Tidal Waves And Purple Storms

So today, September 7^th is a Purple Day as HitNRun is exclusively streamed through Tidal, almost a year after the double delight of Art Official Age and Plectrum Electrum. Whilst music critics are praising HitNRun with rave reviews, it's the fans who are panning it, with most scorn directed at producer, Joshua Welton. Has the Purple Rock lost it's flavour or are Prince fans becoming too spoilt for choice?

As I haven't subscribed to Tidal, I haven't had the pleasure of listening to HitNRun yet, so this article is NOT a review. It's more of a reflection on Prince fans relationship with his music... When I went on social media this morning, I was expecting to be crying with envy as all the Tidal subscribers were given a purple dose of magic whilst I was awaiting the physical release of HNR. Instead of praise, excitement and purple energy, I saw bitterness, hate and bile directed at Prince and his new project which both stunned and upset me.

Over the years in the digital age and connecting with various Prince related groups, I've seen how vocal the fans/fam can be when they don't like something. Going back to last year PE and AOA took quite a bashing which (in my scanner mode) came largely down to Prince having an afro (REALLY!), 3^rd Eye Girl and the production skills (or lack of) from Joshua Welton. With the afro and 3EG being relatively new and Prince usually self producing, I put the hate down to people not being comfortable with Prince's change of direction with his image and music... In spite of the backlash, the Hit And Run tours in Europe and America were hugely successful and both albums sold well. Today, however, I saw the ungratefulness spite, ignorance and bitterness of people who really should be ashamed to call themselves fans.

Copyright Rich A Benson via Facebook

Now I'm not saying ALL the fans were out of line – there's still and always will be a lot of love and support for Prince – and I'm not saying as a fan one must like/love every single song or album that he releases but calling his work “a pile of shit”, “Hit N Miss” is downright disrespectful. The personal insults directed at Prince and Joshua are way below the belt for me. In the words of one disgruntled prick, “Prince needs to go back to being Prince”. Well in my eyes, Prince, nor his music has ever been boxed or labelled and never will be. The Controversy/Dirty Mind Prince is not the Sign Of The Times Prince nor the Lovesexy Prince etc, etc. He's an enigmatic musical genius who's always evolving and spinning out his ideas. What (in my Miles Davis mode) 'turns me on', may not turn the next Prince fan on. Investing your musical soul in Prince has never been easy for even the most dedicated fan because even though you may feel the rhythm and interpret the lyrics, you can never get into his head or his mindset. You can't predict his movements and you will never be able to read him. That's what makes him the genius he is.

Letting Joshua taking control over production duties seems to be one of the biggest thorns in people's sides. Now I couldn't even dream of what goes down in the studio at Paisley Park but if Prince is cool with this guy handling his babies, then it is what it is. I'm pretty sure Joshua isn't holding a gun to his head and Prince certainly hasn't lost his mind, he's just throwing something else into his Purple mix. As listeners we can either go with it or leave, there's no binding contract or gags and bounds that states as fans we must buy or wave the flag for every single Prince release. There's no Purple Voodoo that's gonna get you if you say, “Hey, this ain't for me”. However, when people start slinging personal insults like it was their money that made this album or acting like spineless internet trolls, they're disgracing the P-Fam, Prince's legacy and most importantly, you're dissing him.

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We all know Prince has a back catalogue that could feed, clothe and house a world army, he has no children or spouse to support... If he was as “spineless” and “a shadow of his former self” as some would believe, why is he still making music, inspiring new musicians and touring his ass off at the age of 57, with double the energy of someone half his age to entertain his fans? If he was so weak, wouldn't he just shut himself away in his White Mansion and lock everything in the vault? With some of the feedback I've read today, if I was Prince, I'd be sticking up my middle finger and telling the haters to go back to 1999 and drown underneath the Purple Rain because they'd be getting nothing more from me... Thank God that his little bad self is as strong as a giant and he pays no mind to what his critics have to say, unless he's gonna write a song about it. Remember, before AOA and PE (2014), Prince's last album was Twenty10 (2010), the longest hiatus in his recording career. In a recent interview, he said that “nobody [his musical contemporaries] scares me”. He has no competition but himself, which must be as awful as writer's block. Maybe the fate of meeting Joshua, when he invited Hannah (Joshua's wife and 3EG drummer) to Paisley Park was a blessing that spurred him into putting music out again. I can't bet my last pound on that statement, but if it is true, then Joshua is really a perfect blessing, to the fans that were crying out for a new album and are willing to support and grow alongside Prince's musical journey.

I cannot wait to buy HitNRun, no negative BS from anyone will come between what my ears allow me to hear and what I feel in my soul. If it's not for me, I'll happily admit it, but I won't hate Prince for it. I'll just listen to my other Prince albums until he puts out something that I do connect with. The day I lose my faith in Prince, is the day I lose my faith in music. Our individual musical growth and tastes evolves at different paces. Prince is way ahead of his time, so we'll always be playing catch up. Any twisted fan who feels they know Prince's music better than the master himself should stand up and call themselves the King and show him how it should be done... Shut up already? Damn!