SquirrelMeat said:

In regard to reality, I think SOTT is better than Crystal Ball. Prince's greatest weakness is quality control, and WB forcing him to cut CB down made for a more cohesive album. I would have chosen different tracks for the cut (It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night is always out of place and should have been a B side), but overall, the cut down to a still big double album worked.

Agreed! If he had to cut he should have lost It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night and Slow Love. Perhaps Starfish and Cofee as well.

paulludvig said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

paulludvig said: NouveauDance said: That DF config with Power Fantastic and Large Room is about as good as it got for me, but It's A Wonderful Day needed to go. The later/last config had gone past the mark a bit I feel, it never feels that great to listen to imo, but that might be because of the similarities to SOTT.Crystal Ball, I've always kind of felt the same way as that last DF config: It's never fully satisfying, and maybe for the same reasons. I've never wet my knickers over SOTT particularly but I think the album was kind of sloppy as Crystal Ball and it benefited from the tightening up of reducing it to 2 LPs - But this is all hindsight, I've no idea if I'd feel the opposite had it actually been released in 1987 as the original 3 LP and we'd all be used to it like that.I agree with the poster above who said DF/Camille as their favourite - best of both worlds.quick edit - That side 3 of the June config of DF, it might be the best/most ambitious/genre-stretching side of an LP Prince ever put together, it certainly rivals say 1999 and shows how much he'd really developed. [Edited 3/19/15 14:06pm] I think Crystal Ball was pretty tight to begin with. Much more than Dream Factory, whitch to me sounds like a mix of new and old. Forward looking Prince tracks and backwards looking (but still good) Revolution tracks. Which ones do you consider forward and backwards?Prince himself has said it's usually someone like Lisa Coleman who would challenge Prince to not repeat sounds...I've always heard on SOTT 2 different sounds stripped down almost early Prince and then more colorful sounds..You do know In A Large Room and Power Fantastic are Revolution tracks right? Strange Relationships a song Lisa & Wendy pulled out of the vaults (I believe I have the 1981/82 piano demo) and I love both version:Camille and Dream Factory, because of the new instrumentation with the middle eastern instruments L&W added it had a more colorful sound vs the Camille versionTechnically I hear Prince 1978-1986 throught these songsHow do you define what is forward looking and backwards looking?

I disagree. The Camille version is much stronger. I don't see how the W&L hippie vibe adds anything to the song, in fact I think it's at odds wirh the implicit violence of the lyrics. The cold, tense and more robotic feel of the Camille version feets the lyrics much better.

Of course I know that In A Large Room and Power Fantastic are Revolution tracks (IALR perhaps more of an extended Revolution track). They're both great songs and would have fitted well on both Around the World and Parade.

KingSausage said:

paulludvig said:

Agreed! If he had to cut he should have lost It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night and Slow Love. Perhaps Starfish and Cofee as well.

Cut Slow Love and Starfish & Coffee? Oh my god. Hell no!

Eh.. you cut Slow Love yourself on your perfect SOTT...

To me they both fit better on DF (although I don't particularly mind them being part of CB as sort of a light breather between the more challenging tracks)

[Edited 3/19/15 17:17pm]

paulludvig said:

KingSausage said:

paulludvig said:

Eh.. you cut Slow Love yourself on your perfect SOTT...

To me they both fit better on DF (although I don't particularly mind them being part of CB as sort of a light breather between the more challenging tracks)

[Edited 3/19/15 17:17pm]

No, I didn't. I love that song. We're you thinking of someone else? The only song I would cut from SOTT is Beautiful Night. I find it long and annoying. Replace it with Shockadelica!

? Maybe you meant Slow Love when you wrote Good Love?

paulludvig said:

SquirrelMeat said:

In regard to reality, I think SOTT is better than Crystal Ball. Prince's greatest weakness is quality control, and WB forcing him to cut CB down made for a more cohesive album. I would have chosen different tracks for the cut (It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night is always out of place and should have been a B side), but overall, the cut down to a still big double album worked.

Agreed! If he had to cut he should have lost It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night and Slow Love. Perhaps Starfish and Cofee as well.

We have similar tastes. I like Starfish, but the other two are the distinct weak spots. If you think we could have had 13 minutes to play with had Beautiful Night and Slow Love gone.....

paulludvig said:

SquirrelMeat said:

paulludvig said:

Agreed! If he had to cut he should have lost It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night and Slow Love. Perhaps Starfish and Cofee as well.

