Kurt Loder: If we went in your vaults -- I bet they're substantial -- what would we find in there?

Prince: Some amazing jazz work. You'd find the best, most heady tracks that The Revolution recorded; the ones that we thought were too far gone back in the '80s. You'd find the more psychedelic rock version of The Time. You'd find the really erotic Prince.

-----

That is just sick. With the exception of the jazz, the vault contains my wildest musical fantasies. The really erotic Prince? You mean more erotic than "f*cking until the dawn" or "f*cking the taste out of somebody's mouth"? We know he was at his best when he was most erotically charged. So the best stuff ever has never been heard?

What do you think he means when he says the tracks "too far gone back in the 80s?" I take it that he means it was too much for the listening public to understand? Not sure here, but Prince has never shied away from shocking the public or helping them open their minds to something new, so why would he stash this stuff away? You'd think he'd want us to hear all this stuff back then. Maybe he didn't have enough time or outlets to distribute this stuff, but the best tracks from his best period (imo) are hidden away? What about all the outtakes us die-hards have? You mean there's lots more - even better - stuff we've never heard? I find that somewhat hard to swallow. If it's actually the case, I have an idea we are going to see in the near future this stuff on the mother-of-all box sets and we're just going to freak out. Surprising, though, we haven't seen it yet.

Opinions, ya'll?

i bet we've heard a lot of it, and that a lot of what he says is hyperbole, and that all that being said, he probably DOES have some very well-guarded cards up his sleeve from back in the day.

Psychedelic rock version of the Time?

Yeah, and what Anx said.

FunkMistress said:

who knows what prince considered to be "psychadelic rock" at the time, though.

Anxiety said:

It DOES sound to good to be true. The best tracks from the Revolution? Come on, Prince. I think you would have released that stuff 'cause you wanted to take over the world back then. A psychedelic rock version of the Time? You know your biggest fans would love to hear you say something like that. The really erotic Prince? C'mon, chief. Sounds tooooo good to be true.

But, I bet you're right. There's probably another SAIMH or 17 Days up in there. With the mileage I've gotten out of those two songs, a hidden one similar that sees the light of day someday will make me AMPED.
[Edited 12/3/04 12:11pm]

I want Prince to release the follow-up album to 1999 that Prince talked about in the 1985 Rolling Stone interview: "I could play it for you and you would go "Yeah!" And I could put it out and it would probably sell what 1999 did. But I always try to do something different and conquer new ground."

rudeboynpg said:

Do you know the names of any of those songs on that album?

digitalelectric said:

Prince does!

digitalelectric said:

Well, there is some truth to the fact that a lot of his stuff was ahead of its time. This term is way overused, but that doesn't mean it doesn't ever fit. I'm sure there are cases where this was true and was part of the reason he chose not to release certain songs.

how folks know/suppose that he wasn't jivin with that "hint"?

I want Prince to release the Revolution, Roadhouse Gardan 1985 CD he was talking about in 98.

That's the one I've been waiting on.

rudeboynpg said:

It wasn't a 1985 LP, it was a collection of tracks from the Revolution era, compiled in 1998.

There was never an album or project titled Roadhouse Garden previous to 1998. Just to clear that up, so we don't get threads about it in 3 weeks time

As for a follow-up to 1999, or a psychedelic rock version of The Time - I think Prince is puffing out his chest, or simply referring to things we already know about, in a fashion that we haven't seen them described before.

Can we think of a project that was 'psychedelic rock? Maybe the Coco Boys?

Can we think of tracks recorded post-1999 that sounded like a 1999 follow-up? Sure, but was it ever compiled into a record, or was it just in Prince's head for a day or three?

Anxiety said:

I with you on this. Much of the stuff from the Vault is amazing, as we know. But some of it is just so-so.

And Prince has said some curious things about his records in the past . . . like "Rave" is his best since "SOTT" and "Gold" is better than Purple Rain, etc. etc.

