StarTribune.com
Purple haze
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/30190584.html?elr=KArks7PYDia
K7DUvDE7aL_V_BD77:DiiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
By JON BREAM, Star Tribune
October 5, 2008
Light some candles. Put "Indigo Nights" on the CD player. Plop down on the
couch. Crack open the book on the coffee table.
It's called "21 Nights" (Atria Books, $50). It contains 124 photos taken
during Prince's 21-concert stand at London's O2 Arena in the summer of 2007.
The book, published Wednesday, comes with "Indigo Nights," a 14-song CD
recorded during those late-night, after-concert club shows Prince is famous
for.
The music makes the photos come alive. Photographer-to-the-stars Randee St.
Nicholas captures Prince walking in the rain, stepping out of a luxury car,
standing in an elevator, talking on the phone, sorting through his closet,
strutting down a purple-lit backstage hallway, standing by the side of his
empty bed, fully clothed, at 5:33 a.m.
The photos are perfectly lit. His makeup is impeccable, his hair immaculate.
Stylists, makeup artists and clothing/jewelry designers are given proper
credit (including phone numbers/websites for some) in the back of this
fashion-obsessed book.
Yes, Prince conceived some of these scenes himself, probably including the
photo of his personal Bible (with "Prince R. Nelson" inscribed on the cover)
on a hotel bedstand next to his blinged-out glyph pendant on a necklace.
These luxe, highly stylized shots might remind you of Prince in 1986's
"Under the Cherry Moon," his second feature film, set in Paris. "21 Nights"
is set in London (with a sidetrip to Prague), but Prince appears as stiff
here as he did in "Cherry Moon." His expressionless face masks any emotion.
The same could be said of the other characters in "21 Nights" - the various
members of his NPG band and model Chelsea Rodgers as a hotel chambermaid.
Poetry and lyrics - some from unrecorded songs - help to bring Prince's
personality to the pages. None of those lyrics is featured on "Indigo
Nights," a typically exciting late-night blend of jazz, blues, funk and rock
that's split between cover tunes ("Whole Lotta Love," "Baby Love"), Purple
favorites ("Boys & Girls," "Alphabet St.") and two unreleased songs (the
title track and "Beggin' Woman Blues"). Prince gets funky, funny and, of
course, sexy in these selections recorded during his after-parties at
Indigo2, a club space attached to the arena. He shares the spotlight with
his players and singers Shelby J. (Dorothy Moore's "Misty Blue") and Beverly
Knight (Aretha Franklin's "Rock Steady").
As for the photos, surprisingly few actually show Prince performing on the
O2 stage. In what she calls a "photographic essay," St. Nicholas, who has
directed more than 150 music videos (starting with Prince's "Gett Off" in
1991), opts mostly for posed images - something Prince has done so well for
so long.
"It is not a manipulation for control's sake, as it is often judged," St.
Nicholas argues in a preface to the book. "It is a way of being, a way of
constantly stirring things up."
Think about that for a moment as you get up from the couch. Turn up the CD
player. You can dance if you want to.
Jon Bream . 612-673-1719
C 2008 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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