Prince - "Baltimore"

it's a song about recent events

https://soundcloud.com/prince3eg

Just a casual fan, but it's not quite "Ohio."

that's an unfairly high bar, though

It is, but Prince is Prince, right? His own bar is high. That song just sounds pleasant in the diminutive sense. (I thought of "Ohio" because that was kind of rushed out there too after Kent State--rushed in the 1970 sense of the word, anyway, meaning recorded two weeks later and released a couple of weeks after that.)

The idea of Prince 'rushing' anything out like its 1985 doesnt bode well...in 2015

Covers a lot of ground in 4.5 minutes.

Pretty good track, one of his best of the last few years

The thunkety production suits the tempo and excellent licks. Better than "Peace in L.A.," as good as "Ohio," which always sounded good not great to my ears.

I'm more interested to learn why clemenza is cool on Prince.

the 3rd Eye Girl thing still going on huh

fucking awesome song

I wonder how many songs Prince has recorded? It seems with the constant and persistent writing and recording of songs this is maybe for him like a replacement for talking.

"we are bringing you up to date with the current situation in los angeles" at the end

For me, this is not even 1% of the song "Ohio" is. Or the Mothers' "Trouble Every Day," or "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People." (The line quoted above makes its point effectively.)

I love half-a-dozen Prince songs. Which makes me a casual fan.

i've never really been a big fan of ohio. damn whiny hippies. and a canadian hippie at that! if it had been called "Millions Dead In Southeast Asia" i'd probably be a bigger fan. but that would have been a pretty awkward title. and nobody here cared about people from southeast asia.

CSN may have been whiny hippies (but not Neil, who wrote "Ohio"); the song itself isn't remotely whiny.

it is a plodding turd, though. and it has no atmosphere.

neil young can be extremely whiney. "oh oh lonesome me", "i need someone to love me the whole day through", "helpless helpless helpless helpless", "bought it at the store it was a piece of crap", "why do i keep fucking up". and you've heard his voice before, right?

not that i don't love the man's music

I have heard his voice--yes. I took that to mean whiny as in the song's subject matter. All I hear is sharp and intense anger over the government opening fire on and killing four American students. I don't know about the song they didn't write, the one about Southeast Asia, just the one they did.

Anyway, I don't agree with anything said here, but okay. Back to Prince.

http://www.thefader.com/2015/05/10/prince-baltimore-rally-streamed-free-on-tidal

They say on that link that one can supposedly hear the show tonight without a paid Tidal subscription

He could of made it funky...😔

I dont think he could have actually, not with that band

I'm going to the show tonight w my bf and some friends

excited / nervous

that song is well intentioned but stiffly executed in my opinion

it's tempting to blame the band but come on it's Prince he's a notorious dictator and he makes it sound the way he wants so it's on him

still I'm glad he made this song and put it out there, especially if the concert is going to be called a "Rally 4 Peace" it's important to see peace as a loaded concept etc. so the final chant is very welcome. I just wish the actual song was stronger.

but mostly I'm just really stoked to see Prince live

not nearly as awful/clunky as i had expected. prince doing a 'message' song in a sort of breezy, whimiscal 60s, this-should-be-the-soundtrack-for-a-tv-advert way is better than prince doing a message song like 'we march' or one of the other more terrible topical songs hes recorded over the years. its no money dont matter 2nite though. some great guitar work, but the song itself is kinda forgettable. just another song to file along with his other minor league web songs.

Best thing about this is the Alexa De Paris-style guitar

reminds me a little of his crimson and clover remake....

I like the song, like the bass and drums fine, and don't agree that it's stiff at all.

http://www.handsupunited.org/blog/2015/5/8/open-letter-to-prince-in-baltimore-visit-the-grassroots-otherwise-youre-drowning-them-out

Listening to his Baltimore benefit concert, live on Tidal: don't have to sign up, just go there (where donations can be made). Robust, clear sound so far. Streaming 'til 9 Eastern.

Lot of poised, textured grooves, but no guitar solos so far, and whole thing seems pretty detached.

(hints of a very slow burn now)

I think the song is real cool and has a great vibe and "if there ain't no justice then there ain't no peace" is a good slogan and Prince is a great guitarist I could listen to the guitar solo all day

also thanks for bringing the Crimson & Clover clip to my attention

Listened to some of the gig last night on the free tidal thing. Flashes of great old Prince, but mostly just ok. Same for the song

http://www.handsupunited.org/blog/2015/5/8/open-letter-to-prince-in-baltimore-visit-the-grassroots-otherwise-youre-drowning-them-out

― The Reverend, Sunday, May 10, 2015 6:48 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all the "Prince not doing this is the way we say would make the maximum positive impact means he's actually making a negative impact" stuff being thrown around in Baltimore the last week is mostly pretty pompous and unnecessary imo

Everything everyone does is wrong.

