Over the years, Prince has had some songs that sounded GREAT on record but terrible live as well as the flip-side of sounding GREAT live but terrible on CD.

the biggest stand-out for me on this topic is Kiss. Over the yeas, Prince has tried to do this song live MANY times. Reworking it and reworking till he was blue in the face. It never seems to have the impact that the record does. I think he's said so him self but I'm not sure. I KNOW he's said as much of When Doves Cry, which is another great example.

7 is another "standout" regarding this phenomenon. That song is fuckin awesome on CD and the "acoustic" single version might even be better. But EVERY time this song had a stage light in it's eyes, it got stage fright. It just don't happen and falls shot in a lot of respects. What those respects are, I'm not sure...but it happens.

What I do applaud is the courage he has to try. He never seems to shy from the challenge of bringing what seem to be studio only creations to a live, public, revealing setting. This is part of what makes him a great performer. His ability to put all of his cards on the table in terms of live performance.


When MPLSound came out and I heard No More Candy 4 U, I thought is was a track DESTINED to remain a CD song and would NEVER see the light of a stage, this being the opposite of the beginning of the thread. But before I could blink an eye, there it was in full glory on french television/webcast. It was excellent too. I don't know if it was better or not...regardless, it was an excellent performance of a song I thought would remain in CD form only for eternity.

THis happened a while ago, not as recent as Candy, but Vicki Calling is a great example to. When I would listen to batman and this song rolled out of my speakers, I NEVER imagined it would get a tan from stage lights either. It seemed to be one of the trax forever stuck behind the door of the studio. But then I head him do his live rendition via NPGMC. Which is one of the reasons I didn't mind all of the drama caused by npgmc...through it all, it still released some unheard stuff. He even dressed it up a little...put it in it's sunday best so to speak.

Anna Stesia is a great illustration of this as well. That studio track has so much going on, who woulda thunk it could translate well live...ONA..Live screams that it can.

I'm sure there's countless examples of this curiosity, the studio->live, live->studio, translation. What do y'all fell about the ones I've discussed, even more important, what are some specimens y'all can come up with. Also, what do you guys think are the causes for this happening?
[Edited 10/29/09 5:36am]

Life O' the Party - studio version is horrible, live version sounds great (actually It's completly different song!).

that song just ain't my cup of tea. THe live version is MUCH better than the CD tho. I understand why people like either one. I just don't share their enthusiasm. But U R correct. That live version kicks MUCH more ass then what got put on CD.

Believe it or not, the album that makes the most difference to me live vs. studio is Rainbow Children.

I can probably put a "lyrics aside" comment on most of his recent output. I believe most folks here are not big fans of the One Nite Alone live CD, but I think it totally breathes life into many of the songs from that album, (they are also greatly assisted by the omission of the voice overs).

I know the Rainbow album is controversial, and to be honest, I think the folks who claim it is extremely original have overplayed that hand a little bit. I the concept (again lyrics aside) is intriguing, but the actual songs/melodies themsleves aren't exactly cutting edge. Either way, to me there is a freshness in the live sound that makes those songs far more listenable than the studio versions.

Another one from ONA Live is Strange Relationship. I LOVE the tightness of the studio version. But the live version is just ridiculously more funky to me.

But those are the most recent.

Off the top of my head the best upgrade in energy from studio to live for me are Housequake, I Could Never Take The Place and It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night from Sign of the Times live. Again, the studio versions are absolutely amazing. But the live versions just take it up a notch.

On the flip side, I'd say I agree with you about Kiss. (But it's also a possibility that it's because that song has been overplayed to death).

But the crown jewel for me is Power Fantastic. It's one of my favorite Prince songs. And every time he busts it out live, I get all excited at the start. But every live version I have heard has me zoned out by the end. It just never seems to capture the beauty of the original to me.

Fenwick said:

I completely agree with the entire post! TRC cut are MUCH more listenable on ONA Live vs. the record. Thanks for making me reliaze that just now. I think U were spot on as to the reasons why as well.



NPG on the rAAAYdio, j-just jaaam...

I think some of the reason he didn't have much success with Kiss is that he sees it the way he made it vs. the way Mazarati made it. I think when he thinks of kiss he starts of thinking of what he made kiss into on that single...that extended version of it...the extended part. That's all prince. I don't like it too much, and he usually seems to take that approach to the song vs. the albums take on it. During the RRHOF he minimized that and took more of an album approach to it, but the vocals were bad...I don't think that vocal is easy for him to pull off live. i unno...

Endorphinmachine - great live but diluted on CD.

Did he not listen to it back.....turn that bloody cowbell down!!!!

I completely agree that Kiss and When Doves Cry have never been (to my ears) done justice live. I also agree that the Rainbow Children songs were stellar when performed one the ONA tour. Of course, the band had a lot of practice - and the album was pretty much a band session effort.

7 on the other hand has been performed live acoustically and with a full band while to me, staying faithful to the original in it's impact and emotion.

Many of Prince's spare, more electronic numbers suffer in an arena setting. Much of the Batman Soundtrack (Partyman, Trust, The Future, etc) was pretty lackluster on the Nude Tour because of this. But rock songs like Bambi were highlights of those shows.

The anomaly seems to be Let's Go Crazy. I have yet to hear a version of this song live that is as good as the album track. Very strange, as it should have been as anthemic as Purple Rain, since it's rocker.

A couple of songs that blew the studio cuts out of the water were Days Of Wild and Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic.