Well .... I first became curious really in spring of last year but I didn't go any further. I didn't see a reason to. Then it was a few months later, pretty much in September where I first was introduced to Papa that's when my curiosity changed for the better into 'Ohh, hmm' .. YOu know ,I really sat there thinking about it after & that whole song gained me a whole new perspective. I really was curious as to
um why , & why
now? yet I , without a doubt resonated with the theme of the song, & the pain in that song. A shock to the system with that raw emotion & what he was telling us. ..What he was willing to share.
I was interested in the layout of that sound too & how I could hear, i don't know , so much, and the emotion ,the layering & some can say they hear more than 1 song in that particular track. To me, It was just all very new. very raw yet very random. It wasn't so as exciting as it was confusing to me because usually I would click on, click off , but with Papa , some serious listening seed had been planted , Strange , yet it was real & something was here now. The song i had just experienced was dark but upbeat & brutally honest. This was on a thread okay , so you had a selection of other videos too.
I then sort of sat there & thought 'nah, this don''t really add up ' but I clicked on Xtralovable [it's the one at 7.55 ] because of the colours of the picture, about to click off & then I listened ,took it in. Listened again & then I went to bed. I thought, Ohh I'll sleep this off course i will. but then, I kind of n
eeded to listen to that again , Oh , & Papa. yeah I might need to listen to that too again

& I was quite mad at the thread I had been on actually . I was thinking . well now. YOu are listening to music not for you . You need to go to sleep missy you do , you do , ! ya no ?
So , I googled him, because that is what you do at half 2 in the morning,

half asleep, but i guess because I was listening, had a sample of this new artist.
For me , a new sound of many sounds . a new perspective, I had my two new songs that i genuinely needed to explore more , then for the first time ,read a little bit about him. I just zipped through real quick though, to be honest I don;t think I was even reading it because my eye went straight to the Graffiti Bridge album whilst Papa was still playing in my head. I thought. I
know this design, i know the blue , & all the tiny art & the colours surrounding it . I sort of hd a flash back of a VHS that a friend had years ago then it clicked because I thought , with an air of trepidation.. 'Hang about , well I know you from childhood,
you are that BatDance bloke ', then got confused .
I thought, 'come off the page of the mr batdance bloke click off that immeeeeeeeeeeediately, do!'
So i did lol... I went straight back to you tube of said batdance bloke [ oh , the endless freedom of the internet , it can sure be an Epiphany or a discrepancy lol.]
It was there I did some you tubing of my own instead of 'just clicking' & found 'thieves in the temple' but it was the extended version , It was sort of on the side of these ever growing recommendations, so I ignored it then I signed up here. I googled that Come album, I had like ...ten billion[ not kidding!] tabs open by this time. [Saw the cover art & that album art still resonated with me, even though.] Returned to extended version of Thieves & watched that, then paused the writing at the end.
I compared that version to the first/radio.film version, checked tik tik bang Closed all tabs , and took some time to absorb what i had just seen. not knowing if it effected me deeply , or maybe some de ja vu there or maybe i was just tired/ bored /curious/ sleepy /other ...I didn't know. I really didn;t know what i felt , at this point however. i did know that i felt displaced. my comfort zone was blown to pieces. ...or , had it shifted?
I Went back to You Tube on his official channel to just listen to the rest of the Come album. I struggled with some bits. & I thought of batdance89 which was now in the back of my mind . ..totally unimpressed now .then 'consoled;' my mind with Papa . ...because I still ' had' that song in my heart. Surreal to me , I thought okay, yeah no. but there has been a shift right ?. ..cause I still might like to own this album now. because I like Papa. Let it go, was relaxing if i'm honest, Solo was unexpected , & dark, is alright . It is a good piece of artistry here. as for Papa ? It is a reflective song and I can completely relate here. He's being deep and I like deep. It takes courage to actually talk about an abusive traumatic childhood.
I don;t really know how that night actually ended, but i knew something had started. I then found annie christian and the outtake /demo to Batdance. then i started to conk out. I was bloody knackered , Enough was enough. & he was just talking smack now , [ i left the you tube running , i think it was a sloe sensual song mix] right , To dreamland with me ~ To this day , I'm still not sure if that dwtd demo sealed the deal but I bought Come & Controversy the next day and i was quite perky about their arrival.
I now had
three tracks i properly appreciated ..plus two actual cds were arriving . then over that month , bought much of his music , you know boxsets, cd greatest hits stuff , singles & compilations, Under the Cherry Moon & Graffiti Bridge on dvd , but really , it was all audio. The newbie stuff & over the next few days , dabbled on you tube where i 'found Camille singing' Good Love' , well I knew
that track already because it was on one of my fave films & then , see
that then took me to Crystal Ball.
I familiarised myself with Crystal Ball very much in the latter part of last September , beginning of October. & again ,as well as getting some more scope of what this one could really do , plus I was fascinated by the colours , I bought the Sign O the Times boxset because Camille was on it but unfortunately I got under , overwhelmed by all of that , though my interest had increased by noting this guy had this characters tapestry running through much of his later work, but my interest had significantly wavered partly because i was jumping eras , I found because his character control is so strong i didn't understand that type of artistry,,so, for instance when i discovered Violet the OG I didn't connect to it.
but then Tora Tora popped up & i decided to stay then , It was a bit like a game really like , oh theres another one ! , oop there goes tora tora! ~It was end of October now and I did buy D&P but I got confused & frustrated because....I mean the presentation was really top notch ,But it was alien to me , the whole boxset after boxset , also It wasn't my childhood , therefore there were no memories, Some harsh distant memories scraped up maybe, yet it was still not my joy to grasp. I felt this zero connection , zero emotion ,
The book was sure glossy, These pictures that i had never seen yet had been around in that time as a child. So, It was so surreal to me not to feel since I had always remembered emotion connected to music listening experiences. being emotional when listening toa certain song in general. i always knew where i was for a specific song! or event!




But because Prince was so new to me being very glossy in this book i didn;t really know where i was & It was bigger than me. like new uncharted territory, untraveled land you know? or something. it was all so vast. I was getting back to my old ways of nah click off ,not your concern. So, I gave up. quite abruptly , i might add. yet I kind of had some free time , so i thought well what if i , ..start from the start .......... & I began to put aside the now, 'it's too glossy' book, four tracks , the film , plus the guitar videos & simply investigate
his musical influences....
To be continued ..
