A few Prince scoops posted by the Peach & Black podcast

The guys making the Peach & Black podcast just posted a new show, devoted to the recent press conference given by Prince at New York; they attended the conference, and then had the opportunity to talk quietly with Prince on diverse topics. You can listen to the full podcast at their website.


I've been listening to it and here you have some interesting bits of information; all props to the Peach & Black team for releasing it:


Prince currently owns the albums For You and Prince. Besides they mention that Dirty Mind will be owned by him this year, and Purple Rain in 2014. I think this was discussed not long ago at different places, but it seems this was confirmed during this conversation with Prince.


The first six albums in Prince's discography have been remastered already, meaning For you, Prince, Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999 and Purple Rain. Apparently Prince is unhappy with the low end quality of recordings up to 87/88, and this is one of the things that would be fixed in remasters. And we are speaking about proper remasters here, no audio tweaks. Unfortunately, when asked about releasing plans for the remasters, no clear reply was given by Prince ("what would I do?" or something along those lines was replied).

A few more hightlights:

- Prince has met a few times with WB executives, but everytime he went to meet them, the WB representatives were different; there is little that can be worked out this way.

- The Peach & Black guys asked about the content of 20Ten deluxe; the reply: it will have of course Rich Friends, a full version (7/8 min long) of Laydown, same about Lavaux, and (potentially) longer version of others. It will possibly come out with the Welcome 2 America dates. Not known whether it will be 1 or 2 CD.

- No plans of release of the Montreux DVD, many things should be put together first. This sounds to my ears like "forget it".

- Tal Wilkenfeld plays bass and Chris Coleman plays drums in the new, yet-to-be-released album of Prince. (This was speculated sometime ago, now it is confirmed). This is a brand new album, nothing to do with 20Ten deluxe, to be hopefully released at some point in 2011.


All in all, this was well worth to listen and there are very interesting stuff for fans of Prince music. Thanks again to the Peach & Black podcast for their information.

Priceless: Gordon Lewis' list on what camera brands say about you

If you enjoy the fine sense of humour and are hooked into photography, please do not miss reading this brilliant post from Gordon Lewis. Truly Priceless!

Are CCD-based cameras the best option for high quality, high aperture lenses?

I found today a very interesting article posted by the well known site Luminous Landscape, entitled "An Open Letter to the Major Camera Manufacturers". It is based on confidential data provided by DxO Labs, and to summarize, they say that, due to light loss occurring with the current CMOS sensors (derived from their structure, which requires light rays coming in a completely perpendicular way for full effect), the camera manufacturers have implemented an automated change in ISO when the lens aperture is very high (which means when there is very high light loss, because such aperture allows many oblique rays to reach the sensor). And this is non openly communicated by the camera manufacturers; in other words, there is an ISO response being manipulated without information to the photographer.

This is certainly interesting (or maybe, even scandalous?), and they suggest that, under such conditions, it might have more sense to invest in lenses which lack such high apertures (which means, in general, cheaper lenses), and use regularly non maximum apertures.

But it has also other implications: in fact, the above described problems are coming from the massive utilization of CMOS sensors; their main advantage is that they have a great sensitivity to low light, but in fact part of this advantage comes, most probably, from this non reported implementation of the automated change in ISO for high apertures.

And the main implication, the one that interests me more, is that those problems do not affect cameras based on CCD sensors, instead of CMOS sensors; the CCD sensor structure does not suffer from light loss, because they are also receiving oblique rays of light (and not only the perpendicular ones, as CMOS sensors), which in turn means that high aperture lenses can be fully exploited by these cameras without any manipulation in the ISO response of the sensor. And this sounds very nice to me, since I have a Pentax K10D, which sensor is of the CCD type. The articule in Luminous Landscape mentions that other cameras, as medium format and also the Leica M9, are also utilizing CCD sensors for this very reason. But there were other popular cameras, as the Nikon D200, based also on the same Sony CCD sensor as the K10D.

