https://www.rollingstone....s-2649303/

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It's in German, of course, but if you use Chrome you can let your browser translate it. Plus there are websites where you can submit a link to get it translated.

Edited by l'ange bleu, moderator (please do not copy and paste published articles without the rights owner's permission)

Rolling Stone (Germany)
by Sassan Niasseri
23 October 2023

(Excerpt from translated article)

Mr. Tudahl, 1991 must have been a surprising year for Prince. REM and Metallica became mainstream acts; Guns N' Roses released two albums at the same time; U2 worked on “Achtung Baby”; Pearl Jam and Nirvana created grunge; Lenny Kravitz was considered the second Prince. And rap became more and more important. Do you think Prince felt pressure?

My assumption is that Prince knew at all times what was happening in the music world, what shifts were taking place. Before recording “Diamonds and Pearls” he said that hip hop influenced him a lot, he went to a lot of clubs. You can't say that he copied trends. He was certainly influenced politically - there are some songs on the record about world events...
… the Gulf War broke out at the beginning of 1991 …
And anyone who has such a large output as he needs an extraordinarily large input. And he was constantly feeding the machine.

In 1991, REM even brought the rapper KRS-One into the studio. Until “Diamonds and Pearls”, as in the “Black Album” song “Dead On It”, Prince seemed to deal with the genre in a rather humorous way.

For me, Prince was someone who saw rap as another tool, in a process, and ultimately as an add-on to his repertoire. Just like Rosie Gaines, his keyboardist and co-vocalist, seemed like a new instrument for him. He collected talents. For him, rap was simply like a new guitar. You can hear him rapping in the “Early Version” of “Live 4 Love”, a little different than Tony M. in the finished version, who intones more aggressively. Prince rapped in a more laid-back manner.

For rest of article, where access is available, please see link in opening post above.

This is and always was the wrong guy for the job.

no big reveals, as expected.

hes just an employee though, of course he wont say anything that would jeapordise his position.

it is still dissappointing though that there is no mention of what comes next, or the order, or anything like that.

i get they want to surprise, but its a bit higgledy piggledy.

the idea that they are releasing SDEs for new fans, not just old fans, though is a bit weird to me - are new fans gonna spend hundreds of whatever their currency for an archive release? seems doubtful to me. for new albums, or standalone songs, sure, but for big mega releases? idk.

WhiteSandsHideaway11 said:

Targeting large and expensive archival and expanded versions of albums at “the younger generation” is an odd way to go about these releases.. a really good placement in a netflix show would make more sense for that? A 350 dollar box set containing 7 hours of material AINT the type of thing to be targeting to gen Z..

I agree.It seems like a flawed strategy,imo.

The "potential for 50 to 60 different box sets" part is quite enticing, but as he says, time is running out. A lot of us will be long gone before hearing anything on that scale.

This too, "Personally, I would also be interested in reissues of his side projects, The Time, The Family for example, especially Madhouse - as a box set."

Yes please!

[Edited 10/23/23 11:59am]

Very interesting interview. I wish Tudahl was allowed to answer more specific questions but overall this was cool. I truly hope we get pleasantly suprised with a SDE of the old stuff (i.e. Prince, Dirty Mind). soon.

I am very excited to get into the current SDE as soon as it arrives in the mail!

I honestly can not understand how Duane can be considered the wrong man for this job. This man has devoted insane hours writing two of the very best books on Prince's musical output. His analysis is nearly always fascinating. I don't get who could actually be better.

I truly hope, Duane gets a chance to create a documentary out of the vault material. He understands Prince's career, is very familiar and with the access I dream he has, would be in perfect position to do something fantastic.

unti all he albums from 78 to 1990 are re released as SDEs, i dont wanna see any box set from the time, madhouse or whoever

JoeyCococo said:

I honestly can not understand how Duane can be considered the wrong man for this job. This man has devoted insane hours writing two of the very best books on Prince's musical output. His analysis is nearly always fascinating. I don't get who could actually be better.

