Really? I don't feel that way. They were coming up on the two year anniversary of Prince's passing, so they released a Prince version of one of his most famous songs, with the title "Nothing Compares 2 U," no less, because nothing compares to him. It's one song, in remembrance, marking an anniversary, which makes it very well planned: smart, both is a business sense and an emotional one.
I was thinking more about the "I spotted it some weeks back" quote from the archivist, which makes it sound like there wasn't that much plannning at all (of course it depends on when the guy said that). I agree that it was fitting for the anniversary, but they make the timing sound like a coincident.
I bought a "Cinnamon-sugar" donut on Friday the 13th that was pretty clearly "Cinnamon-salt". Labeling matters!
"deep dive" URL just points back to the Variety article, while the "prince2me" link does point to an up and running site. Hate to ask the obvious, but is the "deep dive" website not up yet? Never mind. www.princeestate.com is what I was apparently looking for.
The full set of photos and video obtained at Paisley Park can be downloaded from the Carver County Sheriff's website, under the section "Electronic Files" on the Prince investigation page: Prince Investigation | Carver County, MN If one is going to look at the photos, I'd rather visit the source instead of giving clicks to a site that is looking to exploit the images. And yes, I admit that I looked at the photos and videos. I guess there is a sense of finality when you see the actual body on the ground. And like what was already said, he looked pretty good for being deceased... almost like he was sleeping. But it's not necessarily the type of images that most people will want to see, so one should be cautioned before taking a look. Perhaps more interesting to me were all of the photos taken at Paisley Park showing areas that one will never get to see on the official tour (including many photos taken of the infamous vault). Prince appears to have been a man who was very much alone at the end. It is really fascinating to see the world that he created for himself within Paisley Park, a place I've driven by many times but have never gone inside. Prince certainly loved having his own image plastered all over the place. Only in one room did I see photos of people who weren't Prince. I came away with a genuine sensation of loneliness looking at the photos... almost as if the man could only live with himself and nobody else. In contrast, Graceland gave me a very different vibe. Even when he isolated himself from the outside world, Elvis still surrounded himself with family.
I agree, it was a fairly understated though very important release of one track to commemorate his passing. Very clever, keeps the interest and conversation going for bigger things in the future. I like the idea that they are taking their time and not just putting unreleased stuff out for the sake of it with no real plan. I still hold out hope for a Grateful Dead style gradual release of live concerts. I don't necessarily mean they should have a limited print run, though that would guarantee a certain level of revenue.
Brull-yunt! Here's hoping that once they start, the estate can keep up a fairly regular schedule of archive releases. Or will the project get tangled up in legal fights about who gets paid?
You know, looking at all the photos, I'm stuck by how extravagant to how completely ordinary Paisley Park was. It's as if it went from a palace of opulence to something very utilitarian, regardless of its size. There's not a lady's touch to be found. Expensive clothes are thrown on the floor, or over furniture, just like the inexpensive threads. This was a working man's home now. Prince had pretty much shut the doors on studio clients years ago. We've got a reel on the Studer deck, and beside it the name of a song or a project, "Freedom (the) Galaxy." On a yellow legal pad in his room, a few new song titles, "(R Ur) Lights Out?," "Pay My Rent," and something like, "The Next Connection[?] Will Have 2 Wait." Not even in the vaults, but a room labeled "Studio Storage," we find shelves brimming with film cans, VHS tapes and digital media. Here it looks like the video material for "Acknowledge Me, "The Sacrifice of Victor," and "Now." An unreleased documentary and "The Ryde Dyvine." There's even 2" tape in there. This room is a treasure trove of media. In another room, upstairs, we find a CD-R copy of the unreleased Welcome to America album. I'm not sure if Prince was lonely, though. My impression was just that he was alone. More like a self-imposed exile, while at home at least. He was working. He could have any sort of woman he wanted. He had regular friends, when he wanted them. At some time her must of realized that he just wasn't a domesticated type person, inasmuch as having a regular partner. I'm just saying that nothing that I've seen kicks against the image that's been held of him since the became famous. He kept a few close friends, and that's it. Of course, this is 100% conjecture. I didn't know the man, and I'm not sure that anybody else really knew him. Do we separate the art from the artist?
It's hard to say, really..... it seemed like being friends with Prince was a rough (if not impossible) task, because off-stage he was a major introvert; and I'm sure the amount of industry friendships he had go sour damaged his trust quite a bit.
Yeah, you know, good points. It's that I'm separating the difference between loneliness and being alone. An introvert like Prince - who, by the way, had every bit of the skills to be an extrovert, only he didn't use those skills much - might have been perfectly content, perhaps even happy, just to tour and record at PP. It makes me wonder, though, how much of Prince started to go downhill a bit once his body started to betray him. He seemed invincible to his fans, and I'm sure that he felt pretty good himself. Then around 2009 his hips started to bother him. He had that surgery in 2010. I could only imagine, again, only speculating, that it must have been a bummer for him. I wonder if he kind of threw his stuff around before his surgery, or if that was a recent thing. I don't guess we'll ever know, because outwardly he never gave the appearance that he might have had a few slob tendencies (not that there's anything wrong with that). It also make me wonder if he could find what he was looking for in that house. We have lyrics in some rooms, instruments in another, the studio in yet another, and various tapes, CDs, and even 2" tape and digital video boxes sitting in a random room. It's all very odd, but then again it's Prince, so perhaps none of this should be looked at too deeply. *shrug* I counted 3 different Purple Rain motorcycles, though. They should let me have one of them.
Are these photos of the compound only? I don't want to see the death photos. Not how I want to remember him.
Go here, as @Trashman posted, but only download "Electronic Records #4." There are no photos of Prince there. You'll be missing a good number of photos from that day, but not too much. Electronic Records #5 is cool, too, if you want to hear phone interviewers with some of Prince's various people. Yeah, I wish I hadn't seen the photos, but they are fading from memory now, as my focus is on other things. Prince Investigation | Carver County, MN
Go to that link I just posted and in the middle of the page are two links: Electronic Records 1 & 2. Download the 5 zip files and everything is in there. All photos and all videos. The only zip files that don't contain pictures of Prince's body is Electronic Record #4, so beware of all the others. It's pretty comprehensive. Several gig per file.
The sensation of loneliness was my own impression of looking at the photos, but yeah, it's hard to know for certain what his state of mind was. Perhaps he just preferred being alone. I do find Paisley Park to have a somewhat cold atmosphere. (Not literally, however, since he kept the thermostat at 75 degrees.) It just doesn't feel very warm or inviting looking at the photos. Perhaps the relative lack of windows contributes to that sensation. The biggest "windows" appear to the skylights above the atrium. I can understand having no windows in a studio. But having no windows in a place where one lives can be pretty depressing. Perhaps he liked it that way... he certainly had enough money to add more windows if he wanted them.
After looking at probably 100 of the photos, videos and listening to the interviews, I'm struck at how alone Prince was. Even Larry Graham said if Prince were struggling with addiction he wouldn't have told him. Prince seems to have had no confidante, no one in his life to whom he could share everything. To me, the audio interviews were the most interesting part of the investigation, Prince's employees and Sinead O'Connor. The photos of Prince's living space were surprising to me, how much he seemed to love his own image which was plastered almost everywhere, taking up entire doors, painting on the wall, at least one entire room.
I looked at some of the photos of the vault. I'm amazed that whoever took the pictures doesn't seem to know how to focus a camera.
