I'm a big fan of all the Camille songs. I even compiled a cd with just Camille songs on it. It consists of all the known songs featuring Prince's Camille voice( or at least all the ones I have, I'm sure there are one or two that i don't have):

Love or $
If I...Girlfriend
Strange relationshp
Crystal Ball
Dream Factory
Good Love
Shockadelica
Housequake
Rock Hard in a Funky Place
Partyman
Feel U Up
(U got the Look has a little Camille in there as well, so I through it on there.)

But I was listening to some other albums and came across a couple of songs that could possibly be considered Camille songs.

The two that got me thinking the most were "Sex"(b-side of Scandalous), and Come On from New Power Soul.

Give me your opinions. Do "Sex" and "Come On" qualify as Camille songs?
[This message was edited Fri Apr 12 12:54:01 PDT 2002 by ace316]

you forgot one of the most obvious ones: Scarlet Pussy (flip of I wish U heaven)

you forgot one of the most obvious ones: Scarlet Pussy (flip of I wish U heaven)

I suppose it depends on your definition of "Camille".
If you mean any song with Prince's voice speeded up, then yes. If you mean songs attributed to the "Camille" persona then only the songs from around the "Sign O' The Times" period qualify.

The "Camille" album only included the following tracks;

side 1:
1 Rebirth Of The Flesh
2 Housequake
3 Strange Relationship
4 Feel U Up
side 2:
1 Shockadelica
2 Good Love
3 If I Was Your Girlfriend
4 Rockhard In A Funky Place

and just to confuse matters, when Prince was going to release the original "Crystal Ball" album in 1987, he seriously considered releasing it under the "Camille" name. Even though over half the songs feature his normal voice.

He also considered his slowed down voice (as in "Bob George") to be his "Camille" persona as well. This is also illustrated by the fact that the b-side of "I Wish U Heaven" was credited as being by "Camille" (Scarlet Pussy). In fact he also considered the Black Album to be by "Camille".
[This message was edited Fri Apr 12 12:40:50 PDT 2002 by kaylef]

kaylef said:

I guess I've always just considered a Camille song the sped up voice songs thatr were supposed to be on the Camille albums. Partyman was so much like the others I just kind through it is as well.I didn't include Scarlet Pussy or Bob George for that reason.

Sex and Come came so much later that I never really thought to consider them, but listening to both recently caused me to rethink their potential inclusion.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 12 12:56:19 PDT 2002 by ace316]

I too created my own Camille CDs. Some of the songs aren’t credited to Camille but I feel they have that unique and kickass energy about them so they got included.

Disc 1

1- CRYSTAL BALL
2- REBIRTH OF THE FLESH
3- HOUSEQUAKE
4- SUPERFUNKYCALIFRAGISEXY
5- SHOCKADELICA
6- SCARLET PUSSY
7- LALALA HEEHEEHEE
8- LOVE OR $?
9- FEEL U UP
10- LOVESEXY
11- 2 NIGS UNITED FOR WEST COMPTON
12- ROCK HARD IN A FUNKY PLACE

Disc 2

1- EROTIC CITY
2- SEX
3- IT
4- HOT THING
5- THE BALLAD OF DOROTHY PARKER
6- IF I WAS YOUR GIRLFRIEND
7- STRANGE RELATIONSHIP
8- SHE’S ALWAYS IN MY HAIR
9- WE CAN FUNK
10- DANCE ON
11- ELECTRIC CHAIR
12- TICK TICK BANG
13- TAMBORINE
14- LOVE BIZARRE

Camille's my favorite alter ego!

Oh, to have the original recording of 'Rebirth Of The Flesh' in perfect quality. My favourite Camille song.

Haystack said:

Dude, I haven't even heard that song! I've come across it a couple of times and tried to download it, but I could never get it to download. I'ts the only Camille song that I don't have.

Bob George is so not Camille. In Scarlett Pussy, there is a sped up voice on there. "Pussy cat pussy cat, where for art thou puppy?"

On the Lovesexy tour Prince performed Bob George live, using the slowed down voice effect. In the part of the song where he 'rings' Bob George, he always said "Hello, Mr.George? This is Camille. How come we can't dance? How come we can't Party?...". Yes I know on the recorded version he doesn't mention Camille, but this just illustrates that Prince considered it part of his "Camille" persona.

kaylef said:

I remember that. I used to have that concert on VHS(maybe I still do. shit I need to dig that thing up!).

