When Prince talked to Matt Lauer in 1999 about Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, he talked about how even though he was still known as that "Prince" was the producer on the album. He said that "Prince" knew how to edit, and he felt like he was trying to find that part of himself to really hon the album into a cohesive set of good tunes. He also talked about how stuff like Emancipation or whatever was more liberal with arrangements, etc.

So the question then becomes: When should Prince have edited himself. I don't mean lyrical content. I mean in arrangement or length. (I found it ironic that "Prince" knew how to edit, because 1999 was such a long album, due mainly to the length of the songs.) I think songs like "White Mansion" or "Damned If I Do", "Jam Of The Year", "Sleep Around", and "We Gets Up" (to name a few) have those tag endings on them. If you cut the song off at that point and disallow the tag ending, the song is succinct and perfect. The tag ending seems more like .

In a recent LotusFlow3r thread, I mentioned how I edited the End Time (in iTunes) for "Never B Another" and "Chocolate Box", and cut them off by a minute or two. They just went on too long and lost their appeal after the 4:30 minute mark or so. There's an obvious break in both those songs where they should have cut off, but didn't.

There's also a note to be said about he should NOT have edited "Computer Blue" down, but understandably for time constraints, he had to. All of those Purple Rain songs had longer versions, pretty much.

Also to note, in a current thread about "unpopular" songs you love (http://prince.org/msg/7/307317), I mentioned how "Temptation" is a good song, WITHOUT that long ass, dragged out ending where he talks to God. If that wasn't on there, "Temptation" would have been near perfect. (And it would have left room for "America" to have a bit more space since it was so long to begin with.)

So in ALL of his catalog, what song(s) do you think he should have edited, cut a bit.

I agree about (There'll Never B) Another Like Me. It should have been cut at the point where the "scratch" ends the song. It's cool that he has it longer and would have worked as a 12in single in the 80s, but as an album cut, it would have worked a little better cut down.

To me, I think Prince edits so that he can feature his solos and guitar/keyboard solos. I think if he feels he has a groove he likes, he wants the listener to have more. For instance, Chocolate Box. I think he really loved the beat and thought it would be a cool break down at the end (and I agree).

I also think that we are conditioned to "radio edits" in the sense that our attention span for a song is usually limited to between 3 and 5 minutes. When a song goes over that, people tend to loose interest. Sad, but true.

daPrettyman said:

I agree with Ernest on this. I think you're right about being conditioned to like 'Radio Edits'. This is true, I love radio edits? Why? Because house/dance songs should not be 8-10 minutes long, if there are no tag endings, there are breakdowns that introduce something new to the song...same with There'll Never Be and Chocolate Box (which I really liked in the beginning), but now I'm just bored. None of thos songs are multi-layered like Prince use to do...so now songs drag on with just a beat and weird sounds that repeat, OVER AND OVER AND OVER again...we aren't dumb Prince...that doesn't keep us happy or groovin'.Its what Tom Petty calls 'bullshit' in music 'Don't bore us, get to the chorus'. I love guitar solos, synth solos and great breakdowns. MPLSound is definitely a sweet candy bar with empty calories.

skywalker said:

no.

rudedog said:

Even thought I can't stand Petty, I agree with his words. I love what you said,

1999 was a bit of a stand off example of longer songs being okay. It was a highly creative period for him, and a lot of R&B music still had long songs on albums. That shortened in the early 80's though. But as far as radio edits, some are good, some are not. Depends on the song. But for Prince....agreed, just get to it.

ernestsewell said:

Yes, I do agree. Those songs U mentioned are pretty good examples of good editing, something Prince should have done with Another Like Me and Chocolate Box. The 1999 album was worth its length, 'cause songs had very much sound and arrangement work in them. While I would have stretched Ol' Skool Company even more. That piece deserves it.



And I really do wish he put out the extended versions one way or the other. That happened, marginally, only to I Would Die 4 U and Let's Go Crazy. Computer Blue is a masterpiece in its Hallway Speech version; it's the most hypnotic song he ever did, after Something In The Water.



Please no. I really LOVE Temptation and the ending is superb. Around The World In A Day is one of my top 5 Prince albums.



It, I never fully liked this song.
Billy Jack Bitch is indeed bitchin' around towards the end. Bothers me.

While I would cut out Dig U Better Dead and Had U altogether from Chaos And Disorder.

I agree that some songs should be cut but it definitely depends on the song. For instance, I love the jam at the end of "I Wanna Be Your Lover". However, "Alphabet Street" should've been cut at the point it ends in the video. It trips me out how that's always left on the hits compilations, yet "When Doves Cry" and "Adore" fade out. WTF!

xpertluva said:

The songs you listed were mostly the radio edits. Alphabet St.'s single version was the version used in the video.

The version of WDC that was included on the HITS version was the single version also. It was edited for radio, but most stations played the album version. However, there was an edited video and single for WDC.

This also applies to IWBYL. Before I got the LP, I preferred the edit version. THe jam session at the end does not do much for me on this song.

As for Adore, the version on The HITS was created specifically for that package. I think it was done that way for radio also. Adore got a LOT of radio play (and still does). Some stations play the edit version for the day time (which works perfectly) and the album version during the "quiet storm" program.