Except complain. That's the one thing people do that's right.

all the "Prince not doing this in the way we say would make the maximum positive impact means he's actually making a negative impact" stuff being thrown around in Baltimore the last week is mostly pretty pompous and unnecessary imo

That's how you make a living as a writer in 2015.

x-post--is mostly pretty pompous and unnecessary imo

that piece was, but I also think Prince billing this show as a "Rally 4 Peace" and then charging up to $500 a ticket and only giving an unidentified specific portion to Baltimore non-profits was also pompous and unnecessary. He could and should have made this entire gig a benefit and not hurt his wallet or Live nation/ticketmaster's.

The unidentified portion part does bother me, I hope he reveals the percentage and it's very high. But everything else, whatever. Fundraisers are a way to get large sums of money from the rich to the poor, let the 500 dollar ticket crowd give up 500 dollars.

as a concert this had bumpy patches but mostly it fucking ruled

the slow, dirgey / Sabbathy version of "Let's Go Crazy" as an opening move was ill, with tons of crazy shredding. Having Doug E Fresh going off beatboxing w Prince playing Sly & the Family Stone basslines on top was great. The slow bluesy innuendo-filled numbers sounded amazing and had a lot of ladies screaming their heads off. It's hard to fuck with a setlist that has Controversy, When Doves Cry, Kiss, 1999, Hot Thing, Sign O The Times, Diamonds and Pearls, Little Red Corvette and Do Me, Baby plus some cool little excursions into James Brown and The Time and Michael Jackson too. The larger ensemble sound was hard to make punchy enough on the uptempo numbers in a big echoey space (and something was way off on the keyboard part of "U Got the Look" because that sounded like ass, honestly) but . . . . . when he just slows it down and plays keys and sings it is fucking amazing. Nothing Compares 2 U, indeed. I'm biased as hell as I've loved him since "Dirty Mind" when I was a little kid but holy shit this concert was dope.

as a political event it was subject to critiques made above in that linked article (inevitably) but had some unexpected moments of real power despite the opportunism question: having been under house arrest for a week stuck in our homes, to be out and about and have thousands of people chanting 'NO CURFEW NO CURFEW NO CURFEW' sure felt good. Prince said "the system is broken and we need to fix it" during the lull in "Purple Rain" and that was very welcome, but he largely avoided talking about politics or police or the death of young black men at the hands of cops and that seemed like a cop out. It seemed like he brought out someone onto the stage (Marilyn Mosby?) during "Baltimore" but he didn't introduce them as the sound was bad during that song and it tailed out into a looping vamp that was pretty aimless. It seemed like maybe something was off about the tech side on that one? Getting lots of chants of "Balt-I-More" out of the crowd over and over was really sweet and he kept hitting it relentlessly but yeah, Baltimore doesn't suffer from low self-esteem or a lack of self-love- the people of Baltimore love the hell out of this city if by that we mean ourselves- the problem is that Baltimore suffers from the violence of poverty, the violence of a racist police force, and the rot that has accumulated after eighty years of unemployment, neglect, drug addiction and de-industrialization. None of which Prince is going to solve. But he brought a lot of people together and made them happy for one night and heaped praise upon Baltimore and its people and honestly not many people do that.

so that's my take, for what it's worth

also, a lot of the tickets were $30, it was only a shit ton if you wanted to be really close up front

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/arts/music/review-prince-royal-farms-arena-baltimore.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below

Ben Ratliff review

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/princes-rally-4-peace-finds-baltimore-in-a-celebratory-mood/2015/05/11/07e3e218-f7a0-11e4-a13c-193b1241d51a_story.html

For some reason the Washington Post had their movie reviewer Ann Hornaday review the show rather than their pop music critic.

Guest vocalist Miguel on the Staple Singers cover!

when prince gets politically heavy handed, its usually a bit embarassing (to my ears at least), so maybe better he didnt (from the sounds of it) go too hard on addressing the actual issues. ive never really respected him as a political thinker though - hes not exactly curtis mayfield. the fact he was doing the show in baltimore is kinda political in itself (and hey, doing when will be paid is pretty on the nose). hopefully the organisations the show was for do actually get some generous donations from it.

i cant help thinking a cheaper gig for everyone would have served his purpose better, and been a stronger act of goodwill for 'the people', but hey, maybe fleecing rich prince fans for 500 a ticket is a smarter idea.

so a cluster of Deray McKesson tweets clarified some cool things that were going on with this show:

the purchasers of the 22 dollar tickets were all moved up to the very front of the show
and a group of family members from Freddie Gray's family as well as the mothers of Mike Brown and Eric Garner were present

it was Marilyn Mosby watching and she was brought out and waved to the crowd

didn't prince have a pro-reagan moment (like most pop stars, it seems, in the 1980s)?

