The Lonely Goatherd Blog And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats - Matthew 25:32
Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
Live free or die!
----
I wouldn't want to ask people to just give me money cause they like my website, but do please take a quick look at Barger's Boutique. You might find yourself a little something-something for 2 or 3 bucks that you just can't resist! Any of the round images you find around MoreThings will get you to an Amazon page to buy my stuff and help ol' Al keep the lights on.
Links
To explicitly state the obvious, these external links go to interesting and provocative websites, but they speak for themselves. I don't necessarily agree with anything they say - especially that no-goodnik Richard Marcus.
*************
All original content on MoreThings.com copyright 2008 Albert Barger or the respective authors
June 07, 2008
Prince Rogers Nelson at 50 Happy birthday, old man!
Prince Rogers Nelson was born 50 years ago today on June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Those Who Know will tell you that he's perhaps the greatest all round musical threat in the modern (ie post-Elvis) era. As a songwriter, arranger-producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and dancer, he has few peers.
It's been a whole nother lifetime for him since he put out Purple Rain in 1984. It's obviously his most famous album, what with being attached to a big hit movie and all, but it's probably maybe not quite yet his best. You can't go wrong with anything that he put out in the 1980s, but he was really just hitting his full stride with Purple Rain. Any of his next half dozen or so albums would be a viable selection as the best Prince album. Around the World in a Day, Parade, Lovesexy and Sign O the Times especially are just all around genius - and each totally unique in sound and approach from each other or anything else. What else on God's green Earth has a sound pallette like Lovesexy?
In the range of Prince records what have not gotten proper appreciation, we must give some props to his 1989 Batman soundtrack album. Partially, it probably gets discounted as a mere overhyped movie soundtrack payday, which is understandable. But this had some really outstanding songs. "Lemon Crush" for one is underappreciated.
But the "Batdance" merits particular recognition both as a musical composition and as a testament to the guy's creative will. He was handed a chance to make whatever kind of single he wanted to put out pretty well guaranteed that it would be a hit radio single backed by the fullest muscle of Warner Brothers in adjunct to their huge blockbuster movie. So then, he naturally took the opportunity to create one of the most experimental compositions in his catalog. For starters, try parsing out the song structure. It sure ain't a simple ABACAB. Plus, it's sort of a classic overture, with bits of other songs from the album - and actually an effective trailer for the movie as well.
One little noted but totally freaky connection to the zeitgeist came in 1992. There was no connection in the public consciousness, but "7" was a big hit single during the time of the Branch Davidian massacre. David Koresh and Prince both came from Seventh Day Adventist backgrounds, with all the crazy cool apocalyptic Book of Revelations stuff. Koresh was trying to buy time during the siege to write a book about the seven seals of the apocalypse. But Prince had already done it for him.
One of Prince's relative weak points has been movie making. Even Purple Rain was pretty cheesy for dialogue and storyline and such. The nominal sequel, Graffiti Bridge was really a better movie and maybe even a better album. But the real Prince video gem was the concert movie for Sign O the Times.
I could carry on about Prince all day long, and I've certainly been known to. This reminds me that I should probably apologize to my Ball State roomie Glen for my insistence on displaying the infamous early album poster of Prince in the shower in our dorm room, and to all my people on whom I inflicted my gushing fandom in those heady days of the late 1980s.
So instead, perhaps you should just listen to The Artist and let the music do the talking. Well, the music and these bits of Prince writing:
I could carry on about Prince all day long, and I've certainly been known to. This reminds me that I should probably apologize to my Ball State roomie Glen for my insistence on displaying the infamous early album poster of Prince in the shower in our dorm room, and to all my people on whom I inflicted my gushing fandom in those heady days of the late 1980s.