Partial Quote on Prince and his music:
New York Times | July 12, 2004
For Prince, a Resurgence Accompanied by Spirituality
By JON PARELES
HANHASSEN, Minn., July 8 - The sound of someone knocking out a funk
drumbeat thumped down a hallway as a visitor walked into Paisley Park,
the studio complex Prince built in this Minneapolis suburb. Soon
afterward the drummer emerged, wearing a white jacket of Chinese silk,
tight white pants with buttons up the leg, white shoes and a red T-shirt
lettered NPGMC. It was Prince, who had been using the time before an
interview to record one more track for one more song in progress.
Prince has been virtually a one-man studio band since he released his
first album in 1978, and in the years since he has recorded funk and
rock, pop ballads and jazzy excursions; he has written streamlined,
straightfoward hits and complex experiments. His skill and versatility
have made him a model for musicians as different as D'Angelo, Beck and
OutKast, and his storehouse of unreleased material, which he calls the
Vault, may well hold thousands of songs.
"I record all the time," he said simply. But this afternoon he paused to
reflect on what has been his best year in at least a decade.
Prince led off this year's Grammy Awards broadcast in February, joined
onstage by BeyoncE, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in March. His current album, "Musicology" (Paisley Park/Columbia),
has sold more than a million copies in the United States since it was
released in June, and it is lodged in the Top 20 of the Billboard album
chart. Meanwhile, Prince is selling out arenas on tour.
On Monday Prince starts a three-night stand at Madison Square Garden,
followed by shows at the Continental Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. (July
16 and 18), the Hartford Civic Center (July 17) and Nassau Coliseum in
Uniondale, N.Y. (July 20). He usually follows arena shows with late-night
jam sessions at clubs. He has also renovated Paisley Park to change it
from two recording studios to four. And on Dec. 31, 2001, he quietly
married Manuela Testolini, a former Paisley Park employee.
Prince, 46, said he was a bit sleepy as he led his visitor into Studio A
and settled in behind the 48-track mixing console. But on "Musicology" he
boasted that he didn't have an Off switch, and he grew more animated as
he spoke: jumping to his feet, picking up a guitar to play a funk vamp,
declaiming and gesticulating like a gospel preacher.
The lascivious young man who recorded albums like "Dirty Mind" (1980) has
affirmed a newfound faith. "I always knew I had a relationship with God,"
he said. "But I wasn't sure God had a relationship with me."
One of the new rooms in Paisley Park has the word "Knowledge" painted
outside it. Its shelves hold books and pamphlets from the Jehovah's
Witnesses, and a Bible sits open on a lectern. Prince has stopped using
profanity and has stopped singing about casual sex.
"I've always understood the two to be intertwined, sexuality and
spirituality," he said. "That never changed. What became more clear-cut
to me was the importance of monogamy. And that was in the Scriptures many
years ago."
"The word sex has been turned into something so. . . . it means so many
things to so many different people," he added. "I don't use it much
anymore. It's been sullied."
On tour, he has been reaching into his old repertory for songs like
"Purple Rain" and "D.M.S.R.," which stands for "Dance Music Sex Romance."
Is he embarrassed now by some of the raunchier songs in his catalog?
"Embarrassed?" he said with a smile. "I don't know that word. Have you
seen my outfits?"
......
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/12/arts/music/12PRIN.html?8hpib
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
