics would rave about Prince singing in the shower no matter what, it appears Prince fans will massively reject any new Prince record no matter what it is. I can't wait to read the Org pissing on your 85-86 outtakes compilation when it comes out.

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I'm not certain however that critics would necessarily have been positive no matter what. While I think, for example, that the Lisa linn drum jam is THE shit (Prince practically invented techno in his basement, years before Detroit, and no one knew!), and it's also Prince toying with ideas and concepts at home, it would have been a much riskier move to release that for example. I'm pretty sure that outside of the EDM press very few critics would have gotten it. Similarly, a collection of 10 weak outtakes from the mid-80's would probably have led critics to shrug, like "yeah it's alright but honestly what he released at the time was better so this definitely isn't essential, so if you have the choice between this and Parade, go get Parade". But of course this is speculation, we'll never know.

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The bottom line is that while hardcore fans are crying about this release, the rest of the world is embracing it.

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Now I don't know how to say it so that y'all will understand it: the target audience isn't the hardcore: after crying and moaning on the Org, the hardcore will buy it anyway, they will buy anything, so we're a by-default target audience for any Prince release.

The target audience isn't your average mainstream commercial music listener either (there is no Prince music for this audience in the vault unless you have it remixed à la MJ, which is something no one wants).

The target audience is that audience in between: non-hardcore, casual Prince listeners who do not own bootlegs but are interested enough to want to hear a glimpse of behind-the-scenes Prince; old skool music afficionados or anyone sophisticated enough to enjoy a simple piano and voice jazz/R&B record; people interested in artists' creative process who are able to appreciate a work-in-progress recording; and those people who enjoy any chill-out music and will be happy to enjoy this between their Keith Jarrett and their Katie Melua records.

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The fact that it's not what you want doesn't mean no one else wants it either. Reviews are good, sales and streams will do alright, and everyone will be happy except for a few bitter fans who would have been unhappy no matter what anyway.

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And I, for one, am going to enjoy this little album

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[Edited 9/20/18 2:27am]

I totally agree with everything you just said. If one was building a case for Prince's raw talent, this album is just one piece of concrete evidence to support the claim.

databank said:

Strive said:

databank said: Let me rephrase my original point. This could be 30 minutes of Prince blasting echoey diarrhea shits into the toliet and it'd be getting 5 star reviews. He's a legend. He's dead. This is the first release. 5 stars! Point two. You know what one of those 19 records was? One Nite Alone. An album that does everything this new album does way the fuck better. It even has A Case Of U on it. So who is this release for? Who's the "targeted audience" Warner's going after with a 30 minute single take piano jam sourced from a cassette that was already circulating? You're saying I'm trying to force my perspective but my point of "oh hey it's a smart idea to release studio outtakes that could appeal to everybody and expand the public's mind past Purple Rain" is way less forced than "oh hey this piano noodling will establish Prince as a serious musician unlike the 35 years of work he released when he was alive"

I agree with you that ONA is a better record if we're to compare both as they share a concept, but you should have been here on the Org when ONA was released 16 years ago: it was an ocean of Prince fans saying ONA was utter shit and that Prince should have released Intimate Moments instead. I totally disagreed and still do, but it's really funny now to see the Estate releasing intimate Moments and those same fans saying "this shit shoulda stayed in the vault". If, as you say, critics would rave about Prince singing in the shower no matter what, it appears Prince fans will massively reject any new Prince record no matter what it is. I can't wait to read the Org pissing on your 85-86 outtakes compilation when it comes out.

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I'm not certain however that critics would necessarily have been positive no matter what. While I think, for example, that the Lisa linn drum jam is THE shit (Prince practically invented techno in his basement, years before Detroit, and no one knew!), and it's also Prince toying with ideas and concepts at home, it would have been a much riskier move to release that for example. I'm pretty sure that outside of the EDM press very few critics would have gotten it. Similarly, a collection of 10 weak outtakes from the mid-80's would probably have led critics to shrug, like "yeah it's alright but honestly what he released at the time was better so this definitely isn't essential, so if you have the choice between this and Parade, go get Parade". But of course this is speculation, we'll never know.

.

The bottom line is that while hardcore fans are crying about this release, the rest of the world is embracing it.

.

Now I don't know how to say it so that y'all will understand it: the target audience isn't the hardcore: after crying and moaning on the Org, the hardcore will buy it anyway, they will buy anything, so we're a by-default target audience for any Prince release.

The target audience isn't your average mainstream commercial music listener either (there is no Prince music for this audience in the vault unless you have it remixed à la MJ, which is something no one wants).

The target audience is that audience in between: non-hardcore, casual Prince listeners who do not own bootlegs but are interested enough to want to hear a glimpse of behind-the-scenes Prince; old skool music afficionados or anyone sophisticated enough to enjoy a simple piano and voice jazz/R&B record; people interested in artists' creative process who are able to appreciate a work-in-progress recording; and those people who enjoy any chill-out music and will be happy to enjoy this between their Keith Jarrett and their Katie Melua records.

.

The fact that it's not what you want doesn't mean no one else wants it either. Reviews are good, sales and streams will do alright, and everyone will be happy except for a few bitter fans who would have been unhappy no matter what anyway.

.

