This may be considered a pointless thread but I always thought the version of Dolphin from the Letterman show was miles better than the Gold Experience version. Same goes for the live versions of Endorphinmachine and Fury.

Now the questions is: why did PRince castrate his songs like this? Answer: to make them fit better with the flow and 'sound' of the respective album. This is why I think Sign of the Times quicked so much ass. The songs fit together organically, many sounded like demos or at least not overproduced.....

What made Prince betray his children?

I like a ton of his stuff better live than on the albums, Fury being at the top of that list...

I never heard that version of Dolphin yet I love that song.

the only songs i can think of - done LIVE that did NOT measure up ... are "1999" and maybe "when doves cry"

Buttox said:

No way...

:shiver: I made a thread about that video the first time I saw it... I find it so depressing because Prince looked like he was caged up... He didn't look happy to be there and he wasn't himself.
I love the album version... in fact, it's become one of my favorites because Prince & I had a personal connection thru it... I believe the song speaks 2 both of us. I refuse 2 watch that performance again cuz I can't stand to see Prince so sad and depressed...

However, I will agree that his live versions of Fury are better/more exciting than the album version. EM, I'm kinda on the fence about just cuz I wasn't too crazy about the song to begin with and I can't comment too much cuz it's just starting to grow on me, but at a slow rate.
I believed that his live version of Te Amo Corazon on the Brits was better than the album, but it still works for me. It's my fav. on 3121.

I swear that Letterman version sucked, it was down right embarrassing!

the version of Dolphin played on letterman wasn't really that
different from the released album version.

the main problem with it was that his sound seemed to be too
deeply mixed into the instruments thus making it very hard to
make out what prince was singing.

another problem with performing Dolphin live is that prince
has a hard time fitting the words to the melody. he either
skips words or entire lines or makes it come out inaudible.

the newly re-arranged dolphin he performed live since the ONA
tour seems to be rewritten specifically for live performing.

and even still he leaves out the chorus half the time as if
he's running out of breath trying to sing it in one go.

I prefer TGE version over that Letterman version-he didn't even do the whole song on that show.

I have fond memories of that performance cause it was the first time I ever saw P in the flesh. I was among the fans crowded out side the side door entrance of the ed sullivan theather.

Shorty said:

Hey, I was there too! Didn't he look like a clown with all that makeup? Or even the Joker (from Batman).

I even embarrassed myself by offering money to people in line for their tickets. They looked at me like I was loony.

I'm glad I didn't get in, tho. I didn't like the theatrics of the performance. (Mayte as an angel, was it? And didn't he commit "suicide"? His various reincarnations were usually clumsily executed, I thought. With the exception of the 7 video, I suppose.)

JPMcGee said:

umm NO! I don't recall thinking he looked like a clown. I honestly don't recal even noticing the make up...and I was close too. It was a big first for me so...I was ok with the whole thing

Shorty said:

You too, huh? I bumped into Mayte, before Prince realized he'd forgotten her and sped off in the limo!

viewaskew said:

didn't mayte and company (sisters or something)and the band show up in a white van and went in first?

IstenSzek said:

Yeah, I thought that was just because he wasn't in the best of moods and didn't want to be there. He really did look like a "SLAVE", and I felt so bad 4 him.
It was becuz of that performance that I initially wanted to swear off checking into TGE and his days as , it made it look like he was unhappy during those days and it hurt to see him like that.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

He wanted to be there. It was all part of the "show" and his convoluted marketing plan at this point.

jtfolden said:

regardless, he had me convinced that he was miserable at that point in his life...
4 some reason, I just can't believe that he'd put on such an act and (excuse me, Prince) be such a drama queen... if he wasn't hurting about something.

That's when I saw him as the victim... I can see things from both sides, but back then (5-6 wks ago), I believed in the best in him and took his side on everything. I still do have his back, but my mind's a bit more open 2 the opposition than it was b4.

Sorry couldn't disagree more on Dolphin.

The TGE album version although it has clarity it lacks the balls of the Letterman version. The synths are too high in the mix as is the case in Fury.

To each his own on this, but I remember finally getting the TGE version and going WTF> Same with Fury.

You have to at least admit the guitar is buried and distracted by the synth>?

