People were pretty mean to this album when it came out, but I have to say I really dig it. Solid musicianship, lots of humour and creativity, not a loop in sight, and a closing track that ranks up there with his best ballads.

Sure it ain't Sign o' the Times, but I feel that it's a solid, entertaining summer album. They can't all be masterpieces! Sometimes a collection of solid jams in capable hands is all you need. And I find it endlessly amusing that this is the kind of material that P can just 'throw in the garbage', so to speak.

What do you think?

In late 85 early 86 I heard the original, one of the local radio stations had a HUGE Prince fan dj
and he played OF4S saying he was told this is a promo song for the new Prince movie UTCM

.

He played it so much that I had 1 side of a Maxwell Gold tape with it on it

.

Then when the remake came out I rushed to buy it, not releasing it was not the original. Havin heard the original in its simplicity, I was spoiled, could not even like the song.
.
When he performed it live a few years ago after he & Sheila E had the falling out, I appreciated it more. Especially because he did not perform the original.

I think it suffered from timing, there was a lot of negative sentiment in general around at the time because of a string of poor albums, failed combacks, shoddy commercial ventures, him ramping up the JW wackjob talk. And this slips out with it's 1993 Neo Manifesto artwork and the "we didn't ask for this" version of the OF4S, and it's short and seemed even more of a toss-off than C&D.

It's fair to say like C&D, it's been re-evaluated by many since on it's own terms and the material holds up pretty damn for the most part, I actually think it's a better album than C&D overall.

NouveauDance said:

I think it suffered from timing, there was a lot of negative sentiment in general around at the time because of a string of poor albums, failed combacks, shoddy commercial ventures, him ramping up the JW wackjob talk. And this slips out with it's 1993 Neo Manifesto artwork and the "we didn't ask for this" version of the OF4S, and it's short and seemed even more of a toss-off than C&D.

It's fair to say like C&D, it's been re-evaluated by many since on it's own terms and the material holds up pretty damn for the most part, I actually think it's a better album than C&D overall.

I think you're right. After albums like Emancipation and NPS, hearing we'd get an album called 'The Vault' had us salivating for unreleased gems from the 80's. This wasn't that, but I agree it's stronger, song-for-song, than C&D (which I love). Maybe he should have named it 'Y'all Fuck Off, I'm Gonna Play Guitar and Piano Like a Mofo'.

I've actually never heard the original version of OF4S, so I'm still fully onboard with the released version.

for me this is the only one of the 'contractual obligation' albums that actually

feel like just that.

having said that, it is a nice album with some great tracks.

i just wish that horrid remake of Old Friends 4 Sale hadn't been on it and he'd

put "I'll Do Anything", "Make Believe" and possible "Be My Mirror" on there.

or the original Old Friends. but i can see why he wouldn't want to hand over
that song to warners at that time since it's obviously one of his best unreleased
songs, if not one of his best, period.

this is how i enjoy listening to it:

01. The Rest Of My Life

02. Make Believe

03. I'll Do Anything

04. It's About That Walk

05. She Spoke 2 Me

06. Be My Mirror

07. When The Lights Go Down

08. There Is Lonely

09. Sarah

10. Letter 4 Miles

11. Extraordinary

I like it but there's nothing exciting about it for the general audience and certainly not radio play.

Extraordinary... that's my jam.

It's About That Walk is my fave track..

Otherwise it's an average album imo..

I must say, after giving it a full listen a while ago, I really love it. It served as an appropriate transition into his Jazz-era.

OldFriends4Sale said:

eyewishuheaven said:

People were pretty mean to this album when it came out, but I have to say I really dig it. Solid musicianship, lots of humour and creativity, not a loop in sight, and a closing track that ranks up there with his best ballads.

Sure it ain't Sign o' the Times, but I feel that it's a solid, entertaining summer album. They can't all be masterpieces! Sometimes a collection of solid jams in capable hands is all you need. And I find it endlessly amusing that this is the kind of material that P can just 'throw in the garbage', so to speak.

What do you think?

