ernestsewell said:

Uhm, shouldn't that be the low end that's missing?

Phishanga said:

No, I don't think so. You can hear that the higher keyboard sounds, and even the high hat, are muddled or not there. It's like someone pulled the treble down on that song.

squirrelgrease said:

And Roman Polanski's first, I believe.

Harlepolis said:

If we take it literally, she's pretending to be blind when his pants come off. Remember that scene in Private Parts where Howard gets in a bathtub w/ a model, but he leaves his underwear on so he's not "cheating"? Same thing in the song. But when his pants came off, she already knew he had left them on to begin with because he was "kinda seeing someone". So she gave him his modesty by pretending not to see what had happened. She respected his status of "taken". But then you could also think that he wishes she did make a move on him, because he was cursing her courtesy, by calling it a witch's curse. "Damn, I'm glad that she didn't make a move on me, but I WISH SHE HAD HAVE MADE ONE!" Conflict, like I said before. All conjecture on my part.

Harlepolis said:

The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker was recorded early March 1986 during the initial
Dream Factory sessions. It appeared on every incarnation of the Dream Factory
album until it was shelved. It also appeared on the subsequent Crystal Ball
album and survived when this was edited down from a triple to a double album
and released as Sign O' The Times in March 1987.

It was considered for a single release and an extended version was made
featuring a sax solo by Eric Leeds. Unfortunately, this version was never
released and is not circulating.

Housequake was recorded in October 1986. It was this track and the previously
recorded Shockadelica which inspired Prince to record an album of tracks
using speeded up vocals. He started the Camille album sessions later the
same month and completed it by the beginning of November. The album was
sequenced on November 5th and a single with Shockadelica on the A-side and
Housequake on the B-side was planned. Prince abandoned the idea for a separate
Camille album later in the month, deciding instead to expand the project into
a triple album entitled Crystal Ball. This would feature both regular and
speeded up vocal tracks using a combination of new songs, camille songs and
songs recorded for the earlier aborted Dream Factory project.

Housequake wasn't initially planned as a single, however, once the Sign O' The
Times album was released, the track started to get a lot of airplay. WB then
wanted to release it as a single and various extended versions and remixes
were made. By the time these were completed, they'd missed the boat as far as
a single release was concerned and the track ended up appearing on the B-Side
to U Got The Look. Only one of the remixes was officially released, the 7 Minute
Mo' Quake mix. An officially comissioned remix by Razormaid was rejected by
Prince and shelved, though this did subsequently appear on various DJ Mix albums.

who is clara bow???

who is clara bow???

ernestsewell said:

I love that movie! But no it wasn't his first, Polanski started making short films in Poland in the 1950s. His very first motion picture was released in 1962.
He directed Catherine Deneuve and her sister Françoise Dorléac in two different movies in the early 60s. Those films were preludes to RM's Baby. Excellent!
(Repulsion, 1965/ Cul de Sac, 1966)
[Edited 12/18/09 10:24am]

While we're on topic of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker,
I think I remember Joni Mitchell threatening to sue Prince
over his unauthorized quoting of Help Me. To get out of the
lawsuit, she suggested that Prince could say in an interview
that she was his favourite artist - or something like that -
which he did.
Anyone else remember that? Rumour or fact?

While we're on topic of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker,
I think I remember Joni Mitchell threatening to sue Prince
over his unauthorized quoting of Help Me. To get out of the
lawsuit, she suggested that Prince could say in an interview
that she was his favourite artist - or something like that -
which he did.
Anyone else remember that? Rumour or fact?

We all know there's a 12" of "Housequake", called "7 Minutes Mo'Quake". There are some fan mixes that put the two together. I love the song, and love it in the SOTT movie more.

With Dorothy, the song is almost like a stream of thought to me, opposed to a well laid out story (like "Another Lonely Christmas" or "Scarlet Pussy" or "The Ladder"). But it really seems to be a story about a man struggling with something, possibly his girlfriend, and this other bird tries to seduce him and take his mind off of it all. He's in conflict as what to do. It's like groping someone over the bra and under the sweater, but not admitting you did anything that wrong. Some of the lyrics are throw away, but not in a bad way. Almost like an after thought, or a joke or bit of irony that's only funny in your own head.

