R.I.P Prince

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
The Purple Rain deluxe and expanded edition surely lives up to the term 'expanded'. Where most artists only add a limited number of tracks left from the original release, here there is a whole (long) cd full of unreleased material. Computer Blue was always one of my favourites, so the long (more than ten minutes) Hallway Speech version I was particularly pleased with. In fact, what's great about many tracks is their length: there are four that pass the 10 minute mark, and a lot of the others are stil 6/7 minutes.
A big surprise to me was We Can F**k, a song already released on Graffiti Bridge as We Can Funk, a duet with George Clinton. I had no idea it already existed this early and thought it was written by the two funk-masters together, since it had the word 'funk' so prominently as with much of Clinton's stuff. (I still think lines like 'I'll gladly pee in anybody's cup. And when your cup overflow I'll pee some more.' must have come from Clinton.)
It's also great to have an instrumental version of God and a (long) studio version of I Would Die 4 U. You could argue including the 7 inch versions of the singles doesn't add much, as it is usually the longer version with an early fade, but I'm glad they included them as they make you appreciate the longer versions that much more. The B-sides like 17 Days and God were always great, but the stand-out was Erotic City of course, which deserved to be on the album. I don't know why it was left out, but it doesn't fit the overall tone of the album - it sounds more like something that could have been on Controversy to me.

FlJoe already informed me about the dvd and I didn't expect too much, but I still found the image disappointing. It's relatively sharp when there is full light on, but obviously to create the mysterious, erotically charged atmosphere of the show there are a lot of darker parts where sometimes it's hard to see what's going on. The sound, while not top, was good enough for me. They don't seem to have done overdubs, it sounds like purely what was played: you can hear the other musicians in The Revolution are not always such great singers - on 1999 for example.
I was surprised at how theatrical the show was, with many spoken word parts in the first half. You think if he hadn't become a musician he might have been a theatrical actor. You can recognise some lyrics that would appear in Temptation, but no complete songs from Around The World in a Day which would be released the month after the show. Towards the end it becomes a total party, with many Prince-related artists like Sheila E. (who wasn't a full member yet) coming on stage. His shows were always impressive, but it seems like he gave it even a little more energy than usual, as you would do with something broadcast live. Also it features the longest version of Purple Rain I know (I think 18 minutes or so).

I like the reflecting, mirror-like sleeve, but it is strange they only included three sleeves, with the fourth disc stuck with the booklet. Prince sleeves have been impractical before though; Musicology can't even house the booklet.
It's nice to read the liner notes as producer/engineer/mixer/audio technician Susan Rogers shares her memories of how no one (except maybe Prince) anticipated the success of the album and film (there was even some doubt when the sleeve arrived). Prince comes across as a non stop workaholic (no surprise given his output), who could be in the studio for 20 hours, or would do a sound check, full show and still work all night in the studio. You wonder if this contributed too to his early death as it just doesn't seem healthy. Also nice is to know how he built up the layers of the tracks and that he didn't sing in a booth as most artists.

Another section is a track-by-track with the Revolution members. Often Prince would bring a new song in its raw form and through rehearsing and working on it, it would take its full shape. Especially Purple Rain is a joint effort to which each brought his/her own part.
It's strange that with all the information in the booklet, the original release date of the album is left out. It is 25 June 1984. But such facts can easily be checked online.
You certainly hope there will be more albums that get an expanded edition like this, but as Purple Rain was the only one announced before his death, it's hard to tell.

The unreleased version of Computer Blue is awesome. With most of these kinds of re-releases, the unreleased material can be kind of hit or miss (most of the time, there's a reason songs are unreleased) but the quality of the unreleased material on this Purple Rain edition is outstanding.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
The Purple Rain deluxe and expanded edition surely lives up to the term 'expanded'. Where most artists only add a limited number of tracks left from the original release, here there is a whole (long) cd full of unreleased material. Computer Blue was always one of my favourites, so the long (more than ten minutes) Hallway Speech version I was particularly pleased with. In fact, what's great about many tracks is their length: there are four that pass the 10 minute mark, and a lot of the others are stil 6/7 minutes.
A big surprise to me was We Can F**k, a song already released on Graffiti Bridge as We Can Funk, a duet with George Clinton. I had no idea it already existed this early and thought it was written by the two funk-masters together, since it had the word 'funk' so prominently as with much of Clinton's stuff. (I still think lines like 'I'll gladly pee in anybody's cup. And when your cup overflow I'll pee some more.' must have come from Clinton.)
It's also great to have an instrumental version of God and a (long) studio version of I Would Die 4 U. You could argue including the 7 inch versions of the singles doesn't add much, as it is usually the longer version with an early fade, but I'm glad they included them as they make you appreciate the longer versions that much more. The B-sides like 17 Days and God were always great, but the stand-out was Erotic City of course, which deserved to be on the album. I don't know why it was left out, but it doesn't fit the overall tone of the album - it sounds more like something that could have been on Controversy to me.

