“You can be the side effect, I’d rather be the dope…”

I have never watched a Superbowl in my life, but this year I am going to make the effort just to watch Prince’s mid-game performance.

Here is an interesting article on PopMatters about Prince’s recent resurgence and, most interestingly, how his latest compilation Ultimate Prince was totally botched up. I have long wondered why there was no decent Prince compilation with a bit more depth on the market : you can either get skimpy “hits only” comps such as The Hits 1 & 2 and The Very Best of Prince, or  B-Sides and rarities overkill with the 4-disc Crystal Ball (which is out of print anyway) . Why can’t anyone do a decent two- or three-disc anthology with the best hits, key B-sides and essential album tracks? The way the compilers originally conceived Ultimate seemed like a good idea, with extended mixes of several hits complemented by classic B-side “Erotic City”, but meddling from the label and the man himself turned it into a travesty. It seems like the best way to do a prince comp is just to piece it together yourself; the blueprint for Ultimate as explained in the article looks like a good template to start you off. Don’t forget to throw in the brilliant “Ripopgodazippa”!