So I have this cutie pie friend in Richmond. He is a Prince fan like the rest of us, and I know him from back in the alt.music.prince days. We talked about DVDs recently, and I mentioned I wish I had a copy of the Warehouse rehearsal from June 7, 1984. He kindly offered to send me a copy. He padded the package a bit, and I got the whole thing today. I got DVDs for the following:

*The Warehouse Rehearsal
*Ahoy Rotterdam
*Revelations (DVD Rom)
*Promotional videos for 1979-1984 (although that one is missing the band version of "I Wanna Be Your Lover")
*Promotional Videos from 1985-1989 (covering ATWIAD through Batman - including the Batmix and Vicki Vale mix of "Batdance", and an unreleased "I Wish U Heaven")
*Miles From The Park
*Prince Live 1987 (includes 4 Those of U On Valium, and MTV Awards, I've never seen a copy this clear of Valium)
*Slave/NPG (various mid 90's appearances like Soul Train, AMA, MTV, VH1, Letterman, BET Awards, The White Room etc etc etc etc - some shit I've never seen before!)

Thanks to my friend, who isn't an Orger (smart man - HA).

He also sent cat treats for my cat, bunny ears (pics to come on THAT one), muthafukkin' grape lip balm (!), and some purple incense, which thankfully does NOT smell like Prince's taint.

ernestsewell said:

You so craaaay-zee!

Lucky you !!!

yankem said:

Quite so! I'm still overwhelmed by it all. Eight DVDs full of stuff to watch and enjoy.

Sounds really awesome..

I am curious how many songs do they rehearse for on the Warehouse DVD?

I think I have seen some of the Warehouse one, isn't Prince wearing just his socks? (at least it looks like it)

PurpleColossus said:

No, he has shoes on. It's a black and white video. It's pretty much the song list from that birthday gig that evening. It's even more historic for a few reasons:

1) the only known recording of "Our Destiny", and "Roadhouse Garden"
2) the actual recording session for "All Day, All Night".

17 Days, Our Destiny, All Day All Night, Free, Noon Rendezvous, Erotic City, When Doves Cry, Irresistible Bitch, Possessed are most of the songs.

Tell your friend that Silver Spring, Maryland is right up the road from Richmond and I won't need any cat treats, lip balm or incense.
[Edited 4/5/10 18:50pm]

I really hope some day there will be official packages of all this stuff! That way we could all get a chance to see it:)

I think we all agree that there could be way more official Prince DVD's, I'd buy a DVD just based on performances he did on TV shows..

PurpleColossus said:

I tell ya, these are some of the clearest cuts of these things I've ever seen, especially when you get into the 90's stuff. Like "P Control" from the Fashion Awards, the AMA's with the Purple Medley, VH1 with "Endorphinmachine" - all that stuff. I've usually only seen shitty postage stamp sized videos on Youtube or something. This is as clear as the day it was broadcast. The Warehouse video was pretty clear too! Certainly clearer than the VHS I have (I might just discard the VHS). I never saw a really good copy of the "America" video, or the "I Wish U Heaven" video either. It's a visual orgy. haha

The "I wish u heaven" video was officially released. At least in europe. I've seen it several times on MTV europe back then.
[Edited 4/5/10 18:59pm]

ludwig said:

I know, I said "an unreleased"; I meant another version. The official one is on there as well. I haven't watched them all the way through, so I'm not sure of the differences yet. At first glance, they look the same.

I wish the first set had the band version of "I Wanna Be Your Lover", but at least "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" is on there.

ernestsewell said:

well let me know what the differences are for the I wish u heaven video. Thank GOD for bootlegs,Prince fans or fams watever are so spoiled most of the time cuz of all the bootlegs. Now I'm gonna brag if i may. I'm suppose to be getting sum dvds with the promo vid for million days and all the tv appearances from 07 to 09

ernestsewell said:

I'm glad to see you and Lou spears still close after all these years

dance4me3121 said:

That'd be nice too. It's so easy nowadays to capture and trade video. I'm sure it was tough finding good copies of these videos and performances over the years. I'm grateful for any of it that I have. I hope your enjoy your DVDs as well.

ernestsewell said:

I take back everything I ever told my dog about your cat!! (hint hint)

Very nice

luv4u said:

Watching "America" and "Raspberry Beret" reminds me how much of a crush I had on Wendy. She was so goddamn sexy! Hell, she still is sexy as all fuckery!

