One last point worth noting: Presentation is shoddy, typical of the new Estate. The pressing is fine to my ears -- not that a Josh Welton prod. would ever please audiophiles -- but Fallinlove2night is on Side A despite the track list putting it at the beginning of Side B... just that kind of shit.
Vinyl record label for Side 2 of Prince's HitnRun Phase One
So yes, a flawed album for sure, one I don't think I'll ever love, but a really interesting one to think about the artistic choices behind.
(To be fair, arguably the only reason Bowie could is because unlike Prince, he knew he was dying)
But I don't think Prince was ready to embrace the idea of himself as anything other than a person in a constant process of change and reinvention--he couldn't step into that role of someone looking back at a life lived for more than a song or two at a time.
Some of that sensibility slips into Side 2, and makes for the most compelling and seemingly revealing songs (especially closing track June). You can imagine a hybrid version of Art Official Age and the two HitnRuns that makes that the main focus, and it would have done much better critically.
BUT I'm fascinated by the apparently intentional way Prince resists turning his second-to-last studio album into what would have been a much more obvious (and yes, admittedly better) Blackstar-like reflection on mortality.
OK yes, it's rough; truly powerful "old man in the club" vibes, with a production sensibility that feels like all the most obnoxious parts of early 2010s pop (Rita Ora included) thrown in a blender.
Vinyl record cover of Prince's HITNRUN Part 1
Vinyl record label of Prince's HITNRUN Part 1
Giving this bad boy another shot now that it's been pressed on vinyl. Not gonna lie, Side 1 is still a rough listen (though the For You sample at the beginning made me unexpectedly emotional)
Cover of the 12" single for Sheila E.'s "The Belle of St. Mark"
Ended up going way deeper on Sheila E.'s "The Belle of St. Mark" than I expected to (or, frankly, than it probably deserves), including a brief detour into the Venetian Carnival imagery that started popping up in Prince's aesthetic universe circa 1984. princesongs.org/2025/10/14/t...
The Crypt Keeper’s rap song (yes you read that right) is incredibly NPG coded youtu.be/kA4DNa9j4rw?...
Mural on the Side of Cookhouse Recording Studios (1986)
8 26th St. E
Source: Hennepin County Library
Cookhouse Recording Studios was a recording studio in Minneapolis. Prince's first professional recording was done at the studio after local musician Pepe Willie hired Prince to play guitar and ...
Feel like others have complaining about the ATWIAD release itself covered, so I'll just continue beating my dead horse: Ever since the estate changed hands the merch has been nothing but tacky shit. I would love a good ATWIAD T-shirt, but none of these designs are it store.prince.com/collections/...
Oh shit, I just realized, if I stay on track with my current writing schedule I'll be starting my ATWIAD posts right when the reissue comes out. Is this what being timely feels like???
$50 for the 12" version of Girl with some bonus tracks, sure, I'll take it
Still from Sixteen Candles (John Hughes, 1984) showing the exterior if a suburban house in the midst of a teen party.
New post on what may secretly be my favorite song from Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life! princesongs.org/2025/09/09/o...
Photo by Greg Helgeson of Sheila E. and Prince sharing a moment onstage in October 1984.
Finished my post on "The Glamorous Life"! I can already tell this album is going to be fun to write about. princesongs.org/2025/08/26/t...
Poster from Prince’s Controversy depicting the artist in the shower wearing bikini briefs
My non-religious picture I think of as holy, obv
I don’t like to be a professional estate complainer but these LinkedIn-ass, probably AI-generated “quotes” they’ve been publishing on social media are extremely wack
Back cover of Prince's "Lets Go Crazy"/"Erotic City" 12" single.
Just finished a new post--my 150th!--on "Erotic City": continuing a real hot streak of #Prince B-sides, and setting up a new arc on Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life. princesongs.org/2025/08/04/e...
Minneapolis Tribune, Sunday, August 7, 1983. Item in music news column with two photos from the Aug. 3 concert at First Avenue. One is Prince playing guitar with arm raised and a kind of wild look on his face, and the other is Loyce Houlton of the Minnesota Dance Theater with Prince beaming at her, on stage. The text says the concert, with tickets at the high price of $25, raised about $2,300 for the dance company. Houlton had caught Prince, who took classes the MDT, while the Purple Rain album/movies rehearsals were underway two weeks before. Crowd estimate: 1,100.