:shudder:

Yeah, I really want to shake my memories of that performance out of my head. I wish he made a video for it (and if so, I wish I could find it, lol).

Mango kept commenting 2 me on it, saying that it takes away from the song... and I completely agree. (Where is she, anyway? She should comment on this).

The song, when I heard it on TGE, gives off a completely different vibe than it does on Letterman. I like the vibe I get on TGE...

The song's supposed to be spiritual (at least I think it is)... nothing about the Letterman performance says that... it says "I'm caged up and I need to break free of the chains that bind me".

viewaskew said:

Holy shit! I was outside the back door too. He totally left mayte on the curb!
I thought he got spooked by the crowd and took off
I remember that he peeked out the window next to the door of the theater before he came out. Didn't some ppl in the crowd also have "slave" written on their faces at P's suggestion, or am I making that part up?

chewymusic said:

funny I don't remembe mayte being left behind.
I remember Kathy lee gifford coming out. Every one was yelling "prince, prince" then kathylee came out and we were all silent.
I remember someone had passed out symbol flyers or something

I agree about "Fury," not on "Dolphin" -- though "Dolphin" was never a song I would say I liked enough to engage in a debate on.

I'll throw "One of Us" out there. The live version he did on that Emancipation release show (the one that was on MTV and VH1) was so much better than the album version. The guitar playing is fierce live, it can't even be explained. Always bothered me how much more tame the album version was.

nyquil32 said:

I think quite a few people would agree with me in saying that his live performances of the 3121 tracks sounded a lot better than they do on the album.

I wish he could put a little more effort into Te Amo Corazon like at the Brits, but I still like the album version all the same.
Lolita sounds cooler on AI, but I like hearing it in its entirity.
Fury sounds a whole lot better live... the album version sounds a little bland.

Album versions are just the bait.

Genesia said:

Prince... you sly dog...

hmm, perhaps i'm missing something but i've just watched the
letterman performance again and it doesn't sound that good
at all. perhaps it's just the quality of my dvd. that's one
explanation, lol.

but i fail to see how that performance packs more of a punch
than the album version.

with fury, it's obvious, the snl version is multiple times
better and harder/more driven than the album version.

but the dolphin cd version is driven and the guitar is very
much to the front. plus i love his crisp beautiful vocals
on the beginning/intro

IstenSzek said:

Just watched it again... It's not really that much more impressive than the album version is...

:shudder: That's the last time I watch that... Prince really tell YouTube to remove that video (or his people should)... I'd rather not have access to it.

There's more life in the album version.

After seeing the music video, Dolphin became my favorite Prince song. I still get all teary and everytime I watch it. It was very powerful, and it helped me through what I was dealing with at the time.

I didn't see the Letterman performance until a few years later. Yeah, uh, that made me want cry too, but not in a good way.
[Edited 4/13/07 13:07pm]

FYI ....The Letterman version appeared 11 months before the album was released. The Letterman appearance was in December 1994 and the album was not released until November 1995. Prince made several versions of the Gold Experence before it was released.

Prince appeared very troubled during the performance. Which makes it interereting to watch. Wasnt the greatest performance from a technical, audio standpoint but from a psychological stance, it was facinating.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

...and that's why his little performance worked. The problem is, of course, that he wasn't the victim of anything... He willingly signed a contract and when he couldn't live up to it, he got all bent out of shape.

As far as the drama queen stuff... Prince has been a drama queen for ages.

I don't remember the Letterman performance being particularly special, but I agree that Prince tends to overproduce his songs sometimes. He's terrible for it at times, he doesn't know when to just leave a good song alone, when to stop tinkering with it.

The thing that really bothers me is all the cheesy sample-library sound effects he adds to needlessly hammer home the lyrics. He does it all the time on his albums, and it is really off-putting. TMBGITW is one of the worst, with sounds of clocks ticking, water drops falling etc to match the lyrics... but he does it all the time and it really undermines his songwriting IMO. Thinking about it... I think Prince is an awesome musician and songwriter, but he'd benefit from working with a good producer to help steer his recording and studio technique. Maybe with some extra input from another person, it'd give him the confidence to just let his instruments and songwriting talent do the talking, instead of burying good songs in layer upon layer of shit.