I loved that she gave Prince some attitude in the movie, and who couldn't love that snarl on her face in the "Kiss" video??? I loved Susannah too. It wasn't even about being star struck, it was the personality. She was just as sassy as I was as a gay boy. I think she was just as cocky as Prince was, but in a non-offending way, whereas Prince just turned into an asshole at some points. I think I had a fag hag crush on her. It was never sexual (I was still lusting over Scott Madsen in Soloflex ads). I think I just wanted to be her friend.

And you know....now that I've been able to talk to Wendy and Susannah, and say hi to them, and have them respond in such a warm and friendly and generous way - it's a full circle moment for me. I think I like knowing them more now, than if I knew them 25 years ago. I'm grateful for that interaction and cyber-hospitality.

I loved it more when Wendy cut off her hair in 1985. SO damn sexy of a look on her!

Ernest, what's the diff b/n the released and unreleased I Wish U Heavens?

Hatman said:

I have no watched them yet. I have that DVD in the player. I'm on "Anotherloverholenyohead" right now. I'll watch the two "Heaven"'s next, and post a reply here about it.

ernestsewell said:

You are, indeed, lucky to have a friend send you all those videos. I had such a crush on Wendy when she cut her hair--too cute for words! I just recently got hold of the official video collection from 1980-1995 or so...would be interested to know the difference between "official" and "promotional." Aren't they the same thing?

re: Unreleased " Wish U Heaven":

One thing I'm noticing on the unreleased version is that there's some sort of milky, cloudy inset over the whole screen. Almost like you're looking through lace drapes or something. Its not obtrusive, but noticeable. I think it's just supposed to be a smokey or cloudy screen, giving it a more ethereal look.

There are less words on the screen. Like when he says "HA HA" in one part, the words were usually on the screen. Or "follow where we go", or " NO: aren't floating by. They aren't in this version. The only words are " Wish U Heaven" or "Heaven U Wish " No "la la la la la" words either.

No floating snare drum, or drum sticks.

No close ups of Sheila. All her shots are the same distance from the camera.

No floating hearts, or number "11"

No floating arrows.

No floating stars.

No floating gun.

A lot of the floating objects (like the "fattened" symbol he wore on his necklace during that time) aren't floating by at all.

The color saturation is different. His blue cloud at the end has a slightly different tone to it.

There's a lot more Prince in it. Sheila and Cat are still on it, but a lot less than the other. Just that some of their scenes were cut or not put in at all. Boni isn't in it at all. And the three girls dancing together in different scenes isn't in there at all either. You mainly see Sheila pounding a drum. Cat is doing the arm thing she does. No other real movements.

It seems that the released version is more girl friendly, and more detail oriented with the words, the color saturation in general is better (not just the cloud guitar), the alternate coloring of the words gives it a better look (because the words aren't there much in the unreleased version), the floating gun and objects, etc are in it.

The released definitely seems more "finished" and polished. I don't know if the unreleased was ever considered for release, or it was just an early cut. It LOOKS like it could be released, but it'd be boring compared to the one we know.

poetcorner61 said:

Yes. Remember a video is out there primarily to promote the video, at least it was then. Nowadays it's all about the visual and telling a story. Back then people just wanted to see the artist. Now it's about mini movies and such.

But yes, official and promotional are the same.

I have all that stuff that Ernest mentioned as well as concerts and rehersals on dvd and cd. I searched long and hard for it. Some stuff I purchased and other stuff I found floating in the net. All the stuff I have on dvd is in great quality sound and vision wise.

The dvds I like the most are all the promo videos from 79 to the present and all tv appearances from 79 to the present. It's cool to see how Prince evolve as a musician and a showman because the two are very very different. Definitely became a showman during Purple Rain days. Early concerts on dvd, Prince and the Early Revolution were all over the stage. With Purple Rain came choreography on the stage, also to take on The Time. He truly became a master showman with Parade, SOTT and Lovesexy.

But like Ernest mentioned, its great to have all this stuff. Prince could make a fortune off me cause I would buy it all again if it were officially released.

joyinrepetition said:

ernestsewell said:

Hey Ernest, the band version of IWBYL is probably a hidden easter egg. You have to find it on the menu screen or put it in the computer, right click Explore and you should be able to find it if it's hidden on the disk.

joyinrepetition said:

I'm not sure if anyone thought that hard about it, but I did think about that. I just never looked. There are only two videos for the Prince album, and it's IWBYL, and WYWTMSB.

ernestsewell said:

It would have been easier if you had found the easter egg, with the comparison clip between both versions.

You're obviously talking about PTV Vol.2.

ernestsewell said:

What a great Easter egg present you got!

vc40 said:

It doesn't say PTV Vol 2. on the DVD anywhere.

ernestsewell said:

I have the PTV vol 1 and 2 and if I recall it doesn't say it either.