Hi again
Since the credits of The Vault album are vague...I will ask it here (maybe someone knows more detailed info about it)...

Did Prince play any instrument on ´She spoke 2 me´ or only vocals/arrangement? I have a feeling that Levi is playing the guitars and Barbarella the keys, but who knows?

GustavoRibas said:

's far as i knkow from the liners, prince wrote it, and the NPG performed it. now, that could mean anything, but i think prince made the arrangements on that particular track.

peace,
j

soundin' like Levi to me...

There's no way 2 know 4 sure, but it really sounds like a group effort recorded on one take so it's likely that it's Levi, Tommy, Michael & Sony + possibly either Rosie or Prince on additionnal keys & of course the Hornheadz. The arrangements & composition r by Prince, though parts of it probably is improvisation by the band.

From what i remember from an old Uptown issue, it's an outtake from the O+> album, recorded december 1991.

I don't think it sounds like it would have been recorded on one take. Bizarre though, I always thought "She Spoke 2 Me" was from the third left-unreleased Prince & the NPG album that he was trying to get released around the name change era. When one thinks of other cuts that have the same type of instrumentation and vibe (mainly "5 Women" and "When The Lights Go Down") I'd find it odd if it was from the sessions.

Novabreaker said:

Huh? I never heard of such a project. From what i knew Prince moved from the O+> album directly 2 "Carmen Electra" & "Goldnigga", then began working on "I'll Do Anything" & the "Glam Slam Ulysses" project (which eventually became the "Come/The Gold Experience" project).

Per Nielsen knew about "She Spoke 2 Me" in 1993, & dated it from the O+> sessions. "5 Women" was recorded in 1991 also, around the same time than the released version of "Old Friends 4 Sale", & both were proposed 2 Joe Cocker who only took "5 Women". I have no info about when "When The Lights Go Down" was recorded...

shaomi said:

He mentioned it in an interview that was done during the Act I/II -tours. It was in the "Musician" magazine and was already talking about "retiring" the music business and start releasing just the songs from the vault.

I just don't think "She Spoke 2 Me" sounds anything like the other stuff that resutled from the sessions. The production style and the equipment used is totally different, Even his singing is considerably different, as is the case with the rest of "The Vault..." songs. I'd suggest this was rather a new style he was experimenting simultaneously with the recording of the "I'll Do Anything" material. Traces of it can be also heard on "Gold Nigga", but there is no hip-hop influence on any of "The Vault..." material, so you'd be tempted to think it was after the rappers left the group.

There is just a considerable difference with the whole sound, but then again...