Notices by Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm), page 18

@sayrer @anildash no, he performed on it but didn’t write it.

@sayrer @anildash this remix is almost entirely made of parts from Prince, including samples from his then-unreleased Black Album, and a couple more guitar and keyboard solos he records for the song. https://youtu.be/kJ0IAT-XK0k?si=2aZi3hldwJG0rbAE

@anildash shut the front door! link me

@sayrer @anildash just like on When Doves Cry, the guitar solo that opens Like A Prayer is by Prince. You can hear a lot more of his guitar solo at 5:00 in the extended version of the song https://youtu.be/QqV-mdAWrBA?si=T3m517InUOHSb-w2 and in the album track Act of Contrition off of the Like A Prayer album.

@sayrer @anildash he’s on that track too :)

Location: 76th Precinct
Complaint #4874: "not necessary" (9 mins) https://portal.311.nyc.gov/sr-details/?id=ad08408c-9ad8-ee11-a73d-6045bd7feaac
Complaint #4875: "not necessary" (18 mins) https://portal.311.nyc.gov/sr-details/?id=d0c9e78c-9cd8-ee11-a73d-000d3a02cff7
Complaint #4876: "not necessary" (46 mins) https://portal.311.nyc.gov/sr-details/?id=749c8757-9fd8-ee11-92bd-6045bdb022aa
Complaint #4877: "not necessary" (26 mins) https://portal.311.nyc.gov/sr-details/?id=8f6e1f52-a6d8-ee11-92bd-6045bdbb280a

@voxpopsicle @anildash yep, they’re great :)

@tanepiper @anildash Yes! He used variants of the symbol in his work for more than a decade before changing name! It’s also on his motorcycle and spray painted on an overpass bridge in the video.

Location: 76th Precinct
Complaint #4873
Response Time: 37 mins

"The Police Department responded to the complaint and determined that police action was not necessary."

https://portal.311.nyc.gov/sr-details/?id=6aaecfd7-94d8-ee11-a73d-6045bd7feaac

#NY_JEY4063 #NYPD76PctIllegalParking

And over the years, even as other songs like "Purple Rain" have become more synonymous with Prince's legacy, the impact of "When Doves Cry" is undeniable. Take it from no less an authority on pop music than Madonna, who credits the song with helping her escape from some of the hardest parts of her struggling, pre-fame life.

"When Doves Cry" had a sonic landscape that would change the sound of radio — hit songs today still mimic the sound of its production. And then there's the lyrics, seen here in Prince's own hand (the opening line in purple pen, no less!) which clearly kept their meaning to him as the song remained a staple of his live shows for decades. Though it's perhaps meaningful that, to my knowledge, he never performed the song in its entirety again after the passing of his parents.

But Prince took that energy and channeled into something that had never been heard before on the radio. Its nearly skeletal structure was due to a now-legendary choice to _remove_ the bass from the final mix. In Prince's own words, as I found in the lost liner notes he penned for his Greatest Hits collection, he credits jilljonesofficial with inspiring him to turn the song into something "bassless and stark". https://www.anildash.com/2016/05/28/princes_own_liner_notes_on_his_greatest_hits

It's not surprising that Prince might have been reticent to talk about the process of creating such an unusually personal song, which goes deep (in its chorus, no less!) into his relationship with his parents and his own insecurities. But as Duane Tudahl notes in his extraordinary book about Prince's studio sessions of the era, Prince was also coming off having been blanked at the Grammys the night before (it would be Michael Jackson's record-breaking night for Thriller). https://amzn.to/49wR8cI

The song itself is extraordinary. Stark, sexy, and searingly introspective. There had literally never been a song that sounded like this on the radio before — because Prince had pushed his drum machines, voice, keyboard skills and guitar well past any of their designed limits in order to produce the song. When I asked him (on this night, 8 years ago) to tell us a story about its recording, he demurred instead with a joke. "YES. WELL, IT WAS A STARRY NIGHT..."

Okay, here's a Prince story for you: At this moment, on this night in 1984, Prince walked into Sunset Sound studios, and walked out 36 hours later having produced, arranged, composed and performed the entirety of When Doves Cry. 10 weeks later, it was released as a single. It became a Prince's first number one song, the biggest song of the year, and one of the greatest pop singles of all time. He was 26 years old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG3VcCAlUgE

@zachleat @chriscoyier +1000

@daringfireball slight typo, Chris Anderson instead of Adamson in the Mastodon post attribution.

@taylorlorenz Tricia did an amazing job with even just the first part I’ve read so far. Think it doubles as an incredible document of a certain era of NYC more broadly.

Glad to celebrate the release of The Freaks Came Out To Write, Tricia Romano’s incredible oral history of the Village Voice. I’m a tiny footnote amongst so many huge voices. And very surreal to read back what I remember about waking up the morning of 9/11. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/tricia-romano/the-freaks-came-out-to-write/9781541736399/

@grigs yes! In addition to his memoir, I'd suggest one of Duane Tudahl's books on Prince's time in the studio. Seeing his work ethic and process in action is probably one of the best ways to learn about how he achieved what he did.