42 years ago today, on Aug. 3, 1983, Prince "and Friends" (soon to be known as The Revolution) performed songs for the first time that would appear a year later on the soundtrack album and in the movie "Purple Rain."
Brb, checking Zillow
![Excerpt from my post on "17 Days": "He would pick up the groove again a few months later–either late December or early January, by Tudahl’s reckoning–when he, drummer Bobby Z, Lisa and Wendy, and their respective siblings David Coleman and Jonathan Melvoin, arrived at Sunset Sound to cut the master version. By this point, Prince had been jamming on '17 Days' for so long that he wanted plenty of room to stretch out; so he instructed assistant engineer Bill Jackson to roll the tape at a slower speed (15 ips, or inches per second, rather than the then-industry standard 30), allowing for more recording time at a cost to fidelity. 'I said[,] "That’s not aligned. It’s not going to sound right,”' Jackson remembered, 'but he didn’t care about that and said, "Just do it.”' The ever-mercurial artist then proceeded to launch into the song before Jackson was ready, leaving the soundman scrambling: 'As they were playing I was adding some EQ and making things sound a little better and getting the levels right and they played until the tape ran out for like thirty minutes.'”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:okf7t2zviubiytxg54aqru6p/bafkreifqdrxnsnqv5horryypp4krgf3g4fbvgpaphtilzx4vsgv7uyip7q)
Excerpt from my post on "17 Days": "He would pick up the groove again a few months later–either late December or early January, by Tudahl’s reckoning–when he, drummer Bobby Z, Lisa and Wendy, and their respective siblings David Coleman and Jonathan Melvoin, arrived at Sunset Sound to cut the master version. By this point, Prince had been jamming on '17 Days' for so long that he wanted plenty of room to stretch out; so he instructed assistant engineer Bill Jackson to roll the tape at a slower speed (15 ips, or inches per second, rather than the then-industry standard 30), allowing for more recording time at a cost to fidelity. 'I said[,] "That’s not aligned. It’s not going to sound right,”' Jackson remembered, 'but he didn’t care about that and said, "Just do it.”' The ever-mercurial artist then proceeded to launch into the song before Jackson was ready, leaving the soundman scrambling: 'As they were playing I was adding some EQ and making things sound a little better and getting the levels right and they played until the tape ran out for like thirty minutes.'”
Probably my favorite story from the sessions that produced "17 Days" (which caused me to go into a rabbit hole about tape speeds that derailed my writing process for a good two weeks).
Next post (on "Erotic City"!) is chugging along, read this one in the meantime: princesongs.org/2025/07/17/1...
Prince gazes into the future on the sleeve of the “When Doves Cry”/“17 Days” single; photo by Larry Williams, © Warner Bros.
Finally finished writing about what might be my favorite #Prince song of all time (and no, I did not mean to publish it on 7/17, but I'll take it!) ☔🚬🚬💔 #17days princesongs.org/2025/07/17/1...
Prince from the cover of the “When Doves Cry”/ “17 Days” single (photo by Larry Williams)
This week (God willing) ☔️🚬🚬💔
Set of the music video for “When Doves Cry,” 1984; photo by Doug Henders.
Today marks 41 years from the start of "When Doves Cry"'s five-week reign on the Hot 100. I don't usually mark non-milestone anniversaries, but I wanted an excuse to share this monster post I wrote last year. One of these days I'll finish writing about the B-side... princesongs.org/2024/07/29/w...
Jumping on this to share my Prince research library/de facto shrine (which has grown to the point that my sister’s Dirty Mind painting is almost fully obscured)
PSA: Most of the sessions from this past weekend's incredible #PopLife40 virtual symposium (including mine!) will be available to watch "on demand" via the Zoom Events platform through the end of the month. Register here if you haven't already: poplife40.substack.com
Favorite line so far: Prince told Susannah he wanted her vocal on "Miss Understood" to sound like "Elvis meets Marilyn Monroe." Extremely David Lynch coded #PopLife40
Just joined the live keynote for #PopLife40 (a little late) with the original lineup of the Family!!! What a coup for Prince nerds www.youtube.com/live/mpkFakF...
