Anyone know anything about this? Apparently in 1984, "Another Lonely Christmas" was released as a single (promo?) in Japan and it included spoken Christmas messages from Prince, Sheila, Wendy, and Lisa. True or fake? If true, anyone know what each person said?
[Edited 12/17/04 17:36pm]

strange tales from the rain????

i don't know about the spoken word messages...this is the first i've heard of them.

if you played it backwards...maybe.

Snap said:

True

Its known as "Syndicate" and you're correct about the fact it was released in 1984 as the b-side of the promo for Another Lonely Christmas.

It containted the following messages:

1) Sheila E introducing The Belle Of St Mark
2) Sheila E's Christmas Message
3) Appolonia's Message to Japan
4) Apollonia introducing Sex Shooter
5) Apollonia introducing Blue Limousine
6) Apollonia introducing Happy Birthday Mr. Christian
7) Prince introducing Purple Rain

Pic courtesy of Sleeveographia

This is my first time hearing of something like this. Thanks for the info, guys..

It would be cool to hear those messages sometime. The picture sleeve doesn't look real to me because it doesn't list the song(s) and performer(s) -- it's just a pic of Divinity taken directly out of the Purple Rain tourbook. So I still wonder about the authenticity of this release, but am most interested in hearing what was actually on it. It's gotta be rare.

Gav, thanks for the info by the way!
[Edited 12/17/04 13:04pm]

interesting that out of all the, ahem, "imports" i've experienced...and i've experienced a LOT of 'em...i've never run across these spoken intro clips.

Anxiety said:

Yeah, I'm starting to doubt whether this thing is real. I've never heard those intros anywhere either -- not even a mention of them, until recently.

hmmm i always thought it was called "strange tales from the rain"a japanese import in 84.

but no ive never heard it either..perhaps the p intro was culled from the movie??

jonylawson said:

i've seen track listings and scans of "strange tales from the rain" - it's a very cool collector's item, but i don't remember seeing any tracks that i hadn't heard of before. it's more about cool package design and weird tracklisting than anything else.

jonylawson said:

Strange Tales from the Rain was a compilation of all the music from Purple Rain and was a double album.

"Syndicate" was an official release on WBS, trust me.

Snap said:

It's real

Catalogue number was PS-1025 and I have a copy sitting right in front of me.

Ok, Gav's mention makes it a little more credible...but I still find it very interesting that it's never appeared on any, ahem, "collections of rarities" in the two odd decades that such "collections" have been in circulation. I've seen every other damn thing up for grabs...

I've got an mp3 of Sheila's speech.

It's shitty quality, 18 seconds long, never likely to turn up on any official release ever again....

Can I post a link? Can I post a link? Can I post a link?

It is Christmas, you know!

There's no music in the background - it's just talking. I doubt it's copyrighted.

BinaryJustin said:

[snipped. - anx]

Anxiety said:

It pops up on ebay occasionally

Its probably not on any collections due to it a) being very rare, and b) being completely crap

Its 100% official though

Gav said:

.....and as if by magic (no, its not me selling)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/...53394&rd=1


.
[Edited 1/4/05 9:21am]

Snap said:

Another reason a search function would be helpfull on this site...

Neversin.

Oh my god who would be pathetic enought to pay that much? Must be VERY rich or VERY sad.....