mediumdry said:

214 said:

sexton said:

The snare on the 12" was boosted for club play, I'm sure. I believe the extended version made the top 20 on the Billboard dance charts.

I do prefer listening to the album version within the context of the album though. It has a much fuller sound.

Fuller than the 12" version? how so?

In the same way the drums are heightened in the 12" version for the dancefloor, many of the other instruments sound quieter in the mix to me.

stpaisios said:

best song of the 80's?

Careful there.
Heck, count me in.

mediumdry said:

Interesting, all the love for this song. I've never minded the track, but never really loved it either. I always just skip the first 4 minutes and then... then it is just pure magic. Parade was the high point for his extended versions. Sure, there are great ones before and after the album, but Parade stands alone where for every single he knocked the extended version out of the park. The crazyness of the extended portion of Kiss (and I only recently found out he played it live too in the early shows of the Parade tour!), the marvelous treatment that Anotherloverholenyohead gets and the magic trip that is the Mountains 12".

.

While I may be alone in feeling that the extended part far exceeds the actual song, I do love the era a lot too. Prince before the fall...

There is no extended part without the actual song. The extended portion of kiss wouldnt be so crazy without the acual song with the spare instrumetals. I think thats what the extended versions make so strong. It builds up. Without the build up (the original song), the extended version woudnt be so strong.

214 said:

sexton said:

The snare on the 12" was boosted for club play, I'm sure. I believe the extended version made the top 20 on the Billboard dance charts.

I do prefer listening to the album version within the context of the album though. It has a much fuller sound.

Fuller than the 12" version? how so?

The drums on the album version are much fuller.

bonatoc said:

stpaisios said:

best song of the 80's?

Careful there.
Heck, count me in.

You're so charming and funny.

sexton said:

214 said:

Fuller than the 12" version? how so?

In the same way the drums are heightened in the 12" version for the dancefloor, many of the other instruments sound quieter in the mix to me.

Ok, thanks

Thewooh said:

Was the extended portion more of a solo effort?

seems even moreso a full band piece

A very convincing argument could be made that Mountains might be Prince's greatest song ever. It has everything - a killer melody, fun and playful lyrics, superb instrumentation, brilliant production, and heaping spoonfuls of that elusive, ineffable Prince-ly quality that made him so special...

paisleypark4 said:

nextedition said:

Mountains is on of my favourite songs ever made.

Everything is perfect.

When that beat starts! the horns. The voices together.

I like the 12" too, but think the drums are better on the album version.

100% agree.

I handcrafted my own extended version with the same intro, but the album version..which then fades right into the regular extended version. The new snare is just a little too industrial for me.

Now THAT I would LOVE 2 hear my friend !!!!

OldFriends4Sale said:

paulludvig said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

seems even moreso a full band piece

Why do you think that? Sounds like it's all Prince to me + horns.

the song was a full band recording

One of the best ever.

But what are they saying: "Bobby's our drummer?" "Bobby's on the drum (uh)!?"

Can never quite make it out

I cannot remember exactly but Prince played this either 1st or 2nd song in the set the opening night of Wwelcome 2 America in Oakland.

I could not believe he would break this shit out and so early for an areana gig, but he did.

And the Revolution played it beautifully at their stop in L.A. a few months ago.

OldFriends4Sale said:

paulludvig said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

the song was a full band recording

But the extended portion?

I love the song, Appreciation 100%

When I first heard Mountains when I put the needle 2 the LP

when I heard the ending I said 'this continues and will be released as a long version'

Appreciation 4 Mountains 100%

paisleypark4 said:

nextedition said:

Mountains is on of my favourite songs ever made.

Everything is perfect.

When that beat starts! the horns. The voices together.

I like the 12" too, but think the drums are better on the album version.

100% agree.

I handcrafted my own extended version with the same intro, but the album version..which then fades right into the regular extended version. The new snare is just a little too industrial for me.

Please do not share it on the internet, or it'll soon get confused with the real deal.

ChadNPG69 said:

paisleypark4 said:

100% agree.

I handcrafted my own extended version with the same intro, but the album version..which then fades right into the regular extended version. The new snare is just a little too industrial for me.

Now THAT I would LOVE 2 hear my friend !!!!

Didn't you just describe the closing credits of UTCM ?

I may be wrong, long time no see the movie.

