Neversin said:

I agree. The cassette version of 'Come' predates the idea of releasing it as an
album. At the time this cassette was put together I think Prince had actually
gone off the idea of releasing 'albums' in a normal sense, so this cassette was
definitely considered at the time to just be a collection of tracks. It's only
the fact that the track order is so close to the released album that confuses
the issue. (I'm sure this was all mentioned in the original post).

scififilmnerd said:

Yes, the earlier March config was for "The Gold Album", during the summer Glam Slam gigs the name changed...
This was THE "The Gold Experience", that was complete and ready for release on November 20th 1994 (including a decent cover) as advertised on all the flyers from the NPG stores and Glam Slam before the flyers came out with the release date as NEVER... (see it as "The Black Album" of the 1990's, it was so close to release that people, including me, already ordered their copies through outlets, much the same as "The Black Album" back in 1987...)

Neversin.

booyah said:

All I know is that this was "The Live Experience" and that it was planned for release... What else is there to know?
And well, everybody knows that June 7th always meant something for the fans, be it a limited or fanclub release or a show or whatever...

Neversin.

Neversin said:

I don't know the track timings (it didn't have any) so I can't say what versions
were on there for sure. It's also quite possible that it a 'thrown together'
collection of tracks rather than a definite potential album configuration. My
personal opinion is that both versions (with the different placings of Interactive)
were probably made on the same day or so, to compare which sequence sounded best.

Neversin said:

The similarity to the Black Album goes beyond just the name too. From what I
heard, 'The Gold Album' (as it was called then) was actually untitled, and the
intention was to release it in a plain gold colored sleeve (hence the name).

BorisFishpaw said:

Ah, you mean mixdown configs... I thought you meant actual tracklistings for planned releases...

Neversin.

Neversin said:

oh no! they were definitely not submitted to WB at all (apologies if it
came across like I thought they were). I'm sure that at the time they were
compiled Prince's relationship with WB was particularly frosty. I suspect it
was a case of Prince compiling all his one-word tracks onto an album so that
Mayte could mention it in 'her' letter to Controversy just to piss off WB
that he had another new album in the can that they didn't know about. I think
Peach was probably just included because it had lost it's own 'home' album and
was fairly recent and had a one-word title. Of course shortly after he would
donate both 'Peach' and 'Pope' to the Hits albums that WB wanted to release.

Neversin said:

Ah but on April 10th 1993, Prince told journalist Alan Light: "We have a new album finished, but Warner Brothers doesn’t know it. From now on, Warners only gets old songs out of the vault. New songs we’ll play at shows. Music should be free anyway."

The retirement from recording and venturing into musical and movie ideas was then announced on April 27th 1993. Then the name-change followed, possibly in the hope that it would be a way out of his recording contract, so he could release his new music on his own?

Like Borisfishpaw, I believe that none of the configurations made prior to March 1994 was intended for release through Warner Brothers. Obviously Prince was already mad at Warners by early 1993. And a year later he probably figured that Come counted as Vault-material anyway and succumbed to offering it to WB. And having realized that they wouldn't let him release anything independently following The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, he offered them Gold as well, although to be released as a album, which they declined.

Neversin said:

Yes, but I wasn't thinking of the original August 4th 1985 recording with the Revolution, but the version that turned up as a video in 1995. That version sounds quite similar to the released version of Dolphin.

Cool info about the blues album. Thanks.

As for my home-made edition of Come '93, I used the bootlegged 1993 versions, of course.

Come (4:44) - studio recording that started circulating last year, segued with...
Endorphinmachine (3:51) - studio recording that started circulating last year
Space (5:37) - from Glam Slam Ulysses
Interactive (3:04) - from the March 1994 configuration (you know, with the opening giggle, as the giggle was also in Glam Slam Ulysses)
Pheromone (4:24) - from Glam Slam Ulysses
Loose (3:23) - from Glam Slam Ulysses
Papa (2:48) - from the released Come album
Race (4:03) - from Glam Slam Ulysses
Peach (3:48) - from The Hits vol.2
Pope (3:28) - from The Hits vol.2
Dark (6:26) - from Glam Slam Ulysses
Solo (3:48) - from the released Come album
Dolphin (4:57) - from Glam Slam Ulysses
Poem (3:36) - studio recording that's been circulating for years (and the version without the lines that were used as segues on the released Come album)


[Edited 4/21/05 13:43pm]

BorisFishpaw said:

You said it didn't have a title but was referred to as the first known configuration of Come.

