What, in your opinion, justifies it as "the greatest concert film of all time"?

MrSquiggle said:

Personally I don't think it's the best concert film ever made - it's definitely very good, but I'd rate other films above it - Stop Making Sense and The Last Waltz are two that are superior in my opinion.

I can't help but grimace a bit when I see the scenes in SOTT that have been obviously re-shot on the Paisley Park soundstage. It's true that this allowed Prince to show moves and close-ups that could never have been seen if the movie relied completely on original concert footage, but it still takes me out of the moment and devalues the movie as a whole.

BUT - it does feature very exciting versions of the best material Prince ever recorded. The renderings of Housequake, The Cross, IGBABN and the Forever in My Life/It medley are some of the finest moments of Prince's career.

Simply put: the music...Some of the best P performances ever in my book. I love Robert Christgau's take on it:
http://www.robertchristga...ign-48.php

MrSquiggle said:

I'd like to know that myself. It never worked for me.

It can't be the greatest concert of all time because it isn't a concert. Lip-synching is reserved for Britney. But that said it is pretty damn cool.

damn, i never even knew there was a movie fo sott

lovemachine said:

Sorry. WRONG. You're trying to tell me "Forever in My Life" was lip snyched? Please, explain how that works...

MrSquiggle said:

Because YOU weren't in it!!!!

Honestly, it's not, what happens is when ever a star wants attention for a product it's hyped before anyone can give it an opinon. The Rainbow Children was presented to us as "controversial". Yet no one had heard it including music critics to say it was controversial - I say this because I have a friend who work for a newspaper here and when she got the cd to review - it was already labeled The controversial new cd from Prince.

Whendoevscry2000 shared a harsh thought.

It was GOOOD! The whole was a good concert for our favorite album!

"Sign O The Times" when the band came out and Cat on top dancin!

"Forever In My Life" with "It" oh my god that was so beautiful!

"If I Was Your Girlfriend"

"Hot THing" "omg: the DANCES!!!!
Housequake

its Gonna Be A Beautiful Night...


It was just awesome 2 watch in his best period. Point Blank!!

was this an official release?

The music and the dancing -- funky stuff. Yes, Prince has done better, but who else?

Don't forget the '87 MTV VMA awards performance of "Sign O' The Times" -- it was quite a change to see the Prince of Parade reappear as this Hendrix-rebel wearing jeans and playing some mean guitar while his band appears out of the shadows marching with their drums. And those looks he gave when he played -- classic!

Plus, this tour never made it to the States; though, Lovesexy was well worth the wait.

MendesCity said:

The majority of the footage in the movie (I've heard anywhere between 60%-90%) is Prince and his band lip-synching to the live recordings on a sound stage in his recording facility. Sometimes it's effectively done and fairly seamless; in other places it's glaringly obvious. In my opinion, this severely taints the movie - it leaves the entire picture feeling inauthentic.

SammiJ said:

Yep, I was in the theatre with a dozen other people and watched it. It was kind of a condolence to US for not getting the tour.

flipwilson said:

Actually, I believe the film consists of two concerts in Dortmund -- Prince took the footage back to the studio and did a lot of dubbing -- there was no lip-synching at the live performance; however, other vocals, instruments, and sound effects were added later at Paisley Park.

Snap said:

I'm afraid that I can't provide any links or documentation to support what I've stated (hopefully someone will back me up here). You are definitely right in that the Dortmund concerts were the basis for the film. However, most of the footage in the movie is Prince and the band lip-synching to cleaned-up tapes of the Dortmund concert on a sound stage. Whether this was done because the original footage was inadequate or Prince just wanted everything to be perfect (which would defeat the purpose of a concert film) I do not know.

As an aside, at this very moment I'm watching another concert film that tops SOTT as far as I'm concerned: Gimme Shelter...

It was visually stunning. THe stage was really something to behold.

The songs where terrific, the soudn quality was superb, the performances where riveting, the Musicians where top notch, and best of all--there wasn't a "Bad guy" band jepordizing his music career and trying to steal his girl in this movie.

