New topic
Printable| Author | Message |
'The Flesh' sessions Now I've been racking my brains over these sessions for years...
It's well known that Prince, along with some members of The Revolution, recorded at least four sides of mostly instrumental jazz workouts, some fast and furious, some mellow. But overall, these sessions have been deemed by some in the know as incredible musical showcases by Prince and, particularly, by Eric Leeds. Hell, one of these cuts ('Junk Music')even made it as background music on a scene in the film 'Under The Cherry Moon' (the part where Christopher and Tricky are arguing over Mary). Quite apart from the well-known cut 'U Gotta Shake Something' (the one where Eric Leeds plays the part of a DJ who announces: "...by 'The Flesh'!"), does anybody roaming the org know more about The Flesh sessions (or even actually heard some more material from these???) "You don't frighten us, English pig dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person." | |
- E-mail - orgNote -  Report post to moderator |
so then... would the song "Rebirth of the Flesh" be a part of these sessions? La, la, la
He, he, hee! | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
The Flesh was a kind of precursor to Madhouse. All the tracks were jazz-funk instrumentals.
The songs were recorded in 3 sessions soon after Christmas 1985 at Sunset Sound. The first session was on December 28th '85. Prince, Eric Leeds, Sheila E. & Levi Seacer Jr. recorded 8 tracks: Slaughterhouse U Just Can't Stop Run Amok Mobile Madrid Breathless High Calonic 12 Keys Prince was so pleased with the results that they all returned to the studio 2 days later to record another 3 tracks: U Gotta Shake Something Voodoo Who Finest Whiskey On January 5th '86, Prince, Eric, Sheila & Levi returned to the studio once more, this time with Wendy & Lisa, and Wendy's brother, Jonathan Melvoin. They recorded another 6 tracks: Groove In C Minor Slow Groove In G Major Groove In G Flat Minor Junk Music Up From Below Y'all Want Some More On January 22nd '86 Prince assembled an album by "The Flesh" entitled "Junk Music" which consisted of the following tracks: side one; Junk Music side two; Up From Below Y'all Want Some More A Couple Of Miles Junk Music was originally about 45 minutes long, but was edited down to 20 minutes for the album. A Couple Of Miles was an instrumental that Prince recorded on December 26th '85 (he also recorded Can I Play With U in the same session), Eric Leeds added some Saxophone to it on December 30th. The album was shelved due to the fact that Prince's time was taken up with other projects (Under The Cherry Moon, Parade & The Family). Prince liked the idea of releasing an instrumental jazz-funk album under a pseudonym. He finally got round to it in '87, but renamed the project Madhouse & ditched the old Flesh tracks in favor of fresh new recordings. [This message was edited Sat Aug 31 18:04:39 PDT 2002 by BorisFishpaw] | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Where do we get them? Where do we get them? | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
again Fishpaw shoots and scores. You must work for UPTOWN or at least glue yourself to their work! GIve with the details. The expanded version of my book PRINCE and The Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions 1983-1984 was released in November 2018. (www.amazon.com/gp/product/1538114623/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0) or www.facebook.com/groups/1...104195943/ | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
BorisFishpaw, I love you, man!
. "You don't frighten us, English pig dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person." | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
? [This message was edited Wed Feb 26 3:55:19 PST 2003 by IstenSzek] and true love lives on lollipops and crisps | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Man Fishpaw...I honestly have no questions after your post. Right On.
I'm with; Unremarkable, "Where do we get them...!" Blue Blue  | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Exactly. Where do we get them? The answer may not be too far off, though.