I guess if you consider that, then you'd have to include Bob George an Scarlet Pussy in the "Camille" Family as well.

IMO the original Camille album is simply wonderful!
I've burn a CD with the original tracklist and friends...
Simply no words!
I've always loved every single song on it...for me it's
one of the finest moments of Prince's music!

That would have been such a fierce release, just based on Rebirth of the Flesh slamming into Housequake. Prince should release remastered versions of aborted projects on NPGMC such as Camille, Dream Factory and the Original Crystal Ball.

It’s such a fucking shame that Prince censored the live version of Rebirth that he released on NPGMC.

Isn't 'FEEL U UP' a Camille song also?

Oh, someone already said so...there you go!
[This message was edited Fri Apr 12 20:14:58 PDT 2002 by purpleleaf7]

I haven't got the cd right here, but isn't "U Got The Look" on sign o the times also credited 2 Camille???

And if U burn Ur own copy of the 'Camille' album, make sure 2 put all the long versions of the songs on it. It works well with the edited ones, but it completely rocks with the original versions:

Housequake :the circulating camille version, unreleased
Feel U Up :long stroke version from Party Man b-side
Shockadelica: 12" single version

Man, if only Prince had given us the studioversion of 'The Rebirth Of The Flesh', we'd all b able 2 complete r own Camille album without flaws.

It's frustrating 2 have all those songs but just the 1st one in either bad sound studio bootleg or good sound edited rehearsal. Darn.

Just to clarify, here's the original Camille album with track times. As you can see, the album uses the 'long' versions of tracks anyway.

side 1:
1. Rebirth Of The Flesh 4:53
2. Housequake 4:38
3. Strange Relationship 4:04
4. Feel U Up 6:31

side 2:
1. Shockadelica 6:12
2. Good Love 5:12
3. If I Was Your Girlfriend 4:54
4. Rockhard In A Funky Place 4:32

and, yes... U Got The Look is also credited to Camille on the Sign O' The Times album. Though that came about by accident. When Prince recorded U Got The Look it was a slower funkier song. As he worked on it, he decided it worked better as a 'pop' song and speeded up the tape (thus making it another Camille song). The reverse happened with Madonna's Love Song. It was originally intended as a faster track with a Camille voice, but at some point when Madonna came to add her vocals they decided to slow it down, turning it back into a 'Prince' song.
[This message was edited Sat Apr 13 14:27:58 PDT 2002 by kaylef]

kaylef said:

Just curious if you're guessing about Feel U Up and Shockadelica being the extended versions, or if you're basing that on something concrete?

Is Shockadelica extended available on CD? I've only heard it on vinyl, whereas Feel U Up longstroke was released on CD.

The Camille album is my favorite Prince album--released or unreleased.

"Is Shockadelica extended available on CD?"

Yes, but so far only on a bootleg.

Camille was introduced after recording 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' in the fall of 1986. The recording engineer (Susan Rogers) had the tape recording the vocals running a little too fast what disorted the vocals. In other words it was an accident!
Prince liked the voice though and decided later to use it for other tracks. (from Slave To The Rhythm by Liz Jones - isbn 0-7515-2393-3).

Officially (according credits on official Prince releases) only 5 songs were credited to have vocals by Camille:
'Housequake', 'U Got The Look', 'If I Was Your Girlfriend', 'Strange Relationship' and 'Scarlet Pussy'.

Maybe 'Shockadelica' (b-side of IIWYG) is credited to Camille as well, can't check as I do not have the 12 inch...though on the 'Hits/B-sides' there is no mentioning of Camille in the liner notes for 'Shockadelica'.
Nor for 'Feel U Up' by the way, so officially these two don't count as Camille tracks (but we know better ).
The songs are credited totally to Prince (produced, arranged, composed, performed by).

'Scarlet Pussy' is also composed by Camille according the credits on the 'I Wish U Heaven' single (you will need the vinyl version to check...) and 'The Hits/B-Sides' credit notes.

During the Lovesexy concert Prince answered the phone in Bob George saying "This is Camille".
The tourbook sort of credits the Black Album to Camille.
[This message was edited Sun Apr 14 15:23:09 PDT 2002 by roverlo]

The Original version of "We can funk" also features the Camille Voice. It's different from the GB version in that additional lyrics were added for the ablum version to make it a duet with George Clinton. The chorus ("I'm testing positive for the funk...) is not present. That was George's contribution to the song. The ending portion of the song ("we can turn the candle on baby, we can turn the candle on.....etc) is not present in the origninal. Prince simply sings the verses and kind of just grooves.