I supposed this would be the cassette of which David Henry Hwang received a copy when Prince proposed Come - The Musical to him.

Neversin said:

Thank you for clearing that up, Neversin. Knowing this actually simplifies matters a bit.

And then, could this be the early configuration that had no title, but was referred to as "the golden album" because of the cover color?

o)+>: Gold? (1994) - tracklist for Paisley Park in-house CD provided by BorisFishpaw. Supposedly also includes NPG Operator segues.
Chaos And Disorder (4:13)
Listen 2 The Rhythm
Now (4:30)
Right The Wrong (4:42)
Acknowledge Me (6:24)
Ripopgodazippa (4:39)
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:37)
319 (3:19)
Shy (5:04)
Billy Jack Bitch (7:08)
Eye Hate U (6:15)
Gold (7:36)

(The track times are mostly for the early versions that started circulating last year.)



And if you could possibly solve the mystery surrounding this particular tracklist, Neversin...

o)+>: Gold? (1994) - also known as the golden album? Or Heart?
Strength
Ripopgodazippa
Interactive
Space
Endorphin Machine
Days Of Wild
Now
Angie
319
The Jam
Gold

...then a lotta fans would be very grateful to you. (I mean, look at the number of times this thread has been viewed. Wow! )
[Edited 4/21/05 14:17pm]

BorisFishpaw said:

Sounds plausible, Boris. It's just that on the old thread, you said another configuration was made in June or August 1993.

scififilmnerd said:

They're one and the same...

Neversin.

scififilmnerd said:

All I know is that this config was submitted to WB as part of the "3 albums" deal (which was thus a part of the Vault series...)
But it could very well have been a config for an earlier version of the "Gold Experience" (or "Gold Album"...)


This one I don't know... Could very well have been either one...

Neversin.

sosgemini said:

Missed you, too.

Neversin said:

Gosh! Imagine that...

I'm buying that!

scififilmnerd said:

Yup, it was also one of the tracks slated for inclusion on the abandoned
'Roadhouse Garden' album of unreleased Revolution material.

Neversin said:

I'll make a note of it in my long list of notes regarding the 1993-1994 era.

Neversin said:

Oh, well... You've still been quite helpful. I am glad you decided to participate in the discussion.

And if you ever learn any additional info, please don't hesitate to share it.

Meanwhile, I'll get back to preparing for a follow-up thread to my previous two threads with corrections to the chronological recordings-list and the list of unreleased configurations in accordance with this thread, plus a list of what is circulating. It might take me a month or two to sort through it all, though, as I'm a working man now...

That, and a perfectionist.
[Edited 4/21/05 15:14pm]

If I remember correctly, 'Heart' was the name of the unfinished / unreleased
Blues album that Neversin mentioned earlier, so was very much a seperate
project to the Gold/Come albums. I guess 'Heart' must have predated the 'Papa EP'
as that was when 'Peach' first migrated over to the 'Come' tracks from 'Heart'.

scififilmnerd said:

This was actually released on a rather rare German promo, ending with the "Are you ready?" intro to "Interactive"...

(An old pic I made with my dead and rather crappy digi cam many moons ago...)



Neversin.

Neversin said:

Strangely enough, both the versions of Poem I have are segued with What's My Name.

Oh, and I made a boo-boo on this thread. Empty Room does not sound like the released version of Dolphin. The Same December sounds like the released version of Dolphin. Sorry 'bout the mix-up.

And I have given it much thought and am inclined to agree that the configiration you say is for The Vault vol.? is probably that, rather than a configuration for Gold.

Although it does indeed sound much like The Gold Experience, The Vault WAS made after the release date for The Gold Experience had been set for "never!" And with the Chaos And Disorder tracks on this configuration, this configuration could actually be what evolved into doing a separate Chaos And Disorder album just a month or two later...
[Edited 4/21/05 17:44pm]

Neversin said:

Then again, the three-album deal you're referring to, couldn't that be: "After the release of Come, and W.B. negotiated a deal. For $4 million up front, Warners would release The Black Album in late ’94 followed by The Gold Experience in spring ’95. These two albums, along with an unspecified soundtrack for a W.B. movie, would count as two albums out of the remaining four in his contract. agreed to the terms.
At the last minute, changed his mind, presumably wanting more money. His attorney told him that it was the best deal he could get and advised him to sign it, but didn’t heed his advise and the deal fell through. (The attorney quit his job a week later.)
After this, started writing "slave" on his face, he "released" a video for the song Dolphin (previously from Come, now slated to be on The Gold Exp.) and announced that The Gold Exp.’s release date was: NEVER!
Saved from the original (Black/Gold/soundtrack) deal was the release of The Black Album. signed his agreement on October 25. He received almost $1 million for this release."

