What if Dream Factory was released instead of Sign 'O' The Times?


Side A

1."Visions"
2."Dream Factory"
3."Train"
4."The Ballad of Dorothy Parker"
5."It"

Side B

1."Strange Relationship"
2."Starfish & Coffee"
3."Interlude"
4."Slow Love"
5."I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"

Side C

1."Sign 'O' the Times"
2."Crystal Ball"
3."A Place In Heaven"

Side D

1."The Cross"
2."Last Heart"
3."Witness 4 the Prosecution"
4."Movie Star"
5."All My Dreams









Do U think it would still b1 of the best albums of all time?

Dupe: http://prince.org/msg/7/328367

ernestsewell said:

"Crystal Ball" and "Dream Factory" R 2 different albums.

19993121 said:

Side one

1."Sign “☮” the Times"
2."Play in the Sunshine"
3."Housequake"
4."The Ballad of Dorothy Parker"

Side two

1."It"
2."Starfish and Coffee" (Prince, Susannah Melvoin)
3."Slow Love" (Prince, Carole Davis)
4."Hot Thing"
5."Forever in My Life"

Side three

1."U Got the Look"
2."If I Was Your Girlfriend"
3."Strange Relationship"
4."I Could Never Take the Place Of Your Man"

Side four

1."The Cross"
2."It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
3."Adore"

It's hard to say that Dream Factory would have been better than Sign. But on paper it's looks darn good athough very different.

The whole DF - SOTT thing is a good example of Prince being honed down a bit. We've talked endlessly about how Emancipation might be a bit better with some editing here and there. Recently, I myself edited Tony M. out of songs from Diamonds and Pearls, and . Although the songs on DF were good, I think it being trimmed and tightened up a bit into what became SOTT was a good thing. Look at how we love that album. Would we have loved it as much as DF or Crystal Ball? Eh, who knows. As much as we all love Prince and want everything he's ever done, sometimes with him - less is more. SOTT is perfect as is, and I think most would say that.

It's still hard to hear "All My Dreams NOT seguing in from "Old Friends 4 Sale". In a way, DF and CB were compilations, a bit random. And although SOTT was still random, WB making him pair it down to two disks really made him have to make some tough calls on what to include and what not to. And changing the title track really gave the whole album a different vibe. "Sign O The Times" would have just been another random social commentary track. Yet knowing it now as a title track gives the album a darker vibe of the ills of society, as he explores drugs and AIDS, then demands we all play in the sunshine, and dance a new dance. He then delves deeper again into his psychie and talks about violence, raw sexual passion, etc. Same songs, different meaning.

Really, DF becoming SOTT shows not only how less is more, but how truly great and VERSATILE Prince's songwriting was 23 years ago, and how those songs can take on different meanings, depending what order they're put in and how they're packaged. THAT is why SOTT is a great album. I don't think DF would necessarily be sharing quite the same admiration from us had it been released. There are a few weaker tracks on there in comparison. "Interlude", "A Place In Heaven", stuff like that almost seems like filler after listening to SOTT itself. But we still love those deleted tracks.

ernestsewell said:

You know this is Jarvius, right?

squirrelgrease said:

Oh great, just as he was out of my mind. You fucker!

ernestsewell said:

I completely agree with you that as a double SOTT is perfect and wouldn't change it it's just a shame the tracks left off DF weren't released as B sides, i'd rather have All My dreams, Witness, Train or even Rebirth instead of La La La He He He or remixes of Hot Thing and Housequake. They are to good to be left to rot in the vault, which is what they will do.

I finally got my hands on Dream Factory and I absolutely love it. Some of the same songs exist on SOTT but Dream Factory has totally different versions. After listening, I now rate SOTT/Dream Factory as Prince's best album.
[Edited 2/8/10 5:50am]

19993121 said:

I will take "Sign "☮" the Times" as it is,

I would not want it any different..... because "Sign "☮" the Times" is a perfect album.


Visions,
Train,
Interlude

..... arent these "weak songs"...?

ernestsewell said:

Agree 100%.

thedance said:[quote]

19993121 said:

Sign is a great album but it could have been better if "Dream Factory" & "Crystal Ball" were included. Also, I like some of the alternate versions better.
[Edited 2/8/10 8:27am]

thedance said:

Visions & Interlude aren't techni. songs
Interlude is just that an aucustic guitar (which I prefere over the Gold Experiences 'interludes)

Visions opens the albums and just sets you into a very intimate mood, it's really beautiful piano playing, in my opinion that sound like music out of the prince camp.

I love Train, very mature music on the Dream Factory album in my opinion
And I believe the configuration we got a hold of might not have been the last configuration before the album release

Power Fantastic I just can't believe was not going to be on the album
Maybe that one of those where the experience was so electric that Prince didn't want to put it out. This song is a testimate of the powerful chemistry of that period.

Has the artwork that Susannah was assigned to for the album every been seen?

OldFriends4Sale said:

Just listened to Dream Factory for the second time. Gotta say I really agree with you on Visions and Train. But I totally agree with you on Power Fantastic. I think it would have totally fit with the cycle in the Sign O' The Times album... It is a really amazing song IMO! Only the second time I've ever heard it and I've been a fan since '79! Missed out on a lot of stuff!

I think Visions & Train are excellent.

poetcorner61 said:

Even though he put it out later, because it was a total 'live' Revolution recording, I don't think he would have included it on the album, and any edits to this song would have destroyed it.

past is the past, but this is 1 of the places P went wrong

1986:the collaborative ethos carried over to rehearsal sessions, which were often dominated by sweaty jams. Mark Brown recalls one improvisation lasting so long that he made a sandwich and snacked on it even as he kept thwacking away at his instrument to keep the groove going. No one could seem to get enough of playing. "I think that my greatest memories of my musical career are of rehearsals that were spectacular, not shows," Rivkin recalled. "It was an exciting, exciting time."
[Edited 2/11/10 7:08am]

I prefer listening to Dream Factory more so then S.O.T.T., so I feel where you're coming from

The June 3 1986 configuration (Configuration #2) of "Dream Factory" is superior to the tracklist mentioned above, featuring, "In A Large Room With No Light", and "Power Fantastic", etc.

Other tracks, like "Train",& "Databank" could be used for a "new" "Dream Factory" release- didn't someone working for Prince last year say they were mastering and readying 10 albums?

What would be better- a compilation "Roadhouse Garden" or an archival document "Dream Factory" release?

(Add me to the list of people who prefer "Dream Factory" to "Sign o' The Times").