We have similar tastes. I like Starfish, but the other two are the distinct weak spots. If you think we could have had 13 minutes to play with had Beautiful Night and Slow Love gone.....

.

Starfish and Coffee is better fitted for a B-Side. How about some of the more commercially oriented tracks, that ended up as partial throw-aways with associated artists, such as 'Yo, Mister', 'So Strong', 'Wouldn't U Love 2 Love Me' in place of two or three of these tracks (the first two of which, at least, would likely have charted in the Billboard Top 10 ~1987-1988 as a Prince release).

.

[Edited 3/19/15 18:00pm]

imprimis said:

SquirrelMeat said:

We have similar tastes. I like Starfish, but the other two are the distinct weak spots. If you think we could have had 13 minutes to play with had Beautiful Night and Slow Love gone.....

.

Starfish and Coffee is better fitted for a B-Side. How about some of the more commercially oriented tracks, that ended up as partial throw-aways, such as 'Yo, Mister', 'So Strong', 'Wouldn't U Love 2 Love Me' in place of two or three of these tracks?

.

[Edited 3/19/15 17:52pm]

So Strong is a great track and sounds like a Prince version would fit perfectly on SOTT. I always wondered if it got left out after Forever In My Life was made. There is a vibe that is similar.

SquirrelMeat said:

imprimis said:

.

Starfish and Coffee is better fitted for a B-Side. How about some of the more commercially oriented tracks, that ended up as partial throw-aways, such as 'Yo, Mister', 'So Strong', 'Wouldn't U Love 2 Love Me' in place of two or three of these tracks?

.

[Edited 3/19/15 17:52pm]

So Strong is a great track and sounds like a Prince version would fit perfectly on SOTT. I always wondered if it got left out after Forever In My Life was made. There is a vibe that is similar.

.

And FIML is another song I believe we are privy to only a small portion of. It would have been nice to have had an extended take of it as a bonus on a 12" or maxi single.

.

[Edited 3/19/15 18:04pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

Usually when I listen 2 SOTT I end up breaking it up. There is definately a lot going on there.

There are very stripped down sounding songs:SOTT, It, Forever In My Life, and more colorful songs:Play In the Sunshine, U Got the Look, If I Was Your Girlfriend

There there is Slow Love(co-written) Starfish & Coffee(co-written) IGBABNight live Parade tour

.

I actually listen to Lovesexy Parade ATWIAD Controversy throught more often because of the flow

.

I think I would have appreciate a Dream Factory / Camille release.

But in general 1986 produced a load of incredible music, that is hard to choose from.

.

It is also weird that a strong song like Power Fantastic wasn't on the last DF configuration. Of course we still don't know if that would have been the last one.

But I think for me once I learned more about how SOTT came to be I tend to listen to other personal playlists.

This below is my favorite configuration

This looks pretty awesome to me. What was the final configuration?

SquirrelMeat said:

My Perfect SOTT (assuming Dream Factory and Camille were both canned) would have been:

SOTT

Play in the Sunshine

Housequake

The Ballad of Dorothy Parker

Good Love
Starfish and Coffee
Power Fantastic

Hot Thing

Forever in my Life

U Got The Look

If I was your Girlfriend

Strange Relationship
I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man

Joy In Repetition

The Cross

Shockadelica
Adore

OMG!!! That is an awesome configuration!

I guess I'm in the minority. I prefer the Dream Factory album simply because it would've gave The Revolution a better final send-off. I also think the final album configuration would've have work:
https://en.wikipedia.org/...figuration

OldFriends4Sale said:

paulludvig said: KingSausage said: OldFriends4Sale said: That June 3 configuration of DF would have been one crazy fucking masterpiece. What an amazing artistic statement. I prefer the final configuration personally, despite Power Fantastic being my favorite song. I'm fascinated by this era. I would kill for some sort of giant box set with all the different configurations. I know that will never happen. It breaks my heart. I disagree. Visions and Wendy is rubbish. It's a Wonderful Day and Teacher Teacher is not amongs Prince's best work. The entire side 4 is pretty weak as well, with the exception of In All My Dreams. I don't particularly like A Place in Heaven either. Power Fantastic is a great song, but a stand alone track and it doesn't flow well with the song Crystal Ball. Visions is a cool opener. I don't care for the guitar piece either. But it's not like they are songs. But I know you just don't like Lisa Coleman & Wendy Melvoin soo and the Dream Factory album is a 'Prince & the Revolution' album so of course you won't like it...

i think paulludvig is unbiased like me. I just go on what i enjoy. This site is very critical so you have to be as critical of the revolution as you do with other eras.