...(forever in my life)
from the first moment I saw you girl
(forever in my life)
I knew you were the one for me
(forever in my life)
you're all that I dreamed of
(forever in my life)
you are my every little fantasy, yea
(fooooorrrrr ever in my life)
(fooooorrrrr ever in my life)

Bonnie, it's yo house
(forever in my life)
oooh, forever baby
(forever in my life)
& a day, ohhhhh
(forever in my life)
you know I wantcha, I need ya chile
(forever in my life)
in eeeeevery way, yea
(fooooorrrrr )
oh baby
(ever in my life)
aaaaaooooohhhhh
(fooooorrrrr)
forever, yea
(ever in my life)
foreeeeeverrrrr, yea
(forever in my life)
Bonnie Boyer!
whooooo hooo ooooo
(forever in my life)
I SAID BONNIE BOYER!
(forever in my life)
(forever in my life)
back off the mics children

alright, alright
(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)
everybody clap your hands, come on
(alright, alright)
sing it!
(alright, alright)

I think about it baby all the time
(alright, alright)
when we do it girl it's so devine
(alright, alright)
I might be guilty for my honesty, yea
(alright, alright)
but I gotta tell you what you mean to me
(alright)
sugar
(alright)
say it's alright
(...alright)
baby, say it's alright
(...alright)
sugar, say it's alright
(...alright)
say it, say it, SAY IT, saaaaay it's alright
(...alright)
(alright, alright)

I wanna do it to ya all the time
(alright, alright)
'cause when we do it girl it's so devine
(alright, alright)
I might be guilty for my honesty
(alright, alright)
BUT I GOTTA TELL YOU WHAT YOU MEAN TO ME YESSSSS!
(alright, alright)
I GOTTA TELL YOU WHAT YOU MEAN TO ME YEAAAAA!
(alright, alright)
I GOTTA TELL YA!
I GOTTA TELL YA!
I GOTTA TELL YA!
TELL YA!
TELL YA!
TELL YA!
TELL YA!
TELL YA!
TELL YA!
TELL YAAAA YAAAAA OOOOH!
::::mic drop::::

(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)

(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)
say it louder
(...alright)
say it little louder chile, yea
(...ALRIGHT)
say it louderrrrr
(...ALRIGHT)
say it louder yea
(...ALRIGHT)
SAY IT LOUDER!
(...ALRIGHT)
SAY IT LOUDER!
(ALRIGHT)
whoa yea
(ALRIGHT)
SAY IT LOUDER!
(ALRIGHT)
ohh yeaaaa
(ALRIGHT)
SAY IT LOUDER!
(ALRIGHT)
aye yea yea yea yeaaaaa
(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)
(alright, alright)...




THAT is perfection, bitches

for me its the dancin in housequake and hot thing
i never saw the slide on your back split snap the head back combo he did in housequake b4 that blew me away in the theater

flipwilson said:

Dortmund?? You have got to be kidding! The footage was recorded in Rotterdam in the summer of '87, everybody knows that!

The perfomance.


We need a proper version of this released on DVD so bad!!

MendesCity said:

Dude, Seriously watch it, forever in my life is one the most obvious examples, the guitar and vocal video don't match the audio at all.

abierman said:

Everybody except me it seems...

but that doesn't change the fact that most of the film was reshot at PP.

abierman said:

Yeah, you're right. SOTT movie also used footage from Paris as well as Rotterdam, although Rotterdam was the main source. Dortmund footage was for Lovesexy in'88.

minneapolisgenius said:

Wrong... Just Rotterdam, Antwerpen and Paisley Park...

Neversin.

LAProducer said:

U Got the Look was the only lip synced performance. It was also the only one in the movie that was a "dream sequence" and implied it wasn't REALLY happening but was something Prince was imagining he would perform.

But it was very much live--unless Prince went thoruh the trouble of redoing every vocal track for SOTT to fit the movie.

AsianBomb777 said:

umm no. hot thing and It's gonna be a beautiful bight are lip-synched too. I'd have thought that was glaringly obvious to anyone.

Neversin said:

They show footage of Paris. The Arc de Triomphe.

i don't watch it very much, but when i do i find it fun to watch.

AsianBomb777 said:

He did. Don't you own any of the Prince books where this is talked about?

CalhounSq said:

I'm so glad you posted this again!

The most magical moment for me in Prince history.