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Thread started 03/30/02 5:45pm

chookalana

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A little history on Prince Boot-legging

There are a lot of great theories out there, but most of them are all wrong.

First of all Prince doesn't like any of his material floating out of Paisley Park. And no he doesn't own any of these companies, I've heard that one also. You are right when you say a lot of his material used to creep out of Paisley. But now the security is much more tightened so "almost" nothing new comes out of there, with the exception of a few audience recordings. Back in the day Prince was very sloppy with his recordings. he would constantly leave them in the enginiering room just laying there. Or he would sometimes come in record a song and leave all the mixing to the engenieer, who would be all by themselves. This would happen alot at Sunset Sound in L.A.. I personally got the Black Album on tape six weeks after it was supposed to be released.

Somebody got smart and decided to themselves. At a time when bootlegs of Prince were never heard of across the world. I did not have to look too far to find something new and cool of Prince's around the Twin Cities area. I onced laughed when a freind of mine had a friend over from the U.K.. He was boasting how he bought the "third disc" of Sign 'O' the Times for $300.00 U.S. dollars. I had those songs for a couple of years for a trade.

Prince hates Sabotage and Thunderball. In fact he calls them "the Thieves In the Temple".For those of you on valume, Thunderball used to be Moonraker.

Also as an ironic twist Sabotage and Thunderball will send Prince a copy of each new bootleg they make. Why? that I can't answer. Maybe just boasting, who knows. Niether one of these companies make money, they make just enough to stay afloat.
This really hit the boiling point when Thunderball released Dream Factory. Prince was really pissed, he really never wanted that album to see the light of day and vowed it wouldn't. This goes along with anything that has Wendy & Lisa's names attacted to it. (ie Roadhouse Garden) I once read on a NPGMC chat that Prince said he would love to release Roadhouse, but that isn't true. Every notice how all the songs on Crystal Ball that they were on, they were taken off? (except for a couple of backgroud voices).

Keep in mind these companies still have some recodings left that any Prince Fam would love to hear. Ever wanted to hear the original version of When Doves Cry? They have it. Or the Purple Rain movie backgound music? They got it. But keep in mind they've had those songs for years now when the security was non-existent. Why don't they release them now or before? Well, every year they come out with a bunch of audience recordings, rehashed older boots that are "re-mastered". Then a couple of years go by when sales slump and boom you have your new "Dream Factory".

Just to let U no.

Prince.....Forever.
"So strange that no one stayed at the end of the Parade..." - Wendy & Lisa's "Song About" on their 1987 self-titled album.
uzi RIAA
mac 'nuff said.
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Reply #1 posted 03/30/02 6:05pm

BanishedBrian

Questions:

Why would Prince be mad about the Dream Factory boot? Most of those songs were already released on other boots, so what is the big deal?

Why does Prince hate Wendy & Lisa so much? As I recall, he basically kicked them to the curb, not the other way around. Is he still bitter about Susannah or something?

Also, if he hates W&L, why did he release "Splash"?

I'm not disputing what you say, I'm just wondering why?
No Candy 4 Me
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Reply #2 posted 03/31/02 1:13pm

Anxiety

I'm just chiming in as a fan and follower of both Prince and Wendy & Lisa, so this is just conjecture, BUT:

I wouldn't assume that Prince is so protective of unreleased music with W&L because he "hates" them or wants to forget about them. Quite the contrary - I've always had the impression that he feels like the music he made with them was hallowed ground, and that he wants to release this music when the time is right, preferably when he's able to re-unite with them on some level.

Meanwhile, I think there's a lot of shady history, pride issues and hatchets not buried between Prince and W&L - who knows the specifics? - but I think underneath it all, all three of them know how special their collaboration was, and how unique their collective vibe was.

Just my (hopeful?) thoughts...I could be way off base.
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Reply #3 posted 03/31/02 3:05pm

bboler

Thanks for the history!

Very true about the old days and evolution of Prince collecting. Your post made me reminisce, just for a moment, about the old days of trading cassettes...

Lots of material from that 80's period, seeing it evolve from grainy cassettes and vinyl to professional-looking cd's and downloads is pretty funny. And now it ends up that Sabatoge plays the role of a minor corporate bootleg giant that owns the market (remember KTS?), with no incentive to put out the old material.

But your post made me go back and confirm that these old cassettes sitting in shoeboxes still have random music that hasn't been "put out" or is just coming out (all these PR and Parade rehearsals) from that era. So thanks, Cookalana, for that as well
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Reply #4 posted 03/31/02 3:09pm

bboler

Oops, meant 'Chookalana'.

Can't see how names are spelled using the 'reply to topic' function (Ben, assume you know this and trying to fix it?)
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Reply #5 posted 04/02/02 8:59am

micorison

micorison requesting radio silence...
[This message was edited Fri May 3 11:57:58 PDT 2002 by micorison]
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Reply #6 posted 04/02/02 12:13pm

cntrvrsy

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How come "Splash" was never written about before or did I miss it? Interesting insight on the bootlegs. I always wondered how some songs got out. I could see songs that were intended or given 2 other artists but I wondered about his own stuff. Some of the live Paisley recording makes me wonder though. Some of them r soundboard quality as if they were intended 2 get out.
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Reply #7 posted 04/02/02 2:11pm

stevenpaul

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Are there any shows from the current tour circulating yet? If so which ones and what are they called..etc...
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