Never been one of those fans that's always saying wow this unreleased song is better than anything he's ever put out etc, get the feeling there's an elitist set of people who love the unreleased songs just because they've heard them and most people haven't

But Empty Room is the one song that I always think of as a gem and a shame its never been on an album when there's been a fair amount of filler over the years

HonestMan13 said:

datdude said:

this wouldn't be within his power to do so, but i'd like a compilation of his tv performances. i think a lot of the stuff mentioned will eventually see the light of day, Cobo, Montroll (LOL!), but a Prince on TV DVD including Fury, Electric Jair, Leno(s), Fallon, Arsenio, MTV Awards, etc. would be stellar. He

I actually found a six DVD set of his TV appearances a while back dating from 1980 to 2006.

that may compel me to dig a bit. but SIX dvds! really were there THAT many TV appearances to warrant 6 discs. seems like they could fit on one. What's ON those things?

ufoclub said:

I can't believe he didn't put Joy in Repetition on SOTT. I bet it would have lifted the album much higher in regard at the time (of course now in hindsight critics love it).

SOTT already had a "stream of consciousness" type song with TBODP, JIR would have been redundant in that vein. Not sure if GB was the best place for it to land, but I do think he gives thought about what goes where. Like I think The Dance fit well on 3121 despite it not being NEW

controversy99 said:

LewArcher said:

He should have released the soundboard recording of Small Club, 2nd Show That Night between "Lovesexy" and "Batman" ... music lovers' heads would have freaking exploded.

The timing was perfect, too. I just checked the dates, and "Lovesexy" was released in May, 1988, while "Batman" was released in June, 1989. The final single from "Lovesexy," "I Wish U Heaven," was released in September of 1988, and only on the charts briefly (despite being awesome). The next single, "Batdance," wasn't released until June of 1989.

As the new year hit in 1989, Prince should have released the soundboard recording of "Small Club" without a ton of promotion or fanfare -- mostly as a special treat for his fans and those really into great music, in general. If he didn't want a 2-disc-set for various reasons, he would have to have cut about 25 minutes to get it all on one disk. I think, as great as that show is, this would be viable and possibly even improve it (as tough as that is to imagine), obv if done well. I know fans would furiously debate what to cut. Personally, I'd suggest cutting about 60% of the intro, just to get started when it's really cooking and also save more of the rest of the album, and then cut much of "People Without," which is cool for being improvised, but still a bit meandering and IMO not really up to the overall quality of the concert... and that still leaves us with a controversial 12-13 minutes to cut. As long as we keep DMSR, JMI, and ITYT, I could live with any other decision on that matter. However, while this may be unpopular, I would cut "Forever In Your Life," as I think "Still Would Stand All Time" is superior and comes directly afterwards, and also that SOTT is already well-repped by the energetic performance of "Housequake."

So, on December 27, 1988, a 4:00-ish "single edit" of DMSR (live) would be released to radio. Then on January 10, 1989, the live album, "Prince: Small Club, Second Show that Night" would be officially released, with a sort-of roughed up "bootleg" look to the artwork. The tracklist would be as follows:

Prince: Small Club, Second Show that Night

1. Instrumental Jam 4:55

2. DMSR 8:47

3. Just My Imagination 7:45

4. People Without 3:29

5. Housequake 4:32

6. Down Home Blues 8:47

7. Cold Sweat 9:35

8. Still Would Stand All Time 10:47

9. I'll Take You There 15:58

10. It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night 2:40

11. Rave to the Joy Fantastic 2:11

Total Runtime: 77:26 (should barely fit on 1 CD)

And that still leaves a solid 6 months before "Batdance" and "Batman" come out, so the timing really isn't an issue. I think it's unlikely would have been a commercial smash, and I doubt it would even have been heavily promoted to the mainstream at the time... but I bet it would have smashed critics' lists, and to this day would be often listed among the "greatest live albums ever" or even thought of by serious music-heads as P's best album. It would just be a crowning achievement for P, reaching 1000s of times as many people as it has, and essentially saying, "This is just me, the greatest popular musician of our time, at my absolute peak, jamming it out for a group of lucky folks at a some small aftershow venue... and don't it beat anything else you've ever fucking heard?"

