Scifi said:



Yep, that's the one

I remember both Kahoru and Ophelie Winter being mentioned, when I first heard about the plan for a simultaneous release of the song in 12 different languages.
So Kahoru's later release wasn't just "a cover", it was part of the original abandoned plan.

Nosferatu said:

Yeah.

And I betcha the $19.99 price was set to signal that The Dawn would become possible in 1999 when was free of his contract.

Virgo said:

Is that something you read in the Prince Family newsletter?

But Mayte said 14, but 12 or 14, what does it really matter? As long as we can conclude that there was a plan to release TMBGITW in many different languages all at one time.

Now I've changed the text to include your corrections, Virgo.

Great read. Again learned a lot! Thank you for going to so much effort!

One thing I will say, however; there is an underlying suggestion in these specials, that almost every change prince made, be it a song or an album track list etc.., resulted in a poorer quality result when compared to earlier versions of said albums/songs.

Now I'm not suggesting that was never true, but to my ears, I often prefer later versions of tracks/albums from this era. There are no 'rules of thumb'. It's all subjective.

There is also the point that this was P making changes to his own songs to suit his own tastes. His track record for making things sound great is more than enough justification for any changes he decides to make.

Just being picky! Otherwise loved it! Don't you dare stop.

1+1+1 = 3, ain't no room 4 disagree.

Of course you are entitled to make up your own mind. But "suggesting" that it would have been better for the fans if the May 1993 configuration of Come and the May 1994 configuration of The Gold Experience had been released (and at the proper times) is sorta the point of my articles.

That's why I call them Prince vs. WB: The fans lost.

Of course, Prince could still make it up to us (for the sub-par Come configuration that he chose to release in particular) by releasing those particular 1993/1994 configurations as downloads on Lotusflow3r.com. That's sorta the point of my "Free the..." signature campaign.

But of course he wont, because by now those albums are probably all kinds of against his Jehova religion.
[Edited 9/7/09 7:27am]

scififilmnerd said:

The only thing that gets me down about these posts is how, when the Dawn finally came, it seemed like he didn't care anymore.

The potential was there with Crystal Ball, but everything else seemed diluted. After all these great tracks, albums, TV specials, performances, interviews (bar maybe the Sunday Show interview) and following his emancipation, talk of Crystal Ball 2, the Crystal Ball DVD, Roadhouse Garden, Sampler Experience, etc. it seemed when the sun did finally rise, had left the building...

Does anyone know what stopped this momentum, or was it just the friction with WB was, in hindsite, essential?

Nosferatu said:

I blame Larry Graham and his negative, evil influence.

He probably told that the lyrics on Crystal Ball 2 and Roadhouse Garden were against the Jehova faith.
[Edited 9/7/09 5:59am]

Maybe what stopped Prince's momentum was that he wound up wearing too many hats. He self-imposed the burden of carrying the business side of things on his shoulders, thus not being able to fully concentrate on the music. His post Warner Bros output has for the most part been arguably, fairly uninspired. Come, Gold and Chaos were made during his WB tenure, and this made for some interesting, mostly great quality music.

Although Prince has kept up his now expected one album per year schedule, lack of management and a need to control every aspect of his career have drained the life out of the art.

Just speculatin', of course.

scififilmnerd said:

I think so too, but taking it to a further level. I don't think Larry told him what exactly to do, because he knew that the guy he was talking to had a mind of his own, knowing it was cool that way. He rather waited until P changed his own mind, and Larry would be there to help and support that.

Just added The Most Beautiful Girl In The World '96 Mix single to the article.

Thanks to Groovement.

just curious.....where does all this info come from and will it be in a book one day?

i love reading stuff like this

thanks

squirrelgrease said:

Oddly, there have been a few people who have stated that the 93-95 era is their favourite period, along with 86-88... During 86-88, a lot of WB shinnanigans were also influencing the output causing Dream Factory to become Crystal Ball, Camille and ultimately Sign O the Times. Seems he works best under pressure when there are other people holding the strings...

I'm not sure if Larry was to blame for the creative drought, but he is definitely one who censored what was coming out...

Nosferatu said:

That's true. A lot of parallels can be drawn from those two periods. Like you mention, the constant reconfiguring of track lists and project ideas, endless studio productivity, the frustrations that Prince and WB had with each other. Plus the band line-ups changed during those time periods as well.

japanrocks said:

The info comes from the list of sources and the people I've thanked.

No publishing house has approached me about doing a book.

But you can just print the articles and keep them together. Then it's almost like a book.


[Edited 9/7/09 9:56am]

Scifi said:



Technically Mayte didn't say that there would be 14 different languages, she said 14 different configurations.
I suppose that could be counting ´s releases as well. (The single and the E.P).

But no it doesn't matter that much
I'm sure it was more a PR- stunt than anything. Another W.B provocation.
This was the only song W.B would let him release on his own, so he was letting them now he was gonna milk it - take the whole world over with this song. Release as many configurations as possible.
He was probably into the idea for a brief moment, as he usually is.
But I'm sure it was never recorded in 12 different languages - even though he probably had enough old girlfriends around the world he could ask to do it, if he really wanted to pull it off

During the friction years with W.B. there was a huge amount of press releases coming from Paisley/N.P.G Records.
The info was from one of them (the one about the 12 different languages) - and yes the Prince Family letter mentioned it/reprinted it.

Virgo said:

Imagine Trine Michelsen or Marianne Dinesen doing the Danish version.

Great job!

I adore TGE and this period is one of the best of his career. I'm anxious to read about Chaos & Disorder, because I always sorta consider it the 3rd prong of this triad starting w/ Come and TGE.

the early album art with that track configuration looks pretty cool! ...i should try to make that config at home.

Look:

recorded a hit on my 25th birthday.

What did he record on YOUR birthday?

scififilmnerd said:

My 22nd Birthday - 1987 Lovesexy #1 (Rock Hard Version)

squirrelgrease said:

Oh, that's good, too.

Dave1992 said:

Yeah, his brainwashing was probably more subtle. Instead of coming right out and say it was against Jehova, he probably said something like, "that's old stuff. Why cling to the past?".

L4OATheOriginal said:

Why, did you like the... Game... Boyz?




[Edited 9/8/09 10:03am]

Another stellar thread scifi! I haven't finished reading it all yet, but I can see it's another exhaustively put together piece.

Thanks for the work that went into this article. Chaos And Disorder was my first Prince album and I am really looking forward to your next article.

scififilmnerd said:

it had nothing 2 do with the game boys it was more about the 1st act of the show centered around the album and playing the new music and leaving the 2nd half of the show 2 the old music ..i like that concept

but the game boyz have always been cool with me when i've met them

rialb said:

Now there's a statement you don't read every day!

NouveauDance said:

Well, if I'm completely accurate I gotta include the Hits 1 and 2 in there too. I picked up all three albums on the same day way back in the autumn of 1996 shortly before the release of Emancipation. Since it was my first Prince album I have always had a lot of love for Chaos And Disorder.

If that bit about Tevin Campbell claiming "Shhh" was his song causing Prince to record his own version is true I think we all owe Kevin a "thank you,"