(Featured Image: Cover art for Prince, 1979; photo by Jurgen Reisch, © Warner Bros.)
October 19, 2018 marks the 39th anniversary of Prince’s self-titled second album–not the most glamorous occasion, perhaps, but reason enough to reassemble the review panel from our For You podcast for a reappraisal. Once again, Zach is joined by Harold and KaNisa for a track-by-track discussion of this underappreciated album, its resonances throughout Prince’s career, and why it still matters.
If you want to keep in the loop for our forthcoming Dirty Mind
00:00:00 Ray “Eye Patch” Sawyer and Dennis Locorriere of Dr. Hook Introduce Prince–and Prince Performs “I Wanna Be Your Lover”–on The Midnight Special, 1980
00:01:08 KaNisa’s Muse 2 the Pharaoh Podcast
00:01:30 Harold’s First Appearance on d / m / s / r
00:01:39 Harold’s Presentation from the Lovesexy 30 Symposium at NYU
Lovesexy30BK Studio & Live Panel: Harold Pride UNEDITED (Part 2 of 3) from De Angela Duff on Vimeo.
00:02:49 Our First Review Podcast of For You
00:08:33 For You’s Album Cover vs. Prince’s
00:14:15 The Infamous Dick Clark Interview from American Bandstand, 1980
00:20:25 d / m / s / r Post on the Capri Theatre Show
00:23:34 Definitely Nude: The Back Cover of Prince
00:23:51 “Sexy Dancer” (Live at Carolina Coliseum, 1980)
00:26:22 Prince Live 1979-1980: The First Tour
00:28:03 “I Wanna Be Your Lover” (from Prince, 1979)
00:34:38 The “I Wanna Be Your Lover” Music Video
00:41:10 “Disco Away” by the Rebels (1979 recording)
00:43:15 “I Wanna Be Your Lover” (Live in Dortmund, 1988)
00:46:25 “I Wanna Be Your Lover” in “Purple Medley,” 1995
00:47:47 The Alternate “Band Version” of the “I Wanna Be Your Lover” Video, with… Remastered Audio
00:49:07 The More Convincing Band Videos for “Dirty Mind,” “Controversy,” and “1999”
00:54:20 “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” (from Prince)
01:00:30 Dez, André, and Prince, 1980
01:01:12 “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” (Live in Lakeland, Florida, 1980)
01:15:04 “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” (Live in Vancouver, 2013)
01:17:13 “Sexy Dancer” (from Prince)
01:24:52 “Livin’ on the Nile (Extended Club Re-mix)” by Egyptian Lover (1987 single)
01:30:15 “Sexy Dancer (Long Version)” (1980 single)
01:33:34 “When We’re Dancing Close and Slow” (from Prince)
01:43:55 d / m / s / r Podcast with Erica Thompson
01:45:22 “When We’re Dancing Close and Slow” (Live in Seattle, 2013)
01:52:33 “When We’re Dancing Close and Slow” with Andy Allo (Live at North Sea Jazz, 2011)
01:55:17 “With You” (from Prince)
02:00:41 The Instrumental “With You” Interlude (Live at Denver Auditorium Arena, 1983)
02:03:33 “With You” (Live at Xenophobia Celebration, 2002)
02:08:13 “Bambi” (from Prince)
02:17:16 The Unaired “Bambi” Performance on The Ellen Degeneres Show, 2004
02:19:39 “Still Waiting” (from Prince)
02:24:13 “Still Waiting” (Live at First Avenue, 1982)
02:30:05 “I Feel for You” (from Prince)
02:37:25 “I Feel for You” by Chaka Khan (from I Feel for You
02:38:28 “It’s Gonna Be Lonely” (from Prince)
02:44:55 Zach’s Original Ranking of the Songs from Prince
03:04:25 “Bambi (Rap)” by T.C. Ellis (from True Confessions
wow… three hours! 4 times the running time of the album itself 🙂
Interesting to hear the differences of opinion. Of course, it goes without saying that mine is different again. To me, Prince and Controversy are transitional albums, not really working, but showing what was before and what was to come.
As to the standout track… to me it’s Bambi. And mostly the studio version (as with most of his songs, although the metal version of 8 March 1982 is awesome). The lyrics may be awkward at best, but it seems to be an actual opinion he held to the end of his life, if you go with Da Bourgeoisie.
As to the Ellen show, Prince made a point to always play Bambi any time the lesbian of the Klemann sisters (I forget which one, they recorded his songs Qualified and Sex for the album he collaborated on with their band Lois Lane, known as Lois L in the US). He seemed to think it was funny, so I think it definitely was not a coincidence he played it to Ellen.
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Yes it’s going to be especially ridiculous when we inevitably spend three hours on Dirty Mind’s 30 minutes… and then god knows how many episodes I’m going to need to split Sign “O” the Times into (or maybe I’ll just be sadistic and put it up as one 7-hour slog)!
Very interesting info on “Bambi”–yes, it certainly seems that Prince’s views on sexual orientation were a lot less progressive than one would assume from a man who spent most of his adult life in eyeliner. Kind of a bummer, but he couldn’t shut the doors his work already opened!
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