I liked purple rain cd best of revolution era and look forward to 50th anniversary as that will be terrific.

The revolution did some good songs around this time, liked neon telephone, train witness etc. Dream factory was more experimental than crytal ball and obviously i didn't like all of it. Iprefered Crysal ball myself. I am not as bothered about it working coherently but more bothered about whether i enjoy the music. The music was stronger on crysatll ball as hardly a weak track amongst them and almost all i would rate rate very good. i can not say same for dream factory alot are just good and o.k tracks and not as strong.

I'd rather prince just released 12 great tracks as an album whether it is coherant does not matter so much to me. I still though think even if you want it to be a coherant project crystal ball works better than it does on sott. So an improvement in all areas.

I feel that if crystal ball came out first you would not be asking for him to release it in sott configuration as you would all be say he butchered it

[Edited 3/20/15 4:35am]

[Edited 3/20/15 4:40am]

master said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

paulludvig said: KingSausage said: OldFriends4Sale said: That June 3 configuration of DF would have been one crazy fucking masterpiece. What an amazing artistic statement. I prefer the final configuration personally, despite Power Fantastic being my favorite song. I'm fascinated by this era. I would kill for some sort of giant box set with all the different configurations. I know that will never happen. It breaks my heart. I disagree. Visions and Wendy is rubbish. It's a Wonderful Day and Teacher Teacher is not amongs Prince's best work. The entire side 4 is pretty weak as well, with the exception of In All My Dreams. I don't particularly like A Place in Heaven either. Power Fantastic is a great song, but a stand alone track and it doesn't flow well with the song Crystal Ball. Visions is a cool opener. I don't care for the guitar piece either. But it's not like they are songs. But I know you just don't like Lisa Coleman & Wendy Melvoin soo and the Dream Factory album is a 'Prince & the Revolution' album so of course you won't like it...

i think paulludvig is unbiased like me. I just go on what i enjoy. This site is very critical so you have to be as critical of the revolution as you do with other eras.

I liked purple rain cd best of revolution era and look forward to 50th anniversary as that will be terrific.

The revolution did some good songs around this time, liked neon telephone, train witness etc. Dream factory was more experimental than crytal ball and obviously i didn't like all of it. Iprefered Crysal ball myself. I am not as bothered about it working coherently but more bothered about whether i enjoy the music. The music was stronger on crysatll ball as hardly a weak track amongst them and almost all i would rate rate very good. i can not say same for dream factory alot are just good and o.k tracks and not as strong.

I'd rather prince just released 12 great tracks as an album whether it is coherant does not matter so much to me. I still though think even if you want it to be a coherant project crystal ball works better than it does on sott. So an improvement in all areas.

I feel that if crystal ball came out first you would not be asking for him to release it in sott configuration as you would all be say he butchered it

[Edited 3/20/15 4:35am]

[Edited 3/20/15 4:40am]

no, he doesn't like Wendy & Lisa specifically, the Revolution especially. He's made it pretty clear over time. It's his freedom. But he is definately biased.
.
paulludvig: It was a great performance by Prince. I don't really see what W added.

paulludvig: Poor backing vocals is standard in Princeland. W&L anyone?

paulludvig: Visions and Wendy is rubbish

paulludvig: Forward looking Prince tracks and backwards looking Revolution tracks.

paulludvig: W&L were not the most important members of The Rev anyway.

It is in fact DF1 vs DF2 vs DF3 vs Camille vs CB vs SOTT... it was a long way between the first config of DF and SOTT.

.

All configurations have their strengths. I have to admit I was highly disappointed when I finally got to know the various tracklists for DF in the late 90's because, as all of us, I'd believed for years that it wouldn't contain so many SOTT tracks and more of the post-Parade circulating outtakes, and I therefore imagined something entirely different, more light pop and dreamy, more organic, with a more proeminent presence by The Revolution (it was still, for the most part, a solo Prince album) and tracks such as In A Large Room, and the Can't Stop/We Can Funk/Girl O'My Dreams/Databank sequence. I have the reconstructed version of the last config and I can't really enjoy it even though I'm pretty sure I'd have been totally in love with it had it been released in 1987 instead of SOTT. But by comparison to my earlier expectations and SOTT, I find it a weaker album.

