Holy duck fucker, this is exceptional. It is all kinds of better than the official commercial release. It's beautiful, sparse and PRINCE. To me this would have re-captured the quality we heard from Lovesexy. I liked D&P official well enough, but I think I'll always hate it now I know how it could have been.

It does show that over producing stuff can completely fuck it up. That version of Insatiable is incredible.

Horny Pony

That's what it was meant to sound ffs

Nice quality, but the material just isn't good. Diamonds & Pearls remains one of Prince's weakest albums. Granted, I still prefer it to The Rainbow Children, but overall, no thanks.

Insatiable is a nice upgrade from what we had before. Live 4 Love is alright, if slight. Walk Don't Walk is better without the car horns, but instead has another, even more annoying sound effect there. "Horny Pony" is definately better here than the final version.

For me, the only real keeper here is "Willing and Able".

[Edited 10/26/15 13:07pm]

I really like this alternative mix of Money Don't Matter 2 Night. The differences are subtle, but make the song sound better the the released version.

I prefer the released version of Walk Don't Walk - I much prefer the horns to whatever that noise is in this version.

Horny Pony is much better than the released version. Much better.

A Diamonds & Pearls without Tony M sounds dreamy

KlyphIsBackAgain said:

One word: INSATIABLE!

I have to agree with you..


this early version (as much as I love the released original), is amazing as well....

jasontate said:

After a few listens this is a mixed bag. It's interesting and fun, but definitely not better then the released configuration, as it is missing the best song of the whole original release, which is Gett Off for me.

This is also definitely not an early configuration of songs intended for release in these versions. The only songs that sound finished are Schoolyard, Insatiable and maybe Money don't matter 2nite. The rest are unfinished demos. As pointed out before it's mostly bass and drums, and only some rhythm guitar parts. Almost no synthesizers, and no guitar solo at all.

Also, almost no other voices besides Prince. The only track featuring Tony M. is Something Funky This House Comes, which actually sounds good here. Strange thing that on this version, when Tony M. gives his shout out "Ladies and Gentlemen: Rosie Gaines", a female voice answers, but it is definitely not Rosie singing. Maybe Elisa Fiorillo?

Rosie features only on Schoolyard and Daddy Pop, which is a shame... Question: On Daddy Pop Rosie is heard with the line "Ain't no stopping now". I think this was sampled in a later song, but i cannot remember in which one. Anybody?

Well, I guess now we know wht happens when you turn a mostly-jazz album, into a pop album...

kindofblue said:

After a few listens this is a mixed bag. It's interesting and fun, but definitely not better then the released configuration, as it is missing the best song of the whole original release, which is Gett Off for me.

This is also definitely not an early configuration of songs intended for release in these versions. The only songs that sound finished are Schoolyard, Insatiable and maybe Money don't matter 2nite. The rest are unfinished demos. As pointed out before it's mostly bass and drums, and only some rhythm guitar parts. Almost no synthesizers, and no guitar solo at all.

Also, almost no other voices besides Prince. The only track featuring Tony M. is Something Funky This House Comes, which actually sounds good here. Strange thing that on this version, when Tony M. gives his shout out "Ladies and Gentlemen: Rosie Gaines", a female voice answers, but it is definitely not Rosie singing. Maybe Elisa Fiorillo?

Rosie features only on Schoolyard and Daddy Pop, which is a shame... Question: On Daddy Pop Rosie is heard with the line "Ain't no stopping now". I think this was sampled in a later song, but i cannot remember in which one. Anybody?

You're probably right, but it does bring the album closer to the minimalist aesthetic of certain songs on albums like SOTT.

And though the arrangements are sparse, what is there contains a lot of musical information (if that makes any sense)

kindofblue said:

After a few listens this is a mixed bag. It's interesting and fun, but definitely not better then the released configuration, as it is missing the best song of the whole original release, which is Gett Off for me.

This is also definitely not an early configuration of songs intended for release in these versions. The only songs that sound finished are Schoolyard, Insatiable and maybe Money don't matter 2nite. The rest are unfinished demos. As pointed out before it's mostly bass and drums, and only some rhythm guitar parts. Almost no synthesizers, and no guitar solo at all.

