FEATURE:
Prince of Fools
IN THIS PHOTO: Prince
The Ongoing Debate Regarding Posthumous Releases
___________
I was going to write another feature today…
PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Maloney/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
but am holding it back because I read an interesting feature over on Pitchfork that relates to a podcast featuring Jon Pareles (The New York Times’ chief pop music critic), Naima Cochrane (a music and culture writer for Billboard, Vibe and others); Keith Murphy (a music journalist for ESPN’s The Undefeated, Esquire, The New York Post and others) and Jay Smooth (the host of Ill Doctrine Radio on hiphopmusic.com). There is debate as to whether the late Prince – who died in 2016 – would have wanted so much of his archive out in the world:
“Prince was a perfectionist. He was a relentlessly creative musician and a refined aesthete, careful about the music he put out in the world, always presenting a seamless package — image and sound.
In the three and a half years since Prince’s death at 57, those responsible for his estate have had to decide just how much of the private Prince will be revealed. When he died, the musician was in the early stages of working on a memoir. “The Beautiful Ones,” published in October, contains the early pieces of the project, as well as images of Prince ephemera. And last month, a deluxe edition of “1999” arrived, including a significant cache of unreleased work from his vault.
Would Prince have agreed to the release of this material in this form? Does the potential public good, and the contribution to the historical record, outweigh whatever uncertainties Prince might have had about the revealing of his rough drafts?”.
There is this legendary vault that, it is rumoured, contains enough material for the next hundred years. Whether that means one album a year or another measure, I am not so sure. It is clear Prince was a tireless artist who was always working on something. Hit n Run Phase Two was released in 2015 and was Prince’s thirty-ninth and final studio album. It is a shame he did not live to see a fortieth studio album out but, even so, Prince contributed to soundtracks and worked with artists like Kate Bush and Madonna. I know I have covered both posthumous releases and Prince’s vault in other features, but it is amazing how much he has put out in 2019 without being alive. In February 2019, the Prince Estate announced reissues of the albums Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic and Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic on purple vinyl as well as Ultimate Rave. On 7th June, 2019, Warner released a new Prince album, Originals, exclusively through TIDAL. The album contains Prince's original versions of fifteen songs he offered to other artists in the past. On 13th September, 2019 The Versace Experience - Prelude 2 Gold was reissued on purple vinyl and C.D. as well as on digital formats. On 18th October, 2019, a single with his acoustic demo of I Feel for You was released digitally, alongside a limited edition 7" purple vinyl in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the Prince album release. On 27th November, 2019, the 1999 album was reissued in a Remastered, Deluxe and Super Deluxe edition; the latter including thirty-five previously unreleased songs and two live concerts.
Who knows what is going to come from Prince in 2020! There is a bit of an ethical debate one can apply to any artist who is no longer with us. Prince amounted this vast reserve of music that he did not have time to finalise and hone before he died. Maybe a lot of the material is there for prosperity; perhaps Prince wanted to revisit the music years later and never got around to it. Whatever the reasoning, his music was left in the hands of the Prince Estate. I am not surprised Prince did not write a will, as he died unexpectedly at his Paisley Park estate aged fifty-seven. When you are a musician, there is a risk of not drawing a will up, which means estates and family members will have the final say. Of course, Prince recorded more than he could ever release and finish. Many artists have files and archives of half-finished tracks and ideas. Maybe Prince would have wanted as much of his vault material out there in the case of his death, though one wonders whether posthumous releases distil an artist’s legacy and quality. I mentioned this when writing about artists like Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson and Jeff Buckley. Are estates motivated by money, or is there a genuine desire to give fans unheard material because it needs to be out there and digested?
Many would say money drives posthumous releases, but I can understand why it would be a bit mad to leave material left unheard. Prince is an artist who will be subject to posthumous albums for years and years to come. When you weigh up all the albums that we have seen from 2016 to now and going forward to those that were released in his lifetime, will we hear more posthumous material than anything? Prince’s unfinished or archived material is far stronger than most of the stuff other artists put out when they are at their peak. When thinking about quality, I know the Estate will discern what is worth airing and the material that is a bit scrappy and inferior. Sadly, a lot of great artists will depart the world in years to come and, unless they have a will that clearly states what happens to their material after death, it is a bit of a lottery. I know there are fans who will want to hear every morsel of Amy Winehouse or Prince. They won’t care if it is a demo or a cover version, so long as it keeps the artist alive – in one way, at least. I do not agree that, when an artist dies, there are no more releases from them. It would be a tragedy if there was something great in the archive that was left there for all time.
Also, I don’t think it is a good idea to release everything possible so that the artist is commercially viable or profitable. Prince is an artist who released a load of material in his life and, whilst some of his posthumous releases have been pretty awesome, there has been enough that could have remained at Paisley Park. What does one do to ensure there is that balance between posthumous material that is necessary and that which is not ripe for public consumption? It does seem, when studying a couple of articles from 2018, that Prince’s unreleased material – however revealing it is – would not have been given the sign-off by Prince himself. It seems control over the material was key to him. This NRP article reacts to the release of the Piano & a Microphone 1983 album release of 2018:
“Piano & a Microphone 1983, is the first posthumous album released by the Prince Estate since the superstar's death two years ago. It's an intimate recording of the artist before he was a giant, international star working through songs in a home studio — just Prince and his piano. The never-before-heard recording was discovered in the singer's personal vault on a cassette tape and takes place in Prince's Kiowa Trail home studio in Chanhassen, Minn. But don't think of this release as some unearthed demos meant for others to hear. As NPR Music critic Ann Powers explains, these songs were for Prince to try out ideas and develop new material.
"We are being allowed into a moment that we don't necessarily get and we never would have had access to, honestly, while Prince was alive," Powers says.
As working tapes, Powers believes that if Prince were alive he would "most certainly not" want this early music out in the world. But she also argues that the release of Piano & A Microphone 1983 isn't an exploitation of the artist.
"I think we understand Prince's creativity in a different way because of it and for that reason, it doesn't feel like a violation, it feels like a gift," Powers says.
As The Conversation wrote in a 2018 article, Prince was pretty clear about how he wanted his material to be released:
“…But what of Prince? We will never know what he really thinks but in a 2004 interview in Rolling Stone magazine he spelled out his desire for independence and the power to define himself, away from the influence or pressure of the music business: “Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people.” In my opinion, perhaps the record companies and the people who run Prince’s estate should reflect on that”.
Of course, it doesn’t help matters when the press heaps praise on posthumous releases and raves. People like me are guilty too, as we review this posthumous work and wonder what could have been. It is a hard to compromise so that you can please fans but do not exploit an artist after they have died. I think, in the case of Prince, the tide of material is a little much and I do worry about the financial motivation behind it all. When a beloved artist has died, of course there is interest when ‘new’ material comes out. We like the notion that an artist can continue to produce music even though they are no longer with us. I do think, in most cases, it is best estates and relatives…
LET the artist rest.