Love the idea. And he could STILL release Small Club today, and it would be big (just not as big). But I'm gonna have to disagree with your cuts almost entirely. Basically, R U crazy?! (I say jokingly) Here's my must keep and ok to cut list from that show: +- Intro instrumental. Keep first 4:00, which are absolutely crucial. That subtle build by Sheila and Dr. Fink is brilliant, crucial. Then you can edit the rest of it down to a slammin 7 to 8 minute track. ++ DMSR. Keep. -+ Just my imagination. You could actually cut the first two verses and choruses and start the track a little before the solo. ++ People Without. Keep the whole thing. The outro especially is genius. It's one of only two? performances of the song. I can't imagine cutting any of it. -- Housequake. Cut it entirely. It's nowhere near as good as the studio version. +/- Downhome Blues. Cut or keep. Doesn't matter much to me. It's a cool song, but I've heard others do it better. +/- Cold Sweat. Cut or keep. ++ Forever in My Life. Keep the whole thing. After JMI, this is the best performance on the album. Absolutely killer singing & playing by the whole band. +- Still Would Stand All Time. Keep but I'm ok with editing it for length. ++ I'll Take You There. Keep. This is the best cover on the album. -+ Rave. Keep. This is inspired and much better than the studio version. Some of the transition from I'll Take You There could be cut if needed. ++ Beautiful Night. Keep this snippet as it's a cool closing. [Edited 4/4/14 20:46pm]

You're crazy -- Cold Sweat and Housequake absolutely belong on this. Anything with Bonnie Boyer singing also needs to be kept with some editing for length. Sheila's solo at the beginning is an anti-climax, almost everything else would belong on an official cd, especially all the original Prince songs and covers with Bonnie Boyer (RIP -- I wish she was somehow known for her performance on that night).

datdude said:

ufoclub said:

I can't believe he didn't put Joy in Repetition on SOTT. I bet it would have lifted the album much higher in regard at the time (of course now in hindsight critics love it).

SOTT already had a "stream of consciousness" type song with TBODP, JIR would have been redundant in that vein. Not sure if GB was the best place for it to land, but I do think he gives thought about what goes where. Like I think The Dance fit well on 3121 despite it not being NEW

The songs are nothing alike to me, Joy in Repetition is a swansong like Purple Rain or his cover of When Will We Be Paid, but with a dark voodoo, trancelike feel (and I don't mean the electronic music genre definition of "trance"). Joy was part of the sequence of the original album configuration, and it could have been the heart of disc 2. It's more like Anna Stesia in it's function. I really wish The Ball, Joy in Repition, and Crystal Ball had been part of the album (those three are among his strongest most original works and deserve to be on a great sequence/album). It would have been so solid. As it was, at the time, some of the songs on SOTT didn't seem so memorable. I remember spinning the album and hearing friends think there were weak moments.

It all gets glorious in hindsight.

in other words,you wish that the 1986 Crystal Ball 3-album set had been released I'm in the minority on this,but I think that this project benefitted from being cut down to the stunning 2-album set that it became (SOTT).

ufoclub said:

I really wish The Ball, Joy in Repition, and Crystal Ball had been part of the album (those three are among his strongest most original works and deserve to be on a great sequence/album).

SoulAlive said:

in other words,you wish that the 1986 Crystal Ball 3-album set had been released I'm in the minority on this,but I think that this project benefitted from being cut down to the stunning 2-album set that it became (SOTT).

ufoclub said:

I really wish The Ball, Joy in Repition, and Crystal Ball had been part of the album (those three are among his strongest most original works and deserve to be on a great sequence/album).

Well, back in '87, I wasn't too fond of IT, Slow Love, U Got the Look.

purpleparty3000 said:

The extended version of Computer Blue ,the alternitive versions of Darling Nikki & The Beutiful ones,

2010 Deluxe ,21 Nights In London DVD & Indigo Nights Cd 's,Montreux jazz festivall ,RoadHouse Garden ,The Rebels,

The Dream Factory,Any Dvds of Live Performaces through every year of his career ,

Elecctrum Plectrum .........and shit loads more that I have missed.