Also, almost no other voices besides Prince. The only track featuring Tony M. is Something Funky This House Comes, which actually sounds good here. Strange thing that on this version, when Tony M. gives his shout out "Ladies and Gentlemen: Rosie Gaines", a female voice answers, but it is definitely not Rosie singing. Maybe Elisa Fiorillo?

Rosie features only on Schoolyard and Daddy Pop, which is a shame... Question: On Daddy Pop Rosie is heard with the line "Ain't no stopping now". I think this was sampled in a later song, but i cannot remember in which one. Anybody?

i think it was on the unreleased version of The Flow.

because of the great sound quality I actually listened to "something funky this house comes" all the way through .You would be surprised at the boots you would listen to when it's good quality.

kindofblue said:

His falsetto on Insatiable could part the fucking sea.

You really hyped Insatiable for me going in. But, Wow! It's really that good!

Indeed. A second listen to this, and "Insatiable" is definately a highlight here.

TheDigitalGardener said:

His falsetto on Insatiable could part the fucking sea.

His changeup from falsetto to the dark voice speech is better than I Hate U. Miles better! And I fucking love I Hate U!

I can't find it either.

Are these versions different to those on the Work It set?

TheDigitalGardener said:

So, when did all the guitar (and pop sheen) come into this? Princevault has four configurations, and clearly there is a major across the board change in how these tracks sound between here and the end product--so when did Prince go back in and lay in the "new sound" that transformed the album. I'm assuming here that at some point he decided to lay in the "final" signature sound to this album--I'm suddenly very interested in the intervening configurations and how the songs that stayed changed through the evolution. So... if you're one of the folks who've heard the other configurations, tell us what you've heard.

I'm only part way through, but I've got to say that as much as the beeping horns annoy on Walk Don't Walk, that whirring buzz is even worse.

I just lost an extensive edit to my previous post--ah well. Anyway, the buzz might be in the released version of Walk Don't Walk, but like so many things on this D&P, it's covered up in the final. This is just so DETAILED--I'm hearing so much that might be on the official album but without all the extra vocalists and keyboards (and even guitar) lots of small things are striking me as brilliant. I'm very surprised by this release, and by how much I like it. It might be that I'm just listening to it with ears that have been prepped to expect something better than the released album--but I'm definitely finding a lot to like here. I'm not sure, but I think I might prefer every duplicated track in this version to the released. That's based on one listen--but I really like this.

Don't get me wrong--I like a lot of the released album quite a bit. But losing Rosie from the title track--definitely good. Losing the "D to the I to the A"--definitely great. Hearing the organ solo without Tony's rap in Willing and Able--nice (that whole track is great). Insatiable--every 20 seconds or so there's some great moment, some detail--many of which might actually be on the released version, but they're buried in the mix if they are. Money Don't Matter is wonderful. Horny Pony, although I like the energy of the released version, is just a filthy trip. And Live for Love, compared to the bombast of the released version, is a very interesting alternate vision of the song's potential.

D&P's always been a weak one for me--I'm still not sure why he did what he did on it, but I see that there were some really interesting elements in there that kind of got buried along the way (though he also found Gett Off, and there are things I like about even Push and Jughead--well, about Push. I can't actually think off anything good about Jughead right now. But I have in the past, I just can't remember what they were). So I'm glad this configuration of the album has surfaced.

The spare version of Horny Pony is startlingly funky. Razer sharp. Tight as hell. The words are still corny AF, but damn, the groove.

Of course, Insatiable is the highlight. He really had something special with that one.

The rest is interesting for sure. The version of Live 4 Love is quite interesting when compared to what it turned into.

Thanks to whomever unearthed this for the masses.

looking fwd to finding this. no luck so far

Mmm this is difficult to find, found a chinese website but can't decipher it. My curiosity grows

Too bad it is so hard to find!

starbuck said:

Mmm this is difficult to find, found a chinese website but can't decipher it. My curiosity grows

I got that site too. I could listen, but couldnt figure out how to DL. There was some other good stuff there too that I'd like to hold on to.