I must stop and give some love to this song. I listened to the complete version of it and could not conceive why this song was not released in it's entirety at least as a b-side . In terms of the Revolution's musicianship and power, Computer Blue was way ahead of it's time and it's in a class all by itself considering that it was released in the 80's. You can tell in the music that Prince had a great time recording this track. It totally tears the roof down. Much love for this track and the folks who "freed" it in it's entirety.

You're talking about the one including the "hallway speech" running baout 12 minutes I believe? It has great parts, but is just a bit too long IMO. I prefer the 7 minute edit.

RepoMan said:

Me too actually, for one thing it exists in much better quality, and as far as I'm concerned includes all the best parts of the extended version.

I love the full 11/12-minute version. When I first listened to it, my mind was so blown I couldn't believe human beings conceived it.

rstokey2 said:

I agree it is the B-Side that never was.

imagine a live performance of the complete version!

IstenSzek said:

One can dream...I think the closest we ever got was in Purple Rain.

superspaceboy said:

That 1st. Ave. benefit show version was pretty ass-kickin' too.

should eye go 2 church on sunday
should eye stay at home and pray
should eye try 2 make her happy
should eye try 2 make her stay?

father/father
father/father the sun is gone
father/father
father/father where is the dawn?


first time i heard that i was like

"scuse me but my knees have gone week, i just need to sit down for a while"

IstenSzek said:

I love the version with the hallway speech.

Illustrator said:

That's the best live version I ever heard.

The "hallway speech" version actually runs for over 14 minutes, not 12.

.

IstenSzek said:

As great of a song it is...I can never get folks to dance to it whenever I play it at a Prince gathering. It's too dense of a song.

giotto said:

12, 14, 20, whatever. It's way too fuckin' long.

Love2tha9s said:

One of my friends is convinced that the hallway speech is Prince admitting to his bisexuality.

the feeeeelingssss mutuaaaaallll!

i've only heard the complete version 1x and it blew me away. i've been looking for it ever since. anybody wanna help me out?

squiddyren said:

same here -- i couldn't believe that Prince or WB or whoever didn't see about getting this OUT THERE in '84 -- it's totally mind-blowing!

RepoMan said:

its just noisy with the quality of the bootleg so i dont ever play it much.

I love that version. Much better than the way cut down version on purple rain. And i have it in very good quality.

I think the album version just might benefitted from a few extra minutes at least.

has Prince played this live since '85?? He should!

The next time Prince releases a 'Crystal Ball'-type vault album (IF he ever releases another one) he should absolutely release this. Amazingly, despite it's obvious 80s sound, it still somehow sounds just as fresh today. Unfortunately my copy of the long version sounds pretty dodgy and is kinda muffled, but it still amazes me. I couldn't imagine hearing it in all it's glory.

TruFunkSoldia said:

He did back in '98. Not sure if he performed it since. I haven't payed much attention to his tours the past 4 years.

RepoMan said:

He did?

Novabreaker said:

Yep, December '98 in Stuttgart, Germany. Not sure if that was the only time he performed it during that tour, but I do know it wasn't on the regular set list.

Golly.

Christopher said:

Why deprive yourself of the pleasure? you just need to get a better version, mate. No sense in compromising with that wackass 12 minute version that's doing the rounds..


.

giotto said:

Here we go again. I'm so tired of hearing about this better version. I don't want to hear about it anymore, because if I can't hear it, I don't want to hear about it.

Free the music!

giotto said:

I've heard a sample of the full version in excellent quality and I'm talking no noise or pitch problems, however, only a select few have it though and it's not something you can just get if you don't have something equally rare to trade. Telling people to just get a better version is not fair, unless you have that pristine version and are willing to give out copies.