I was thinking as I sat in the studio that they opened to the fans at Paisley Park during the last celebration. Femi was telling stories about recording with Prince. I thought of how great it would be and how much people would pay to sit in the corner quietly and just watch Prince and Femi lay down some track for an hour. You would not be allowed to disturb them; just watch. Just think - you'd see Prince go from guitar to piano to bass to drums all in one sitting. Amazing!

It would be amazing. Maybe they could have some contest to let 2 lucky NPGMC members win this opportunity. Would that be great?

Sorry for being a bit off topic, but I had the immense please of sitting in the studio with my favourite band of the time, Frente. Actually, it was during the mastering stage so they simply played me the songs from their album complete with all the quirky musical tracks. I was so thrilled by that, and can't imagine what it would be like to sit in with Prince.

BTW, Frente recorded their first album at Paisley Park with MC. I joined them for their second.

You know it's interesting: I've never been into Prince as a person. For me, it's always been about the music. I never reall got into the way he looks or the sexual aspect. So, for me, it would be a dream come true if I could just watch him play. A really BIG gift would be to not only watch him work in the studio, but possibly have the session recorded so that I could listen whenever I wanted to. That'll probably never happen, though...

It's a good though, however...

why doesn't someone write a book about this topic. I'd buy a copy of a book about Prince in the studio with all the dates, pictures and stories by him and his engineers.

Per Nilsen, Boris Fishpaw, DavidEye, where are you when we need you?

I'd be very happy just to see some decent footage of Prince in the studio (I'm too busy to accept his invitations). I've seen bits and pieces, such as from the short BBC documentary where he's laying down something on Partyman, and it's just amazing to see something like that.

I'll tell you why you won't hear from any of the engineers about the recording sessions.....because we have to sign a 'disclosure and privacy agreement' before working with P., and that forbids any public comment on anything pertaining to the recording process. But oh boy, if i could, i would, and you would all be surprised !!
And by the way, don't buy into all the stuff.....

OilyRag said:

Susan Rogers has disclosed plenty of information about recording sessions with Prince. Described unreleased songs, told stories about how certain elements of released songs were created, and plenty of other insiders info.

parker said:

Pick up a copy of the book "DMSR" she talks alot about being in the studio with Prince.

I was referring mainly to the engineers who are still in a working relationship with P., and who want to continue to stay in one. Susan has been out of the loop for a while, as has Femi, Michael K. etc, and therefore they probably consider it OK to talk freely.
I was just trying to be helpful - you guys are way too intense !!

parker said:

Right - and Femi was talking to us quite freely on several days of the celebration. And the celebration is ordained by Prince

Bsunshine said:

I was thinking that Femi should write a book because it would be from a pure, rational first hand account - like Dez's book. Enough with those parasites like Per Nilsen

DMSR was great but what if Per Nilson put those quotes and the dates together and made an amazing book! That would totally rule.

This would be the year for it!

sabaisabai said:

i love frente's "marvin the album." great disc. quirky melodic pop, i thought that album really *worked* in a unique way.

sabaisabai said:

Thats really funny! I know Simon! Lol! He was doing sound for a club I DJ'ed at here in NYC...actually, where the NPNY had their monthly "Prince thang".

I have a funny Prince related story with him. At this club was a worker who's home burned down. We all threw an in-house party and raised money for him, kinda like a talent/benifit show.

I LOVED Frente and it was really cool getting to know Simon as a regular guy whos sooo down to earth and kind and cool and all. Anyway me and another buddy came up with a silly idea of singing "Sex Shooter" acoustically and I would sing, both of us (30-something out of shape white guys) in our skivvies.

My friend played acoustic guitar but was having trouble getting the right angle on it. So I taped it off my LP!!! (took me back!) and asked Simon for help. He did it for us in about 1 minute. It was hilarious. He was laughing too and saying, as he was figuring out the chords for us, what a Pop genius Prince is.

He really helped us and we were a smash, well people were laughing...alot. He also did a solo mini set of Frente songs acoustic and covered "Kiss". He is the best! Go get Frentes albums everyone, they were great.