FlJoe already informed me about the dvd and I didn't expect too much, but I still found the image disappointing. It's relatively sharp when there is full light on, but obviously to create the mysterious, erotically charged atmosphere of the show there are a lot of darker parts where sometimes it's hard to see what's going on. The sound, while not top, was good enough for me. They don't seem to have done overdubs, it sounds like purely what was played: you can hear the other musicians in The Revolution are not always such great singers - on 1999 for example.
I was surprised at how theatrical the show was, with many spoken word parts in the first half. You think if he hadn't become a musician he might have been a theatrical actor. You can recognise some lyrics that would appear in Temptation, but no complete songs from Around The World in a Day which would be released the month after the show. Towards the end it becomes a total party, with many Prince-related artists like Sheila E. (who wasn't a full member yet) coming on stage. His shows were always impressive, but it seems like he gave it even a little more energy than usual, as you would do with something broadcast live. Also it features the longest version of Purple Rain I know (I think 18 minutes or so).

I like the reflecting, mirror-like sleeve, but it is strange they only included three sleeves, with the fourth disc stuck with the booklet. Prince sleeves have been impractical before though; Musicology can't even house the booklet.
It's nice to read the liner notes as producer/engineer/mixer/audio technician Susan Rogers shares her memories of how no one (except maybe Prince) anticipated the success of the album and film (there was even some doubt when the sleeve arrived). Prince comes across as a non stop workaholic (no surprise given his output), who could be in the studio for 20 hours, or would do a sound check, full show and still work all night in the studio. You wonder if this contributed too to his early death as it just doesn't seem healthy. Also nice is to know how he built up the layers of the tracks and that he didn't sing in a booth as most artists.

Another section is a track-by-track with the Revolution members. Often Prince would bring a new song in its raw form and through rehearsing and working on it, it would take its full shape. Especially Purple Rain is a joint effort to which each brought his/her own part.
It's strange that with all the information in the booklet, the original release date of the album is left out. It is 25 June 1984. But such facts can easily be checked online.
You certainly hope there will be more albums that get an expanded edition like this, but as Purple Rain was the only one announced before his death, it's hard to tell.
Thanks for your wonderful review! I'm happy that there's another SKMB member that appreciates what was given to us 'fans' with this deluxe/expanded edition of PR. There are a lot of things to be happy about inside here. If you really want to see what Prince was all about I recommend getting (or watching) the bluray of Sign 'O' The Times- it is exquisite! No dark images here! As for his work ethic- I do believe he worked himself literally to death as he never stopped doing something, be it recording, editing (Paisley Park has a film editing work-up right in his office!) writing songs or producing. He lived off of 3-4 hours of sleep. Word has it that he only took two vacations in his life. Two. I don't know how many units of this edition have sold, but hopefully it will be enough to make them release an expanded/deluxe of Sign 'O' The Times.
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
Thanks for your wonderful review! I'm happy that there's another SKMB member that appreciates what was given to us 'fans' with this deluxe/expanded edition of PR. There are a lot of things to be happy about inside here. If you really want to see what Prince was all about I recommend getting (or watching) the bluray of Sign 'O' The Times- it is exquisite! No dark images here! As for his work ethic- I do believe he worked himself literally to death as he never stopped doing something, be it recording, editing (Paisley Park has a film editing work-up right in his office!) writing songs or producing. He lived off of 3-4 hours of sleep. Word has it that he only took two vacations in his life. Two. I don't know how many units of this edition have sold, but hopefully it will be enough to make them release an expanded/deluxe of Sign 'O' The Times.


Didn't Prince scrap an album right before he did Sign Of The Times? If that's the case, there should be a lot of material for a Sign Of the Times edition.
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
Can you guys tell the difference on this expanded edition between the songs from the original soundtrack (disc 1) and the single edits on disc three? Both discs had different engineers re-mastering them. I can definitely tell the difference. Disc one is way too loud IMHO.


