You’ll have to forgive me as I do this month’s Patreon video update “hit-n-run” style; I’m getting married tomorrow and I need to hit the road! So here are just a few quick thoughts to tie up September and look forward to the next month or so on D / M / S / R. As always, thanks so much for your support; I’ll be back in a couple of weeks!
After assembling the Apollonia 6 album on February 6, 1984, Prince stayed at Sunset Sound, working on incidental music for the Purple Rain film and a handful of songs that would end up on Sheila E’s The Glamorous Life. On February 18, he shifted gears yet again: recording what would become his first–and last–holiday-themed song.
“Another Lonely Christmas” appears to have come out of nowhere–and not just because it was a Christmas tune recorded less than a week after Valentine’s Day. While the track would eventually find its way onto the B-side of “I Would Die 4 U”–released on the seasonally appropriate date of November 28–it seems unlikely that Prince had that placement in mind nine months earlier. There’s no indication that he intended it for either the movie soundtrack or Sheila’s album; for that matter–aside from a penchant for decorating his studio with string lights, according to sessionographer Duane Tudahl–there’s little indication that he was especially observant of the holiday season. For whatever reason, “Another Lonely Christmas” was just something he had to get out of his system.
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Here we are again, my first podcast in more than a year, and I couldn’t have asked for better guests than Harold Pride and De Angela Duff to discuss Prince’s fourth and quite possibly most underrated album, 1981’s Controversy. If you’ve been listening to these deep-dive album retrospectives, Harold needs no introduction; and, since the Prince scholarly community is a pretty small one, De Angela may not need one either. Suffice to say that she’s the biggest advocate of Controversy I know, and she makes a convincing case that it’s not only a great album in its own right, but also the linchpin of Prince’s entire career.
One quick note: you will likely notice that there was a significant drop in audio quality this episode; this was due to a perfect storm of technical issues that, unfortunately, left the low-quality Skype call recording as the only usable audio source from our conversation. I think you’ll get used to it, but I will assure you anyway that I’m taking steps to make sure we sound better next time. And yes, speaking of “next time,” I do have plans for more episodes in the coming months–probably not in October, but maybe one more before the end of the year, and then more to come in early 2023. If you want to hear the episodes as soon as they drop, remember to subscribe on your podcast service of choice using the links above!
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Last October, I had every intention to mark the 40th anniversary of Controversy with another installment of our in-depth album retrospective podcast series, but life (i.e., my increasingly-predictable end-of-year burnout) intervened. Now, having finally gotten my shit together, I’m putting the finishing touches on the episode, and it will be dropping next Friday (tomorrow for patrons)! I’m joined as always by Harold Pride and, for the first time, by longtime friend of the show De Angela Duff, who was actually the one to get my butt in gear because she’s just that passionate about the album! Very excited for you to hear it and (knock on wood) to be back with more in less than a year.
Well, another month has come and gone, so I’m back with another Patreon video update! August wasn’t as eventful a month for me as July, but I still have some extended thoughts on my last two posts on “Manic Monday” and “Ooo She She Wa Wa,” as well as an updated timeline for the next few months and (despite my stated intention to keep my mouth shut) some very off-the-cuff thoughts about the incoming Prince Estate. If there’s anything you’d like me to address next month, just let me know–otherwise, thanks for watching, and I’ll see you again soon!