I truly hope, Duane gets a chance to create a documentary out of the vault material. He understands Prince's career, is very familiar and with the access I dream he has, would be in perfect position to do something fantastic.

I agree. I find both of his books absolutely fascinating.

JoeyCococo said:

mb71 said:

SoulAlive said:

"Many of his first generation fans are in their 50s and 60s and yearning for material. But there is another reason, I think, for this very specific release order".

As someone who has been a fan since 1982/83, this part resonates with me the most.

[Edited 10/23/23 17:12pm]

bozojones said:

Would be nice if you could paste a transcription here since you linked to a site behind a paywall.

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There is no paywall. Don't talk bollocks.

banishedones666 said:

However he has said in the past he only knows/cares about 1983-1987 in multiple interviews.

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AS SUBJECTS FOR HIS BOOKS.

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Sheesh, some of you cannot read. He writes about that period because a) there's tons of documentation in the form of the Sunset Sound work orders and b) it was arguably the most important phase in Prince's career.

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Obviously with Michael Howe out of the way, his thoughts have changed along with his paycheck.

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Look at you thinking up conspiracies.

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i like his books, although it takes from others interviews

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And provides ample credits.

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and he has fans do the research for him

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Checking transcripts of podcasts etc. Dude does plenty of his own interviews, and has for years.

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WhiteSandsHideaway11 said:

Targeting large and expensive archival and expanded versions of albums at “the younger generation” is an odd way to go about these releases..

Not really, as long as everything is available on streaming platforms.

MIRvmn1 said:

SoulAlive said:

Yes,time is running out but I think they should speed up these releases a little.How about two SDEs a year? I don’t see why they insist on one SDE every few years or so.

Yes this year they could've released both D&P and SDE since they canceled the Diamonds and Love set. Next year PR and Parade SDE.

I'd be okay with that two SDEs a year! Bring it on.

Some random thoughts:

- Once the "best-selling albums" have been released as SDE box sets (i.e. are out of the way), whoever thinks this is a good idea will have to revise their strategy. If you look purely at the raw numbers, such albums include "Purple Rain" (obviously), "Parade", and "Batman", but also albums that weren't considered commercial successes at the time (e.g. "Around the World in a Day" and "Lovesexy").

- Strangely enough, the "Love Symbol" album sold quite well compared to all other albums in Prince's discography, so the idea that it wouldn't be worthy of the SDE treatment if the "best-selling first" strategy is applied is incorrect.

- I don't understand the idea that Duane Tudahl is the "wrong guy for the job". Why would he be bad at that job (archivist) and who would be better than him? I think he's an excellent choice. Yes, of course, he will have personal preferences (the 80s?), but I trust him to be rigorous and apply professional standards to all the periods between 1978 and 2016.

- That 50-60 box sets figure is probably not random. Duane has probably already thought about it. Excellent.

- I like the idea that side projects will be given the attention they deserve. At least from Duane. We'll see if the Estate follows him on that track.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

True, streaming wont bring in money though.

Yes, but if the idea is to "reach new generations of fans" and "pass the torch", this doesn't really matter. I understand that the "new generation" doesn't spend a lot of money on music, anyway (streaming and all).

Anyway, this is probably only a way for Duane to rationalize decisions that are not his.

[Edited 10/23/23 23:50pm]

olb99 said:

- I don't understand the idea that Duane Tudahl is the "wrong guy for the job". Why would he be bad at that job (archivist) and who would be better than him?

I think he's a OK choice (like most longtime fans would be who did the research) but I would rather have seen someone who was there at the time to expand the releases into SDE's because they have more of the story so to say, Duane is 'just' a fan like he rest of us.

JorisE73 said:

olb99 said:

- I don't understand the idea that Duane Tudahl is the "wrong guy for the job". Why would he be bad at that job (archivist) and who would be better than him?