.

Camille was almost a precursor to The Black Album in terms of darkness, it could have been great, but then came CB and...

So yeah... In the end my favorite config is, by far, Crystal Ball. Listening to the new leak I think more than ever that it would have enjoyed tremendous critical acclaim and that it would have made a tremendous impact, maybe not in terms of sales (as WB feared) but in terms of legacy. Besides this, it is a collection that I personally enjoy more than SOTT because we only lose UGTL and get so many wonderful songs in exchange. To me the only weakness might be The Ball (I'd have prefered him to keep Feel U Up instead, the only leftover from Camille) but to be honest this is mostly because I knew Eye No before The Ball: the latest will always sound like a slowed down version of Eye No to me. Had it been released I wouldn't have known Eye No and I'd probably like it more than I do. However, now being allowed to hear it with perfect sound quality and to enjoy the way it segues into JIR, I can understand why Prince chose it over Feel U Up.

.

CB could have been Prince's magnum opus. I am seriously considering sueing WB at the International Court of justice for crime against humanity for depriving the human race of this masterpiece. The world would have been a better place with CB.

.

On the other hand, had CB been released there would have been no wonderful SOTT movie, no wonderful Black Album, no wonderful Lovesexy, no wonderful Lovesexy Live, no JIR in GB (where it belongs so perfectly), possibly no WB wars in 93-95 and therefore possibly none of the great albums that were produced during those conflict years and P's first years of "freedom". Prince's discography may have been completely changed by CB being released in 1987 and God knows what would have come of it, we'll never know. And SOTT was still a wonderful record.

databank said:

It is in fact DF1 vs DF2 vs DF3 vs Camille vs CB vs SOTT... it was a long way between the first config of DF and SOTT.

.

All configurations have their strengths. I have to admit I was highly disappointed when I finally got to know the various tracklists for DF in the late 90's because, as all of us, I'd believed for years that it wouldn't contain so many SOTT tracks and more of the post-Parade circulating outtakes, and I therefore imagined something entirely different, more light pop and dreamy, more organic, with a more proeminent presence by The Revolution (it was still, for the most part, a solo Prince album) and tracks such as In A Large Room, and the Can't Stop/We Can Funk/Girl O'My Dreams/Databank sequence. I have the reconstructed version of the last config and I can't really enjoy it even though I'm pretty sure I'd have been totally in love with it had it been released in 1987 instead of SOTT. But by comparison to my earlier expectations and SOTT, I find it a weaker album.

.

Camille was almost a precursor to The Black Album in terms of darkness, it could have been great, but then came CB and...

So yeah... In the end my favorite config is, by far, Crystal Ball. Listening to the new leak I think more than ever that it would have enjoyed tremendous critical acclaim and that it would have made a tremendous impact, maybe not in terms of sales (as WB feared) but in terms of legacy. Besides this, it is a collection that I personally enjoy more than SOTT because we only lose UGTL and get so many wonderful songs in exchange. To me the only weakness might be The Ball (I'd have prefered him to keep Feel U Up instead, the only leftover from Camille) but to be honest this is mostly because I knew Eye No before The Ball: the latest will always sound like a slowed down version of Eye No to me. Had it been released I wouldn't have known Eye No and I'd probably like it more than I do. However, now being allowed to hear it with perfect sound quality and to enjoy the way it segues into JIR, I can understand why Prince chose it over Feel U Up.

.

CB could have been Prince's magnum opus. I am seriously considering sueing WB at the International Court of justice for crime against humanity for depriving the human race of this masterpiece. The world would have been a better place with CB.

.

On the other hand, had CB been released there would have been no wonderful SOTT movie, no wonderful Black Album, no wonderful Lovesexy, no wonderful Lovesexy Live, no JIR in GB (where it belongs so perfectly), possibly no WB wars in 93-95 and therefore possibly none of the great albums that were produced during those conflict years and P's first years of "freedom". Prince's discography may have been completely changed by CB being released in 1987 and God knows what would have come of it, we'll never know. And SOTT was still a wonderful record.

lol

Sooo many possibilities
.
One of the biggest losses of the band changing/ SOTT era etc is the loss of the protege scene
that 'community' that Prince had (as he called it) was the ground soil that helped create so much fantastic music rel and unreleased

.