I was going to say the long hallway speech version of Computer Blue...this should've been a bside, on Crytal Ball, or SOMEwhere. The thing is absolutely brilliant.

I agree Joy should've been on Sign. As perfect as that album is, that song would've lifted it even higher.

ufoclub said:

rudeboy4711 said:

The Second Coming Movie! At least the concert footage...

That would be so cool!

"I Wonder"

Aerogram said:

Militant said:

I'm baffled that the official Purple Rain and Lovesexy tour VHS releases haven't been officially released on DVD. I mean, these are released products that are just languishing on a format that nobody uses any more.

I mean, the Diamonds & Pearls video collection got an official DVD release, but these havent?

Also would love for P to release the 3121 movie. It was supposed to be released on the Lotusflow3r website, but was pulled at the last minute.

Weren't you just laughing at those who said Plectrum wasn't going to be released!?

ufoclub said:

I can't believe he didn't put Joy in Repetition on SOTT. I bet it would have lifted the album much higher in regard at the time (of course now in hindsight critics love it).

Now that's what's up "Two words falling between the drops and the moans of his condition...Holding someone is truly believing there's joy in repetition" so true so true

datdude said:

HonestMan13 said:

I actually found a six DVD set of his TV appearances a while back dating from 1980 to 2006.

that may compel me to dig a bit. but SIX dvds! really were there THAT many TV appearances to warrant 6 discs. seems like they could fit on one. What's ON those things?

Starts with the Midnight Special perfomances in January 1980 and has pretty much every awards show, late night appearance and overseas shows as well and ends with The 6th BET Awards in June of 2006. Whoever put it together did their homework and compiled a good amount of video.

HonestMan13 said:

datdude said:

that may compel me to dig a bit. but SIX dvds! really were there THAT many TV appearances to warrant 6 discs. seems like they could fit on one. What's ON those things?

Starts with the Midnight Special perfomances in January 1980 and has pretty much every awards show, late night appearance and overseas shows as well and ends with The 6th BET Awards in June of 2006. Whoever put it together did their homework and compiled a good amount of video.

Yeah I have set too. Plenty of all the tv performances and most of the quality is pretty good too. Mine actually runs through the last Leno show.

ufoclub said:

lwr001 said:

um critics loved it at the time as well

Not like you would think, The Rolling Stones review at the time ends like this:

"There would be one great LP hidden in the sprawl of this double album if the songs exerted any uniform effect. Unfortunately, they don't. That's okay; one takes great songs wherever one can find them. But simple virtuosity -- mere brilliance, one might almost say -- seems too easy an exercise, at this point, for someone of Prince's extraordinary gifts. And he is beginning to repeat himself: "Play in the Sunshine" is the sort of soulful raveup he's tossed off several times before, and the little bass idea that so memorably animates the title tune crops up again in both "Hot Thing" and the mildly intriguing "Forever in My Life." This way lies decadence.

Prince appeared on the scene as a champion of outcast originality. He demonstrated for a new generation the beauty of true style and unconstrained personality, the complexity of the interplay among love and God and sexuality and -- most important -- the essentially multiracial nature of rock & roll music. He is an artist capable of altering popular consciousness in concrete ways, but Sign o' the Times seems unlikely to alter anything more profound than the face of the hit parade. Nothing wrong with that, but it's rather like the story about Jesus feeding the multitudes with miraculous loaves and fishes. Such fundamental nourishment is always appreciated. But when a full-blown feast is so obviously within Prince's capabilities, one wonders: Why doesn't he go for it?"

Actually, Sott is one of his better reviewed albums (overall). Post the Dirty Mind album, Prince tended to get fair to poor reviews of his albums most of the time. However, he did win most critics choice for album of the year for SOTT. That's why I was shocked that Prince didn't win best album for that year.

It is a crime that he never released "All My Dreams."

grand progression...