Welcome to The Slaughterhouse. Once again a series of tracks that take me back to the first years of the NPGMC.

I remember hearing that electrobeat of Silicon (silly con) and just smiling, there is a way that Prince can work a drum machine like no other. And all the fritzed synth lines make it sound like a machine short-circuiting. Never the treatment to his vocals gives us this detached feel as the lyrics flow. For me this is a dark song, with a fair bit of anger dripping in the groove. Powerful and edgy, it reminds me of some of the highlight tracks from Rave.

S&M Groove was a song I remember blasting one summer in my car. In fact when I made a compile of all the NPGMC downloads I called it S&M Groove. This is just one of those classic Prince tracks that makes you just get into it from the first beat. At first listen it sounds fairly sparse, but repeated plays rewards you with the little gems of samples playing under the main groove. This reminds me of some of the harder songs from Emancipation.

Y Should Eye Do That When Eye Can Do This? Just hit me and has never let go. As if teaching class, Prince tells the newbies of samples and “interpolations” about how original work is played… with the emphasis on played! Although there is a strong electronic vibe to the track, you know Prince has the musical skills to back up the claims. The early seeds of the thought that would blossom into Musicology.

If there was an instant should have been hit on here Golden Parachute is it. A song smooth in its lament for the passing of the music and the rise of the business. It just floats in an ethereal way that sinks into your mind and gets you singing along before you realise what it is the words say. Debate aside about if it is about Clive Davis or not, it certainly is targeted at the suits who purchase music as a product and not as an art. Such heavy words just float down like the symbolic parachute and hopefully get a great safe landing.

Hypnoparadise never did it for me. It sounded like a bad remix of what would have been a good track. For some reason I see ballroom dancing when I hear this track, and that in itself is a bad association.

Thankfully, backing up HP is Props and Pounds, this easy does it funk track lays out the legend that is P without being too self involved and then underplays it with the idea of giving credit and love where its due. Sounding like a TRC track, this has always been a fave with me, especially the midsection. And every time I hear the quote “he knows when to stop….. usually” and the music kicks off to a new level I just laugh and love it. Who said the man didn’t have a sense of humour?


Northside reminded me more of a NPG track than a P song. Like it would be something from Gold N****. A little bit of by the book song writing here but still Prince manages to lay a hook in the track. It’s an ok track but compared to some of the other gems on here it feels like filler,

Peace starts off as filler, admit it now, and then builds into a classic funk groove with a dash of gospel added in for good measure. Reminds me of the finer moments on Graffiti Bridge.

I had never heard 2045:Radical Man until this release. And I can still remember sitting back after the download and anxiously pressing play. With a preacher inspired rant, P delivers his argument for music and masters and the current state of play of the music business. Jazz tinged, this shuffle funk groove was well worth the wait.

The first time I heard The Daisy Chain I just played it over and over for about half hour. It was just too funky for a Prince starved guy to handle. I love the whole distorted effect on the guitars, bass and occasional vocal line, and the Stevie inspired synth lines near the end of the track. I have to admit, hopes were high when I heard this and The Work Pt 1, thinking we might get a return to funk form. They were just where I wanted Prince to be, of course they weren’t where he was going. But maybe that’s the way he likes to play it. Lead em thinking this way and then open their mind with something new and unexpected.

As a set, I think TSH is a stronger collection of tracks than TCI, they seem to be more cohesive and in synch. And maybe it’s because they seem to hit more of the songs I remember downloading. Either way, when the vault doors sneak open you can beat I’ll be there to sample whatever we can get our hands on.

Swa

I can't really say much more than what I said about The Chocolate Invasion. To me these tracks have always felt like leftovers. Now, when you're talking about Prince leftovers is not necessarily a bad word. However, in the case of these particular tracks I was left unimpressed. I find that each song has some good musical ideas but not enough to make for a compelling whole.

Many of these tracks, as well as tracks from The Chocolate Invasion, are from two aborted albums: High and Peace. Does anyone know if there was ever an "official" tracklist for these albums?

I do think these albums should still be in print. If people want to hear them it would behoove Prince to make them legally available.

rialb said:

There have been many mooted "official" tracklistings but they seem to be more guesstimates than anything. Also don't forget at one stage Prince had planned on a whole "Madrid 2 Chicago" album also.

