Prince

The Wit & Wisdom Of Prince Rogers Nelson

Comment by Bill Holdship, Creem, July 1985

HE'S DEFINITELY AN American superstar – one of the most important of the '80s – and his ascent still appears to be just above ground ...

Prince: The Best of the Patchy Years

Guide by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1996

IN MANY WAYS the ultimate ‘80s self-made man, Prince spent the decade inventing and reinventing himself. The scope of the man’s ambition was mindboggling; the ...

Prince: The Roxy, Los Angeles

Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, November 1979

IT MUST BE A daunting prospect for anyone to make his or her performing debut, save for a couple of hometown Minneapolis tuneups, before an ...

Prince: A Dirty Mind Comes Clean

Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, June 1981

WHO IS THE REAL Prince, anyway? The flashy, high-energy black pop star with the Stratocaster wearing Iggy Pop's underwear? Or the pleasant, soft-spoken fellow who ...

Prince: Strutting With The New Soul Monarch

Interview by Chris Salewicz, NME, June 1981

THIS FELLOW sitting across the table from me in an uptown Manhattan Holiday Inn room may be a Prince but he ain't no Charlie. ...

Prince: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Ian Penman, NME, June 1981

Finger Lickin' Baaad! ...

Prince: 1999 (Warner Bros.)

Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, February 1983

DRESSED TO FUNK 

 ...

Prince: A Second Coming Thru Purple Haze

Report by Barney Hoskyns, NME, April 1983

A MONTH ago, in Minneapolis, mecca of absence, I had time on my hands – all over my body, actually – to consider the idea ...

Prince: Someday Your Prince Will Come

Essay by Carol Cooper, Face, The, June 1983

THE THING TO BEAR IN MIND is that Prince does not do interviews. He certainly didn't do this one, nor any of a dozen others ...

Eleganza: The Best-Dressed List

Column by John Mendelsohn, Creem, September 1983

THERE ARE absolutes in fashion. For instance, flare-legged trousers are absolutely more flattering to the vast majority of people than straight-legged trousers, since they make ...

Prince: Purple Rain

Review by Gavin Martin, NME, August 1984

THE PROBLEM with major league soul is not a lack of 'good' music. What has been lost is the ability, possibly the desire, to make ...

Prince: Detroit My Name Is Prince And I've Come To Play With You

Report by Tom Hibbert, Smash Hits, November 1984

Smoke bombs explode, fabulously exciting multi-coloured confetti rains from the rafters, The Revolution are playing 'Let's Go Crazy' and Prince is twirling round and round. ...

Prince & The Revolution: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit

Live Review by Bill Holdship, NME, December 1984

IT TOOK The Star over 55 minutes to make his grand entrance following new paramour Sheila E's rhythmically exciting but lightweight opening set. The lights ...

Prince: Around the World in a Day

Review by Biba Kopf, NME, May 1985

The Return Of The Acid Reign ...

Prince: Around The World In A Day

Review by Max Bell, Times, The, June 1985

PRINCE, THE CURRENT court jester of American hippy soul, once wrote a song called 'Ronnie, Talk To Russia', a good message number that indicated this ...

Prince: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles

Live Review by Mat Snow, NME, March 1986

GET A load of this guy. Five-foot-two in high heels, his tight black toreador pants stretch up to a fraction above his crack, hence a ...

Prince: Parade (Original Soundtrack - Under The Cherry Moon)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, NME, April 1986

I TOOK 'Kiss' as a signal that we were being ushered back into the compressed, airtight funkworld of Dirty Mind. Didn't flip over the song ...

Prince Strips Down: Parade

Review by Davitt Sigerson, Rolling Stone, April 1986

WHO BUT PRINCE fills us today with the kind of anticipation we once reserved for new work by Bob Dylan, the Beatles and the Rolling ...

Prince: The Flesh And The Soul

Live Review by Gavin Martin, NME, August 1986

Prince And The Revolution: Wembley Arena, London ...

Prince: Sign O' The Times

Review by Paolo Hewitt, NME, June 1987

Prince isn't a star, he's an event. And so is the release of his new double LP. Paolo Hewitt is let to the subterranean bunker ...

Wendy & Lisa: Revolt Into Style

Interview by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, August 1987

WENDY & LISA USED TO BE PART OF PRINCE'S REVOLUTION. NOW THEY'RE STORMING THE BARRICADES WITH A SOLO CAREER. PURPLE RAIN OR JUST A DAMP ...

Prince: Lovesexy (Paisley Park)

Review by Sean O'Hagan, NME, May 1988

"The best pop music does not reflect events so much as it absorbs them".– Greil Marcus on Sly Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On ...

Prince’s Crown Starts to Slip: Love Sexy

Review by David Toop, Sunday Times, May 1988

It is difficult these days to find a pop musician who enjoys general critical euphoria, but for the past few years Prince has escaped the ...

Match of the Fey: Prince and Michael Jackson

Essay by Barney Hoskyns, Times, The, July 1988

PRINCE BEGGED an interviewer seven years ago: "Just don’t compare me to Michael Jackson." Few could then have guessed there would ever be a need ...

Prince/Michael Jackson/Luther Vandross: Live at the Capital Centre

Review by Geoffrey Himes, Columbia Flyer (Maryland), October 1988

BOTH PRINCE and Michael Jackson came to the Capital Centre last week for a showdown between the two reigning giants of rock'n'soul. Appearing in the ...

Prince: Sleazy Grandeur

Overview by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, July 1990

He began making records as a control-fixated 18-year-old studio rat from Minneapolis. Ten albums later Prince had become the definitive pop icon of the '80s. ...

