Right now i am listening to it, and i must say this album has aged very well!

Alltough it is more then 20 years old, i think it has aged far better then many of the songs from The Time.

And i really love the style of music: hard funk with orchestra and jazz elements, and a share of psychedelic pop. 'Baroque Funk' at its best.
[Edited 7/16/08 9:01am]

Oh, what i would like to ad. Music- and productionwise I see the album very much as THE link between:

The typical Minneapolis sound from the first half of the eighties (especially the music of the Time, the first two songs could easily have been sung by Morris Day)

And

The more experimental, eclectic sound from the late eighties protegees (the orchestrated funk by Jill Jones, the jazz-fusion on the Madhouse albums).
[Edited 7/16/08 9:06am]
[Edited 7/16/08 9:07am]

August, 1985.

appreciation for the correct year - 1985

I WAY appreciate this album. There's another thread here about "does Prince's music ever make you cry." Well, how long would I cry (till the river run dry?) every time the false fade came in at the closing of "Desire" and the song finally drifted away for reals; I was 'crying' because the album was already through playing and it seemed like it had just started moments ago.

Great appreciation for the "Screams Of Passion" video too. So high-tech! lol, I kid. It was my introduction to the whole Family project/concept as it suddenly appeared out of the blue one night on a local music video cable show. I knew there was a Prince connection as soon as I saw crazy Jerome playing little drummer boy and the Wendy lookalike singing. I was indefinitely hooked the moment I heard that primal sex scream. Craziness!

Haven't listened to it as a whole in years, but the odd track does occasionally come up on the iPod.

I love the term 'baroque funk' - perfect!

Where the hell can you buy this album on CD? Seriously? I've seen it on Amazon for about £85 or something stupid...
[Edited 7/17/08 5:20am]

MattyJam said:

You won't find it on CD for cheap unless you are extra-ordinarily lucky and the seller doesn't know what they have (it happens).

Settle for a pristine vinyl copy

NouveauDance said:

I made my own CD from the vinyl I bought in 1985.

Genesia said:

I much prefer to do that too than buy expensive out of print CDs from the 80s, since the audio quality is never very good on CD any way. You get better results from ripping a good quality piece of vinyl and tinkering it with it as you see fit in some editing software.

I've come across a few cheap CD copies of rare Prince-related stuff in the past though, and I'm always happy to snap those up when I find them.


//
[Edited 7/17/08 7:53am]

Riverpoet31 said:

...this Album is GREAT...all the tracks are from Prince & these songs were written during the Purple Rain & ARTWIAD sessions....this ALBUM IS PRINCE at his BEST for the music & production....we are far away from the crap albums like Musicology/3121 & PE!!
[Edited 7/17/08 7:55am]

Thank you for pointing me out the album was released at the end of 1985.

In my memory the album 'was there' in 1986 where i live, in the Netherlands. But it was very poorly promoted, so it could have went under the radar for the first months.

Some really great 'passages' / moments on this album i would like to mention.

- The finale of High Fashion, the rising orchestra given just that extra bit of energy / tension for the climax.

- The way Eric Leeds kicks in with his first saxophone solo on Mutiny. Its so fucking powerfull. In that sense it reminds me in that sense of Erics' first saxophone solo on Hot Thing (from Sign of the Times).

- The orchestra / beat during the bridge right after the long scream of St. Paul. Clare Fishers arrangements works so splendidly there with the rest of the music.
I also love those weird, psychedelic backdrape of synths (?) on this song.

- The bleakness of River run dry. Again splendid arranging by Clare Fisher.

- Nothing compares to you: Again the arrangement of Clare Fisher, especially during the last verse and chorus before the saxophone solo, it sounds really breathtaking. It gives me the chills everytime i listen to that passage.

- The instrumental reprise of Desire. Very sweet.

An overall comment:
Alltough St. Paul and Susannah sure aint the greatest singers. Prince somehow succeeds (with help of Clare Fisher) to compensate for that with the brilliant beats and arrangements.
[Edited 7/17/08 8:42am]

MattyJam said:

I have the cd but the album sounds MUCH better imho.