Susan Rogers talked about how the high end of that song is missing. She had missed something on the board, and most of the high end of the song was not recorded properly. She was scared to death that Prince would fire her, but he ended up liking it, and that is what we hear on the album. (gheez, between that and the "Forever In My Life" hiccup...she sure bumbled her way through that album! hahaha)

ernestsewell said:

The story I remember was that Ballad of Dorothy Parker was recorded after a big snowstorm had knocked out the electricity, so they recorded the song using some kind of backup power or battery power. It was also the first song recorded in Prince's home studio (in the basement of his house?) and the studio may not have been fully set up yet. I wish I had the book with me to check the story. I don't think Susan goofed on this song, but she did on "Forever In My Life" and "If I Was Your Girlfriend."

duggalolly said:

From Alex Hahn's "Possessed":
"The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, the first song recorded in his home studio, got its mid-range-dominated sound as the result of a technical glitch. While Prince and engineer Susan Rogers were working, a snowstorm caused a power outage. When the lights came back on and work resumed, the playbacks seemed to Rogers dull and murky; Prince, in a creative trance, did not notice, and Rogers was hesitant to interrupt the session. But when she checked the equipment after he went to bed, Rogers found that, as a result of the blackout, the soundboard had been running on half its recommended wattage, robbing "Dorothy Parker" of its high end and giving the song a distant and subdued feel. Learning of the problem the next day, Prince treated it as serendipity, deciding that the offbeat sound added character."

duggalolly said:

I think part of its attraction is its TRIPPY feel. It doesn't sound like it came from 1987 to me at all.

I'm surprised that no-ones mentioned that Dorothy Parker was based on a dream Prince had.

I'm surprised that no-ones mentioned that Dorothy Parker was based on a dream Prince had.

In Dorothy, he said..

My pants were wet, they came off
But she didn't see the movie cuz she hadn't read the book first
Instead she pretended she was blind
An affliction brought on by a witch's curse

Can somebody explain what exactly is he talking about?

Thank you.

Harlepolis said:

I've always thought that "But she didn't see the movie cuz she hadn't read the book first" meant: "But she didn't want to fuck me, because she didn't even know me." The other line: "Instead she pretended she was blind; an affliction brought on by a witch's curse" could mean that she was covering her face so she didn't see him naked, out of respect for his current relationship.

I'd like to hear what "Forever In My Life" was intended to sound like.

As production "mistakes", they are both spectacular songs.

Harlepolis said:

"Instead she pretended she was blind; an affliction brought on by a witch's curse" could mean that she was covering her face so she didn't see him naked, out of respect for his current relationship.

We all know there's a 12" of "Housequake", called "7 Minutes Mo'Quake". There are some fan mixes that put the two together. I love the song, and love it in the SOTT movie more.

With Dorothy, the song is almost like a stream of thought to me, opposed to a well laid out story (like "Another Lonely Christmas" or "Scarlet Pussy" or "The Ladder"). But it really seems to be a story about a man struggling with something, possibly his girlfriend, and this other bird tries to seduce him and take his mind off of it all. He's in conflict as what to do. It's like groping someone over the bra and under the sweater, but not admitting you did anything that wrong. Some of the lyrics are throw away, but not in a bad way. Almost like an after thought, or a joke or bit of irony that's only funny in your own head.

Susan Rogers talked about how the high end of that song is missing. She had missed something on the board, and most of the high end of the song was not recorded properly. She was scared to death that Prince would fire her, but he ended up liking it, and that is what we hear on the album. (gheez, between that and the "Forever In My Life" hiccup...she sure bumbled her way through that album! hahaha)

The Razormaid mix is much better than the 12" mix - any Razormaid release which has this is costly, to say the least

who is clara bow???