Why won't he released that shit?!?

we've seen the "erotic Prince" in the vault -- g-spot, electric intercourse, orgasm (or whatever it was called back then), vibrator, etc.

wonder what else there is? we may never know

NouveauDance said:

I think he did have an album's worth completed before Purple Rain, and I think it's where "Purple Music," and "Possessed" have come from, maybe "G-Spot" too, and the hundred other songs that were supposedly given to Magnoli to choose from for the upcoming movie project, Dreams/Purple Rain.

But I'd be surprised to find out if it actually was compiled and ready to go to press.
[Edited 12/3/04 16:41pm]

Given the stuff I've heard on bootleg I'm sure the vault holds some seriously AMAZING stuff. But also a lot of average and somewhat boring material

I still wanna hear it all though!
[Edited 12/3/04 17:43pm]

there'll be alot of wank in there for sure, but still, what i found listening to crystal ball the other day, is even the shit stuff still has a bass line or a synth that gets stuck in your head for hours, so it's possible even the shite will be recycled into something cool

as for how much good stuff is in there we don't know about, i reckon at least as much as we've heard. so if we have 500 songs, another 500 at least. i honestly believe that.

people like wendy and lisa don't need to lie when they say there are 100's of amazing songs they did and they wish they had the tapes. and sheena e saying she's seen the vault and 90% of it was better than anything on the radio. i reckon she might be exaggerating for being connected to prince. but what about the engineers who worked rotating 12 hour shifts while he recorded for 4 days straight, just because the music was so amazing.

bear in mind (shit i don't know if that spelling of bear is in the right context, sorry!) when the vault:old friends 4 sale was released, 8 songs of the 10 had never been heard before. just like that, 8 songs recorded between 86 and 94 were released. and it's crap to think "oh thats all he had left" cos they've clearly been put together as an album by prince. not just leftovers, but they all fit together in genre and style and theme etc. it's a proper album. not a leftovers album

he'll have loads of shit. i mean, where's him and lenny doing an album. him and various members of the 95 era NPG with morris day (i think thats right) jamming. him and bloody paul mccartney jamming at the time of 9/11 - if you believe THAT rumour, don't have a fucking clue how it would come out mind!

he has shit in that vault, whether we hear it properly, mastered, and unedited, is another matter entirely.

softandwet said:

Well, that album was handed over to WB along with C&D in 1996 (5?)

And the only traks not to be widely circulating were Sarah,, Extraordinary and When The Lights Go Down - all the others were widely circulating amongst fans, or previously released in one form or another.

And the only track NOT to come from the 90s was Old Friends 4 Sale, and even that was the newer version from 1991.

///

Looking at Uptown's publications we know of hundreds of songs circulating and NOT widely circulating amongst fans, so we know there is some great stuff in the Vault - added to which the stuff we don't know of, details are sketchy after the mid-90s when Prince tightened the reigns.

He is DEFINATELY holding out on releasing the Vault material, no question. The NPGMC is the *perfect* outlet if he wanted it to be, he clearly doesn't.

Of course, it's his music to release or not to release, but he knows full well his hardcore fan base (increasingly the only people buying his music between the years 1995-2003), he knows we want this material, and he uses that as a promotional tool for his releases and ventures: The Vault... OF4S was named intentionally so to cash in on the "Prince's huge vault of music" mythology.

Crystal Ball had a small smattering of 80s Vault material, most of which was 90s material, when the NPGMC started, one of the first tracks to but up for download was Splash, since which not one single studio track from the 80s had been released through the club, and only 1 rehersal live track - he clearly used Splash as a carrot on a stick to get people to sign up for his music download club.

Prince is clearly only interested in releasing his new music, which is fair, given that's how he's always been, but he does use the fans desire for older unreleased material to his own advantage.

digitalelectric said:

whut song is dat..im new and slo...thanks

And the only traks not to be widely circulating were Sarah,, Extraordinary and When The Lights Go Down - all the others were widely circulating amongst fans, or previously released in one form or another.

