Introducing the Band:
Your hosts Scot Bertram (@ScotBertram) and Jeff Blehar (@EsotericCD) are joined by Eli Lake. Eli is a contributing editor at Commentary, and fellow at the Clements Center at UT-Austin. Follow him on Twitter at @EliLake.
Eli’s Music Pick: Prince, Pt. 2 (1985-1991)
Join us once again as we deepen our Strange Relationship with Prince! Eli rejoins the gang as they pick up their discussion of the amazing career of Prince Rogers Nelson in the aftermath of Purple Rain and Around The World In A Day and Eighties megastardom. Having conquered America his own way, yet endlessly restless and ambitious, Prince proceeds to wander through an ill-begotten movie project (Under The Cherry Moon, with the wildly underrated album Parade attached) and a period of indecision and various scrapped projects until finally he emerges with Sign O' The Times in 1987.
Now widely hailed as his greatest achievement, it didn't sell at the time and inaugurated a period where Prince would increasingly go to war both with himself and his record label. Hear the early results on this episode, as we discuss the fascinating narrative that leads to Lovesexy (a CD he insisted be released as one single 44-minute-long track, to prevent listeners from skipping around), then Batman, then another unfortunate movie tied to a fantastic album, and finally his great commercial revival with Diamonds And Pearls. Yes, the dire rhymes of Tony M. are discussed. Yes, all the outtakes and discarded projects are discussed. And the story will only get stranger in our final episode, next time.
Episode 134: Guy Denton / Echo & The Bunnymen
Episode 133: Joshua Treviño / Matthew Sweet
Episode 132: Tom Nichols / Boston
Episode 131: Jay Cost / The Kinks [Part 2]
Episode 130: Jay Cost / The Kinks [Part 1]
Episode 129: Mike Long / Joe Jackson
Episode 128: Hannah Rowan / Blondie
Episode 127: Eric Kohn / Huey Lewis & the News
Episode 126: Rory Cooper / Simon & Garfunkel
Episode 125: Matt Murray / Nick Lowe
Episode 124: Dave Weigel / Pet Shop Boys
Episode 123: Dominic Green / The Jam
Episode 122: Eric Garcia / Black Sabbath
Episode 121: Adam Wollner / My Morning Jacket
Episode 120: Mark Hemingway / Big Star
Episode 119: Noam Blum / Tool
Episode 118: Phil Wegmann / The National
Episode 117: Andrew Fink / Otis Redding
Episode 116: Noah Weinrich / Weezer
Episode 115: Jesse Walker / Willie Nelson [Part 2]
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