I just got hold of the best sounding copy of this I've ever heard.

Previously I had The Thunderball version from Dream Factory which was just awful and the Work version, which was better but had a lot of hiss.

The best I can describe the sound is The Work version without the hiss. I don't know the source but I don't think it's new. It was sent to me on a cdr.

Anyhow I finally gave the song my attenion and I now love it.

It's songs like this that make me excited about the vault. Its weird, sounds unquiely Prince.

I don't suspect it's full of When Doves Cry or Little Red Corvete but full of this kinda song only he die hards love.

So what do you think of BIG TALL WALL?

This is one of those songs I've heard about, but still haven't actually heard, yet.

kenkamken said:

Sounds like it's about kidnapping, "big tall wall, stone circle so you can't get out"

And I strangely enjoyed it (went and listened to it a few minutes back).

And only Prince can refer to a woman as a 'little bitch' and make it sound flattering and lovely .

Ehhhhh. I admit it's not a fav, haven't heard it in years. I like the vocals, but there's not much going on musically. It's from '86 isn't it? You know towards the end of the 87 and into 88, there are more of these tracks where there's not much more going on than a drum patten and sometimes that works, and sometimes it just sounds like he's banging out track and after track after track, getting sketches down almost rather than a painting (which is a complimentary way of looking at it I guess).

I don't know if the circulating version is the final version, but it's one of those tracks from this time period where there's just not very much going on - it needs some W&L off-centre backing vocals or some weirdness like that to make some points of interest for me.

nay.

Nay

If the sound quality was better i'd like it a little more

errant said:

It's fucking awful. One of those outtakes you read about for years, so you build a certain expectation, and then… Yuck.

agreed

errant said:

. . . One of those outtakes you read about for years, so you build a certain expectation, and then… Yuck.

That's why I said "Nay".

I like the sparseness of the drum driven song. To me its pure funk. It's Prince telling the world and Susanah that she's his girl, but he's got another one on the side. That there is a bad motherfucker.

i like it. it's weird. wouldn't mind to hear more like it. "got the nerve to walk up my street..."

erik319 said:

I'm not keen, but that's probably down to the shitty quality I've heard. Other similarly sparse tracks from around the same time have become a revelation once heard in better quality and I have a sneaky suspicion this one will too. Wast the cdr just a random compilation or a specific boot?

The difference between this track and those other tracks is that there really isn't enough here to sound better in a cleaned up version. The beat is sparse, yet unimaginative. The lyrics are stupid. And the vocals are irritating.

I suppose I might like it better in higher quality, but you can't polish a turd.

errant said:

I suppose I might like it better in higher quality, but you can't polish a turd.

Makes me realize just how many more songs I have to hear - a lot of the ones on that playlist draw a complete blank for me...

errant said:

erik319 said:

I'm not keen, but that's probably down to the shitty quality I've heard. Other similarly sparse tracks from around the same time have become a revelation once heard in better quality and I have a sneaky suspicion this one will too. Wast the cdr just a random compilation or a specific boot?

The difference between this track and those other tracks is that there really isn't enough here to sound better in a cleaned up version. The beat is sparse, yet unimaginative. The lyrics are stupid. And the vocals are irritating.

I suppose I might like it better in higher quality, but you can't polish a turd.

You're probably right. The quality is so poor, I bet I've only listened to the track twice in the last twenty years. You never know though, in high quality, maybe that sparse beat turns into a hypnotic, repetitive sound that snares you in.

Probably not though.

It reminds me of Rave and that type of sparse, minimal synth sound he would go on to use throughout 1988/89. Something's missing a lot of the time. I don't think holding himself up at Paisley Park did any favours - it's funny, despite having all those toys at his disposal, at that time it's almost like he withdrew back to his old favourites, since a lot of that era is more synth and sparse than anything post-1999 or Controversy really. Ooooh, very Willy Wonka trying to find his lost childhood etc!

Romeoblu said:

I checked with the guy who sent this to me. It's from tapes he has transferred onto cd's. From the songs on the disk this is the only one with a noticeable improvement from what I had. However I am not claiming it's in excellent boc quality. Track list. Rebirth of The flesh Baby go go Witness 4 the prosecution big Tall wall The voice indise Melody cool Your love is so hard Good man The grand progression The line

That's an interesting list. All from the mid to late 80's.

You say they're the same quality sound-wise, but what about the actual tracks? Does Baby Go-Go have the looped ending that's been circulating for years? Does the Voice inside segue into Melody cool properly, or is the intro cut from Melody Cool?

Romeoblu said:

I checked with the guy who sent this to me. It's from tapes he has transferred onto cd's. From the songs on the disk this is the only one with a noticeable improvement from what I had. However I am not claiming it's in excellent boc quality. Track list. Rebirth of The flesh Baby go go Witness 4 the prosecution big Tall wall The voice indise Melody cool Your love is so hard Good man The grand progression The line

That's an interesting list. All from the mid to late 80's.

You say they're the same quality sound-wise, but what about the actual tracks? Does Baby Go-Go have the looped ending that's been circulating for years? Does the Voice inside segue into Melody cool properly, or is the intro cut from Melody Cool?

i.......like it

Cute track but easily forgettable.

NouveauDance said:

It reminds me of Rave and that type of sparse, minimal synth sound he would go on to use throughout 1988/89. Something's missing a lot of the time. I don't think holding himself up at Paisley Park did any favours - it's funny, despite having all those toys at his disposal, at that time it's almost like he withdrew back to his old favourites, since a lot of that era is more synth and sparse than anything post-1999 or Controversy really. Ooooh, very Willy Wonka trying to find his lost childhood etc!

2 me it feel like It, it is extremely sparse

Llanishenlad said:

i.......like it

Ikr, me too.

Then again my opinions always run counter to everyone else's; I see people rave about Lotusflower, and I think that's among the weakest records Prince has done.

The only thing this overrated piece of shit has going for it, is my name in the title (which is definitely not an homage to this outtake of an outtake).

In reality, Prince has like 8 unreleased cuts that could have been album filler, at best. The rest are drivel driven flops that are best left rotting in the vault.

excellent

so eerie and funny at the same time

one of my top5 "I truly need to chill" songs...

It's a great song title. I haven't heard it in a long time, so I forgot how it goes. But I love the title so I give it a preliminary "YAY".