Once seen as sonic innovator and technological trailblazer - he was once praised by Roger Linn himself for the “unusual and creative” ways he used his LM-1 drum machine - Prince later seemed to focus more of his energies on extolling the virtues of good old-fashioned musicianship.
In fact, his relationship with technology appeared to be complicated. While he never completely retreated from using synths, drum machines and samplers on his records, Prince would frequently remind audiences at his shows that they were listening to ‘real music by real musicians’.
Having initially embraced electronic instruments, Prince seemed to view himself as the man who was pushing back against the technological tide, and he offered a telling insight into his musical mindset in an unearthed clip from - wouldn't you know it - 1999, when he was being interviewed by DJ/production duo Soulwax (AKA 2manydjs) on Belgian TV.
This, of course, was around the time when in-the-box production was just taking off - DAWs were becoming more powerful and soft synths were disrupting the whole music-making industry - so Prince was asked how he kept things interesting now that he was competing with “any kid with a PC in his bedroom”.
“There’s just one catch,” he interjects. “The kid with the PC in the bedroom can’t play his instrument. He can make some sounds, and then you can get a vast amount of repetition, but if they didn’t take the time to learn their instrument and their scales and to actually speak the language of music then they can’t play with someone like Sheryl Crow - all they can do is watch.”
The reference to Crow came because she’d just appeared on Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, Prince’s guest-heavy album from 1999 (there were also appearances from Gwen Stefani, Chuck D, Eve and Ani DiFranco).
The record is something of a mixed bag - in fact, one of the highlights is a hidden track, Prettyman, which has Prince freeing himself from the R&B-pop-soul conventions of the rest of the album and going full James Brown.
And sure enough, when Soulwax asked Prince how he chose the Rave Un2… guests, it was the one on Partyman that he seemed most immediately excited about.
“You heard Maceo Parker play before?”, he replied.
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