So, what was thus far considered as a "problem" of older cameras based on CCD sensors, might become in fact a big advantage when using high quality lenses which allow loads of light to pass across them and reach the sensor: they are getting all that light, regardless of being straight or oblique, and using it for the exposure WITHOUT manipulating the ISO settings of the sensor. These are big news to me, and I'm fairly convinced it could be the same for other users of "obsolete CCD-based cameras".

First hands-on with the Pentax 645D, at Quesabesde.es

The Spanish photography site Quesabesde.com just posted an initial hands-on with the new Pentax 645D. Even if you don't know Spanish, they have a very interesting set of pictures taken at different conditions to get an idea of the actual performances of a model with the final firmware (1.0), working in the real world. Besides, there is a very nice article on the 645D at the DSLR Magazine website, including also some samples.
And I must say that it looks very, very promising.

The new MacBook Air

The MacBook Air was the main introduction in the last keynote from Jobs. The new iLife apps added nothing of real interest IMO: just a new season product, but it had already more than enough for my needs.

I suspect that there's much more of interest in Lion than announced in that speech, and I suspect that the interest goes much further than the iOS ideas getting back to OS X. But obviously Jobs did not want to go into too many details, possibly to avoid the "Redmond fotocopiers" starting to work at full time. I'm sure we will see many surprises in Lion, soon.

Now going back to the new MacBook Air: I have one of the Airs from the first generation, and it completely fulfilled my expectations. It is far from a power horse, but that's not the point: when I need to do power tasks, I use my iMac, which speed and HD capacity are more than enough for me. Now, the point of purchasing a MacBook Air was to have a very light and very portable computer, enabling me to do presentations of high quality, and the average tasks you need when you are traveling (checking email, watching films on planes, browsing the net, etc). And the Air is just perfect for all those needs, it has no limitations. Of course, the new, speedier models will be even better, and the design remains being a model of simplicity and good taste. The use of flash storage in all models was to be expected, as it is more expensive than HD but it pays back big time in terms of reliability and speed.

But you have to be careful with the positioning of the Air. I receive often questions to provide advice when some friends or coworkers are planning to buy a new Mac, and months ago, two people asked me whether the Air was a good choice. I took the time to explain that the Air has positive sides (portability, very light) but has also limitations (lack of optical drive, comparatively low specs with respect to heavier MacBook Pro models). Yet after considering all of them, both purchased a MacBook Air, and both are very happy users. Besides, I can say it is rock solid: in two cases, the computer falled down to the ground by bad luck, and it only showed signs of the shot in the aluminium; yet both worked fine, the screen remained perfect, and there was no problem whatsoever in their functioning.

A final comment: Steve Jobs stated during this speech that the concept of the MacBook Air was the future of portable computing, and I am convinced he is right. At this point, the price of large capacity storage (say, 500 GB or 1 TB) in flash is out of reach in price (and besides flash technology is still not advanced enough in the very high capacities); and besides, there is the problem of thermal dissipation of very powerful processors in devices as small as a MacBook Air. But surely, technology will advance fast in both fields, and sooner rather than later we will have computers as light, or even more, than the current Airs, which besides will have top-notch processors and very big storage capacities. It's just a matter of time. And the lack of optical drives is obviously a sign of the times: they will be soon similar to what VHS tapes are to us now, things of the past.

Javier Pérez Reverte is a miserable person

The last days, a most famous Spanish writer, Javier Pérez Reverte, is getting involved in the middle of a controversy because he called "shit" to our ex-minister for Foreign Affairs, Moratinos. And the reason for insulting him was that Moratinos was seen crying at the Parlament, out of emotion after ending his work for six years in that position.

In my humble opinion, and putting politics aside, these facts only evidence that Moratinos is someone with emotions, and that Javier Pérez Reverte is simply a miserable person. Nothing else.

Prince planned to play Ruby Rhod at Fifth Element

Someone posted about this article at prince.org:


Gilbey on Film: Musicians and the movies


At the end of the article, there is this part:

Tricky in The Fifth Element

Yes, yes, Tricky is in Luc Besson's dotty science-fiction comedy, shape-shifting uncontrollably as he tries to sneak past intergalactic passport control. But the most interesting musician/actor associated with The Fifth Element is one who doesn't even appear in it. Besson wrote the part of Ruby Rhod, the squealing sidekick to Bruce Willis's macho cab driver, for none other than Prince. Director and actor even got as far as meeting to discuss the role, and the rest -- despite the gleeful sauciness of Prince's replacement, Chris Tucker -- is a great big "What If?"

