Prince's pop life, song by song, in chronological order.
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The Belle of St. Mark
While “Glamorous” sounded tailor-made for Sheila’s particular talents (even if it wasn’t), “Belle” is well-crafted but faceless, embodying the essentialist cynicism of the publishing imprint Prince used for his female side projects: “Girlsongs.”
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Baby
Prince’s silky falsetto vocals and baroque musical accompaniment sound straight out of the Philadelphia-based “smooth soul” playbook–with the obvious caveat that, while Philly soul employed teams of session musicians, vocalists, producers, and arrangers, the vast majority of “Baby” was recorded by Prince himself.
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Roundup: Ephemera, 1975-1976
Hi, everyone! In an effort to break up the flow of this blog a bit, I’d like to insert the occasional “Roundup” post whenever we come to the close of a particular phase of Prince’s musical career. So, now that we’re officially finished with 1976 ephemera and moving into For You territory, here are the songs so…
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Leaving for New York
The delicate, ever-shifting melody and impressionistic lyrics–including, it’s been noted, the first recorded use of Prince’s favored words “purple,” “rain,” and “dawn”–are the strongest indications to date of Joni Mitchell’s influence on his songwriting.