It's a very, very good album. Also, I always rate Prince's demo-ish sounds above the shiny, spit and polish production he usually comes up with.

iZsaZsa said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

He played it so much that I had 1 side of a Maxwell Gold tape with it on it. Then when the remake came out I rushed to buy it, not releasing it was not the original. Havin heard the original in its simplicity, I was spoiled, could not even like the song.

That's your name, don't wear it out. Haha. And I get what you're saying about the remake. It must have felt sugarcoated and like you were being shut out. Or that's just me. I heard the album version first, so when I heard the original it felt like I was being pulled in closer and trusted with more of the truth.

LOL

yeah, I think that at the time spoiled the album for me. I couldn't hear it then.

The latter version is definately less personal. And overdone

Could someone actually post the lyrics to the original OF4S? I like the lyrics of the final cut but I'd like to compare. Not being a native speaker it never made much difference to me as the instrumental track is absolutely the same, so I was always puzzled by the hate people have for the released version (which itself was already circulating on boots IIRC).

Anyway I'll add my voice to the crowd praising that album. I read a lot of threads recently with praise for albums that were the subject of a lot of hate from the fanbase at the time of release and I'm happy about that I always knew Prince's post WB output would be rediscovered and reevaluated overtime (I remember a critic writing this in a music mag in the early 00's, too).

A LOT of love!

The Vault for me is one of the best Prince albums of the 90s, along with The Truth. It is just so jazzy and loose, and the lyrics on Old Friends never bothered me, I kind of liked them and like databank never understood the hate.

This in my book is better than Diamonds and Pearls, Emancipation and The Gold Album - and hardly sounds dated at all (except maybe for Sarah - which I like).

The no. 1 track on this album for me is When the Lights Go Down. Never has he made a song quite like this, wish he would.

NouveauDance said:

I think it suffered from timing, there was a lot of negative sentiment in general around at the time because of a string of poor albums, failed combacks, shoddy commercial ventures, him ramping up the JW wackjob talk. And this slips out with it's 1993 Neo Manifesto artwork and the "we didn't ask for this" version of the OF4S, and it's short and seemed even more of a toss-off than C&D.

It's fair to say like C&D, it's been re-evaluated by many since on it's own terms and the material holds up pretty damn for the most part, I actually think it's a better album than C&D overall.

This. This gets a regular play in my car. It's appeal for me is the musicianship and tha it's uncluttered - 5 women, She Spoke 2 Me, When The Lgihts Go Down (my fav). It displays cohesion and maturity; no chasing hits. Damn, I wish we could have more of the same.

databank said:

Could someone actually post the lyrics to the original OF4S? I like the lyrics of the final cut but I'd like to compare. Not being a native speaker it never made much difference to me as the instrumental track is absolutely the same, so I was always puzzled by the hate people have for the released version (which itself was already circulating on boots IIRC).

Anyway I'll add my voice to the crowd praising that album. I read a lot of threads recently with praise for albums that were the subject of a lot of hate from the fanbase at the time of release and I'm happy about that I always knew Prince's post WB output would be rediscovered and reevaluated overtime (I remember a critic writing this in a music mag in the early 00's, too).

Old Friends 4 Sale

The sun set in the west this mornin'
4 I know, I know L.A. is callin'
Bad news, Steve said, and people are talkin'
They say your kingdom is fallin', yeah
They say U lost your fire
When another musician U hired
Little do they know, U wouldn't have passed go
Unless they could take U higher, yeah

The sun set in my heart this afternoon
4 2 friends of mine got stuck in the snow
In Uptown when winter's alarmin', oh
Cocaine becomes charmin'
But U talk about things U don't know 'bout
I know, no matter how pleasant your past was
Green and white return 2 blue
U're happy as long as your last buzz
And then U think U want something new, yeah

The sun, the sun set in my mind this evening
4 someone who said they would die 4 me
Sold some, they sold some more pictures and all my little memories
Chump change is 2 unravel the mystery, ah ha
But life is no fun, life ain't no fun without fantasy
Some things are better left unsaid
And some people are better left untrusted
Maybe, maybe, maybe it'll all make sense when I'm dead
When I'm dead

Old friends 4 sale
Get'em while the gettin' is hot
Watch out, they'll kiss U until they get what U got
And they'll show U the friends that they're not
Old friends 4 sale

Old Friends 4 Sale
This slow bluesy classic is one of Prince's most autobiographical songs in which he sings about Steve Fargnoli, Wendy Melvoin, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and the late bodyguard Chick Huntsberry. A somber mood is established from an eerie slightly discordant synth with a piano the main accompaniment. Recorded during the Parade sessions, two versions exist, with one including Clare Fischer's orchestra. It was revised in 1991.

