Mike Jones on Prince (1958 -2016)

Posted on: 22 April 2016 in Posts

What is so difficult to accept or comprehend about the death of Prince Rogers Nelson is that he was so vital – as a performer, as a writer, as a human being.

Consider the sheer verve of the album Diamonds and Pearls. This was his 13th album; he had produced one a year (with one exception) since his first, For You in 1978. Diamonds and Pearls simply tears up the popular music rule book. It is not a record that is dominated by one style or created around a single voice. On this record, Prince, presaged the pop music we have today – he electronically manipulates his voice; he places that voice within a track wherever he will; each track draws on a palette of styles from Duke Ellington onwards – Prince was both kinds of nuclear energy, fusion and fission.......

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