- from Virgo's research posted on the previous thread?

And then he made The Vault vol.I-III?

Neversin said:

Actually, this promo - calling Poem "Come" - is what has caused the question as to whether the opening track entitled Come on the April-May 1994 configuration of Come isn't actually Poem.

On the previous Come thread,

KAB said:

Thanks, KAB. I'll make a note of this.
[Edited 4/22/05 6:30am]

On the previous Come thread,

SquirrelMeat said:

It is, SquirrelMeat.

And may have edited Angie down in length for an album inclusion.

On the previous Come thread,

KAB said:

Which is really interesting as that was BEFORE The Gold Experience September/October 1994 configuration. So this is very helpful in trying to establish a time-line to sort out all the confusion.

On the previous Come thread,

fms said:

Platinum had a lot of "home-made" mixes, i.e. "Mirror Message/Box Talk 777" and NPG Operator segues placed all wrong. The track you're referring to utilized Poem from The Beautiful Experience TV-movie and Come from the same TV-movie, so it was a "home-made" mix. But considering that the piece of the album version of Come that they used segues into Strays Of The World, who knows, maybe they got that from the April-May 1994 configuration of Come?

BorisFishpaw said:

The only thing I know about Heart is from Virgo's research, where it says that Levi Seacer, Jr. said it was an acoustic album. Of course, that doesn't rule out that it was an acoustic blues-album.

Levi made this mention in an interview published in 1994. I don't remember where but did read it once at Virgo's place, so she has it. I must remember to look it up the next time I visit her.

Now, Neversin says The Undertaker was a prelude to a blues-album, but was the blues-album actually ever finished?

And if so, wouldn't it be more likely that it was done AFTER The Undertaker, so Peach migrated to it from Come rather than the other way around, particularly if the plan was to use the version of Peach recorded at The Undertaker sessions?

And then Calhoun Square might be a candidate for the blues-album?

I think the blues-album and Heart were two separate projects with the blues-album in 1993 and Heart in 1994. But... If the prelude to the blues-album was The Undertaker, then one also has to consider that if the plan really was to release The Undertaker as a freebie with an issue of Guitar World, then that would have been with the November 1994 issue of Guitar World in which says that if he was free, he could have enclosed The Undertaker with that particular issue of Guitar World. (But personally, I never took that as meaning that he actually would have done that, but as just another ideological example of what he could do if he was free.) And so Heart could very well have been the blues-album The Undertaker would prelude. But that would still make Heart a (latter half of) 1994 project.



So many questions... So much confusion to clear up...
[Edited 4/22/05 7:26am]

booyah said:

I got the 9 June 1994 show with Hide The Bone. It also includes (I think the first live-performances of?) 319, Ripopgodazippa and Get Wild.
[Edited 4/22/05 7:43am]

And here's a handy guide to make your own The Gold Album CD-R:

o(+>: The Gold Album (March 1994)
NPG Operator (0:11) - from the released Gold Exp.
Interactive (2:25) - from the Now bootleg
NPG Operator/Days Of Wild (3:55) - from the Now bootleg
NPG Operator (0:17) - from the released Gold Exp.
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:25) - from the released Gold Exp.
NPG Operator/Now (4:46) - from the Now bootleg
Acknowledge Me (5:27) - from the released Crystal Ball
Ripopgodazippa (4:39) - from the released Crystal Ball
319 (3:19) - from the Now bootleg
NPG Operator (0:09) - from the released Gold Exp.
Shy (5:03) - from the released Gold Exp.
Billy Jack Bitch (5:31) - from the released Gold Exp.
Eye Hate U (5:53) - from the released Gold Exp.
NPG Operator (0:44) - from the released Gold Exp.
Gold (7:22) - from the released Gold Exp.

Personally I prefer listening to this configuration than the released one.

(And sorry to TTMAN for completely jacking his thread... )