Prince, Mitch Ryder and the Pointer Sisters (dig that 80s typography…)
Listen/Download – The Pointer Sisters – I Feel For You MP3
Listen/Download – Mitch Ryder – When You Were Mine MP3
Greetings all.
I can remember the first time I saw Prince.
I first became aware of his music when I was still in high school, and he popped up on the Midnight Special playing ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’. He was unlike anything I’d seen before, and at the time, unlike anything I was listening to.
When ‘Controversy’ came out in 1981 it was the first Prince tune that really caught my ear, but it wasn’t until 1984, when ‘Purple Rain’ came out that I actually owned one of his records.
Prince has never appeared here on Funky16Corners before, due mainly to the fact that we concern generally ourselves with soul and R&B of a much earlier vintage. That said, no matter how much, or how often Prince transcended those genres, he was a master of both and tribute must be paid.
Prince was one of those artists for whom the term ‘sui generis’ seems to have been created.
Though, in retrospect, it’s pretty easy to suss out his roots and influences (though maybe less so with the visual element stripped away, which considering that his fame came about during the video age may be a moot point), one of the reasons that he first rose to prominence was precisely because he was hard to pin down stylistically.
He was mixing then contemporary funky R&B with new wave and rock, reaching for the same threads that George Clinton had grabbed (Hendrix, James Brown*) and pulling them into a more streamlined future where he would expand on their appeal to the larger pop audience.
His status as a giant in modern culture, as a songwriter, musician, performer, discoverer and nurturer of other people’s talent in unquestionable and the size of the gap he leaves behind is sure to widen as the years go on and people have the opportunity to take in the full scope of his work and influence.
Though the first thing most people think of is Prince as a remarkable performer – a man who was able to combine the flash and virtuosity of Jimi and JB with the outsized showmanship of the P-Funk empire – he was also a great (and prolific) songwriter, evidenced not only is his own work, but by how many of his songs have entered the public consciousness via other artists.
The first time I can recall hearing a Prince song done by someone else was when Chaka Khan took ‘I Feel For You’ (then a five year old album cut by Prince) to the top of the charts in 1984. I didn’t know it was a Prince song when I heard it, but finding out that he had written it gave me a whole new level of respect for him.
The next decade saw Prince songs becoming hits by the Bangles, Sinead O’Connor, Sheila E and many others.
The cuts I bring you today are two earlier covers of his songs from the years right before Prince turned from a singer into a genuine phenomenon.
The first is one that I had no idea existed for years (probably because it was overshadowed by the Chaka Khan version), is the Pointer Sisters 1982 cover of ‘I Feel For You’.
Prince had originally recorded the song as a demo intended for Patrice Rushen, and it first appeared on his self-titled 1979 album.
Recorded for the group’s 1982 ‘So Excited’ album (the title track would hit the charts twice, in 1982 and then again in 1984), ‘I Feel For You’ follows the Prince original pretty closely, taking the tempo down a hair and pushing the electric piano to the fore. It provides an interesting contrast to (and bridge between) Prince’s original and Chaka Khan’s hit, which was by any measure one of the most exciting records of the 80s.
The second tune I bring you today is Mitch Ryder’s 1983 cover of ‘When You Were Mine’. First recorded by Prince for the ‘Dirty Mind’ LP in 1980, and then appearing as the flipside of the ‘Controversy’ 45, the song was recorded by Ryder for his 1983 ‘Never Kick a Sleeping Dog’, produced by John Mellencamp under the pseudonym ‘Little Bastard’.
Ryder had been one of the best blue-eyed soul singers of the 60s, and had by this time settled into a more rock/pop style. That wasn’t a hindrance, since Prince’s version of ‘When You Were Mine’ was pretty much a straight ahead new wave record. The song was a great fit for Ryder’s seasoned rasp and it was the last time he made a dent in the Hot 100. The song was covered the following year by Cyndi Lauper on her first album.
Though it’s likely many of you have already explored Prince’s discography, if you haven’t, check it out (especially the early stuff).
I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you on Friday.
Keep the faith
Larry
*There’s a bootleg recording of Prince at the Fillmore in 2004 that features a scorching version of the JB’s ‘Pass the Peas’ featuring none other than Maceo Parker on sax.
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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.
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