Paisley Park...

Go out of Minneapolis, up Highway 5 and into Chanhassen, and you'll see detached wooden houses with colourful, peeling paintwork in the midst of lawns,trees and lakes. Then suddenly a post-modemist box appears. On the roof of the two-storey white complex, six glistening green glass pyramids soar skywards, projecting from the building like watchtowers. This isn't the headquarters of the CIA that's being guarded, but the Mecca of pop music: Paisley Park, Prince's empire. The studio, which was built three years ago, cost about $10 million. Paisley Park is more than a sound laboratory; is a creative palace for the 08. Prince not only records his records here. he also works on the careers of his favourites: Sheila E and George Clinton, Mavis Staples and Jill Jones And when he isn't using his studios himself he hires them out The Bee Gees rehearsed at Paisley Park for their European tour and last year Fine Young Cannibals recorded their hit album The Raw And The Cooked here. Things haven't been going that well for Prince for a longtime. what with management and financial problems, and none of his post Purple Rain albums selling well in the States, Prince's reign looked as if it might be nearing its end earlier this year. Until, that is, Batman   helped him out of a tight spot.  The album of the film climbed  to number   one in America's charts, giving Prince his greatest success since Purple Rain. Approaching Paisley Park you are immediately  made aware of its owner's perfectionism. The lawn looks like its been cut with nail scissors, violet glass balls   adorn the flower beds and the turquoise garden hoses perfectly match the shade of paint on the door and window frames. An army of employees are permanently stationed at Paisley Park. Tailors, cooks, gardeners, sound engineers and technicians. A young blonde receptionist shows fans and  uninvited journalists the door with a firm "Sorry'' Legitimate guests are greeted with a warm "Welcome" The studios are all located on the ground floor. In the entrance hall Batman photos and  Prince trophies are displayed in a glass  cabinet. The hall stretches out under the four main pyramids. There are three sets of matching pastel-coloured leather furniture, two palms and a paisley jukebox The coverings of two further sofas-one purple and one paisley - testify to Prince's past decorative obsessions, and all the purple pens on the reception desk dispense purple ink. Corridors branch out from every corner, losing themselves in semi-darkness. On the right-hand side, separated by a glass wall,you catch sight of the dining room. Behind this is the kitchen. The three recording studios are scattered   around these angular corridors. State-of-the -art studio technology is accommodated in acoustically perfect spaces - functional and aesthetic. Glowing red exit signs point the only way back to daylight. With its 300 square metres and digital, 64 Track mixing console,  Studio A is the largest of the three recording rooms. This is where Prince most enjoys working. This is where the entire Batman LP was created. The room is completely panelled in wood apart from the drum chamber, which resembles a marble vault. It is an exact re-creation, down to the last detail, of the one in England's Castle Studios, where Phil Collins records his famous drum sound. The lighting is standard white, apart from an anglepoise that emits a purple beam on the mixing console. In the smaller Studio B stands the DiMedio mixing console with which Prince recorded his Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Parade and sign 0' The Times albums. Back out into the hall: at the back of the ground floor is the games room. Two pinball  machines, two video games, two drink-vending  machines. And there's a relic from days of old: a violet choc9late-vending machine bearing the inscription "Prince and the Revolution" Almost 1,400 square metres of Paisley Park studios are taken up by the concert hall in whichPrince and, on a daily rental basis, the likes of Kool & The Gang or Barry Manilow rehearse their live shows. Prince's videos are shot here too, as are TV  ads and feature films. A lift and several staircases lead up to the first floor. On the left-hand side of the hall are   the rooms of Alan Leeds, Paisley Park vice - president, tour manager and Prince's con fidant. On the right-hand side are the rooms of  Albert Magnoli, Prince's new manager. Prince's own chambers are hidden away in a side wing. Exactly what is concealed beneath the glass pyramid and roof terrace is strictly secret. Only Prince has the key to his peace sign and crucifix -mbellished door. Next door there's a small private studio were Prince writes his new songs, rehearses and experiments before he goes into the big studio. The room is crammed full of keyboards, drum computers and assorted eftects equipment. A violet bass leans in.a corner, and plastic flowers with painted faces' rise above the amplifier stacks. Also on the first floor is Prince and his band's wardrobe department.A tailor's dummy built to Prince's measurements stands in the centre of the room. The master needs a new suit: black, green, violet. The colours of Batman and the Joker. Cost: $1,000. His old wardrobe must be brought up to date constantly. One of three Paisley Park tailors is busy all day swapping the mirrored Lovesexy hearts on Prince's clothes for bats. Every zip is decorated with a golden bat pendant In the cellar there are enough speakers and amps stored away to equip 10 bands. A rusty Cadillac and an old Chrysler limousine stand in one corner, while another room houses about 30 of Prince's guitars. Next to them is his Harley Davidson motorbike from the Purple Rain movie. The licence plate says 1983, the year in which his purple dream was fulfilled. And then there's the shrine. A meditation room bathed in the glory of success. Five by five metres in size, it’s stuffed to bursting with gold and platinum discs, music awards and Grammys; In the middle there’s an Oscar for Purple Rain. 1n front of it a plaque says: "Do not touch". Paisley clothes in every colour of the rainbow hang down from the ceiling. The floor is covered with a light, floral carpet and countless large cushions. Among the iare metals a steel door catches your eye, on which the relaxed face of a woman smiles. Behind it rests Paisley Park’s treasure: 400 unreleased Prince songs. At least that’s how many there were about six months ago. But every week new ones are added. You could make more than 80 albums out of the tapes that are stored here at constant ioom temper-ature and humidity.Back to the graund floor. The monarch enters his realm.   Prince sweeps through the lobby. Without so much as a sideways glance he disappears into his studio. Silence. Five minutes later ethereal sounds reverberate through the building. Quietly at first and then louder and louder. The Prince sound for the next decade, a global sound for the next mil-lennium. Welcome to Paisley Park.