Why does Prince release inferior versions of songs in the vault?

We Can Funk, Tick Tick Bang, Endorphinmachine*, Come, Feel U Up, Irresistable Bitch, Old Friends 4 Sale* and on it goes...

All officially released and all worse than the original demos/versions stuck in the vault.

Why does P feel then need to balls perfectly good songs up? I don't get it!







* = The released versions of these two annoy me the most.

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[This message was edited Wed Nov 12 12:44:41 PST 2003 by Marrk]

He often gets it wrong. He's only human, I suppose.

"Think inside out."

Because Prince does not feel thbe world deserves some of th e good songs and some of th e good versions of them...honest. He stated in a 1990-92 interview in Vibe or Spin..I think its Spin ( D&P era) about hw he had a great song he kept off of D&P because it was too good for release..he would "put it on The Dawn" etc..so he seems to have this upper-crust attitude that his good ones are too good to be heard by the rest of humanity at large lol..really. I know it seems like a backwards azz thing to do such as not releasing great great material but thats what makes him our lil Princey lol.

stingey stingey stingey

the original version of "old friends" is one o the best songs ive ever heard.

I think I know what you mean "Marrk". But I also think that what you're saying is very subjective. I'd be willing to bet there are many, many famous Prince songs that became hits that are actually songs that Prince re-worked to his liking. But, because we never heard the "vault" version of those songs, we don't know the difference and therfore have no reason to complain about the release of what some would call "inferior" work.

Prince would probably argue that we (the fans) have no business listening to unreleased unauthorized vault material anyway. In our minds, we may think that one version is better than the other. But, we don't really know how Prince "hears" the song in releation to the vast catalog of his work.

Buying and listening to vault material from Prince has and probably always will be very tempting simply because he's so prolific. But, the drawback on taking a sneak peek is exactly what you're saying... meaning that one could always conclude that the earlier version is better because it doesn't have "this" or it does have "that" etc. But basically all we're doing is second guessing an artist's work at that point.

inferior?!?!

interpretations, yes, but NEVER inferior.

danielboon said:

JavierAlcalde said:

It's all opinion ain't it, maybe he digs the released versions more?

Besides, we know what a freak Prince is for NOW, seems like he will always choose whatever he's doing NOW over what he's done before (except when picking songs for a tour set list )

JavierAlcalde said:

JavierAlcalde said:

JavierAlcalde said:

danielboon said:

SquirrelMeat said:

I think I read first that it was Jimmy/Terry, but the line makes a much better image and in keeping the melancholy feel of the song if it refers to Morris and Vanity.

Romance1600 said:

it's some coincidence , jimmy and terry did get stuck in the snow !

The released version of Irresistable Bitch is damn classic - no way inferior.

danielboon said:

Prince, where he released inferior versions ?

1. Come
2. Joy In Repetition
3. Computer Blue
4. The Beautiful Ones
5. Endorphin Machine

BUT, where he made the right choice re-recording?

1. Kiss
2. Can't Stop this feeling I got
3. Tick Tick Bang
4. Would U love 2 Love me?
5. Crystal Ball




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[This message was edited Wed Nov 12 17:35:31 PST 2003 by SquirrelMeat]

SquirrelMeat said:

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"

has got to be the lamest, stupidest lyrics p ever wrote.

smokeverbs said:

Add Daddy Pop, Live For Love, and Joy In Repetition if they haven't been mentioned above. Joy In Repetition has to be the all-time best example of this...He totally screwed up the start of it.....

I sometimes wonder if he felt he was too overshadowed by Rosie Gaines on the original version of Daddy Pop and he changed it around because of this...probably not, but it's a thought because she totally GOES OFF on the outtake version...damn that's a funky one.
[This message was edited Thu Nov 13 4:23:44 PST 2003 by TonyC]

OMG, after reading that I'm desperate to hear the original Old Friends. Could some kind soul possible send it to me over MSN? I'm on broadband and my addy is littleredcorvette@davidbowie.com

My on a positive note: I personally like the version of "She spoke to me" that apperaed on the Girl 6 Soundtrack. - I thought Spike Lee was genius for choosing Prince for the score - I don't think any other artist would have done it any justice!

Love is Love!
My space: http://www.myspace.com/77darlingnikki08

littleredcorvette1 said:

I was listening to some stuff last night. One of the tracks was the unreleased version of Feel U Up that blends into Irresistible Bitch. I prefer the released version of Feel U Up (Short Stroke or Long Stroke I ain't fussy). It just sounds better to my ears.

But Irresistible Bitch sounds better on the unreleased version IMHO with Prince's "Jamie Starr/Cloreen Baconskin" voice. He fairly screams it and the released version sounds a bit subdued and cold in comparison.

Personally, I find "Tick Tick Bang" and "Come" to be far more interesting in their released versions, simply because there is so much more going on in the mix. The guitar on Tick Tick Bang makes it better than the original to me, and the horns and strings in Come make it better than the original.