Did Mountains get full promotion and release by WB? Kiss and Girls and Boys did so much better... in fact you'd struggle to find many non fans that even remember this was a single!

purplerabbithole said:

I love this song but I can,t pick it as my favorite prince song seeing as W and L wrote the melody. P's lyrics are cute and the band is smoking and it's a good vocal from him but I respect him too much as a songwriter to pick a song he only wrote the lyrics for as his best song. Okay it's the best Wendy, Lisa and prince trio song

i'm not sure they did the melody. They did the groove for sure. .

.

.

also, he wrote the crazy chord changes before the ending vamp.

.

.

PS No one gonna answer about the "Bobby our drummer?" question above?

purplerabbithole said:

I love this song but I can,t pick it as my favorite prince song seeing as W and L wrote the melody. P's lyrics are cute and the band is smoking and it's a good vocal from him but I respect him too much as a songwriter to pick a song he only wrote the lyrics for as his best song. Okay it's the best Wendy, Lisa and prince trio song

uptemp one of the trio best

Power Fantastic is the meloncholy ultimate

After getting in the correct frame of mind tonight, I can tell you for a fact Mounains is just a fucking AWESOME track. Also, Prince Dabbled.

smiler69 said:

johnnyribcage said:

After getting in the correct frame of mind tonight, I can tell you for a fact Mounains is just a fucking AWESOME track. Also, Prince Dabbled.

To really appreciate Parade, you have to somewhat train your ears to very specific acoustics.
There is simply no other album that sounds like it, it's a bit Pet Sounds, a bit Sergeant Pepper, a bit Növo, a bit Free Jazz, a bit Vaudeville, some fusion, some stripped-to-the-bone Funk, some Opera-Bouffe, all drenched in symphonic glacis... and then, out of nowhere, one of the most haunting acoustic ballads ever put to record in the history of rock, probably in one single take.

This is an album to absorb in one, long flow.
Side A closing with Venus de Milo, and side B opening with Mountains, that was crucial.
The pause between the two vinyl sides, one was black, the other was white.

It's a demanding album: 40 minutes of your full attention, preferably in an absolute darkness, sitting on the peak of the stereo triangle.
You've got to let images coming to you from the shadows of your and Prince's mind.
Like Batman, it's up to your fantasy to create the movie the sounds evoke.
UTCM remains priceless, but the visions I got from the album, before the movie came out, were closer to get an Oscar in my mind, not a Razzie.

SOTT is even more difficult. First, you need a proper source, and second, the sound is so shaped to a unique vision, that you need a full week with it before you start hearing how many layers there truly are in each song. There's no screaming delay, no blatant reverb, everything sounds so dry at first. The "look Ma, I made a demo tape out of a million bucks studio" production approach, which took months to Prince and Susan Rogers to get just right. Bruce Swedien my ass.

We have a soft spot for Parade and Lovesexy because they're so focused.
Lyrics, music, gimmicks, clothes, haircuts, lighting, stage design, instruments, color palettes, arrangements, choreographies all going in one direction, without ever seeming forced, like propelled by outer powers. Sexual equality in society, in the bedroom, the hippie credo, the Uptown ethics, man, sometimes I think Prince was punkier than punk: in retrospect, they look heroic, but they also look like bums and losers. Prince stole the show, the cash register and the Mashed Potatoes girl, all in one slide on the knees across the stage. While looking impeccable from start to finish (well, there are some debatable panoplies 4 sure).

It's probable that in the most severe runs (some weeks of 1985 are just litteraly incredible, according to Princevault), Prince was the first surprised by the swiftness of his own talent, how much it poured upon him.
Hence the funny personas and avatars.
It must have helped him staying... humble (as much as Christopher or Joey Coco could ever be).

[Edited 9/16/17 13:48pm]

GaryMF said:

smiler69 said:

If I remember on the old dtt-p lyric site, it says 'Bobby on the drum, ah!' so it was just an exclamation at the end...

Thanks. Isn't a little ironic since it's actually a Linn program? Or is Bobby playing pads triggering the Linn?

What?

The tom rolls really sound like the electronic drum kits of the time, Simmons and such.
They don't sound like the Linn at all.

I think the only (triggered) Linn sound we hear in Mountains it's the syncopated handclaps with the delay set on a quarter note. The bass drum, the hi-hat, the cymbals, it's a live take, no question about it.