Now, this video shows that Ruby Rhod role, and one can't avoid to admit that yes, Prince would entirely fit such a role:






Hell, even the music arrangements fit the Prince of the early/mid 90s (Gett Off inspiration quite clear for the second video music).


IMDB also mentions this similarity:

Two hundred and fifty years in the future, life as we know it is threatened by the arrival of Evil. Only the fifth element can stop the Evil from extinguishing life, as it tries to do every five thousand years. She is helped by ex-soldier, current-cab-driver, Korben Dallas, who is, in turn, helped by Prince/Arsenio clone, Ruby Rhod. Unfortunately, Evil is being assisted by Mr. Zorg, who seeks to profit from the chaos that Evil will bring, and his alien mercenaries.

Furthermore, this cinema database says that

According to the Fifth Element Ultimate Edition DVD, Prince and Lenny Kravitz were sources of inspiration for the part of Ruby Rhod.

Stunning Prince aftershow, yesterday night, in Copenhagen

I have heard no samples yet, but from the reviews posted by fans who attended yesterday's Prince aftershow in Copenhagen, it seems we have another for the legend. It seems there was lots of jamming, Prince in fantastic mood and interacting with the band in a funny manner, great renditions of classics, and icing on the cake, a full version of Sticky like glue, which has become the favourite song from 20Ten for many fans.

All in all it sounds like a dream aftershow, and I hope there will be recordings surfacing soon. But regardless, it is another piece in the long list of awesome aftershows played by the purple guy and his band.

Deep changes in the Spanish government

Although the official announcement from Zapatero has not been made yet, all Spanish newspapers are discussing some deep changes to be introduced in the government today.

Beyond the specifics on who goes and who enters the government, I am most happy to learn that Rubalcaba, one of the smartest and most talented people in Spanish politics, is becoming the power man in the new government. His position had been reinforced in the past, due to the excellent results of his management at different roles; now that ETA is in the way to die, and that the prestige of Zapatero has been eroded due to his well known politics of selling smoke, it seems about the right time for Rubalcaba to take the center spot. Some people even suggests that this change means that Rubalcaba will become the candidate from the Socialist party to the next national elections, replacing Zapatero as the leader of the party.

I hope these rumours become true, since the catastrophic state of the Zapatero government needed a strong turnaround, for many reasons, going from local politics to international image of our country.

Crossing fingers here to see the Zapatero page turned definitely. His labour has caused many problems in the main progressist party in my country; hopefully he will realize about it at some point and leave place to other, more talented people like Rubalcaba, enabled to put a correct direction again and get the whole country back on track.

Rave reviews of the Prince show at Bergen in the Norwegian press

It is unanymous: the Norwegian press is raving about yesterday's Prince show in Bergen. Just a few links:


Aftenposten (this is the number 1 newspaper in Norway): Party Prince!


Some highlights from the Google translation:

For the two-hour and ikoniserte popfunkfesten he made at Roskilde this summer, was followed by an equally stunning evening in Bergen on Monday. That it was not sold out, is a mystery only Bergen must answer for...

Full control of everything and everyone on stage, sparkling as a guitarist, convincing as a singer, not to mention absolutely superb and wonderful as the showman as he whizzes and dances around on high heels...

It is most of all that he and the rock-solid band frolic wild in these songs, he still seems to love sky high. The concert in Bergen was a small dose of tasteful nostalgia, but most of all joy.

Enormous pleasure.

Some other links:


Number 2 (tabloid) newspaper,  VG: Ever Prince!


Number 3 (tabloid) newspaper, Dagbladet: Two hours in pophimmelen


Similar comments can be found at other newspapers. It seems clear that Prince, once more, came and convinced.

Back to the Prince "huge announcement" at the Apollo

Some days ago, the whole purple community was all hyped because, supposedly, Prince was going to make major announcements during a press conference to be held in the Apollo, New York City.

