Originally recorded for a “Camilla” album (eight tracks recorded by Prince using speed-ed up vocals and one of his female alter-egos Camilla). Aside from being musically adventurous (love the introductory rhythm) and very catchy it has the absolute killer opening line “If I was your girlfriend would you tell me all the things you forgot when I was your man.” It’s a great meditation on the obsessiveness of love where you want to be everything (lover, best friend, even if you hurt them you want to be the one they turn too) and you want your obsession reciprocated.
February 13, 2008
February 9, 2008
Prince “When Doves Cry” 1984
The track that made me sit up and listen. I was not actually a fan of 1999 and Little Red Corvette (I was going through a very left wing hatred of anything American and they were so nuts over him after 1999 actually and Jonathan King was raving about him and I always thought he was appalling and very, very creepy) but then I heard this track and it stopped me dead. (more…)
February 6, 2008
Kate Bush “Why Should I Love You?” 1993 (Kate Bush album “The Red Shoes”
The only track that is not a Prince track per se in the whole of my Top 10. However, when the song hits the chorus for the first time it is clear that this track was only possible with a sprinkling of Prince’s magic dust. This has one of the key features of a Prince song, it’s very sexy;
“The “L” of the lips are open
To the “O” of the host
The “V” of the velvet” (more…)
Prince “Kiss” 1986
Perhaps the archetypal Prince track, it’s got the lot – sex, funkyness and a great sense of humour. Okay, so the last comment is not one you often hear about the Purple Imp but I think he has a wicked sense of humour, it’s just not easy to display in the music world. Watch him being interviewed, or in videos or on stage, in fact anywhere and you’ll often see a sly grin on his face. Whereas the press often take him very seriously I believe he knows his behaviour is out of the ordinary and he finds it funny that the press just accept that in order to get an interview. I remember during the “Slave” period he asked interviewers to write the word on their cheek or around the “Symbol” album time he conducted the few interviews he gave wearing a hat with a metal curtain that totally obscured his face or the time he answered questions in interviews by whispering to Mayte. Where am i going with this interpretation of him and how does it relate to “Kiss”? Simple. The most quoted Prince lyric also proves my thesis. “Act you age, not your shoe size”. We shall revisit his sense of humour again before we reach the end of the Top 10.
February 4, 2008
Prince “17 Days” 1984 (b-side of “When Doves Cry”)
“Probably the greatest b-side in the world”. (more…)
February 3, 2008
Prince “Purple Rain” 1984 (10 of the Best)
First, I must state I have no idea where he got the phrase “Purple Rain” from but it does not take a genius to gather the general meaning. He regrets the ending of a friendship, possibly after a one-night stand and he acknowledges that they will probably go their separate ways. It is entirely possible his influence, his help is the “Purple Rain”. Whatever it is the lyrics are vague enough to ensure that it speaks to all of us about one relationship or another. The real hook of course is the melody line, picked out by Prince repeatedly throughout on his guitar. I have a couple of live versions where he plays the song live for around 20 minutes and there he plays around with the motif even more, frankly it is very reminiscent of the way jazz musicians take a theme and mutate it in a new way whilst still keeping the essence of the piece. It is my favourite “guitar” track of his and as you saw on Friday it is a live favourite that has the power to send shivers down the spine.
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February 2, 2008
Fennesz Sakamoto “cendre” 2007 – Debussy in a thunderstorm
A collaboration between Christian Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto makes very good sense on paper and thankfully it works on CD too. The former is one of the leading “Glitch” artists producing exquisitely beautiful laptop music (just to throw in two tags that either tell you exactly what to expect or leave you utterly clueless), in his case using a standard electric guitar in the main as the base ingredient. The latter is the classically trained pianist, former leader of the Japanese Beatles (or Kraftwerk depending on whether you are talking about sales or style) the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Oscar winning soundtrack composer, World music guru oh and a bit of acting too. (more…)
David Sylvian “When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima” 2007
This is not new territory for Mr Sylvian, the “Ember Glance” box set from 1991 was also born out of a multi-media installation. This one, as the name implies was written for an exhibition on the Japanese island of Naoshima and features not just Mr Sylvian but also the wonderful glitch artist Fennesz, Akira Rabelais (Whose last album was released on Sylvian’s Samadhi Sound label) Clive Bell (who has worked with such artists as Bill Laswell, Jah Wobble and Jeff Beck) and Arve Henriksen (Norwegian trumpeter). It is in the same style as “Approaching Silence” and “Ember Glance” itself, a very long piece of atmospheric sounds (waves, wind chimes, etc.) mixed with ghostly vocals, atonal instrumental music all blended together to create the sonic impression of loud weather buffeting Naoshima. (more…)
David Hill and the Choir of Winchester Cathedral “Lux Aeterna” 1998
An album I constantly return to as it gently soothes the cares of the working day away. I am not a fan of compilations, let alone classical compilations as they never seem to hang together. Yet here is the exception that proves the rule, modern composers rub shoulders with Mozart and Tallis but there is no jarring change in mood. A great deal of that success is down to David Hill and the Choir of Winchester Cathedral. Simply put an album that repays your investment; both time and money. Do yourself a favour and find a copy of this deleted CD wherever you can.
Originally posted July 11, 2005
Fennesz “Venice” 2004
The Master of Glitch Music
The electricity in a storm
Lightning across the bay
Crackling, the hairs on your arm stand up
The pressure making your eardrums bend and flex
Swirling, fizzing, popping, exploding
Water dropping, plopping, spreading
The calm at the heart of the maelstrom
David Sylvian
Tranquil, persuasive, emollient
Treated guitars eddy in the air
Laptop music for the electronic age
Glitch music for the melodious
New music for the adventurous
Resonant, humming, electric
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Originally posted March 16, 2004
