In the eighties, no artist burned with as much creativity as Prince. Hell, in the history of pop music few artists have. That guy loved to sing about sex, but a glance at his schedule during his most vital years—1983-1984—makes one wonder if he ever even had the time to take off his purple pants. Prince not only recorded his greatest album and another pretty terrific one during that time, but he also recorded a wealth of unreleased music and B-sides, mounted a meticulously choreographed tour, starred in a feature film loosely based on his own history, and masterminded side projects for The Time, Sheila-E, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, and The Family. All that makes James Brown sound like the Godfather of Slacking.
That kind of full-steam creativity is exhilarating to learn
about, which is why you may find yourself burning through the nearly 500-page Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio
Sessions: 1983 and 1984 in a couple of days. Duane Tudahl’s 2017 book is
part day-by-day diary, part oral history, and all fascinating. Anyone mildly
interested in the creative process or unsure of the definition of “dedication”
should read this book. Natural talent surely played a huge part in Prince’s
greatness, but unbelievably hard work did too, though Prince probably saw his
studio time more as play, or perhaps if he really reflected on it, compulsion.
Those in his inner circle could not help but recognize that greatness, so when
he’d call an engineer or singer at 3 AM to get out of bed and down to a
session, they tended to follow his royal decree. They also tolerated some other
forms of megalomaniacal behavior, though by most accounts, Prince was usually
respectful even when he was at his most competitive, angry, and demanding. Nevertheless,
you clearly had to be made of strong stuff to work with the guy.
In Tudahl, this story seems to have found its perfect teller,
because a comparative level of dedication was necessary to see Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio
Sessions through. Tudahl began work on the book some twenty-three years before
its first publication. During that time he spoke to droves of artists who knew and
worked with Prince, and examined reams of session material and interviews with
the Artist, himself. Just a year after his own obsession’s publication, Tudahl is
already publishing a new edition with many additions and revisions. He even
went to the trouble of noting the pages on which the major changes appear in
his new introduction to this expanded edition. I had not read the previous
edition, so I cannot report on the specific changes. Even if I did own the
first edition, I wouldn’t do that because I’m not nearly as obsessive as Prince
or his valiant chronicler.