Jill Jones in 1987 was far removed from the Paisley Park scene and Madhouse a band consisting of his current touring band could really make a mark, having to do double duty. I mean you can find Jill Jones touring shows videos single release etc But you can't find it on Madhouse, almost like they didn't exist

OldFriends4Sale said:

I'm with U on that. I enjoy It's a Wonderful Day, but it should have been a Bside What song would you have put in that spot?Play In the Sunshine, U Got the Look, If I Was Your Girlfriend I think could have fit wellI always fell Old Friends 4 Sale could have worked on this album too.I understand why it wouldn't work on Parade as a SoundtrackBut would have been perfect here

Yes, I'm not sure what track would replace it - Play In The Sunshine certainly fills the same spot better.

I think It's A Wonderful Day was probably just there to fit the mood as work continued on the project. I like it too, but it feels like a placeholder.

databank said:

Back when I first heard those outtakes, in the early 90s I guess, I couldn't understand why Prince hadn't released them.

.

Listening to them now though, and being less of a hradcore fan, excited by hearing something I shouldn't, I think SOTT is a far better album than any of those other configurations.

.

It's a classic and completely perfect.

[Edited 3/20/15 7:39am]

master said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

paulludvig said: KingSausage said: OldFriends4Sale said: That June 3 configuration of DF would have been one crazy fucking masterpiece. What an amazing artistic statement. I prefer the final configuration personally, despite Power Fantastic being my favorite song. I'm fascinated by this era. I would kill for some sort of giant box set with all the different configurations. I know that will never happen. It breaks my heart. I disagree. Visions and Wendy is rubbish. It's a Wonderful Day and Teacher Teacher is not amongs Prince's best work. The entire side 4 is pretty weak as well, with the exception of In All My Dreams. I don't particularly like A Place in Heaven either. Power Fantastic is a great song, but a stand alone track and it doesn't flow well with the song Crystal Ball. Visions is a cool opener. I don't care for the guitar piece either. But it's not like they are songs. But I know you just don't like Lisa Coleman & Wendy Melvoin soo and the Dream Factory album is a 'Prince & the Revolution' album so of course you won't like it...

I liked purple rain cd best of revolution era and look forward to 50th anniversary as that will be terrific.

The revolution did some good songs around this time, liked neon telephone, train witness etc. Dream factory was more experimental than crytal ball and obviously i didn't like all of it. Iprefered Crysal ball myself. I am not as bothered about it working coherently but more bothered about whether i enjoy the music. The music was stronger on crysatll ball as hardly a weak track amongst them and almost all i would rate rate very good. i can not say same for dream factory alot are just good and o.k tracks and not as strong.

I'd rather prince just released 12 great tracks as an album whether it is coherant does not matter so much to me. I still though think even if you want it to be a coherant project crystal ball works better than it does on sott. So an improvement in all areas.

I feel that if crystal ball came out first you would not be asking for him to release it in sott configuration as you would all be say he butchered it

I would have loved 3 CDs Crystal Ball. Whether or not it would have sold well is another story. I would have just been happy to have all that music.

Yeah I agree 10-12 great tracks cohesive flow and mesage and I'm happy.

I agree SOTT for me to really enjoy I have to split the songs up and add a few outtakes
2 different feels

NouveauDance said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I'm with U on that. I enjoy It's a Wonderful Day, but it should have been a Bside What song would you have put in that spot?Play In the Sunshine, U Got the Look, If I Was Your Girlfriend I think could have fit wellI always fell Old Friends 4 Sale could have worked on this album too.I understand why it wouldn't work on Parade as a SoundtrackBut would have been perfect here

Yes, I'm not sure what track would replace it - Play In The Sunshine certainly fills the same spot better.

I think It's A Wonderful Day was probably just there to fit the mood as work continued on the project. I like it too, but it feels like a placeholder.

Sexual Suiced might have been cool. Old Friends 4 Sale would have worked on that album.

.

Engineer Susan Rogers has stated that Prince may have always planned on replacing the track before release, and used it as a placeholder to find a track with a similar feel.

An instrumental portion of the track was included as background music in the Under The Cherry Moon movie, in a scene where Tricky and Christopher Tracy are arguing.

-PrinceVault

OldFriends4Sale said:

databank said:

It is in fact DF1 vs DF2 vs DF3 vs Camille vs CB vs SOTT... it was a long way between the first config of DF and SOTT.