That is the one black mark against this release. My system in the house can compensate for the compression but when I try to play this in my vehicle and turn it up, it's just too harsh sounding. I'm an old school dynamic range kind of guy. ;-D
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
That is the one black mark against this release. My system in the house can compensate for the compression but when I try to play this in my vehicle and turn it up, it's just too harsh sounding. I'm an old school dynamic range kind of guy. ;-D
Yes, it's certainly brickwalled. Over at prince.org there's a whole huge thread all about this, with charts and graphs. People over there get crazy......:Oo::a11::confused:
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
Yes, it's certainly brickwalled. Over at prince.org there's a whole huge thread all about this, with charts and graphs. People over there get crazy......:Oo::a11::confused:

I wish they would offer uncompressed versions when they do this. The compressed versions are probably preferable for small devices and ear buds but I need a version I can bother my neighbors with. ;-D
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
I wish they would offer uncompressed versions when they do this. The compressed versions are probably preferable for small devices and ear buds but I need a version I can bother my neighbors with. ;-D
Apparently there was a version of just the soundtrack on cd released in 2013, I think, that isn't compressed and sounds great.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
Thanks for your wonderful review! I'm happy that there's another SKMB member that appreciates what was given to us 'fans' with this deluxe/expanded edition of PR. There are a lot of things to be happy about inside here. If you really want to see what Prince was all about I recommend getting (or watching) the bluray of Sign 'O' The Times- it is exquisite! No dark images here! As for his work ethic- I do believe he worked himself literally to death as he never stopped doing something, be it recording, editing (Paisley Park has a film editing work-up right in his office!) writing songs or producing. He lived off of 3-4 hours of sleep. Word has it that he only took two vacations in his life. Two. I don't know how many units of this edition have sold, but hopefully it will be enough to make them release an expanded/deluxe of Sign 'O' The Times.

I suppose this edition of Purple Rain will sell very well, as it's relatively cheaply priced for a 4 disc set. None of the four films are available on blu-ray here, not even Purple Rain, but I have the dvd of Sign 'O' The Times, I even saw it in the cinema at the time. Although watching a concert in the cinema is kinda awkward, you can't sing along.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
Can you guys tell the difference on this expanded edition between the songs from the original soundtrack (disc 1) and the single edits on disc three? Both discs had different engineers re-mastering them. I can definitely tell the difference. Disc one is way too loud IMHO.

But Prince himself remastered the first disc, so he must have felt the volume was right.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
Didn't Prince scrap an album right before he did Sign Of The Times? If that's the case, there should be a lot of material for a Sign Of the Times edition.

Yes, it was first called Dream Factory. Dream Factory (album) - Wikipedia
It wasn't released because the Revolution broke up over creative differences. Then he wanted to put Dream Factory, an album called Camille (recorded with his voice sped up - which he wouldn't have put out under his own name, but as Camille, making it his Richard Bachman album), and some other new tracks into a triple album called Crystal Ball. But Parade hadn't sold well enough, so it became a double album, Sign 'O' The Times as we know it.
Eventually in 1998 he released the box set Crystal Ball which contains tracks from Dream Factory/Crystal Ball and Camille. Actually most of the Camille album found its place on other albums, like Sign 'O' The Times (Housequake, Strange Relationship, If I Was Your Girlfriend), Black Album (Rockhard In A Funky Place), or as B-side (Feel U Up, the B-side from Partyman for example, or Shockadelica, B-side from If I Was Your Girlfriend).
U Got The Look sounds like it could have been intended for the Camille album, as he uses the Camille voice, but it seems it's specifically written/recorded for Sign 'O' The Times as it doesn't feature on any of the unreleased albums.

What I would like even more than expanded editions, or along with them, is if they just released the unreleased albums as they are, but what are the chances of that?

What strikes me about the unreleased material on the second disc of Purple Rain is how cohesive it sounds. It doesn't sound like some loose fragments, but just as a complete album.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
Even I never knew about all the history behind 'Nothing Compares 2 U'.....

I think it wouldn't have done as well without the video. You can tell the emotions in the video are real and not acted. Gwen Stefani tried a similar video for Used To Love You but it feels more acted (I do like Stefani a lot though).
It doesn't really surprise me O'Connor and Prince didn't get along.

Nice site, but they put Planet Earth quite low in their album ranking. That's probably my favourite of the albums released after Emancipation. I love the opening track, Guitar is great. Chelsea Rodgers and The One U Wanna C have the quality and feel of the Sign 'O' The Times era, imo. Beautiful ballads Somewhere Here On Earth and Future Baby Mama.
Nearly all songs are great, I only don't care much for the last two, Lion of Judah and Resolution.
It's by far the one I played the most of his later albums.