Prince: Music From The Graffiti Bridge

Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, October 1990

THE GRAFFITI BRIDGE of the title being Prince's scheduled-for-August-but-yet-to-be-finished feature film. ...

Prince & The New Power Generation: Diamonds And Pearls (Paisley Park/Warner Brothers)

Review by Gavin Martin, NME, October 1991

THERE WAS a time when Prince seemed to be the vital force acting on pop music's zeitgeist. A wily provocateur, the greatest singles artist of ...

Prince: Diamonds & Pearls

Review by Robert Sandall, Q, November 1991

THESE ARE TESTING times for little PR Nelson. His Graffiti Bridge movie, due out last autumn, has never been publicly shown, and the accompanying double ...

Prince: The Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia

Review and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, July 1992

"I DIDN'T really notice Prince till he walked through the schoolyard one day wearing just an open trench coat and a pair of underpants," says ...

Prince and The New Power Generation: 0{+>

Review by David Sinclair, Q, November 1992

APPARENTLY UNAFFECTED by his elevation to executive status at Warner Brothers Records, Prince bounces back with yet another 75 minutes' worth of music celebrating his ...

Prince: Crazy Place, Crazy Guy

Report by Mat Snow, Q, December 1992

LIKE SO MUCH in life, the reality of Paisley Park proves a little different from the ad. Where is the laughing girl on the see-saw ...

Prince: The Land of Paisley

Report and Interview by Mark Petracca, Creem, January 1993

As I reach the threshold of the mighty warrior, i feel a shudder pass through me. My self-worth is at stake. My shoes are too ...

Prince: Birmingham National Indoor Arena

Live Review by Paul Moody, NME, August 1993

THE TINY FIGURE in silky lemon and black trouser-suit and Spanish heels is talking. ...

Prince Talks To Q: 'I Am Normal!'

Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, July 1994

Pleased to meet you... Hope you've guessed my name. For the first time since God alone knows when, the artist formerly known as Prince talks ...

Prince: Come (Warner Bros.)/1-800-New-Funk (NPG/Bellmark)

Review by Carol Cooper, Village Voice, August 1994

IF YOU HEAR the sound of a gauntlet slapping the floor, it’s only the echo of Come (Warner Bros.) and 1-800-New-Funk (NPG/Bellmark) hitting the racks ...

Prince: Come (Warner Bros.)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1994

OK, PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR A SHOCK. PRINCE'S new album – a last gasp from his 16-year career on Warner Brothers – is about sex. It ...

Prince: Come (WEA)

Review by Gavin Martin, Vox, September 1994

THIS IS THE last ever album to be released by 'Prince' before he metamorphoses, full time, into a 'Symbol', and it reeks of salacious sex, ...

Prince: Slave To The Rhythm

Report by Pete Paphides, Time Out, March 1995

Prince has always been a bit weird, but lately he seems to have lost it completely. He's changed his name to 0+>, declared war on ...

Prince: The Gold Experience

Review by Carol Cooper, Rolling Stone, November 1995

With this LP, our former Prince turns in his most effortlessly eclectic set since 1987’s Sign O’ The Times. ...

Prince

Interview by David Sinclair, Times, The, July 1996

THE MAN WITH the most celebrated identity crisis in pop is installed on the 48th floor of a Manhattan hotel. The lift goes up so ...

Prince: Chaos and Disorder

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, August 1996

ALTERNATIVE TITLE: GROINHEAD GOES TO FLORIDA. A sort of musical honeymoon, one presumes: flushed with post-nuptial bliss after snatching mighty Mayte, the abdominal show-woman ...

Prince: Inside the Enigma

Profile by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1997

"I am not a woman, I am not a man/I am something that you’ll never understand..." ...

18 Questions for THE ARTIST (still generally known as Prince)

Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, August 1998

How did you spend your 40th birthday? ...

Prince: The Artist Formerly Known As Successful

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, September 1998

He wriggled away From Warners and the quality control went West. He swopped Prince for Victor for Slave for O(+>) and the fans just couldn't ...

The Artist: Emancipated Slave

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, 1999

"I have dreams of angels holding notes indefinitely in perfect pitch and you don’t want it to stop because if it does you’re dead!" The ...

Prince: Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic

Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, January 2000

Guest star-filled major label return for the man who may yet be regal again. ...

An Interview with the Prince formerly known as The Artist

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 2000

First, a caveat. ...

Prince: The Rainbow Children (Redline Import) **

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, February 2002

SQUIGGLE GOES cosmo-Biblical. ...

Prince: Royal Blush

Profile by Sean O'Hagan, Observer, The, April 2004

LAST WEEKEND, tickets for the opening show of Prince's American arena tour, his first in nearly a decade, were changing hands over the internet for ...

The Special One: The Return of Prince

Profile by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, February 2006

This is a previously unpublished version of a cover story for the Observer Music Monthly. ...

Prince: 3121

Review by Carol Cooper, Village Voice, May 2006

IN HIS LONG-AGO heyday Prince complimented Kid Creole's backup girls by admiring how Adriana Kaegi "used every beat of the music in her choreography." Evidence ...

Prince

Profile by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2007

PRINCE JUST stood the music industry on its ear again. You can tell because they're saying he's gone barmy, just like they did when he ...

Purple Drain: Is It Time to Give Up on the Prince We All Want?

Comment by Paul Yamada, Rock's Backpages, April 2009

ON THE FINAL Sunday of March 2009, Prince released a 3-CD set. Two of the albums are his music with his band; the other is ...

Prince: "I'm a musician. And I am music"

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Guardian, The, June 2011

RINGTONES ARE EVIL. Islamic countries are fun. The internet is like "a carjacking", where there are no boundaries. Prince on being pop's "loving tyrant" ...