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View Full Version : Prince passes away, this year really sucks!



HiFi Lounge
21-04-2016, 22:34
http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/Music/1216702_1280x720_zpsve8t6k5v.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/Music/1216702_1280x720_zpsve8t6k5v.jpg.html)

Hi All,

Well it is with a really heavy heart that I find myself writing this as it was only 5 minutes ago that I turned Sky News on to be greeted with the extremely sad news that Prince has passed away at the age of 57, along with Bowie only 3 months ago I have now lost 2 of my 3 favourite artists, what a really horrible year 2016 is turning out for people who love music.

From Controversy onwards I spent most of my early teens with my walkman on listening to Prince, amazing songwriting, with some pretty explicit lyrics that for a teenager really was quite exciting but for me he must have been one of the most talented musicians to have ever lived, being able to play pretty much any instrument he cared but when it comes to guitar playing I would say there really isn’t anyone who could make a guitar sing like Prince, and also if you listen to the intro to something like Condition of the Heart which is one of my all time favourite songs it has the most beautiful piano playing intro you could imagine, well in my opinion anyway.

I guess in many ways although their music was quite different there were quite a few similarities to both Prince and Bowie’s careers, both were always changing their persona’s and re-inventing themselves, both stayed at the top of their games for their whole career with a few dips along the way, both actually found fame in Hollywood but when it comes to writing great music for me there isn’t much better than Prince and Bowie.

I was lucky to see Prince live a few times live, first was the Lovesexy tour at Wembley Arena in 1988, this was in the round and was a real show, I had certainly not seen anything like it before, I actually still don’t think I have been to a gig where I have danced more, then more recently Wendy and myself saw him a few times at the 02 where he played an unprecedented 21 nights, what was really cool was that after the O2 gig if you queued at the Indigo you could get in and see the after show party where Prince’s band would play and on a few nights Prince would join them for another gig straight after playing to 20,000 people to a crowd of around 1500, we were honoured to get in twice with Prince playing a whole set for one of them, just awesome.

Favourite Prince song? that is really hard but I love Condition Of The Heart, Sometimes It Snows In April, Let’sPretend We’re Married, Lady Cab Driver, Alphabet Street, Baby I’m A Star, Batdance and Guitar to name just a few, there really are too many to list but my favourite 2 Prince Albums have to be 1999 and Around The World In A Day, I remember going to Tracks record shop in Hertford to buy the Around The World, excited after playing Purple Rain to death only to be warned by ‘Bones’ behind the counter not to expect too much as it was very different, he wasn’t wrong but after a few listens I was hooked. That was what was great about Prince, you never knew what to expect but when he was on form he made some of the best music the world has ever heard.

Prince you really will be sadly missed but there is certainly one hell of a supergroup forming up above at the moment.

Cheers,

Paul.

Anthony K
21-04-2016, 23:58
My own favourites are Erotic City , The ballad of Dorothy Parker , Insatiable , Girl and I wanna be your Lover.

I also saw him during the Lovesexy tour. First album I purchased 1981 Controversy.

The man was a genius , probably the only musical genius of his generation.

HiFi Lounge
25-04-2016, 06:51
Couldn't agree more, as an axe wielder I would say he was unbeatable, I was watching his Superbowl performance last night, epic :-)

Audio Al
25-04-2016, 07:52
Probably drugs overdose :(

HiFi Lounge
25-04-2016, 09:28
Hi All,

I just wanted to post this tribute Bruce Springsteen did a couple of nights ago to Prince, it is just excellent, Nils make the guitar solo look so easy, I’ve got 5 Bruce gigs so far this year so really hope he plays Purple Rain at those -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifNyqjHHCGw

Cheers,

Paul.

Macca
25-04-2016, 12:34
That is a corking tribute by Springsteen, thanks for posting it.

surv1v0r
02-06-2016, 17:08
Tests confirm Prince died of opioid overdose, police official says. (BBC Online (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/02/prince-died-opioid-overdose-tests))It seems that Prince suffered from hip and knee pain which he attempted to counteract with pain killers. Hopefully some unscrupulous "Gold digging" Medical Practitioners will be brought to book.

HiFi Lounge
02-06-2016, 18:43
How sad and a waste of a truly gifted musician :-(