Funny how the internet is. I found recording of "New Power Madhouse", which is a rehearsal listed as from 1991. Weird since I consider my Prince knowledge pretty vast, and never ever heard of this. For those that don't know, it sounds like the NPG playing very faithful renditions of cuts from the first two Madhouse albums.

Sonny T is just funky as all hell on bass during the rehearsal (6, 10, 13 are standouts of course). In fact it's now probably my favorite thing I've ever heard him play on, and that's saying a lot.

Now, my question: On the smokin' version of 10, there's a monster of a keyboard solo that I can only assume is Tommy Barbarella. Can anyone confirm this, as well as the full line-up of players?

Oops, sorry. Just realized I'm posting this in the wrong forum. Crap.

Is it "Versace and Other Experiences" cassette?

It was a November or December rehearsal for the NPG Hornz, who hadn't been put in the band line-up yet. Prince wasn't at the session. That should be Tommy Barbarella on keyboard, as he was in the band at this time.

So at the session would be:

Tommy Barbarella
Sonny Thompson
Michael Bland
Levi Seacer
The NPG Hornz

It's available on the boot New Power Soul.



From the Databank

Yep, that's the one. The keyboard solo on 10 is amazing. It's nice to hear proof of how good Tommy is, even though he never had much of a chance to show it while playing with Prince.

So...of course this leads to another question. Prince obviously had them rehearsing to open for him at that point. Why do you think he changed his mind when the band was so tight?

NightGod said:

It's a cool boot. I'll have to give it another listen now.

Tommy had been with Prince for about a year at this point and really had the chops. I don't know if there was ever a true intent to have the so-called New Power Madhouse open shows for Prince. I'm sure P was keeping his options open, but I haven't read anything other than this being an exercise for the Hornz. I'm guessing that they had to learn the older Madhouse stuff before starting sessions for 24.

squirrelgrease said:

That's what made me wonder. They learned quite a few tracks, and had them tight. The arrangements for the horns were very cool, especially what they did with 10. I wonder if they learned all 16 songs?

And I agree, it is a great boot. I found it by accident. I was searching for the Exodus tracks. I have the original Exodus CD, and went to rip the tracks to tmy ipod and the CD was missing from the case. The case had been in storage, so the CD was long gone. While that sucks, it's good in a way because it lead me to the rehearsal tracks.
[Edited 11/19/09 19:07pm]