The song "Old Friends 4 Sale" was written in 1985
and was featured in Prince's movie "Under The Cherry Moon" but not included on the soundtrack "Parade".
The original song contained lyrics with veiled references about the firing of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis of The Time
and "Big" Chick Huntsberry, his former bodyguard,
who supposedly sold a fictious story about Prince to a tabloid to support his cocaine habit.

The song was re-recorded in 1991 with less personal lyrics, and released in 1996.

Prince Talks Interview April 1985

Prince is fiddling with the tape deck inside the T-Bird.
On low volume comes his unreleased "Old Friends 4 Sale,"
an arrow-to-the-heart rock ballad about trust and loss.
Unlike "Positively 4th Street" -- which Bob Dylan reputedly named after a nearby Minneapolis block --
the lyrics are sad, not bitter. "I don't know too much about Dylan," says Prince, "but I respect him a lot. 'All Along the Watchtower' is my favorite of his. I heard it first from Jimi Hendrix."
"Old Friends 4 Sale" ends,
and on comes "Strange Relationships," and as-yet-unreleased dance tune.
"Is it too much?" asks Prince about playing his own songs in his own car.
"Not long ago I was driving around L.A. with [a well-known rock star], and all he did was play his own stuff over and over. If it gets too much, just tell me."

The Rest Of My Life

Don't look now but there's another rocky road
Another heavy wow of the much too heavy, heavy load
But today I'm gonna face it, yeah, 'cause I'm sick of dealin' any other way
Nobody said the race was fair but I'm gonna keep runnin' just the same
Today, today is the first day of the rest of my life

Don't look now but here comes another heartbreak
Benefit of the doubt I'll give it, control of my life I've gotta take
'Cause I'm alive and that's reason enough for me to bust a smile
I've arrived and now I wanna stay for a little while
'Cause today, today is the first day of the rest of my life

Let's go

Today, today is the first day of the rest of my life
'Cause today, today is the best day of the rest of my life

by Claude Gassian

OldFriends4Sale said:

The sun set in my heart this evenin'
'Cause an old friend of mine got lost in the jive
Little did she know, when you're stuck in the snow
Nobody gets out alive

Tears fall gently in my garden
As I wait in vain for my sweet baby to call
I guess what my own brother told me was true
He had been with my sweet baby
And she never really loved me at all

Night fell so dark this evenin'
The moon wasn't shining' nowhere
Sometimes that old light in the alley
Would light up this old heart of mine
But now I'm wonderin'
If there's someone up there who really cares

The night fell darkest in Persia
What used to flow blue is now flowin' black
Many a doctor can try but only heaven knows why
When it comes to love
Why do some men, why do some men turn their backs?
Can't somebody please tell me?

Maybe the morning air will make me feel better
Oh, I hope, better than I feel right now
Last night a stranger took my picture
And then he, uh, he asked if I'd buy it
Huh, I said, "I guess I don't know how"

Old, old friends 4 sale
Get 'em while the gettin' is hot but you better watch out
They'll kiss you until they get what you got
And they'll show you the friends that they're not
Old friends 4 sale, yeah

IstenSzek said:

this is how i enjoy listening to it:

01. The Rest Of My Life

02. Make Believe

03. I'll Do Anything

04. It's About That Walk

05. She Spoke 2 Me

06. Be My Mirror

07. When The Lights Go Down

08. There Is Lonely

09. Sarah

10. Letter 4 Miles

11. Extraordinary

+1 for including The Rest of My Life. Fits perfectly.

iZsaZsa said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Old Friends 4 Sale

The sun set in the west this mornin'
4 I know, I know L.A. is callin'
Bad news, Steve said, and people are talkin'
They say your kingdom is fallin', yeah
They say U lost your fire
When another musician U hired
Little do they know, U wouldn't have passed go
Unless they could take U higher, yeah

