12 votes

Meet the guy tasked with archiving Prince’s entire vault

10 comments

  1. vili
    Link
    As a Prince fan, this bit is really quite scary (emphasis mine): On the other hand, considering that the archivist guy seems to have done his homework, this is quite exciting: The big question is...

    As a Prince fan, this bit is really quite scary (emphasis mine):

    There’s a phenomenon of magnetic particles shedding on some kinds of analog tapes that makes it difficult or impossible to play them back without further damaging them. They have to be physically baked in a convection oven to reattach the magnetic particles. It’s a bizarre concept, but it works. We’ve had to do that on multiple occasions, but there’s never been a time yet that we’ve come across something that we’ve been salivating to hear that’s been irretrievably damaged.

    On the other hand, considering that the archivist guy seems to have done his homework, this is quite exciting:

    There are exciting things all the time. I come across things that I never knew existed that perhaps no one else, except for maybe the engineer at the time, knows existed.

    The big question is how many unreleased tracks there are that we know nothing about. In his lifetime, Prince wrote about 1,000 songs that were recorded and officially released, either by him or by associated artists. We also know of about another 500 or so unreleased tracks, most of which are circulating in one form or another among fans.

    But, and this is a big but, song leaks started to dry up in the mid-90s when Prince's personal and professional lives underwent big changes. Yet, there is no indication that his work rate ever really dropped. According to those who knew him, the guy literally lived music, and almost nothing else: if he wasn't playing a concert or rehearsing for one, he was most likely in the studio. So, the maths say that there are likely hundreds of songs in the vault that no one has ever heard about.

    He was also in the habit of taping almost every show that he ever did (that's a little over 2,000 shows). And we also know about at least half a dozen films and multiple music videos that were supposedly completed but never came out in any form.

    The amount of officially unreleased material in the vault should be enormous. The amount of stuff that we fans have never heard of should also be pretty big. I just hope that they manage to copy everything to safety before anything gets lost!

    2 votes
  2. [9]
    Kijafa
    Link
    I wonder if we're going to get to see the Kevin Smith documentary now?

    I wonder if we're going to get to see the Kevin Smith documentary now?

    1 vote
    1. trojanhorse
      Link Parent
      Oh man that was a whole back. I had forgotten about it.

      Oh man that was a whole back. I had forgotten about it.

      2 votes
    2. [7]
      cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Well, crap... I tried to find a video of Kevin Smith talking about meeting Prince and shooting the documentary from his An Evening With Kevin Smith movie, so people not familiar with the story...

      Well, crap... I tried to find a video of Kevin Smith talking about meeting Prince and shooting the documentary from his An Evening With Kevin Smith movie, so people not familiar with the story could watch it, but it seems the vast majority of those videos have now been taken down due to copyright strikes... even on sites like LiveLeak where they typically don't. The best I could find was the first 10min of the story:

      https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2wcqb8

      The full movie can be steamed on Youtube officially though ($3 rental, $10 purchase):
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wMH5pa9GF8

      It's well worth watching the whole thing IMO, especially for only $3. Kevin Smith is a fantastic story teller/public speaker and it's absolutely chocked full of really funny anecdotes that give a glimpse into the crazy world of Hollywood.

      1. [6]
        Pilgrim
        Link Parent
        That motherfucker only answered ONE question during the whole Q and A!

        An Evening With Kevin Smith movie

        That motherfucker only answered ONE question during the whole Q and A!

        1 vote
        1. [5]
          cfabbro
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          Huh? Isn't the whole movie like 2 hours straight of him answering questions with 20min anecdotes (it's been a while since I watched it in full)? ... or is your comment a joke/reference I am...

          Huh? Isn't the whole movie like 2 hours straight of him answering questions with 20min anecdotes (it's been a while since I watched it in full)? ... or is your comment a joke/reference I am whooshing on?

          1. [4]
            Pilgrim
            Link Parent
            So the joke is he calls it a Q and A session and one guys asks a question and he talks for 2 hours. There was never another question. Smith jokes about it at the end. :)

            So the joke is he calls it a Q and A session and one guys asks a question and he talks for 2 hours. There was never another question. Smith jokes about it at the end. :)

            1 vote
            1. [3]
              cfabbro
              Link Parent
              Ah, gotcha. I don't remember that part. Since watching it the first time years and years ago I have only rewatched clips of it since then. I should really watch it in full again!

              Ah, gotcha. I don't remember that part. Since watching it the first time years and years ago I have only rewatched clips of it since then. I should really watch it in full again!

              1. [2]
                Pilgrim
                Link Parent
                I could be mis-remembering too. Regardless, we all love Kevin Smith here :)

                I could be mis-remembering too. Regardless, we all love Kevin Smith here :)

                1 vote
                1. cfabbro
                  Link Parent
                  For sure... IMO he is absolutely hilarious, a pretty great filmmaker and by all accounts a really stand-up dude, too. Here's to hoping he makes a full recovery from recent his heart attack!

                  For sure... IMO he is absolutely hilarious, a pretty great filmmaker and by all accounts a really stand-up dude, too. Here's to hoping he makes a full recovery from recent his heart attack!

                  1 vote