Well, the fact is that the press conference came and this is all that Prince had to say:


I personally think this was a major let down, rather than a big announcement. Some people suggest there are truly big things coming, but fact is that very scarce information was actually announced at this conference: no specifics about number of days, venues, organization of events, etc etc was given. According to some people attending the event, there were clearly disappointed faces among the press representatives that were there, and I'm fairly convinced that the guys from Live Nation, who are involved in this "series of events" and were directly responsible for most of the hype, were also rather surprised, to put it mildly.

I have no idea on why all the hype led to this tiny statement from Prince, but I suspect that something did not go as planned (now, don't ask me what or why). Late rumblings in the net suggest that there will be a series of gigs at different venues, including the Madison Square Garden. But then, looking at the program of this venue during December, it seems most dates are already booked, making one wonder how are they going to put dates for such a big figure as Prince in the middle of it.

Anyway, this seems to be good news for US fans of Prince, and hopefully, in spite of this messed up conference, there will eventually be stunning shows from the purple guy, who keeps on being the prime live performer on Earth, second to none.

New album from Álvaro Muñoz (Tarik y la Fábrica de Colores): Rufus T, "Going bananas"

This is not exactly news, but yesterday I learned that one of the best Spanish musicians (and longtime favourite of mine), Álvaro Muñoz (who has released several albums under the name of Tarik y la fábrica de colores, which I discussed before in this blog), has introduced a new moniker, Rufus-T, and a new album under such moniker, Going bananas. It is available to listen and buy at bandcamp, and I must say it continues the brilliant tradition of Álvaro, although with a more diverse range of music styles in this case, including a rather surprising version of the hymn of Andalucía, entitled "Andalusians".

If you heard Álvaro's music and liked it, then by all means this is another must-listen from a truly stunning musician who, despite playing always in the "music for minorities" category, remains writing and recording  excellent music after all these years.

Here you can download a video (in .flv format) from Rufus-T playing at the Spanish tv show "Conciertos de Radio 3".

Review of "The Age of Adz", from Sufjan Stevens

At this point, it is obvious: Sufjan is the peak of his generation, nobody comes close, with the only exception of Antony.
After listening to this album attentively during the last weeks (together with Antony's Swanlights), I reinforce my conclusion:

Sufjan is, right now, the Prince of Sign O the Times: an hyperactive musician, enabled to make everything by himself, and in full state of grace.

I don't know how long that grace will last, but meanwhile I can't avoid to enjoy all kinds of freakouts of all colours, overwhelming imagination, impossible melodies which, unbelievably, work, and most of all, the sensation that with Sufjan, one never knows what will be his next say of making me enjoy with music in which, supposedly, "all has already been done".

I don't know if this is a doubtless masterpiece, but only because one thing: because maybe, the next work will be even more superlative than this one.

And this, taking into account that Sufjan released recently an EP, All delighted people, which was already superior to 99% of the modern music in 2010.

Astonishing.

I think with an album this good and this complicated, it is a bit pointless to make detailed song analysis, but just to mention a few highlights: you have both electronics and simplistic analog sounds in it, you have short songs deploying easy-to-follow melodies with original arrangements (as Futile devices or Vesuvius, two of my favourite singles here); you have long and very complex pieces like the one closing the album, a tour de force entitled Impossible soul which contains more ideas than full albums from many big artists; you have intendedly weird sounds sed here and there, whose effect appears ignored on first listens, only to catch you later when proper attention is devoted. You have distorted voices, dissonances, extremely complex and multilayered song structures, apparently incoherent musical ideas put together for further contrast...

This is not an accessible album, by any means; but if you work on it, it will reward your effort by opening an amazing palette of creativity, from a musician which has never before felt so free and so open to digg into his personal, weird, powerful, controversial and unashamed world. Even comparatively weak songs in this album are quantum leaps ahead, if only for their new ideas, from most of the competition.

In short: if any evidence was needed to demonstrate the tremendous artistic stature of Sufjan, here you have the evidence. Take it or leave it, but he's up, reigning in the music world of 2010.