The sun set in my heart this afternoon
4 2 friends of mine got stuck in the snow
In Uptown when winter's alarmin', oh
Cocaine becomes charmin'
But U talk about things U don't know 'bout
I know, no matter how pleasant your past was
Green and white return 2 blue
U're happy as long as your last buzz
And then U think U want something new, yeah

The sun, the sun set in my mind this evening
4 someone who said they would die 4 me
Sold some, they sold some more pictures and all my little memories
Chump change is 2 unravel the mystery, ah ha
But life is no fun, life ain't no fun without fantasy
Some things are better left unsaid
And some people are better left untrusted
Maybe, maybe, maybe it'll all make sense when I'm dead
When I'm dead

Old friends 4 sale
Get'em while the gettin' is hot
Watch out, they'll kiss U until they get what U got
And they'll show U the friends that they're not
Old friends 4 sale

Old Friends 4 Sale
This slow bluesy classic is one of Prince's most autobiographical songs in which he sings about Steve Fargnoli, Wendy Melvoin, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and the late bodyguard Chick Huntsberry. A somber mood is established from an eerie slightly discordant synth with a piano the main accompaniment. Recorded during the Parade sessions, two versions exist, with one including Clare Fischer's orchestra. It was revised in 1991.

The song "Old Friends 4 Sale" was written in 1985
and was featured in Prince's movie "Under The Cherry Moon" but not included on the soundtrack "Parade".
The original song contained lyrics with veiled references about the firing of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis of The Time
and "Big" Chick Huntsberry, his former bodyguard,
who supposedly sold a fictious story about Prince to a tabloid to support his cocaine habit.

The song was re-recorded in 1991 with less personal lyrics, and released in 1996.

Prince Talks Interview April 1985

Prince is fiddling with the tape deck inside the T-Bird.
On low volume comes his unreleased "Old Friends 4 Sale,"
an arrow-to-the-heart rock ballad about trust and loss.
Unlike "Positively 4th Street" -- which Bob Dylan reputedly named after a nearby Minneapolis block --
the lyrics are sad, not bitter. "I don't know too much about Dylan," says Prince, "but I respect him a lot. 'All Along the Watchtower' is my favorite of his. I heard it first from Jimi Hendrix."
"Old Friends 4 Sale" ends,
and on comes "Strange Relationships," and as-yet-unreleased dance tune.
"Is it too much?" asks Prince about playing his own songs in his own car.
"Not long ago I was driving around L.A. with [a well-known rock star], and all he did was play his own stuff over and over. If it gets too much, just tell me."

There's a tug of war about whether the "stuck in the snow" is about Jimmy & Terry or about Morris and Vanity. I think he "killed" 4 friends with one stone, but lean toward Morris and Vanity. I know I would feel more betrayed by friends who turned to drugs than by friends who were making hits.

I think since he brings it all up w/Cocaine it's about Morris & Vanity. Or it could be a mixed message about all 4. The Atlanta freak snow storm that caught Jimmy & Terry. And Morris & Vanity using coke.
But in the 1990 Interview mag interview he did talk about Jimmy & Terry like he was envious of them.

The most often-told tale involves Prince firing the then-unknown Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis from the Time in 1982. Jam and Lewis, all parties now agree, left a Time tour on a day off to produce their first record for the SOS Band. A freak snowstorm in Atlanta grounded them for an extra day, and the two missed a gig. When Jam and Lewis returned, they were summarily fired. Jobless, the two missed Purple Rain, so they set up as producers and went scrounging for clients. In the years since, they've produced everyone from Janet Jackson to Herb Alpert, becoming the other superpower on the Minneapolis music scene.

.

Despite the rap, Prince says, he harbors no ill will toward the now-famous producers working across town from Paisley Park at their Flyte Time studios. "We're friends," he says. "We know each other like brothers. Jimmy always gave me a lot of credit for getting things going in Minneapolis, and I'm hip to that. Terry's more aloof, but I know that." And their music? "Terry and Jimmy aren't into the Minneapolis sound," Prince says. "They're into making every single one of their records a hit. Not that there's anything wrong with that, we're just different."