Prince: The Glory Years
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
Prince is a remarkable musician, and a huge influence on my own personal creative wanderings, and so it was a pleasure to stumble across this documentary of his early years and rise to super-stardom available to stream below. With my not being born until his career was well underway, it is great to hear some stories of the recording and experimenting processes of the first few LPs, as well as the various reports of regional Minnesota acclaim, lagging global sales, hometown influences and willingness to use technology in new and wonderful ways.
The pint-sized pop starlet first crossed my radar around the time of the Purple Rain movie and soundtrack. Who was this flamboyant, motorcycle-riding, wailing purple person? Was he P-funk or rock? Was he black or white? Was he male of female? His music did everything to muddy the waters further, and thankfully he embraced his own unique flair for many many albums to come.
This documentary not only goes into the background on Prince’s own singles and albums, but also his songwriting skills for other artists. Sinead O’Connor’s epic ballad ‘Nothing Compares 2U’ and The Bangles hit ‘Manic Monday’ are both part of his wealth or work, and further display the depth of his writing.
Be it the stripped-back sparse tension of ‘Kiss’, the power and drive of ‘Purple Rain’, or the pure fun feeling of ‘Raspberry Beret’ and dozens of others, Prince simply “stole the 1980s”, and in my opinion, deservedly so.
Watch the full documentary here.
by Lee Jarvis.
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