I think he's a OK choice (like most longtime fans would be who did the research) but I would rather have seen someone who was there at the time to expand the releases into SDE's because they have more of the story so to say, Duane is 'just' a fan like he rest of us.

Ok. I understand. But at the same time, he has that "documentary maker" / researcher mentality that not many fans have and probably not even many people who were "there at the time". Susan Rogers is the exception rather than the rule, I think.

olb99 said:

JorisE73 said:

I think he's a OK choice (like most longtime fans would be who did the research) but I would rather have seen someone who was there at the time to expand the releases into SDE's because they have more of the story so to say, Duane is 'just' a fan like he rest of us.

Ok. I understand. But at the same time, he has that "documentary maker" / researcher mentality that not many fans have and probably not even many people who were "there at the time". Susan Rogers is the exception rather than the rule, I think.

yeah probably true, but then Duane wouldn't be my first choice if we have to go with someone with a researcher mentality, I can think of someone with the same mentality and who was (partly) also there, but he already said he would never work with the (only previous?) Estate.

[Edited 10/24/23 2:28am]

FrankieCoco1 said:

His books have been good at collating details and he comes across as someone who cares about Prince’s music. He’s also not just a writer of books, having many tv show credits as an editor, producer and director. https://m.imdb.com/name/n...ullcredits I’d be interested to hear him being live interviewed about this release and his role as archivist - these magazine pieces are likely edited. That said, and I enjoyed the piece, but wonder about a few things, e.g. he says, ‘The "Diamonds and Pearls" era is relatively easy to narrow down; it began with the recordings of "Walk Don't Walk" and "Daddy Pop" in London.‘ That London session for WDW and DP was early July 1990 during the Nude tour, but Live 4 Love and Diamonds & Pearls were recorded in late December 1989!

Live 4 Love and Diamonds & Pearls are not from 1989 as we thought.

Diamonds And Pearls (Long Version) (5'32)

November 19, 1990 - Paisley Park (first session)

December 16 1990 - Paisley Park (long version mix)

"Diamonds And Pearls" was recorded on November 19 1990 with Michael B., Sonny T., and Tommy Barbarella. This was Tommy's first recording with Prince. Sonny and Tommy were in Paisley Park for a rehearsal session with the group Flash, built around Margie Cox, with members of Dr Mambo's Combo including Michael Bland. At the end of the session, Prince intercepted them on their way out, claiming he needed help to finish a song. Additions (vocals by Rosie Gaines, guitar by Levi Seacer Jr...) were made in the aftermath. The long version offered in this boxed set, previously unknown, is a mix made in mid-December once all the takes had been done. It will serve as the basis for the album version we all know.

Live 4 Love (Early Version) (7'32) - unreleased version

Night of November 19-20, 1990 - Paisley Park (first session)

December 5 1990 - Paisley Park (additional recordings or mix)

Sonny, Tommy and Michael B. were called back to Paisley Park on the night of November 19th to 20th to record a song which was to become another highlight of the next album: "Live 4 Love". It had long been thought, based on Michael B.'s recollections, that this song and "Diamonds And Pearls" had been recorded in 1989, but work on the archives has corrected this and re-established the correct date.

Source => https://www.schkopi.com/i...eneration/

[Edited 10/24/23 3:20am]

JorisE73 said:

olb99 said:

Ok. I understand. But at the same time, he has that "documentary maker" / researcher mentality that not many fans have and probably not even many people who were "there at the time". Susan Rogers is the exception rather than the rule, I think.

yeah probably true, but then Duane wouldn't be my first choice if we have to go with someone with a researcher mentality, I can think of someone with the same mentality and who was (partly) also there, but he already said he would never work with the (only previous?) Estate.

[Edited 10/24/23 2:28am]

If we're thinking about the same person, then, yes, he would be a gold mine of information.

One of the most important criteria for someone working as an archivist for the Estate would be, well, to be willing to work for the Estate, though.