That is, if rumours are true regarding some recently discovered outtakes which have surfaced. Could this be the reason Sabotage are now feeling so smug about releasing their own version of "The Work"(of unreleased demos and outtakes)???.They claim theirs will put Thunderball's version in the shade... Of course, with regards to 'The Flesh' sessions, many here, quite rightly, will say "hey! those tracks are NOT circulating!", etc. But only a few months ago the entire Dream Factory LP was unavailable on boot, and neither were recently unearthed tracks like Prince's demo of 'Fuschia Light', for example (which, incidentally, is not listed in TURN IT UP 0.2 as one of the tracks "circulating". My original question, however, was: has anybody currently roaming the org actually heard ANY more material from 'The Flesh' sessions, quite aside from 'U Gotta Shake Something'??? . "You don't frighten us, English pig dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person." | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
And while we anxiously await some feedback, here's further info on one of the above tracks, '12 Keys':
The musicians were Prince (guitar and piano), Levi Seacer Jr. (bass), Sheila E. (drums), and Eric Leeds (saxophone)."It was all completely ad-libbed, with no breaks between any of the pieces", recalls Eric. Unbeknownst to the musicians at the time, the track was in fact an instrumental take on 'The Question Of U', which Prince had recorded earlier in 1985. . "You don't frighten us, English pig dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person." | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
giotto said:
Hell, one of these cuts ('Junk Music')even made it as background music on a scene in the film 'Under The Cherry Moon' (the part where Christopher and Tricky are arguing over Mary). Actually, the background music for that scene is taken from the rhythm (drums and bass) tracks of the song "It's A Wonderful Day" from the Dream Factory lp. Take a listen... -SWANGiswhatit'slikeinthedreamfactory | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
SWANG said: giotto said:
Hell, one of these cuts ('Junk Music')even made it as background music on a scene in the film 'Under The Cherry Moon' (the part where Christopher and Tricky are arguing over Mary). Actually, the background music for that scene is taken from the rhythm (drums and bass) tracks of the song "It's A Wonderful Day" from the Dream Factory lp. Take a listen... -SWANGiswhatit'slikeinthedreamfactory Thank you. And the "Junk Music" track was actually featured during the scene at the race track where Mary and Christopher race each other. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
SWANG said: giotto said:
Hell, one of these cuts ('Junk Music')even made it as background music on a scene in the film 'Under The Cherry Moon' (the part where Christopher and Tricky are arguing over Mary). Actually, the background music for that scene is taken from the rhythm (drums and bass) tracks of the song "It's A Wonderful Day" from the Dream Factory lp. Take a listen... -SWANGiswhatit'slikeinthedreamfactory Thanks for the above observation. Why do you think I created this particular topic, if only to be enlightened by the masses??? Leaving jokes aside, it is a well-established fact that some 30 seconds of 'Junk Music' made it into 'Under The Cherry Moon' as background music (in a scene where Tricky and Christopher Tracy are arguing over what type of man Mary Sharon prefers). No portion of 'It's A Wonderful Day' was actually used for this scene. Admittedly, 'Junk Music' - originally a 45 minute recording - does bear a striking resemblance to 'It's A Wonderful Day', notably the drum pattern (coincidentally, both tracks were recorded within a few days of each other during January 1986) but they are NOT the same composition. . "You don't frighten us, English pig dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person." | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
BorisFishpaw said: The Flesh was a kind of precursor to Madhouse. All the tracks were jazz-funk instrumentals.
The songs were recorded in 3 sessions soon after Christmas 1985 at Sunset Sound. The first session was on December 28th '85. Prince, Eric Leeds, Sheila E. & Levi Seacer Jr. recorded 8 tracks: Slaughterhouse U Just Can't Stop Run Amok Mobile Madrid Breathless High Calonic 12 Keys Prince was so pleased with the results that they all returned to the studio 2 days later to record another 3 tracks: U Gotta Shake Something Voodoo Who Finest Whiskey On January 5th '86, Prince, Eric, Sheila & Levi returned to the studio once more, this time with Wendy & Lisa, and Wendy's brother, Jonathan Melvoin. They recorded another 6 tracks: Groove In C Minor Slow Groove In G Major Groove In G Flat Minor Junk Music Up From Below Y'all Want Some More On January 22nd '86 Prince assembled an album by "The Flesh" entitled "Junk Music" which consisted of the following tracks: side one; Junk Music side two; Up From Below Y'all Want Some More A Couple Of Miles Junk Music was originally about 45 minutes long, but was edited down to 20 minutes for the album. A Couple Of Miles was an instrumental that Prince recorded on December 26th '85 (he also recorded Can I Play With U in the same session), Eric Leeds added some Saxophone to it on December 30th. The album was shelved due to the fact that Prince's time was taken up with other projects (Under The Cherry Moon, Parade & The Family). Prince liked the idea of releasing an instrumental jazz-funk album under a pseudonym. He finally got round to it in '87, but renamed the project Madhouse & ditched the old Flesh tracks in favor of fresh new recordings. [This message was edited Sat Aug 31 18:04:39 PDT 2002 by BorisFishpaw] WOWZERS!! You sure do know a lot!! Thanks for all that info...it is helpful. Pssst...where to hear?  | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |