The Vault - Old Friends 4 Sale

The Vault was an album that took me by surprise as I wasn’t aware it had been released. One of those sly moves by Warners to further cash in on a lucrative (for them) collection of back catalogue material. Thankfully as a matter of habit (maybe compulsion) I always check the Prince section of every CD store I enter just in case there is something out I haven’t got. This time my ritual was rewarded when I was greeted with Prince sitting pretty on The Vault album cover. Casting my eye quickly across the tracklistings I thought – this might actually be ok compared to some of the other cobbled together collections we had seen in the past.

Racing home I put the cd in the player and pressed play. Headphones on waiting for something old and maybe something new.

The Rest of my Life with its rockabilly piano stylings hooked me in. Add to it it’s plush arrangements and the song feels like it crams a lot of life into a mere 1:39. Yeah I had to check that a few times too – the track just feels bigger than that.

With a funk swagger and confidence to boot It’s About That Walk reminded me of a 70s fused jam. A little reminiscent of Walk, don’t Walk (at least to my ears) I have always placed this track in the D&P era (I may stand corrected). And whilst it is enjoyable enough it doesn’t move me the way that the next track would.

First time I heard She Spoke to Me was on the Girl 6* soundtrack. And with that dual climbing bass line and guitar run I fell in love with it instantly. With a wonderful layering of Prince’s vocals and a stripped back arrangement that just slithers along with the grove without over powering it. And to have it here in a glorious extended version was just perfection. This is a song that highlights Prince’s genius as not only a composer but also a producer as such a plush arrangement could easily be swamped by multilayerings but he manages to keep the balance right. And with the jazz inspired breakdown with the continually ascending / descending bass line underpinning the horns it takes a most glorious of left turns, allowing wonderful solos from all players – what the new power generation were truly about – gifted musicians allowed to do their thing.

I was curious to hear 5 women as I had only heard Joe cockers version and unlike most Prince songs written for others there is always a hint of who was a t the helm, but here it felt perfectly suited for Cocker. Even with this version (can an artist do a cover of a song they actually wrote or is it just theirs to begin with?) it still feels purpose built for Joe Cocker’s voice and stylings with that slow blues burn. An ok song – but again not a major fave.

Part of the joy of this album was trying to place the songs to eras. Was When the Lights Go Down a D&P cast off, or even a Graffiti Bridge cast off, or dare I even entertain the thought that it might have been written around the time of Parade. Somewhat reminiscent (at least to my ears) to Joy In Repetition this upbeat track is somewhat hypnotic, pulling you into the groove and not letting go and only at the 5:30 mark does it actually step up a gear. Destined to always be filler, this feels like it would have been better suited to a sound check or after show jam than any album could have given it justice.

My Little Pill also made me wonder about its place in the Prince timeline. The instrumentation hints to a Parade era, but who knows?

There is Lonely is classic remorse captured in the fine grooves of an underplayed rock track. This feels like it would have been right at home on prince either before or after 3 chains. Again the sparseness of the arrangement allows for the melody to fill the space and carry you away.

The piece de resistance of this album has to be the (reworked) brilliance of Old Friends 4 Sale. Not as biting lyrically as the original with it’s digs taken out, OF4S still remains one of his unsung masterpieces. With its all-enveloping string arrangement this song has the same kind of solace in it that you find in Another Lovely Christmas, the kind that just punctures your heart and brings you into the darkness, but somewhere amidst the despair is comfort. A truly brilliant song.

Sarah is your typical funk rock throwaway song to me – ranked up there with Peach. It feels like P can churn these songs out in his sleep and probably did with this one. Ok it’s not one of my favourites (in case you hadn’t noticed) so maybe I’ll just press >> like I normally do.

Very rarely does a song live up to its title, but Extraordinary is an exception to the rule. With a beautifully punctured melody you can almost see Prince performing this live flicking a wrist or twisting a leg on the triple accents before dropping the mic down to woe another crowd. This track alone made the album worth the price of admission Once again Prince manages to create a world of adoration, optimistic emotion and melody that belies the slim 2:29 running time.

On the whole The Vault was a welcome addition to the collection. And with the gems of Extraordinary, She spoke to Me, The Rest of My Life and of course OF4S there I didn’t mind Warners getting my $29.95 this time round.

"I'm not human I'm a dove, I'm ur conscience. I am love"

jdcxc	I absolutely love (top twenty P) It's About That Walk (great humor, funk and horn arrangement) and When the Lights Go Down (a total jam-in a cool sense). I can't believe you call them filler. Overall, the album is one of those fanclub only gems that unfortunately does not get it's due.
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