.

All configurations have their strengths. I have to admit I was highly disappointed when I finally got to know the various tracklists for DF in the late 90's because, as all of us, I'd believed for years that it wouldn't contain so many SOTT tracks and more of the post-Parade circulating outtakes, and I therefore imagined something entirely different, more light pop and dreamy, more organic, with a more proeminent presence by The Revolution (it was still, for the most part, a solo Prince album) and tracks such as In A Large Room, and the Can't Stop/We Can Funk/Girl O'My Dreams/Databank sequence. I have the reconstructed version of the last config and I can't really enjoy it even though I'm pretty sure I'd have been totally in love with it had it been released in 1987 instead of SOTT. But by comparison to my earlier expectations and SOTT, I find it a weaker album.

.

Camille was almost a precursor to The Black Album in terms of darkness, it could have been great, but then came CB and...

So yeah... In the end my favorite config is, by far, Crystal Ball. Listening to the new leak I think more than ever that it would have enjoyed tremendous critical acclaim and that it would have made a tremendous impact, maybe not in terms of sales (as WB feared) but in terms of legacy. Besides this, it is a collection that I personally enjoy more than SOTT because we only lose UGTL and get so many wonderful songs in exchange. To me the only weakness might be The Ball (I'd have prefered him to keep Feel U Up instead, the only leftover from Camille) but to be honest this is mostly because I knew Eye No before The Ball: the latest will always sound like a slowed down version of Eye No to me. Had it been released I wouldn't have known Eye No and I'd probably like it more than I do. However, now being allowed to hear it with perfect sound quality and to enjoy the way it segues into JIR, I can understand why Prince chose it over Feel U Up.

.

CB could have been Prince's magnum opus. I am seriously considering sueing WB at the International Court of justice for crime against humanity for depriving the human race of this masterpiece. The world would have been a better place with CB.

.

On the other hand, had CB been released there would have been no wonderful SOTT movie, no wonderful Black Album, no wonderful Lovesexy, no wonderful Lovesexy Live, no JIR in GB (where it belongs so perfectly), possibly no WB wars in 93-95 and therefore possibly none of the great albums that were produced during those conflict years and P's first years of "freedom". Prince's discography may have been completely changed by CB being released in 1987 and God knows what would have come of it, we'll never know. And SOTT was still a wonderful record.

lol

Sooo many possibilities
.
One of the biggest losses of the band changing/ SOTT era etc is the loss of the protege scene
that 'community' that Prince had (as he called it) was the ground soil that helped create so much fantastic music rel and unreleased

.

Jill Jones in 1987 was far removed from the Paisley Park scene and Madhouse a band consisting of his current touring band could really make a mark, having to do double duty. I mean you can find Jill Jones touring shows videos single release etc But you can't find it on Madhouse, almost like they didn't exist

IDK about that, from 1987 on came a lot of paisley Park artists, some barely related to Prince it's true but many others that were, + there was the studio, which allowed for example George Clinton to record around Prince and everyone to meet at Paisley Park. There were a lot of protégé albums from 1987-1994: Taja, Jill, Madhouse (though it was more a concept than a band), Tony LeMans, George, Mavis, Elisa, Eric, Jevetta, The Steeles, Ingrid, T.C., Carmen, NPG, Jacob, Mayte + all the aborted projects such as Margie, Robin, Nona, Rosie... IDK, I was a fan from 1989 on and Paisly Park Studios seemed like a very dynamic place/community to me until P gave up on making a real label outta NPG Records and closed the studio to other artists in 95.

SquirrelMeat said:

imprimis said:

.

Starfish and Coffee is better fitted for a B-Side. How about some of the more commercially oriented tracks, that ended up as partial throw-aways, such as 'Yo, Mister', 'So Strong', 'Wouldn't U Love 2 Love Me' in place of two or three of these tracks?

.

[Edited 3/19/15 17:52pm]

So Strong is a great track and sounds like a Prince version would fit perfectly on SOTT. I always wondered if it got left out after Forever In My Life was made. There is a vibe that is similar.

Thank you for restoring "So Strong" to its original grandeur.
This song is nearly perfect bubble-gum Pop.

