October 23, 1996 - Prince Musica Magazine

Once the pinnacle of pop extravagance, today he presents himself as a model of measure and control. But how did Roger Nelson deny himself so well as to make a metamorphosis of this magnitude credible and substantial, at 38 years old? From sex symbol to father, from iconoclast to philosopher, we met a musician who is running to be the leader of a new phase of black music: more mature and more aware. Erasing old names and tearing up the old, sumptuous stage clothes, Nelson announces his "season of the heart" with an album entitled

unequivocal: "Emancipation". But will it free itself from the slavery of the majors?

Sygma

Prince changes

produced the album Child of the sun, which features yet another version of The most beautiful girl in the world, which in the female reading has transformed into The most beautiful boy in the world (in the style of The girl/boy from Ipanema). The detachment from the brilliant and eccentric character also occurred through some jokes. The artist says: «After all, it is with the extravagan-

that I managed to make some money». Nelson has forced the pop world to question itself for at least fifteen years. Now, however, the adjustments for the audience are minimal. While he speaks, he underlines his sentences with a few riffs obtained by plucking the strings of his guitar in the shape of a "symbol", the same one he had chosen as a heteronym for a while. But that's the whole story. Behind, in his skin and in his heart, the man is totally transformed. The new album, Emancipation, is «... the album that I was programmed by nature to make. This album is me». It is an album that will be released outside of Warner, and which was obtained by contraction of three different works, each lasting about an hour: from pop to hard rock, from love songs as sweet as syrup to libidinous funk. <<<I don't want to leave the opportunity to mix genres to my contemporaries: there are about forty of them out there ready to prove they can do it all: George Michael, Elton John, Lenny Kravitz».

But there are few who are able to show off, without making mistakes, a "Prince-like" versatility. Sex, interpersonal relationships, spirituality or peace, the Artist has always been able to tell the story

own experience

BY MARTIN PEARSON

THE ENIGMA OF THE 4 VOICES

◆ In Gold there is a song sung by four different people. Four "artists" who take turns leading "I hate you"? The first with medium tones, the second in falsetto, the third baritone, the fourth reciting. Four, but in reality only one. Always the same Roger Nelson. An example of frightening ductility. A model of risk. Which raises the question: how indispensable is vocal identity these days? How many people

can they ignore it? Only the truly great reence with an uncommon communicative force. The result was that any observation, however private, however subjective, became a universal product, and in any case original. In any case supported by a mystical aura, always preserved with elegant ease, beyond the ups and downs of inspiration.

The change has affected almost every aspect of Nelson's social life. "I'm no longer the 'symbol' figure of a generation of musicians and the beacon of a certain type of audience. I've worked hard to build myself, but when a door closes, it's no use continuing to see it open. I've been in the business for years." But now the situation is different. The clubs he owned in Los Angeles and Miami have been sold. And he himself

She Artist

The Art of the Prince, summaries, rhythms and melodies

From the prophecies of "1999" to the hard rock of "Chaos & Disorder"

skin so, after a long period spent in Los Angeles, he returned to live in Paisley Park, his residence/studio just outside Minneapolis. <<<This move has made me a happier and healthier person». The Artist has also become a bit of a philosopher. «Los Angeles is a perfect city to become famous», he says, thus giving up condemning the approximations and atrocities of the California success market and its virtual capital. «Los Angeles exists only for this reason. When

Unpredictable and unsociable. Often unbearable, but still provocative. Prince Ro-Iger Nelson has overturned the canons of funk and black music, tying them hand in glove with rock culture and the most modern dance. The first signs of the imminent revolution were already visible in Dirty mind and Controversy, records from the late Seventies marked by a morbid desire for sexual expression and sonic eccentricities somewhere between psychedelia and the legacy of old black follies (Little Richard, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix). 1999 is the album of revelation, full of fun sound quotes and brazen sexual confessions. 1984 is the year of Purple rain, millions of records sold all over the world. In 1985 comes Around the world in a day, perhaps the most sophisticated and intense album of Prince's entire career, so closely linked to psychedelic culture that it is compared to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's. The public, surprisingly, snubs him. He reacts and in '87 comes Sign o' the times, the sum of the new black culture of the Eighties. A masterpiece that contains tributes to Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground and Miles Davis. Since then, Prince's creative parabola has known sensational falls and convincing rises, without ever reaching the creative peaks of the early years. With Sign o' the times, Prince has taken off the innovator's clothes by building records that revolve around concepts already abundantly expressed. Lacking a sense of proportion, he has thrown a sensational number of songs to the public, privileging quantity over quality. In such a delirium of sounds it is not difficult to find at least three albums (Diamonds & Pearls, Love symbol and the recent Chaos & disorder, hard and deeply linked to rock) and a dozen ballads that are absolutely worth saving.

when you start to get old you only see the smoke of the ephemeral life that it offers. A man of almost 40 like me may not need fame, to be at the center of the world. Which is always a false center". Moreover, Prince is expecting a child. He dedicated some of the songs from his new album to him (Let's have a baby, Sex in the summer). Moreover, the people of Paisley Park welcomed him back with open arms. "We", says one of the employees of the mega-structure of which Nelson is a Press

Roger Nelson in some of his most successful "travesti-menti". The artist was born in 1958

owner, «we just call him "him", and there is no room for confusion, because everyone else has their own name». And if there was any doubt, the classic expression "the boss" comes to the rescue, which always works like a charm. Of things from the past,

Nelson with-

serves above all

all an opinion on journalists: Nelson is still convinced that reporters, like artists, are always tempted to give <<<... their personal version of the facts». But then, by "ancient royal decree", tape recorders are banned from interviews. So? So Nelson has them explain live what will happen on the written piece. «I had to leave the industry. Warner wanted to dictate the pace of my creativity more and more. But if I have material for 30 4 records, why - at my age - should I accept this blackmail? I'm tired of making mistakes. We spend half our lives making mistakes that we almost regret for the other half. Absurd. Now I can make orchestral music, duets, whatever I want. And I work with people who I don't have to drag to the lawyer every day. Not bad, don't you think?». IFA and "Musica!" !

WE HOPE

Revolution is not suitable for Sanremo

Maybe this time we're there. The Sanremo Festival, with the old management having fallen into disgrace, seems to want to make a ninety-degree turn. Out with the junk and corruption, in with a pinch of intelligence and good music. Many names are circulating in the corridors, of presenters and singers, from Chiambretti to Lannacci, from Carrà to Pino Daniele, up to De Gregori (while it has already been decided that Simona Ventura and Claudio Cecchetto will host Sanremo Giovani). Once again, too many calculations are being made in the absence of the host. However, it is clear that they want to take a new path, closer to youthful taste, in harmony with the changing times. There is no shortage of doubts, but there is no shortage

not even the hopes. These are the doubts: that the author's songs, in

that flowered and tie-clad environment, completely change direction and a serious Sanremo in musical content turns out to be only pathetic, loses its traditional (and ultimately fun) cheekiness. These are the hopes: that the graduated singer-songwriters, once they set foot on the glorious stage of the Ariston, open up spaces for the younger ones, for the new protesters eager to occupy the cellars left free by the former rebels. Perhaps in Sanremo, along with the lyrics, the context needs to be changed. But it's like making a revolution: a signifier that disappeared many years ago along with its meaning.

Vincenzo Cerami

One Press

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