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Prince’s “discovery” of, and by, Miles Davis and other jazz giants was too often credited to the influence of Prince’s white collaborators and bandmates by absurd 80s (and later) writers. Prince grew up as the Black son of two Black jazz musicians in the 60s. He knew Miles Davis.
That dynamic was particularly acute when Power Fantastic was only an unreleased outtake circulating amongst fans; Matt Blistan’s scintillating muted trumpet was often erroneously credited to Miles Davis, implying that a composition this rich must have been someone else's work.
Both Prince *and* the Revolution were given too little credit.
But now, let's listen to what Prince is singing — the music itself could be described as a “power fantastic”. Prince’s words, seen in his own handwriting here, could be describing the power of the magic Prince & the Revolution had in the studio together.
We also get a perfect way of understanding how extraordinary Prince’s vocal gifts were. Listen here to the two takes overlaid, and you can hear both how precisely he could hit the exact same pitch every time, *and* the differences in the choices he made in phrasing and tone.
Power Fantastic was one of the songs that helped build the myth of Prince’s legendary “vault”. Traded amongst diehard fans, it was one of a handful of songs that proved Prince’s archive held work that was equal to any of the greatest pop music ever recorded.
Appropriately, Prince held the track closely, choosing not to include it on any album until he could share it in the moments of maximum intimacy with his fans. Its initial release in 1993 was only for fans willing to buy an entire box set just to collect his b-sides and rarities.
Prince didn’t play Power Fantastic live for nearly a decade after its belated release. When he finally unveiled it, more than 15 years after its recording, it was on his own Paisley Park stage, in front of the small group of fans he invited in for one of his annual celebrations.
Even in the years that followed, the handful of times that Prince performed Power Fantastic were almost always at the private soundchecks where he only let in those who followed his work most closely. This was for those he referred to as "fams", not fans. Family.
For his final tour, Prince sat down with just a piano and microphone. In these shows, he set aside his mysterious public persona and directly engaged his audience in the unfiltered way that, until then, had been limited to just private soundchecks and aftershows.
That final tour began, of course, at Paisley Park. Prince had sang, “Paisley Park is in your heart”. And in letting the people into Paisley Park, he let them into his heart.
At the debut performance of that tour, Prince paused to explicitly give credit to Lisa Coleman for the influence of her “crazy chords” on his own playing. Then he went on to say, “I met Miles Davis who came to my house, and he played similar chords.”
What became clear was that, when Prince prince played a song like “Power Fantastic”, he was mirroring the playing of one of his favorite collaborators, and sharing his love for that work with the audience he trusted most. He was letting us into his home, and heart.
Minor G is, according to Prince, the chord of pleasure.
Back in 2002, Prince let a couple of dozen of us into his soundcheck at Lincoln Center. He sat with us for a while, then after chatting a bit, he went up on stage. A few songs in, he played Power Fantastic, then slyly asked, "we're just rehearsing... is that alright?" It was.