[Edited 3/20/15 9:44am]

databank said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

lol

Sooo many possibilities
.
One of the biggest losses of the band changing/ SOTT era etc is the loss of the protege scene
that 'community' that Prince had (as he called it) was the ground soil that helped create so much fantastic music rel and unreleased

.

Jill Jones in 1987 was far removed from the Paisley Park scene and Madhouse a band consisting of his current touring band could really make a mark, having to do double duty. I mean you can find Jill Jones touring shows videos single release etc But you can't find it on Madhouse, almost like they didn't exist

IDK about that, from 1987 on came a lot of paisley Park artists, some barely related to Prince it's true but many others that were, + there was the studio, which allowed for example George Clinton to record around Prince and everyone to meet at Paisley Park. There were a lot of protégé albums from 1987-1994: Taja, Jill, Madhouse (though it was more a concept than a band), Tony LeMans, George, Mavis, Elisa, Eric, Jevetta, The Steeles, Ingrid, T.C., Carmen, NPG, Jacob, Mayte + all the aborted projects such as Margie, Robin, Nona, Rosie... IDK, I was a fan from 1989 on and Paisly Park Studios seemed like a very dynamic place/community to me until P gave up on making a real label outta NPG Records and closed the studio to other artists in 95.

Yeah but Jill Jones and Taja were not a part of the 'scene' like the Time Vanity 6 Sheila E etc

I mean how there was that interconnection, doing shows together etc

.

Yeah I know he had a lot of artist sign through PP but were unrelated for the most part as proteges
and interconnected with Prince albums/music for the year

.

And of course Sheila E's 3rd album which was an extremely strong piece, went to the side.

OldFriends4Sale said:

databank said:

IDK about that, from 1987 on came a lot of paisley Park artists, some barely related to Prince it's true but many others that were, + there was the studio, which allowed for example George Clinton to record around Prince and everyone to meet at Paisley Park. There were a lot of protégé albums from 1987-1994: Taja, Jill, Madhouse (though it was more a concept than a band), Tony LeMans, George, Mavis, Elisa, Eric, Jevetta, The Steeles, Ingrid, T.C., Carmen, NPG, Jacob, Mayte + all the aborted projects such as Margie, Robin, Nona, Rosie... IDK, I was a fan from 1989 on and Paisly Park Studios seemed like a very dynamic place/community to me until P gave up on making a real label outta NPG Records and closed the studio to other artists in 95.

Yeah but Jill Jones and Taja were not a part of the 'scene' like the Time Vanity 6 Sheila E etc

I mean how there was that interconnection, doing shows together etc

.

Yeah I know he had a lot of artist sign through PP but were unrelated for the most part as proteges
and interconnected with Prince albums/music for the year

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And of course Sheila E's 3rd album which was an extremely strong piece, went to the side.

Well If I'm not mistaken:

TT and V6 opened the 1999 Triple Threat Tour

Sheila opened the PR Tour

THEN

Madhouse opened the SOTT Tour

I don't remember anyone openening the Lovesexy Tour

Mavis occasionally opened the Nude and D&P Tours

Carmen opened the D&P Tour on occasions too (but some unrelated crappy bands did it as well, such as in Paris when I attended )

I think the NPG opened either the D&P and/or the Act I/II Tours as well (same shit with the crappy unrelated acts in paris )

There was the Sacrifice London aftershow with everyone that was aired then later released on video then 1-800 New-Funk. With this video and the compilation, in 1994 I really thought Prince was going to make something out of NPG records and I was highly disappointed (se were the folks at Edel) when it became clear that he'd given up on having a vanity label

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So it somehow went on a little bit, then later there was the Triple Threat Tour of 1998, with Chaka and Larry and associated albums.

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I agree thought that it could have been MUCH MORE, every show of every tour could and should have had one or two PP acts opening for it in order to promote the records and give a stronger community sense to the label. I think the reason it didn't happen was a matter of saving money but it sucks. It'd be interesting to ask Alan Leeds why it didn't happen but he'd probably say that it was one of the many issues with the label, that wasn't functional at all according to what he said in past interviews, because WB expected Prince to support it and Prince expected WB to support it so in the end no one supported it at all.

Love SOTT. Slow Love and It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night are weaker tracks, especially when you think that Crystal Ball, Shockadelica, Joy in Reptition, Rebirth of the Flesh and so on and so on, could have been in their place.

Are DF and CB better albums? I'm not sure. On a purely logistical level, I can listen to SOTT in one sitting easier than a tripple album.