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Patreon Exclusives

Patreon Exclusive Video: November 2022 Patreon Update

Not a lot to talk about this month (no, I’m not weighing in on “scarfgate”), but I did take some time for a mini-review of the Walmart-exclusive Hits 2 white vinyl reissue (spoiler: it ain’t great!). The late-2022 Prince release doldrums continue, but at least we have a lot of new books to read, right? Also, look out for “When Doves Cry” in December, by hook or by crook! Our two-and-a-half-year journey through the Purple Rain album is finally coming to a close… thanks for your support, and happy holidays if that’s what you’re into!

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Ephemera, 1984

Love and Sex (1984)

The Purple Rain era marked a subtle, yet perceptible shift in Prince’s attitudes toward sex. On 1999 less than two years earlier, he’d reveled in his libertinish “Rude Boy” persona: promising to “fuck the taste out of your mouth” on “Let’s Pretend We’re Married,” then actually demonstrating his technique on “Lady Cab Driver.” But by the follow-up album, his pendulum was beginning to swing away from the raw mechanics of lust, toward something approaching more conventional romance. “The Beautiful Ones” found him not just pretending he’s married, but considering it as a real possibility; “When Doves Cry” and the title track earnestly grappled with the dissolution of a relationship. Even “Darling Nikki”–the closest the album came to vintage, “dirty” Prince–treated its sexual encounter as a quasi-Satanic temptation, before ending with a palate-cleansing gospel coda.

It’s easy to assume that this shift was motivated by commercial calculus: Purple Rain was designed to be Prince’s entrée into the mainstream, and heteronormative monogamy plays better to “mainstream” tastes than unfettered promiscuity. There is doubtless some truth to that interpretation; but there’s also ample evidence to suggest that he felt a genuine conflict between his spiritual convictions and his carnal appetites. A song like “Possessed” (written during the 1999 sessions, and revisited in multiple iterations for Purple Rain) depicts the repentant “Rude Boy” as an unwilling vessel for “demonic lust.” “Love and Sex,” recorded at Sunset Sound on February 27-28, takes a different approach: envisioning an afterlife where the spirit and the flesh could exist in harmony.

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Patreon Exclusives

Patreon Exclusive Video: October 2022 Patreon Update

Last month I warned that October was going to be quiet, and I was true to my word; but there’s still some stuff to talk about this month, even if it isn’t the music releases the fanbase is clamoring for. Among other things, in this video I belatedly memorialize Wally Safford and talk about all the new and recent Prince books I need to catch up on. As always, thanks for your support; I’ll be back with another “real” post soon!

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Patreon Exclusives

Patreon Exclusive Video: September 2022 Patreon Update

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!

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Patreon Exclusives

Patreon Exclusive Video: August 2022 Patreon Update

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!