“If a man is considered guilty for what goes on in his mind, then give me the electric chair for all my future crimes…”

So I had to wait up till 2 in the morning to watch Prince do his ten-minute show on the Superbowl, all the while dreading a major deception. Well, guess what? it was only a minor deception! Prince’s show was understandably “safe” (this is family entertainment after all, and the breast-flashing incident two years back has obviously got the promoters on their guard.) And while he didn’t defy expectations by performing any obscure masterpieces–imagine “Erotic City” on the Superbowl!–he did limit himself to one album (Purple Rain) and chose one of its non-singles (“Baby, I’m a Star”, one of its best tracks), trading its briliant funk jam for a verse of the Ike and Tina classic “Proud Mary”. He did a medley of Hendrix and some other stuff I didn’t recognise (an article I read spoke of the foo Fighters, but then i wouldn’t know about that…) He didn’t strip but took off his pretty terrible headscarf to reveal a bad hairdo. All in all, it didn’t suck.

 So, to keep riding on this Prince wave, if you are a one-time fan who lost interest along the way, or just getting to discover the pleasures of the Purple One, check out this guide to Prince’s musical legacy.

 Here is my mini-guide to Prince for beginners :

You don’t even know who the frack he is : Get The Very Best of Prince

You liked what you heard? get Purple Rain and Sign o’ The Times

Still interested? get 1999, Parade and The Hits/The B-Sides (you’ll be getting two discs that overlap with The Very Best of…but you’l also get a disc of stuff you can’t find elsewhere and the triple disc can be found for the price of a single disc on the web)

Want more? Batman is solid Prince, and rapidly going out of print… get it while it lasts!

Still hooked? Oh you sucker! Just get everything else, then! (Not to be missed : the collector’s edition DVD of Purple Rain, and the concert movie Sign o’ The Times.)

A loop is a loop is a loop …