There was a thread a while back discussing what if prince had released an album on the heels of Purple Rain with the unreleased tracks and/or b-sides from that era. After listening to the 1984 Birthday Show I'm even more convinced that it would have been a smoking album. The vibe in this show had evolved beyond the pop/rock style of Purple Rain into an aggresively dark bottom-heavy groove (as we know he adamantly wanted to forge a sound and not rehash). Of course at that time anything he would have released would have succeeded, but imagine if he used the band to lay down live basic tracks (as he did with "Baby I'm A Star) and created a studio album from this Birthday Show:

1. 17 Days

2. Roadhouse Garden

3. Our Destiny

4. Noon Rendezvous

5. All Day, All NIght

6. Possessed

And though not on this particular show he could add these to fill out the album:

7. The Glamourous Life

8. Erotic City

9. Baby You're A Trip

10. G-Spot

When I finish building my time machine, I'll go to MPLS in 1984 and ask Prince to at least think about it...

C&P from the last time we did this (a "what if PR2-type album thread):

Side A:
1. The Dance Electric
2. Moonbeam Levels
3. Posessed
4. Electric Intercourse
Side B:
5. 100 MPH
6. G-Spot
7. All Day, All Night
8. Roadhouse Garden / Our Destiny
9. She's Always In My Hair

NouveauDance said:

C&P from the last time we did this (a "what if PR2-type album thread):

Side A:
1. The Dance Electric
2. Moonbeam Levels
3. Posessed
4. Electric Intercourse
Side B:
5. 100 MPH
6. G-Spot
7. All Day, All Night
8. Roadhouse Garden / Our Destiny
9. She's Always In My Hair

Thanks for sparing me a well-desrved flaming!

Why because we had this thread before? Nah, it was a couple of years back I think, I just remembered it and searched for the old one since I remember liking the idea.

Better than a thread on Prince's teeth any way innit

I actually disagree. Purple Rain was so big that to follow it with another proper album too quickly would've been annoying. I see the point, because the B-Sides from that era were some of the best, but if he could do it again, I'd suggest making Purple Rain a 2-disc set ( one for the OG songs, the other would be the B-sides), but not selling a separate album of PR B-sides in between when PR came out and when ATWIAD dropped. Looking back, the best way to follow PR was with ATWIAD because they were so different. If he followed PR with more PR-sounding songs, I think the public would've been too saturated with that movie/soundtrack/album/mentality that they would've never let him move on, and when he did (because he wouldn't want to be stuck there, even if everyone else did) the public would've become disenchanted with him altogether.

But also, if he made PR a 2 disc set with B-sides, I think he'd have to wait longer to release ATWIAD so he could ride out the high of that success. He'd need to wait until people were starting to get tired of that era, and then drop the next album, because if people weren't totally satisfied with that era yet, they might ignore his current project.

just1lousydime said:

I actually disagree. Purple Rain was so big that to follow it with another proper album too quickly would've been annoying. I see the point, because the B-Sides from that era were some of the best, but if he could do it again, I'd suggest making Purple Rain a 2-disc set ( one for the OG songs, the other would be the B-sides), but not selling a separate album of PR B-sides in between when PR came out and when ATWIAD dropped. Looking back, the best way to follow PR was with ATWIAD because they were so different. If he followed PR with more PR-sounding songs, I think the public would've been too saturated with that movie/soundtrack/album/mentality that they would've never let him move on, and when he did (because he wouldn't want to be stuck there, even if everyone else did) the public would've become disenchanted with him altogether.

But also, if he made PR a 2 disc set with B-sides, I think he'd have to wait longer to release ATWIAD so he could ride out the high of that success. He'd need to wait until people were starting to get tired of that era, and then drop the next album, because if people weren't totally satisfied with that era yet, they might ignore his current project.

I always thought there were a lot of retreads on ATWIAD.

WB would have never agreed to a double album. for PR.

I love the idea. The album would have been SMOKIN'!

You're right-what a missed opportunity!