Released as a single on iTunes - May 2009
Video: Not found
Lyrics: Not found for this version (see note below)
Well, the first surprise of the process came right away: When doing a search on YouTube in an attempt to discover if a video existed for Grande's cover of Prince's mid-80's song (which, by the way, hit the radio airwaves just as the class of 1985 was wrapping up it's final year of HS) I got no mention of Grande, and instead wound up with a number of references to Carmen Electra stripping videos! Apparently, Ms. Electra had a connection to Prince's Paisley Park studios in Chan with a number of visits and I guess that's why YouTube decided my search for "Paisley Park Grande" should bring her up! So...um...I guess there isn't a video version of the song!
It was a little more difficult to find information about Grande as compared to most acts that I've dug up info on, and much of what I did find was in Norwegian, but eventually I was able to find out that "Grande" isn't a group. "Grande" is a guy! From Oslo, Norway, Kjetil Grande is the face on the album cover for his single release of the Prince song. He's more than just a face, however. I had never heard of him, but Norway certainly has. According to Grande's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/kjetilgrande), Grande has already won a Norway Grammy, and his recent album release (April 2010's You Are The Night) is a critcal and popular smash in that country.
From what I understand, Grande's version of Paisley Park was done as part of a huge compilation of Prince tribute songs that were performed by a number of Norway artists and then placed onto a 5 CD tribute pack! A link was provided on Grande's MySpace page that takes a visitor to a page where an order could be placed, but the page was - yes - all in Norwegian! No surprise, really, but I didn't want to take the time to translate! I imagine that Prince must be OK with the endeavor. It was put together two years ago, and the Purple One himself has usually been quite aggressive about going after anything that he would deem as "inappropriate". If Prince hadn't given the project his blessing, I doubt the ordering page would still be an active site!
It will be interesting if Grande can make some waves in America. In the meantime, this is a great rendition of Paisley Park. It's actually a bit up-tempo from the original, which I think is a nice touch. Other than that, and the addition of the electronic sounds meshed into Prince's groove funk along with the tape-player button clicks to start and end the song - almost as if you were listening to a cassette version of it on one of those old Panasonic recorders! - it's very true to the original.
Lyrics for Paisley Park (I couldn't find the lyrics for Grande's version of the song. These are Prince's lyrics. Grande's version is close but not exactly the same.)
Video: Not found
Lyrics: Not found for this version (see note below)
Well, the first surprise of the process came right away: When doing a search on YouTube in an attempt to discover if a video existed for Grande's cover of Prince's mid-80's song (which, by the way, hit the radio airwaves just as the class of 1985 was wrapping up it's final year of HS) I got no mention of Grande, and instead wound up with a number of references to Carmen Electra stripping videos! Apparently, Ms. Electra had a connection to Prince's Paisley Park studios in Chan with a number of visits and I guess that's why YouTube decided my search for "Paisley Park Grande" should bring her up! So...um...I guess there isn't a video version of the song!
It was a little more difficult to find information about Grande as compared to most acts that I've dug up info on, and much of what I did find was in Norwegian, but eventually I was able to find out that "Grande" isn't a group. "Grande" is a guy! From Oslo, Norway, Kjetil Grande is the face on the album cover for his single release of the Prince song. He's more than just a face, however. I had never heard of him, but Norway certainly has. According to Grande's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/kjetilgrande), Grande has already won a Norway Grammy, and his recent album release (April 2010's You Are The Night) is a critcal and popular smash in that country.
From what I understand, Grande's version of Paisley Park was done as part of a huge compilation of Prince tribute songs that were performed by a number of Norway artists and then placed onto a 5 CD tribute pack! A link was provided on Grande's MySpace page that takes a visitor to a page where an order could be placed, but the page was - yes - all in Norwegian! No surprise, really, but I didn't want to take the time to translate! I imagine that Prince must be OK with the endeavor. It was put together two years ago, and the Purple One himself has usually been quite aggressive about going after anything that he would deem as "inappropriate". If Prince hadn't given the project his blessing, I doubt the ordering page would still be an active site!
It will be interesting if Grande can make some waves in America. In the meantime, this is a great rendition of Paisley Park. It's actually a bit up-tempo from the original, which I think is a nice touch. Other than that, and the addition of the electronic sounds meshed into Prince's groove funk along with the tape-player button clicks to start and end the song - almost as if you were listening to a cassette version of it on one of those old Panasonic recorders! - it's very true to the original.
Lyrics for Paisley Park (I couldn't find the lyrics for Grande's version of the song. These are Prince's lyrics. Grande's version is close but not exactly the same.)
Other songs: We Did It All
No comments:
Post a Comment