And the only track NOT to come from the 90s was Old Friends 4 Sale, and even that was the newer version from 1991.


ah right, for some reason i thought most of the tracks weren't circulating, i think it's the review on Windows Media Player that does it! Stephen Thomas Erlstwine (got his surname wrong there) does all the prince ones, he's pretty good.

how come it says 86-94 then, presumably some were done up in 94?

softandwet said:

Because the 1991 version of Old Friends 4 Sale uses the original backing tracks from the 1985 version.

I would like Prince to release: Rebirth Of The Flesh, Turn It Up, Empty Room, No Call U, Girl O' My Dreams, A Better Place To Die and Witness. All these songs should have been on Crystal Ball (1998)

FunkMistress said:

Thats what I'm talking about
Morris singing over some heavy hendrix sounding guitar
I know that's right

Because the 1991 version of Old Friends 4 Sale uses the original backing tracks from the 1985 version.


no i get the story behind that, i just mean why does it say 94 and not 91? is it cos it was handed over to WB in 95? when were most of the tracks recorded then? 86? which would explain their continuity i suppose!

softandwet said:

It says 1994 because that when some of the tracks were recorded.

The 1985 date is supposed to be the earliest song recorded and the latter date 18/06/94 was the song on the album which was recorded last - (although Sarah was actually recorded in February 1996). So it's true, the songs were recorded between 1985 (the earliest) and 1994(6) - but only OF4S dates from the 80s, all the other tracks are from the 90s, like we said this is the 1991 version of OF4S - but keeping the 1985 tag makes the album more attractive to the buyer, since it's a generally held opinion amongst most fans, and definately amongst casual listeners, that Prince's best work was done in the 80s - Good marketing you see

Just checking with the Vault, I dunno why it gives the date 23/01/85, since on that date Prince played Cincinnati on the Purple Rain tour. DMSR lists OF4S as being recorded on 20/04/85, but that's splitting hairs.

Just to clarify the recording dates/periods of the albums tracks:

1985 - Old Friends 4 Sale (Original Version, unreleased version)
1991 - Old Friends 4 Sale (Changed Lyrics - Officially released version)
1991 - 5 Women / She Spoke 2 Me
1991 - Extraordinary (I think this was originally intended for Rosie Gaines album, correct me if wrong there)
1991/2 - When The Lights Go Down
1992 - The Rest of My Life / My Little Pill / There Is Lonely (From the aborted I'll Do Anything soundtrack)
1993/4 - It's About That Walk
1996 - Sarah

(Dates from The Vault).

So, basically the album is pretty much a collection of 1991/2 recordings. The Vault... OF4S and C&D seem to be compiled with a theme in mind - one a Jazzy album, the other a more Rock orientated affair.

Both C&D and The Vault... OF4S were compiled in February 1996, and a few new tracks were recorded (the last sessions with the old 4-piece NPG of Sonny/Michael/Morris/Tommy) - Sarah, Into The Light, I Will. Then in Spring 1996 (March/April) Prince recorded I Like It There, and new versions of C&D and Right The Wrong with Sonny and Michael whilst wrapping up work on C&D, although only I Like It There was used, the original versions of the other two tracks were released (recorded 1994).

» NouveauDance
[Edited 12/5/04 9:02am]

I doubt we'll ever hear most of it, mainly because he'd want to "clean up" the lyrics first.

NouveauDance said


right i get you. my original point was that to people who thought that the vault: old friends 4 sale the album was the last of the stuff prince had left in the vault, i was pointing out that for an album to be so coherent as that one is, for those to be the last 10 songs prince had left would be such an amazing coincedence, and more likely that he has 100s of songs to be able to take 10 that do fit in nicely.

i got confused because nowhere on my copy of the vault album does it say which songs were recorded when! so i don't know what says that the vault was recorded in 85 as opposed to 91? all very confusing!

but cheers for posting which years songs were done in, i've always wanted to know that!

softandwet said:

I think we're confusing one Vault with another

When I said "Dates from the Vault" - I was referring to the book:

http://www.uptown.se/2004...ault.shtml



The book confirms that the dates of recording periods in the liner notes of the Vault CD are incorrect.