"I'm so funky I can't even sleep with myself" - Prince during Little Red Corvette. I loved how he segued from Raspberry Beret into Baltimore - sweet transition, very similar songs musically, no wonder I love the new one so much. Raspberry Beret is in my all time top 10.

also "LOOK AT ALL THE HITS I GOT!" - cue teases of "Pop Life" and "Darling Nikki," then a full "Sign o the Times."

Not pro-Reagan but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zELnlAjsfac

Oops, should've known better than to think there was a working Prince song on YouTube.

"LOOK AT ALL THE HITS I GOT!"

did enjoy when i saw him in london last time, but princes recent shows seem to all be pretty much the same now. i think his shows have been the same for quite a few years now.

Prince's pro-Reagan moments were in interviews, not in song. Like most material from that era, "Ronnie Talk to Russia" is "please talk to the Soviets, man, I don't wanna die before I fuck."

xpost OTM

He has the little asides and "ad libs" down like a script.

yeah, the way even the adlibs are so pre-planned dampens my enthusiasm.

"Too many hits" - maybe, not many recently though

I've said this before on ILM I think but Prince's entire live show has been a pretty family friendly deal since about the "Musicology" era. Guitar pyrotechnics for days, medleys of the hits, scripted jokey asides, a kickass turn at the keys ( always my fave part) - just without any semblance of the funk, sex and rawness that was such a big part of experiencing him back before he converted. Oh - and his backup bands have gotten blander as the years go by as well. Makes for an entertaining and unchallenging night out and that just seems to really sell tickets. When I read about or watch a clip from a highly touted recent performance I have to wonder if any of those folks singing praises have seen, say, a circa 1981 show? Or even a "Parade" tour clip?

To me the guy's a showman nowadays in the way I guess - I dunno - Barry Manilow is and that's kinda sad, no?

I've said this before on ILM I think but Prince's entire live show has been a pretty family friendly deal since about the "Musicology" era.

it predates this, goes back to at least Rainbow Children and maybe Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic.

his piano bar bit has always been incredible and agree it's probably the most satisfying.

Or even a "Parade" tour clip?

I have some clip on a compilation that is iirc some record release showcase show for that album and it is insane

acid hose otm. i wouldnt mind prince being like manilow but manilow has never been esp edgy. with prince it just seems tame. not that i want him to be acting crazy in his 60s like iggy pop, or swearing and grinding against his guitar, but the music, which might make the sanitisation easier to bear, has also become tame. which is what stings the most for me. if he dialed down the raunch and suggestion but still retained that in the music itself, it might have been okay, but its all gone. a changing/conflicted man is always more interesting than a changed one.

the 'too many hits' adlib i especially find irritating, not because he hasnt had one in a while (who really expects that?) but because it just seems smug, and in a slightly insecure way, like hes trying to make sure the audience knows this - manilow is too old showbiz to do something like that. prince has lost his self-effacement, which used to be a big part of his charm. even his trademark knowingg smirks just seem kinda routine now, rather than loveable.

should really know better than to compare 2010s prince with 80s/90s prince though.

when i saw his hit n run tour in london, the best parts were him playing with the sampler, doing a bass solo for forever in my life (the only moment in the whole show where you could see him thinking for once rather than just crowdpleasing and improvising a bit, in an interesting, rather than boring leaden jam way, as he can often do), and then the piano medley. most of the full band stuff was just him channelling (aka sounding like) hendrix and solo-ing endlessly. hes a great guitarist, but he seems to have forgotten it was maybe better to tease with his ability than splatter it over every song.

The 'too many hits' thing is bullshit as he could have had quite a few more hits at a time when he was young enough and units were there to be sold, if not for his rubbish business head.

obviously a different story in his mid 50s

i dunno, seems churlish to speculate that one of the all-time greats could've done a little better for themselves

he objectively has too many hits to play in the span of one concert, like literally, more Top 40 jams than could fit in a setlist. it's an empirically true statement.

i'm going to be a pedant and say that actually, prince has had 22 US top-20 singles during his career, so if he really wanted to play all 22 top 20 hits, he could do definitely do it in less than two hours, with time for some pauses. rather than 'too many hits', he might want to say 'too many songs'. if you want to include all his top 40-hits (does being in the top 40 mean a song is a hit? i would say no), well thats still 34, so three hours is ample time.

yes, you're right, you're totally being a pedant

Pedantic. Yet otm.

I don't get StillAdvance's argument. He's not playing enough of his hits because he's taking too long to play the ones he chose?

obv i know its good ol' fashioned showman-boasting, 'too many hits, so little time' etc, but im just saying that its not strictly accurate to say that there isnt enough time in a typical prince show to cover all his hits. even if he spent 5 mins on each hit (which he never does, as he likes to tease/cut them short due to wanting to tease/boredom/whatever), he could fit them into a 2 hour show quite easily.

but theres just something about the boasting of having too many hits that is a bit, idk, witless/charmless, even if obv, he does have a lot.

one of the best songs of last year. such a killer guitar line