I used to have a bootleg of this on cassete years ago. All indications are that "We Can Funk " was written around the same time as the other Camille songs, but was held off, redone and didn't resurface until Grafiti Bridge.

I finally got Rebirth the Flesh to download this weekend, but the sound quality isn't very good. I posted earlier that I'd never heard the song, but when I played it, I realized that I had heard and probably have it on tape somewhere. The booleg I have had it listed as "Souleacolia". I got the thing from my idiot cousin, go figure!
[This message was edited Mon Apr 15 5:37:25 PDT 2002 by ace316]

Prince was obviously impressed with the entire "Camille" concept.He was even planning a movie based on the Camille alter ego.

BanishedBrian said:

The track times & info I've supplied, was leaked from WB in December 1986 (which is when I heard it). Shockadelica & Feel U Up are not really 'extended versions', in the truest sense of the word, they are the full length versions. It's just that the versions we're familiar with are 7" edits. Also worth noting is that Good Love is about a minute longer on the Camille album, than the version officially released on Crystal Ball in 1998.

The Camille album (as I've described it above) was mastered in november 1986. The album even got as far as being given a WB catalogue number, and was given a rough release date of January 1987.

There were even acetates made for the first projected single off it, which was going to be Shockadelica (with Housequake on the b-side)

So, as you can see, Camille came very close to being released (not as close as the black album though).
[This message was edited Mon Apr 15 11:19:13 PDT 2002 by kaylef]

DavidEye said:

Quite correct,
The original 'Graffiti Bridge' was going to star Camille.

Here's the original intended cast:

Camille - Prince
Ruthie Washington - Madonna
Vienna - Cat
Angel - Sheila E.
Big Sister - Boni Boyer
Almost - Dr. Fink
Joshua - Atlanta Bliss
Sax - Eric Leeds
Gruff - Greg Brooks
Puff - Wally Safford
The Brothers - Miko & Levi

kaylef said:

Yeah,I read an article in Uptown about that early draft of 'Graffiti Bridge' (the script was dated September 1987).

ace316 said:[quote]The Original version of "We can funk" also features the Camille Voice. It's different from the GB version in that additional lyrics were added for the ablum version to make it a duet with George Clinton. The chorus ("I'm testing positive for the funk...) is not present. That was George's contribution to the song. The ending portion of the song ("we can turn the candle on baby, we can turn the candle on.....etc) is not present in the origninal. Prince simply sings the verses and kind of just grooves.

WRONG. You dumbass newjacks need to quit talking shit about stuff you don't know. The 86 Warehouse version is NOT the original. It's a completely new, reinvented take on THE REAL ORIGINAL, which is from 83 and is titled "We Can Fuck". The track that showed up on Graffiti Bridge reuses the ORIGINAL backing tracks from 83, including the vamp at the end. Don't believe me? Then explain how Wendy and Lisa showed up to sing backup on the track for GB.

I used to have a bootleg of this on cassete years ago. All indications are that "We Can Funk " was written around the same time as the other Camille songs, but was held off, redone and didn't resurface until Grafiti Bridge.


WRONG! All indications are that you're a dumbass newjack who downloaded a couple mp3s and now imagines himself to be a "collector".

Looking at Scarlet Pussy and Bob George, in theory, isn't that Camille doing the narration on TRC?

So, Camille is.....

Love or $
U got the look
If I was your Girlfriend
Strange relationshp
Crystal Ball
Dream Factory
Good Love
Shockadelica
Housequake
Rock Hard in a Funky Place
Partyman
Feel U Up
Scarlet Pussy
Bob George
Sex

plus?

What about Telepathy? I never believed Deborah sung that.
We can funk 86?
Come On?
In All my dreams? (Camilles first appearance as guest vocals)?
The story teller on the Rainbow Children?

By the way, if the story of "Camilles birth" it true, in that it came about by accident when he was recording IIWYGF in the fall of 86, then how comes the camille voice in on the second version of Love or $ in late 85?

I Also made a Camille tape. I include "Baby Knows' as well.
"Feel u up" "Rebirth of the Flesh" & "Baby Knows" are my favorite. Scarlett Pussy, Sex & LaLaLa HeHeHe are too!