Swa

How many more semi official albums are u doing, I am waiting for you to post 3121, better yet do all the semi official bootleg stuff after the official ones. I have never heard the Choclate Invasion or slaughterhouse or any of these other limited release albums.
[Edited 7/16/09 22:39pm]

Huggiebear said:

Doing them in the order of release - these two "albums" were release via NPGMC in the lead up to 3121 (being reviewed tomorrow).

During the 2003 tour Prince even advertised that The Chocolate Invasion was going to be a multi-disc set. Of course it never eventuated.

Swa

I love Peace!great track! even the intro is good, but the question is, is it Mr hayes or Johnny Blackshire saying the "artist, you gots to get yo peace in"...?

Well It's funny cause the whole track is kind of built around a Sly & the Family Stone sample.!
[Edited 7/17/09 0:50am]

Thibaut said:

Which track?

Swa

Swa said:

And what about ONA Live? I was looking forward to your (IMO excellent reviews) and I'm quite missing your review of ONA Live (I don't understand why the most of orgers hate it..?).

Swa said:

Funny you should say that, because that's exactly what it is. Even though
there are no 'Artist' credits on 'The Slaughterhouse' or 'The Chocolate
Invasion', all the songs were actually officially credited when they were
originally released during the first year of the NPG Music Club. The last four
tracks of 'The Slaughterhouse' were all credited to The NPG, rather than Prince
and were originally intended for the aborted 'Peace' album.

Here's the complete tracklistings for both albums, including original credits...

The Slaughterhouse
01. Silicon (4:16) - Prince
02. S.M. Groove (5:09) -
03. Y Should Eye Do That, When Eye Can Do This? (4:33) - Prince
04. Golden Parachute (5:37) - Prince
05. Hypno Paradise (6:05) -
06. Props N' Pounds (4:38) - Prince
07. Northside (6:33) - New Power Generation
08. Peace (5:34) - New Power Generation
09. 2045: Radical Man (6:34) - New Power Generation
10. The Daisy Chain (6:14) - New Power Generation

The Chocolate Invasion
01. When Eye Lay My Hands On U (3:43) - Prince
02. Judas Smile (6:35) - Prince
03. Supercute (4:15) - Prince
04. Underneath The Cream (4:01) - Prince
05. Sex Me? Sex Me Not (5:44) - Prince
06. Vavoom (4:37) - Prince
07. High (5:07) - Prince
08. The Dance (4:43) - Prince
09. Gamillah (3:11) - New Power Generation
10. U Make My Sun Shine (7:05) - Prince & Angie Stone



Personally, I would say the opposite. Both albums are good collections,
but 'The Chocolate Invasion' hangs together as an 'album' better and feels
more cohesive. Mainly because it's virtually all 'Prince' songs and is mostly
made up of tracks intended for the 'High' album. In fact, I would say 'The
Chocolate Invasion' could be seen as a natural progression of that album.
In the same way that 'Sign O' the Times' was to 'Crystal Ball'.

For me, 'The Slaughterhouse' feels a little more like a 'compilation' as it's
tracks are culled from various different projects over a longer period of time.
Even though neither album was officially credited as a whole to any particular
'artist', I kinda always view 'The Chocolate Invasion' as a 'Prince' album and
'The Slaughterhouse' as a 'New Power Generation' album. It's a pity that
neither album had a 'hard copy' release in the end, and remained as
'download only' releases.

Swa said:

Family Affair, it 's on the 1971 'There's A riot Going On' album, really check it out, great track, great album.


2:22 u can clearly hear the sample

[Edited 7/17/09 3:15am]
[Edited 7/17/09 3:15am]

Huggiebear said:

Well they're albums released by Prince on NPGMC. They were all released as separate songs year one of NPGMC, and maybe a couple in year 2. however, Prince compiled all of them into two separate albums and sold them as such. You haven't heard from 3121 yet because she's not quite up to that time frame. We're still talking 2002/2003 at this point.

BorisFishpaw said:

Thanks for the info and the insight. Makes me listen to TCI in a new frame of mind with the SOTT / CB allusion.

Swa