Recent thread like "Rave vs. Diamonds & Pearls" had me
listening to D&P a lot last week and one of my favs off
that record is still

"Thunder"

Many people seem to dislike it but I've always loved it.
Something about his vocals and the extended guitar part
at the end is just very cool.

Since I've only got DMSR, which goes up to about 1988,
I've never read anything particular about this song or
when it was recorded and where.

So if anyone can give me some more info about it, I would
appreciate that greatly.

All I know is that it wasn't on the first configuration of the album in November 1990. Prince continued to work on D&P during the winter of 1990-1991 and it was included on the final configuration in February 1991 (which at the time had Horny Pony on rather than Gett Off)

It was recorded some time around November 1990.

In fact the whole Diamonds And Pearls album
was the first Prince album in a long while to
only consist of completely new recordings made
since Graffiti Bridge was released. He didn't
use any old tracks from the vault.

The album was pretty much completed and sequenced
by March '91. The time between then, and when it
was released in October, was spent remixing,
editing and polishing the tracks. The only major
change was the last minute addition of Gett Off
in place of Horny Pony.

Almost all of Prince's albums have a 'last minute
addition' which often becomes the first single.

Thunder is also one of the few tracks on the album
where Prince actually played all the instruments
himself.

Thanks for the info. And BorisFishpaw, you always have the
most detailed information about any obscure Prince tracks.
Very cool!

I really like this track too. I always thought it sounded as if it belonged to a dancer. You can tell such a powerful story with the words and music.

I went to watch Manchester Storm at the M.E.N arena in Manchester. They are an ice Hockey team.

The opening ceremony played Thunder which was excellent, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

I don't know if they still play it but I do like the song especially live. When he played the song on tour it was amazing as was Live 4 love (even the rap is bearable)

Bambi319 said:

There's a 10+ minute version out there somewhere that was
used in some kind of ballet isn't there?

I've had that on tape back in 1992 but I lost the tape &
never heard it again.

It was very mellow. Basically the regular "Thunder" with
some spaced out layered vocals carrying the song for a
few minutes until [I think] the full orchestration comes
back and it vamps out.

Wasn't it written for or used by the Geoffry ballet or
something? [not farmilliar with the names].

Bambi319 said:

i have the Q book of rock n roll from 1999 (i think they update it each year though) and it says thunder was turned into an 18 minute ballet. i think it must have been quite successful as the ballet was done multiple times.

It wasn't the ballet that Mayte did was it? Around the world in a day I think it was called? Oh and then there was the Jeoffry Ballet as IstenSzek said - or is the same thing?

No, it was the Joffrey Ballet of New York (now located in Chicago) that did a ballet called "Billboards" using Prince's music. They did about 6 different pieces to different songs (Thunder, Sometimes it Snows in April, It, Computer Blue, Baby I'm a Star, Willing and Able, etc.) with (I think) 4 different choreographers.

The company is great and the dancers are pretty amazing, but I didn't like most of the choreography. A lot of it didn't fit well with the songs they worked with. I think Prince collaborated with them on this project and told them which songs they could use of his, so that's why they used the songs that they did.

Yes, the Geoffry Ballet performed a complete show based on solely on Prince's music. The extended version of "Thunder" which includes the a full orchestration of the song is written in for the ballet, then goes back to the regular version of Thunder that we hear on the D&P album. The ballet dancers dance to the song throughout.

For those of you who are familiar with Kamasutra, the orchestration break written into the Geoffrey Ballet version of Thunder sort of reminds you of the Kamasutra stuff.

>Thunder is also one of the few tracks on the album
where Prince actually played all the instruments
himself.<

Yeah, and very impressive on his part. One of the strongest examples of how good he really is on many different instruments.

I have the video of the ballet and it is pretty amazing...some highlights just to give an impression of the mood:

there's a big group of dancers in white who dance to "Baby, I'm a Star" and they make these great jumps, the audience goes crazy.

"Thunder" is a ballet about love, a chinese woman dances with a magic wand, some other dancers are dressed up as clowns.

"Purple Rain" is a solo by a woman who has a very emotional dramatic 'fall'.

"The Question of U" starts of as a beautiful duet between an older female dancer and a younger strong man.

When a big group dances in couples there is also a man-man and woman-woman couple, that was very nice i.m.o.

I like the video, though it has some weak points too.

i love this song... i remember when i first bought "d&p" and i put it in the cd player... i heard this song and instantly knew that this cd would kick ass... kinda like when you first put in "1999" and heard "don't worry i won't hurt you" or something...

then, then album just didn't live up to my expectations... there's good shit on there, fo' sho', but overall, i didn't think it was as good as i thought it would be...

BorisFishpaw said:

I was very impressed when I first read the liner notes. D&P was the first Prince album I bought. In fact it's the only chart album I have ever bought for the sake of curiosity, and I'd assumed Prince to be just another pop star - singing songs penned by others, and playing few, if any instruments. So when I read that he'd performed every sound in Thunder I was impressed. This is nothing new to long time fans, and it's something too easily taken for granted.

I love the song too, and through it's not my favourite album I've always enjoyed the rest of D&P. I bought every other Prince album by the end of the year