Afterlife Interview with Prince
Prince on the music he says he would still make, on owning your masters, and on the vault.
Prince – Let’s Work
Let's Work began as Let's Rock, recorded in Boulder in July 1979 after Prince saw a club dance called the Rock.
Prince – Crystal Ball
On 17 April 1986 Prince recorded Crystal Ball at his Galpin Blvd home studio, then watched Warner refuse the triple album built around it.
Purple Rain
Albert Magnoli's Purple Rain (1984) follows Prince through the Minneapolis clubs, in a feature where the songs do most of the directing.
Love Symbol – Glyph, New Power Generation, half a hit machine
On 13 October 1992 Paisley Park and Warner Bros. released the Love Symbol album, Prince’s second full collaboration with the New Power Generation after Diamonds and Pearls.
Around the World in a Day – Psychedelic morning after Purple Rain
On 22 April 1985 Paisley Park and Warner Bros. released Around the World in a Day, Prince and the Revolution’s deliberate pivot away from the Purple Rain sound while that film still filled cinemas.
Prince – Calhoun Square
On 15 June 1993 Prince recorded Calhoun Square at Paisley Park with the New Power Generation, and named it for an Uptown mall.
Prince – The Love We Make
On 12 July 1996 Jonathan Melvoin died of a heroin overdose in New York, and Prince answered with The Love We Make at Paisley Park.
Yamaha DX7 – FM digital synthesizer, 1983
Yamaha launched the DX7 in 1983 as an affordable digital synthesizer based on frequency-modulation (FM) synthesis researched at Stanford University (John Chowning) and engineered for mass production in Japan. It offered 16-voice polyphony, a five-octave keyboard and MIDI, which helped it sit in expanding digital
Controversy – Alone at the desk, politics in the hooks
On 14 October 1981 Warner Bros. released Controversy, Prince’s fourth album, written and produced almost entirely by him at Kiowa Trail, Hollywood Sound, and Sunset Sound.