I was wondering what's everyone's favourite of the albums after Emancipation? I guess 3121 would be high on most lists?
 
Last edited:

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
Yes, it was first called Dream Factory. Dream Factory (album) - Wikipedia
It wasn't released because the Revolution broke up over creative differences. Then he wanted to put Dream Factory, an album called Camille (recorded with his voice sped up - which he wouldn't have put out under his own name, but as Camille, making it his Richard Bachman album), and some other new tracks into a triple album called Crystal Ball. But Parade hadn't sold well enough, so it became a double album, Sign 'O' The Times as we know it.
Eventually in 1998 he released the box set Crystal Ball which contains tracks from Dream Factory/Crystal Ball and Camille. Actually most of the Camille album found its place on other albums, like Sign 'O' The Times (Housequake, Strange Relationship, If I Was Your Girlfriend), Black Album (Rockhard In A Funky Place), or as B-side (Feel U Up, the B-side from Partyman for example, or Shockadelica, B-side from If I Was Your Girlfriend).
U Got The Look sounds like it could have been intended for the Camille album, as he uses the Camille voice, but it seems it's specifically written/recorded for Sign 'O' The Times as it doesn't feature on any of the unreleased albums.

What I would like even more than expanded editions, or along with them, is if they just released the unreleased albums as they are, but what are the chances of that?

What strikes me about the unreleased material on the second disc of Purple Rain is how cohesive it sounds. It doesn't sound like some loose fragments, but just as a complete album.
Executives from Warner Brothers forced him to cut the Crystal Ball album from a 3 album set to a 2 album set which became Sign 'O' The Times. This was another thing to add to his list of what WB did to p*ss him off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gerald and GNTLGNT

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
I think it wouldn't have done as well without the video. You can tell the emotions in the video are real and not acted. Gwen Stefani tried a similar video for Used To Love You but it feels more acted (I do like Stefani a lot though).
It doesn't really surprise me O'Connor and Prince didn't get along.

Nice site, but they put Planet Earth quite low in their album ranking. That's probably my favourite of the albums released after Emancipation. I love the opening track, Guitar is great. Chelsea Rodgers and The One U Wanna C have the quality and feel of the Sign 'O' The Times era, imo. Beautiful ballads Somewhere Here On Earth and Future Baby Mama.
Nearly all songs are great, I only don't care much for the last two, Lion of Judah and Resolution.
It's by far the one I played the most of his later albums.

I was wondering what's everyone's favourite of the albums after Emancipation? I guess 3121 would be high on most lists?
After Emancipation favorite(s)? Mine would be Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic and 3121. Rave because it sounds new and fresh and 3121 because it's 'old school'.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gerald and GNTLGNT

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
Yes, but perhaps after years and years of doing live concerts with loud music coming out of those massive speakers ruined his hearing capabilities? :O_O: He re-mastered it with Joshua Welton.

It wouldn't surpise me if he ruined hs hearing (at North Sea Jazz in Rotterdam, where I was at the first of three shows, he apologized the second night for the sound being too loud on the first - and it really was), but Welton was there too.
I think nearly every cd is too loud nowadays.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
It's funny how some unreleased songs sound from another era than when they were recorded. Possessed is from the Purple Rain era, but it sounds earlier to me.
On 1999 there are a couple of songs that sound a little 'colder' than his usual warm sound, like Something In The Water (Does Not Compute) or All The Critics Love U In New York, and on Controversy there is Annie Christian. To me, Possessed sounds like that, it's colder, more distant.

If you enjoy the 12 inch versions on Purple Rain expanded, I recommend Ultimate Prince (for those who don't have it yet). There is a single disc, but also a 2 disc. The first disc is a regular Best Of, but the second has 11 12 inch versions.
When I started buying records in the mid-eighties I always preferred 12 inches (or Maxisingles as they were better known here) over singles. Basically there were two things that were done to the single version: an extended version, which often was literally that, it was the single, but added a longer intro and section in the middle and end making a 4 minute song 6 minutes or more. And there was a remix, which often had a complete new rhythm track, which made it sound quite different from the original.

Prince's 12 inch versions are more of the extended version kind (although only Kiss is called that), but what he does feels more organic. It doesn't feel like the single with some new bits added, but more like he does an alternative, longer version of the single. He really invents new ways and ideas for the song.
There are remixes here too from Sheila E. and Shep Pettibone who was a well-known producer, remixer, DJ in the eighties doing remixes for many famous acts.
Shep Pettibone - Wikipedia