And I, for one, am going to enjoy this little album

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[Edited 9/20/18 2:27am]

Billboard article: "The Revolution's Lisa Coleman Talks 'Piano & A Microphone 1983,' Jamming With Prince and Unreleased Gems" -- https://www.billboard.com...-ice-cream

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Irish Times review: https://www.irishtimes.co...-1.3632309

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The Arts Desk review: https://theartsdesk.com/n...phone-1983

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Written In Music review (in Dutch): http://www.writteninmusic...ophone-83/

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Relevant excerpts + Google Translate =

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However, it is music historically justified the way in which the deluxe edition of this session (lp, cd, beautiful book work) was released. The textbook example and excellent archive release. It contains liner notes from technician Don Batts, from Revolution keyboardist Lisa Coleman and from 'fly on the wall' (and more) Jill Jones. Especially the input of the latter gives a nice insight into Prince's way of working, living in his house and his passion on the piano. You write your writings in a new way to listen to this material. The stars in this review are for the content, as far as the form is concerned there must be at least one and a half star.

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[...]

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Piano & A Microphone '83 should not be seen as 'a phenomenally hidden album' that lay in that legendary Vault of Prince. It is mainly a piece of music history that gives insight into how Prince worked. It sounds rough because it is recorded on a regular tape, so even with the techniques of today little more to polish. Still, it sounds fresher and more lively than the bootleg we know, but do not expect a brilliant surround stereo. It remains a lo-fi recording, with not only the flaws that go with it, Prince also plays rough, at the same time also passionate. Not for a mass audience, purely for himself and he completely absorbed it. He thinks he is unspoken and in fact we listen undesirably. This release is a kind of musical polaroid. Unpolished, unposed and secretly also slightly discolored.

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Review (in Dutch) in Belgian newspaper De Morgen: https://www.demorgen.be/m...bd702319/

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Excerpts + Google Translate =

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Prince and a piano: it does not have to be that anymore. Or right?

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Polished demo recordings only appease the fan hunger

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Sasha Van der Speeten

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3/5

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[...]

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Piano & A Microphone 1983 makes music lovers who have never been able to look behind the scenes of the phenomenon of Prince, perhaps scratch their hair. The rough solo recordings highlight the compositional talent and the elegant piano playing of the deceased superstar, yes, but they are also embryonic and only a footnote in the bootleg oeuvre.

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[...]

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Because Piano & A Microphone 1983, the old tapes-distilled solo rehearsal from '83, recorded in the house of Prince in Chanhassen, is not the amazing, rough diamond that, for example, the long-lost Both Directions at Once by John Coltrane was. Even the polished B-sides that were on the remastered Purple Rain last year, threw us higher than the piano demos on Piano & A Microphone 1983. These b-sides enjoyed both the curious layman and the hardcore Princefan, who finally got obscure songs in excellent sound quality.

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Of course, Piano & A Microphone 1983 serves delightful, deep-rooted songs in which you hear the blues vibrate through the vocal chords of Prince.

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Article (+ review?) in Kieler Nachrichten, in German: http://www.kn-online.de/N...Microphone

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Review (in French) on FranceInfo: https://www.francetvinfo....44319.html

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BartVanHemelen said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

+ New Tidal album due Jan 2019

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Oh look, more made up nonsense. Amazing how you guys take the announcement "will be released in 2019" and immediately morph this into "that's obviously going to be 1 January 2019 at one minute past midnight".

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Go on, try to find one source that pinpoints that release down to a month. Hell, if you read https://variety.com/2018/...202807371/ even 2019 is tentative.

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STICK. TO. THE. FACTS.

simple error re date...thought it was stated as Jan 2019 ! original points stand....generally happy!

databank said:

While I think, for example, that the Lisa linn drum jam is THE shit (Prince practically invented techno in his basement, years before Detroit, and no one knew!)

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Dude, come on. Perhaps look into what a bunch of teens in the UK had been doing years earlier, like OMD or Joy Division or Human League or Gary Numan. Or Kraftwerk. Or Can.

BartVanHemelen said:

databank said:

While I think, for example, that the Lisa linn drum jam is THE shit (Prince practically invented techno in his basement, years before Detroit, and no one knew!)

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Dude, come on. Perhaps look into what a bunch of teens in the UK had been doing years earlier, like OMD or Joy Division or Human League or Gary Numan. Or Kraftwerk. Or Can.

I am very much familiar with those acts and their works (Can and OMD not so much, I still have to dig into those, but I'm a huge New Order, Human League, Gary Numan and Kraftwerk fan among other early electronic acts such as YMO). However the history of electronic music was far from over in 1982, and I find that this Lisa jam somewhat forshadows things to come such as Detroit techno or Chicago house rather than merely emulating things that had been done to that point. If only the way Prince is literally jamming with his toys, the way techno musicians would later do at rave parties. Electronica at this stage was waaay more intellectual and carefully constructed than that (at least those I know, I'm not sure about Can because I have this awesome 2002 live album by Wobble, Laswell, Haynes, Budd and Jaki Liebezeit, and Liebezeit's drumming is quite hysterical on it, but then again I know Can, like Kraftwerk, had classical training, so I'm not sure how spontaneous their work was). And typically all those musicians you name were European and white. Not a racial issue of course but more a cultural one: Prince's approach was definitely that of an African-American musician, with a different and more spontaneous approach of rhythm and jamming, which is probably why I find this particular session closer to later early American EDM than early European (or Japanese) electronic music.

BartVanHemelen said:

Billboard article: "The Revolution's Lisa Coleman Talks 'Piano & A Microphone 1983,' Jamming With Prince and Unreleased Gems" -- https://www.billboard.com...-ice-cream

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So glad she brought up that Ice Cream/Soul Psychodelicide bootleg, it's one of my favorite if not my absolute favorite Revolution rehearsal. I would love to see this get a proper release!!!

annoying. Nothing in the UK

antonb said:

annoying. Nothing in the UK

That's what y'all get for brexiting

Thought my amazon order would come early, no such luck!