Well, after wishing I could hear the Undertaker for the last twelve years, I finally came across a top-quality dvd version that I didn't even know existed.

Of course, this is Prince we're talking about, so it can't just be a straight-up performance shoot. There are way too many pyschadelic camera effects that make it increasingly hard to watch. And what was up with Vanessa Marcil, with the dancing and the crying and the puking and everything else?

As for the music, the version of Bambi has become my favorite, and I love the cover of Honky Tonk Woman. And it was cool to finally hear him sing The Undertaker. On the flip side, this marks around the eight or ninth live version I have of the Ride, and this one just goes on too long, and the solo seems unfocused. And I prefer the verion of Poor Goo on the Live At The Rex cd to the one played here.

The other really cool thing on the dvd is the occasional close-ups on his fingers during all that guitar-work.

Overall, a mixed-bag, but finally a thumbs up. I can't believe it took twelve years to get my hands on this!

I never could warm up to it the way so many others did. Take the Bambi version, the rhythm section absolutely rock, they're so tight,it's incredible. But Prince's guitar work? I think he did much, much better on that song. Except for the kick-ass intro.

i've never owned the DVD but i've seen parts of it in the past, but i've had the CD of it for years, and i absolutely adore it. the live in-concert stuff is "eh" - it is what it is - but the power-trio stuff is out of this world in my opinion - it's the kind of stuff i wish he'd do more of. 'the undertaker', 'poor goo', 'bambi', 'honky tonk woman' - all top notch prince as far as i'm concerned. i might have to break down and give it a spin right now, in fact!

The vomit scene ruined an explosive guitar solo climax. However, still great cd and dvd performance

I always wanted the DVD never saw it.

Where can I see this. CYBERCLIPS Please!!!
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Question said:

We should do a tree. Since this was an official release there should be no problems with doing so would there?

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[Edited 9/3/05 12:27pm]

DiamondGirl said:

I c what u mean, but on the other side i always considered that this vomit was, er... perfectly placed, & fits perfectly with the groove.

shaomi said:

i just thought he brought on john waters to guest direct the way he tried to do with kevin smith.

I've never seen this either. I've heard its probably his best guitar performances. for that, I would love to see/hear it! is it a live DVD only or is it also an audio CD?

I love it. It was a great performance by th epower trio. Wish we had more

DiamondGirl said:

I admit I've been out of the loop for a bit, but how official is this DVD? Was it officially released by Warner?
[Edited 9/24/05 9:23am]

RepoMan said:

There's no official DVD there is however an official video tape released in Europe

starbuck said:

Right and the Japanese laserdisc. I thought maybe it was something really odd like those weird SOTT "imports".
[Edited 9/24/05 9:44am]

no suchluck repo. This would actually be a good thing for the NPGMC to release!
Not like the way they handled the Beautiful Experience video though But a nice dolby surround DVD with liners and notes. And maybe even some bonus tracks?? Oh we can hope

the vomit scene cuts away 30 to 40 seconds of guitarexplosion so mmmmh what would be better.
The original audio cd has no vomit on it (audio and physical)

I cant believe it took u 12 years to c this ..... Undertaker is awesome ,i bought the original VHS release on the day it came out & have since got the very unofficial CD & DVD releases ,quite simply "The Undertaker" & "The Ride" are quality tracks ..... "the Ride" on here is so much more raw than the Crystal Ball version.

AlphabetST1977 said:

I prefer The Ride as performed on the Sacrifice Of Victor video.

RepoMan said:

Well, I've always been generally bored by his live performances of The Ride. But on The Undertaker, it friggin' rocks!

And the actual The Undertaker track...

It's beeeyoutifully played!
[Edited 9/24/05 16:44pm]

shaomi said:

Yeah. I always found it very amusing/funny/entertaining/a cool addition. Ha, ha.

But I also like the version without it.

starbuck said:

I love it more!

starbuck said:

The Beautiful Experience TV-movie was released by the NPGMC?

I didn't know that. But I taped it on video from TV when it was showed on Danish TV back in 1994 and I've always loved it. What did the NPGMC do to ruin it, if that's what you're implying they did?

Remove all the dirty lyrics? But, that would make it all instrumental!

Which is probably what The Undertaker would be, too, if they were to release that. Ha, ha. Anyway, I bought it on VHS when it was released in 1995, so...

Besides Peach, I don't think any additional tracks were recorded at that Power Trio session, though, so that would only be one possible bonus track...?

Although, during the Power Trio set at the Rex Club back in 1993, they also played Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley.

scififilmnerd said:

As opposed to the non-existing studio version?
[Edited 9/24/05 18:40pm]

is it official?? :O
I have a VHS bootleg version...but my VCR broke and I couldn´t find a digital version anywhere on P2P softwares...

scififilmnerd said:

they just copied the special (poor quality) to a video, put it in a white sleeve
Ugh, that's not great. I was hoping for a nice supurb quality with nice sleeve... NPGMC only lusted it for a few weeks, I guess they received lots of negative response

It seems like the Vanessa Marcil footage was tacked on to the Undertaker. In other words, she wasn't actually there watching them perform, but instead, her stuff was shot afterwards and mixed in.

It does look like a bad college-student-art-project, but it's still fun to watch.

RepoMan said:

What can I say? Prince must have been really inspired that day when recording those tracks.

(That, and on drugs? )
[Edited 9/25/05 10:54am]