criterionforum.org

Still seems to only be TMZ reporting, but awful, awful, awful.

His publicist has confirmed. Being reported everywhere.

...including news outlets with reputations to protect.

Odd, I just saw a headline about a death at Prince's estate, but didn't even suspect it might be him. Sigh.

Now confirmed by AP, and his publicist, here for example.

Does TMZ get a lot of things nakedly wrong like this, though? I mean, I don't think they're so flippant about their reputations that they're incorrectly reporting deaths of beloved public figures left and right.

It's a very 'royal' day in the UK today, I can't help thinking the wrong monarch was taken from us

While his music should understandably overshadow it, don't forget his (variable) influence on films - not just his songs for Tim Burton's Batman film but also for his role in Purple Rain and co-directing and starring in the notorious Under The Cherry Moon (Kristin Scott Thomas's first feature role!) and then solo directing Graffiti Bridge.

Plus his concert documentary Sign O'The Times.

mfunk9786 wrote:Does TMZ get a lot of things nakedly wrong like this, though? I mean, I don't think they're so flippant about their reputations that they're incorrectly reporting deaths of beloved public figures left and right.

They've been wrong once or twice. I only know of them being wrong about Lil Wayne. But 99% of the time they are right about celeb deaths.

Pretty crazy how he passed just months after Vanity.

Another huge blow to the music industry. Wow. What a year.

He ranked alongside Duke Ellington and Miles Davis as one of the most singular and brilliant American composers to emerge during the 20th century. After the 1980's, I think his capacity to select the best material he wanted the public to consume diminished somewhat, and critics have confused that with an artistic decline.

He was a one-man artistic incubator; someone so obsessed with the idea of documenting his musical and visual ideas that he built soundstages in his backyard and outfitted his lavatories with recording equipment.

If the 80s production of his music ever turned you off, do 1) check out Dirty Mind and 2) try to hear the albums on vinyl, where the annoying parts of the 1980s production are severely diminished. I myself am only a recent convert, but once it clicked it was wonderful to have another artist of this magnitude to explore.

Drucker wrote:If the 80s production of his music ever turned you off, do 1) check out Dirty Mind and 2) try to hear the albums on vinyl, where the annoying parts of the 1980s production are severely diminished. I myself am only a recent convert, but once it clicked it was wonderful to have another artist of this magnitude to explore.

I love the "dated" production on his earlier albums. His use of drum machines on the 1999 and Purple Rain LP's is incredibly creative, and I can't imagine many of the tracks employing live drums.

Damn straight, he really is right up there with Miles Davis, Ellington, James Brown and Dylan in rarefied air, you can't underestimate the stature of his enormous body of work, especially the very best of it.

You can pour over so many of his talents - as a songwriter, guitarist, showman (dancing and spectacle), singing, etc. - but the part I loved best about him was how he took fringe elements into the mainstream in a way that really seemed utopian, all the more impressive coming at the height of '80s conservatism. I was very happy to see the Current in Minneapolis raise a similar point in their appreciation, written before his death:

"Perhaps most importantly, though, Prince’s music is evidence — to the world, and to Minnesotans ourselves — of the diversity of our state, and of our music. When you listen to Prince, you hear the influences of all the artists he grew up with: black, white, funky, rocking, groovy, prickly. It’s not the sound of Minnesota’s lonesome prairie, it’s the sound of our dense cities. This utopian artist proved that music truly can break barriers — if u want it 2."

For anyone looking to explore the background context of Minneapolis soul and funk in the late '70s that Prince came out of, Numero Group has a great set titled Purple Snow, which comprises a lot of small-label recordings, some previously unreleased songs, and a 144-page book.

Took off work. My little observance. His music has been indispensable to me.

An amazing talent. His 1980s run of albums and singles (plus another dozen or so albums credited to other artists that are pretty much Prince records with a different vocalist) is extraordinary by any measure. Hell, even the albums he recorded but didn't release in that decade would have been enough to make him a legend.

hearthesilence wrote:Damn straight, he really is right up there with Miles Davis, Ellington, James Brown and Dylan in rarefied air, you can't underestimate the stature of his enormous body of work, especially the very best of it.

Yes! Also, as Prince himself would be the first to point out, one must also include Joni Mitchell in that rarefied boys group.

I guess he's better off than he was before,
A whole lot better off than the fools he left here
I used to cry for Tracy because he was my only friend
Those kind of cars don't pass you every day
I used to cry for Tracy because I wanted to see him again,
But sometimes sometimes life ain't always the way

George Kaplan wrote:

hearthesilence wrote:Damn straight, he really is right up there with Miles Davis, Ellington, James Brown and Dylan in rarefied air, you can't underestimate the stature of his enormous body of work, especially the very best of it.

Yes! Also, as Prince himself would be the first to point out, one must also include Joni Mitchell in that rarefied boys group.

and his peer/collaborator Kate Bush

... and "Rick James, b*tch!"

I had a friend (Johnny) that listened to him in 1980. That was before very few knew who Prince was. He would play the cassette in his car constantly. Me and some other friends would make fun of Johnny for listening to a guy named Prince. He would tell us how talented he was, even that far back. And boy, was Johnny right. Prince turned out to be one of the greats.

I saw him in the early 90s at Madison Square Garden and he was electric. He even played a sax on one song. Shiela E was his drummer on this tour. Just a ridiculous concert.

On this sad day, here's hoping that his early catalogue can get remastered and reissued. Those old, tinny sounding CDs that Warner Brothers put out just don't cut it.