Big news are just around the corner in Princeland

As reported by different sources, there will be a press conference today in New York, and all hints suggest that US fans of Prince will receive the greatest news in a long while.

We will check back later, after the announcements are over.

"The spirit was gone", new video from Antony & the Johnsons

The new album is officially released, and there is a new video for the song "The spirit was gone", posted at Pitchfork, "In memoria of Kazuo Ohno".

The politicians are the third main problem in Spain, in the opinion of the population

The Spanish Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas has made public his last series of studies on the opinions of the Spanish population. And among the many interesting information, I was surprised to see that the political class is considered to be the third problem, after the unemployment and the economical issues, in my country.

People is less stupid than it might seem on first look. Just saying.

On being completely blown away by a new song

I wasn't unsure if it was worth to post on this topic (maybe it interests nobody, or maybe I am writing about obvious things for some of you). Then I thought, what the hell, I will write about it and then if it has 0 reads, so be it: I'm not playing popularity games, I'm just writing about things that move me.


A week ago or so, I started a well thought program of walking around my city, Córdoba, for at least 1 h two or three times per week; it is a way of doing some kind of "sport" for someone who does not like playing sports, you get the idea... but I digress. (BTW that program lasted for one week, although I promise myself to restart THIS week...).


The point is that I do enjoy walking around in my city, and it allows me to make another thing at the same time: listening to music, and I mean listening, not hearing. I never could listen to good music as a kind of background for other activities: good music gets my whole attention.


So I was walking around and that day I was listening to the new album of Antony & the Johnsons, "Swanlights", which I have extensively discussed elsewhere. And then I reached the song "Salt silver oxygen", which I was listening for the very first time.


And then it happened: you are not expecting it, and you are not making anything for it to happen, but suddenly the song makes a certain "click" and all of you are vibrating with the song, and you can't avoid it. It simply blows you away, in full. I always speaks about guts in this kind of descriptions, because it is actually the case: my guts move, which is an indisputable sign of moving music to me. This song, as others before, just escapes my usual cycles of repeated listen to understand their proper value, and it was showing from scratch, in an impetuous manner, all its value and all its power, to me.


I don't know if this sounds pretentious (not my intention certainly), but songs like this affect you (or, ahem, me) in a manner so deep that literally changes my perception of things around me. It feels like being under the effect of a drug, and I'm not joking: that day, I was remembering some moments of being inebriated (and no, I don't mean being fully drunk), at the level where you are still slightly intoxicated; what we call in Spanish the period of ethernal friendships, if you know what I mean. Ok then so back on topic: sometimes, music (stunning music, of course) have this kind of effect in me. (And no, that day I had no alcool in my blood at all, nor was I under the effect of other psychotropic substances). It just blows you away and shows that you can get fully hooked on a particular melody and a particular voice, and the way the instruments are deployed, and the whole vibe of piece of music.


The weird thing of this feeling is that, from past experience, I think it escapes many (if not most) people. I mean that I know very, very few people who can feel this moved by music: even for music lovers, let alone for people who simply don't care about music (other than use it as a sonic background).


Now I would like to know whether other people feel something similar, or if "II was dreaming when I wrote this.
Forgive me if it goes astray". ;)


PS I avoided using any Prince song as an example for this post, since I wanted to focus on the experience, not on the song. But something very similar happened to me the first time I heard Somewhere here on Earth, in an awful recording which surfaced long ago, back in the times of HQ, where I posted about that listening session.

Friends & divorces

Some recent news have sadly put the most recent album from Tracy Thorn in my listening agenda again.

Last Saturday, we learned that a couple of our closer friends are on the verge of separation, although the situation is pretty confusing right now. We are really shocked as they were considered by some of us as an example of stability; furthermore, they belong to a little family with whom we have spent many hours in the last 20 years, so even being out of the whole story, we feel sad because our little world won't probably be the same.

And this made me remember the lyrics, the obviously mature lyrics, of Tracy for her song "The divorces", because she is singing aloud many of the ideas that are turning in my head these last two days:

Oh, The Divorces!

Who's next?

Who's next?

Always the ones the ones that you least expect

They seem so strong

It turned out she wanted more all along

And each time I hear who's to part

I examine my heart

See how it stands

Wonder if it's still in safe hands

Who's fled?

