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Prince Track by Track: “Shy”

From the Gold Experience CD booklet, 1995; © Warner Bros.

My latest guest appearance on Prince: Track by Track actually went up last Wednesday, but I was too busy to write anything up about it, so here it is now:

Prince Track by Track: “Shy”

The subject this time around is one of my favorite songs from The Gold Experience, which also happens to be one of my favorite Prince/O(+> albums of the ’90s. Hopefully my affection for it comes through. Also, because I forgot to do it while we were recording, allow me to shout out friend of the blog Erica Thompson for her excellent writeup of the song for Diffuser’s 365 Prince Songs in a Year series.

Despite appearances to the contrary, I’m currently working on the last few posts for the Time album, which I hope to wrap up in May; then, it’s onward to Controversy. Those of you who have been following along, thanks for bearing with me while I juggled other projects for the past few months. Looking forward to getting back into the regular routine!

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For You, 1978 Podcast

Podcast: 40 Years of For You

Cover art for For You, 1978; photo by Joe Giannetti, © Warner Bros.

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dance / music / sex / romance is fast approaching its third year, so to celebrate, we’re going…backwards? That’s right, to mark the 40th anniversary of Prince’s debut album, I thought now was the perfect time to go ahead with an idea I’ve been toying with for a while: our own sub-series of review podcasts looking at each of Prince’s albums in isolation.

I’m doing this for a few reasons. First, it’s a way to bring those of you who have been listening to the podcasts but not reading the blog into the loop on my chronological Prince project–and also a way for me to work through some of these albums before I can get to it with my glacially paced writing schedule.

Second, I’ve known from the beginning of this project that if I really wanted to do Prince’s catalogue justice, I would need to incorporate more voices and perspectives than just my own. We all have our biases and blind spots, and as a Prince fan I am acutely aware that one person’s sentimental favorite can be another’s unlistenable mess (and vice versa). That’s why I asked my friends Harold and KaNisa, both of whose encyclopaedic knowledge of Prince’s career dwarfs my own, to join me. I think you’ll find that our tastes and opinions both intersect and diverge in a lot of interesting ways, which allowed us–and hopefully, will allow you–to take a different perspective on some of these songs and the context in which they were created.

I hope you enjoy this new approach to an album that remains underappreciated in Prince’s catalogue. If you do, I hope you’ll subscribe to the podcast on your streaming app of choice (iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play), and if you’re so inclined, leave a review! No matter what, thanks for listening, and see you again soon.

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Prince Track by Track: “Papa”

Prince's funereal cover for Come, 1994; photo by Terry Gydesen, © Warner Bros.

Allow me to begin this post with a few simple facts: when I first started guesting on Darren Husted’s chronological Prince: Track by Track podcast last September, I had just started writing about 1980’s Dirty Mind, and Darren was in the middle of 1985’s Around the World in a Day. Now, a little more than six months later, I’m a few tracks away from starting 1981’s Controversy, and Darren is over halfway through Come from nineteen-fucking-ninety-four. Whatever, it’s not a race, etc. Here’s us talking about “Papa,” one of the weirdest, toughest listens in Prince’s body of work:

Prince Track by Track: “Papa”

As we all know, April is a big month in the Prince world, so I’m hoping to kick d / m / s / r back into high gear pretty soon. Keep your eye out for more updates!