Need some info...how many of these Madhouse albums are there? Are they available to purchase? Are they worth purchasing? I've read they're jazz fusion, does Prince sing?

Thank you for your support.

There were 2 officially released Madhouse albums,
entitled '8' & '16'.

Prince always meant to follow up with '24', but
it never quite happened. There are bootlegs of
the 2 aborted attempts at '24'.

357Magnum said:

1). Two official albums - "8" & "16". ("24" was recorded but never released)

2). They're out of print and not that easy to find. Mind you, if you're into bootlegs I'm sure you'll find bootleg/pirate versions around. Look for the "Complete Madhouse", which comes with rare 12" versions.

3). They're both very good. Jazz-fusion with the odd film sample thrown in, no vocals.

Alot of the unreleased "24" material turned up on the Eric Leeds CD Times Squared

Much love Pochacco

Madhouse was an instrumental jazz/funk side project for
Prince & Eric Leeds. All the tracks were merely numbered.
So the tracklising for '8' was simply 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 & 8.

Madhouse '8' was released 1/21/87

It was essentialy a 2 man project, with Eric Leeds playing
all the saxophone and flute lines, and Prince playing
practicaly everything else. Atlanta Bliss also played
trumpet on some of the tracks.

There was one single from the album - '6', which had a
non-album track on the b-side called '6 & a half'
The 12" also had an extended version of '6'.

Madhouse '16' was released 11/18/87

Prince recorded the second Madhouse album with a band.
The band consisted of Prince, Eric Leeds, Levi Seacer Jr,
Matt Fink, John Lewis. Though five of the 8 tracks on
the album were recorded by Prince and Eric alone.

There were two singles, '10' and '13', both of which
had non-album b-sides and extended 12" a-sides.

Prince and Eric started work on '24' at the end of '88.
A first version of the album was finished but never
released. The tracklist, as well as having numbers,
also had subtitles, and was as follows:17 (Penetration)
18 (R U Legal Yet?), 19 (Jailbait), 20 (A Girl And Her
Puppy), 21 (The Dopamine Rush), 22 (Amsterdam), 23
(Spanish Eros), 24 (Orgasm). Tracks 21-24 were in a
continuous sequence, and was known as 'The Dopamine
Rush Suite'. It seems that Prince and Eric weren't
satisfied with the result.

In late 1990 Prince and Eric began assembling another
version of '24', but as they progressed, Prince
suggested that it wasn't really very 'Madhouse' and
Eric should release it under his own name. With a
few minor changes, ths was released on 2/19/91 as
'Times Squared' by Eric Leeds.

In mid 1993 recorded another version of '24'
with the new line up of Eric Leeds, Levi Seacer Jr,
Sonny T & Michael B. The album was finished mid-'94
and had the following track listing; 17, Rootie
Kazootie, Space, Guitar Segue, Asswoop, Ethereal
Segue, Parlor Games, Michael B Segue, Got 2 Give It
Up, Sonny T Segue. The track '17' surfaced on the
1-800-NEW-FUNK album, but the Madhouse album never
materialised.
.
[This message was edited Thu Feb 13 12:14:22 PST 2003 by BorisFishpaw]

357Magnum said:

Interesting to pooint out that there are no vocals except for Fairlight samples of Susannah Melvoins voice and Prince's voice.

Prince's sampled voice can be heard on song 8 on 8. The "Hum..hum, hum" That's Prince's slowed up voice, I sped up the album way back when it came out!

Also the one with the telephone noise, the fast song, it has Prince's voice at the end saying something like "...what took you so long to call!" Then there's Vanity's moaning on 7!

Susannah's sampled voice is on one of the 16 tracks, forget the number, "Baby Doll House!" and the sample where it sounds like a girl is saying "It's daark!", love that sample, is all over 16 too.

I have a sealed Madhouse vinyl album, I think 8 and/or 16, mint, factory sealed with a clean promo saw if you're interested.

And I must say that I thought I read in Uptown that on Madhouse 16, Sheila E. played some of the drums, no?





ooo
[This message was edited Thu Feb 13 12:19:29 PST 2003 by FlyingCloudPassenger]

BorisFishpaw said:

The band listed includes John Lewis on drums but it is Shiela E who actually plays drums on the 3 tracks (10,11 and 15) where Prince did not record simply with Eric.

Very informative discussion! I happen to be listening to Madhouse's version of "Space" from a+ quality cd as we speak. I would like to point out that, on the 2nd (not the one that became Eric's but the one after it) "24" there are some vocals, although most is still, in classic Madhouse style, instrumentals with little sampled snips thrown around generously. Shiela E does sing a great passage on "(Got 2) Give It Up" for example (or at least, I am pretty sure it's her, if I am mistaken someone feel free to correct me on that). For ANY of you who really enjoy Madhouse but have not heard the 2nd "24" I highly recommend it. After all the Madhouse I've listened to, this one turns out to be my favorite album
[This message was edited Thu Feb 13 15:02:49 PST 2003 by Mac]

Go look on ebay... Madhouse 8 and 16 ORIGINAL CDs are anywhere from $50-$100 each! But nowdays it's most likely around $70-80 per cd. No significant vocals except at the beginning of 'Dopamine rush suite' with (i think) prince and some woman, then on 'Got To Give It Up' with Nona Gaye, not Sheila E. Prince composed all tracks and played all instruments on '8' except sax and flute by Eric Leeds and synth solo by Dr.Fink on '2'. On '16' Eric Leeds had a hand in a few compositions, he also played sax and flute, bass by Levi Seacer Jr., and drums by Sheila E. on '10', '11', '15', snyth solo by Dr.Fink on '16'. The two versions of '24' are both pretty good... 'Carnac' also known as '17' is on 1-800-NEW-FUNK and 'Asswhoopin in a trunk' was on one of the ahdio shows. There was also a madhouse version of some song off kama sutra on the show too. My favorite has to be the epic 'dopamine rush suite'.
[This message was edited Fri Feb 14 0:29:46 PST 2003 by Budsmoker]

One of the Dopa. Rush girls is the dutch Anna Garcia

langebleu said:

Very true,
I should have rephased that part saying that the album credits 'claim' that the album was played by Prince, Eric, Levi, Dr Fink & John Lewis, but in reality it was another Prince & Eric 'solo' performance. Except for tracks 19,11 & 15, which were recorded with the line up of; Prince, Eric, Leavi & Sheila E. This line up also recorded the b-side '10 & a half'.