Who's fled?

Who's been caught out in somebody's bed?

I should have guessed

That day that his phone wouldn't take your text

He was a chamer

I wish him bad karma

Oh, I know we shouldn't take sides

But that one was his fault

This one is her fault

No one gets off without paying the ride

And oh, the divorces!

And oh, oh, oh

The honeymoon, the wedding ring

Oh, oh oh

The afternoon handovers by the swings

Oh yes, oh yes

Your song seemed to look through a different lens

You're still so young

Loving's just as easy as it's begun

Now there's kids to tend

The legal biz

And custody

And oh, the divorces!

And this one is different

And each one of course is

And always the same

Oh, the divorces!

Who's next?

Who's next?

Prince: new album, 20 Ten Deluxe, new song: Rich friends

No joking guys: a Frech radio has played part of a new song entitled Rich friends, and they stated it is part from a new Prince album entitled 20Ten Deluxe. Sorry, no further information.

I think the sample is making the rounds in the net as I type.

All props to the French forum, Schkopi, and its membert Syl20, for the scoop.

Another member, kid, posted the link to listen the full broadcast.The song starts at 13´50".

I repeat all props go the the French forum, and of course to the French radio station Europe 1, which played the song. I have no additional information whatsoever.

  

My take is that the new album will be an updated edition of 20Ten including new songs, but this is merely speculative.

Six years ago

For some weird reasons, I just checked when I started participating regularly in forums of Princeland. And it was almost exactly six years ago

At the begining I started posting from time to time at the org, then I discovered HQ and left the org for good.

This is not a self-celebration, I am not important: but now I remember the good & bad days at HQ, the countless entertaining nights, the silly jokes at The Royal Hub (not always well understood... right, Anne? ), the feuds and the funny threads at HQ, the trip to London in 2007 (unfortunately to not meet anybody from HQ), the good friends I've made in this land, the celebrations, the wasted time, the imaginedfriendswhoeturnedtobenobodies, the nobodieswhoturnedtobegoodfriends, the music discoveries, the amazing people who came and went (Kosta, where you at???), the rock solid people who always are there (you know who you are...), the time lost for other, possibly more important things...


... it's been a ride, but I tell you: I won't forget the ride.

My grandsons will possibly listen to grandfa Cateto speaking about the beginings of the net and how he found fans of the best musician of his generation, a purple one called Prince, who despite being a not-too-friendy guy provided us with the best music in studio and, moreso, live.

Times come and go, but memories and unforgettable moments stay forever.

You guys are responsible for many of those:

Jaime, Pat, Jose, Toto, Aaron, Laura, Susanna, Marika, Terji, Ciccio, Harry, Jeroen, Darryll, Kosta, Pat, Kostas, Pieter, Tom, Dansa, Erik, Phil, Ian, Cam, Hans, Pieter, Anne, Pixie... the list goes on... please excuse me as there are many names missing.

Thanks everybody: Sometimes you just need to bring back memories and enjoy every minute.

Interview with Ned Bunnell, president of Pentax USA

I found out today an interview, made by Megapixel at the recent Photokina exhibition, with Ned Bunnell, president of Pentax USA, discussing a variety of topics related to his career, photography and Pentax. I think it is quite interesting, as Ned is a rather accesible person willing and able to go into discussions which are rarely seen, in public, for top executives of other photography companies.

Tomás Gómez wins primary elections in Madrid: the begining of the end for ZP

Although this is mainly related to regional elections, the socialist Tomás Gómez has won the primary elections in his party, so that he will be the candidate to become president of the Madrid region. This seems unimportant on first regard, but he was fighting agains a candidate fully supported by the Spanish Socialist Party, whose leaders were backing her along the whole campaign.

I am not alone in making this analysis: this victory marks the begining of the end for Zapatero, a leader deeply troubled these days, when his many talents to sell smoke seem to be in the way to vanish to expose him in the real form: someone devoid of brilliance, a poor administrator of power, and overall a politics leader which is nowhere near his ancestor at the top of the Spanish socialist party, Felipe González.