New Prince album - for free!!

[The Curmudgeon]

Over in UKland, there's a bit of hoo-hah over the fact Prince has given away his ENTIRE new album "Planet Earth" - for free with a Sunday newspaper. No tokens, no phone-numbers - it's there with the newspaper. And the record companies are actually very pissed off about it.

I actually think it's a GOOD idea. At first I didn't, but I remember reading an interview a few years ago when he talked of doing such a thing but was frustrated that he couldn't. He wanted to just give some music to people - and that's exactly what he's done. I think it's cool that people who would normally never buy a Prince record now have one to listen to if they want to. If anything it can only bring more people to the Prince-flock. Well, here's hoping anyway.

I haven't listened to it yet because I want to have an hour or two to myself to do that, but I love the fact Prince is such a hot commoddity right now (selling out the equivalent of Glastonbury in 20 minutes? That's my boy!)

Long may it continue!

[trashcanman]

As if we needed another reason to bow down to the funkmaster. Here's an excerpt from an amusing article:

"The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores," said Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, referring to a period in the 1990s when the singer famously stopped using his name to protest a binding record deal.
"It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career," Quirk said.

"FUCK YOU!!!" Say music fans around the world. Prince need no help to peddle his wares. His name on the album is enough and he's proven before that he doesn't even need that to succeed. Prince ALWAYS lets the music do the talking and he is always for the fans. And the fans are the one's who have supported his career, NOT the industry. This record exec piece of shit sounds like he's talking about Avril Lavigne or Ashley Simpson. The Purple One is not some corporate concoction to sell records to the young and developmentally delayed that needs carpetbomb advertising or a reality show to create interest. Go ahead and pull Prince's catalogue from shelves, bitch. People will just take their dollars elsewhere to a place where they can get the music they want to hear. I've got plenty of Prince on my iPod, but maybe it's time to add some more...

[The Curmudgeon]

Hmmmm - never picked you as a Prince fan, Trashy. Good for you!

Yeah, you got to love that those poor wickle record companies are all hurt with Prince's decision to, like, give his fans an album instead of them charging for it. Poor record companies - fuck them, indeed.

Out of curiosity, Trashy - what Prince stuff do you have on your Ipod?

[trashcanman]

Just "The Very Best of Prince". Good music for any taste and occasion. Any recommendations for expansion? Bear in mind that I think Prince is a fantastic guitarist and I'd like to hear him "rock out" (as the kids say) a little more.

[The Curmudgeon]

Good call - you could try hunting these tracks down..

Peach
Endorphinemachine
Chaos and Disorder
I Like It There
Guitar
And "Papa" (a song about child abuse) has an absolute kick ass rock out ending.

That should do you for now. Let me know how you get on.