Hi

So I'm a bit confused.

To my knowledge so far there were 2 different video versions of the so-called Birthday Parade show: one with Soft And Wet and one without Soft And Wet. I'm pretty sure that the version I used to have on tape, that was recorded on TV back in the 80's, and the rerun I once watched on French TV did NOT have Soft And Wet on them. Later I got a DVD where Soft And Wet was included as a bonus only and the booklet said that it had been omitted from the original US release (but said nothing about further international broadcasts), and finally I downloaded a version which has it included in the show itself.

Now what's more interesting is that 2 new versions recently surfaced: one is a Japanese version of the broadcast, a bit more than 10 minutes shorter than the international version, and one is called the "hybrid" version and seems to be similar to the international version (with Soft And Wet) though it's a few seconds shorter.

For the sake of comprehensiveness it has been said once that the FULL show was also broadcast once on this mysterious Detroit TV channel that used to broadcast R&B shows semi-legally and late at night in the early to mid 80's, but there is no trace of this broadcast save the testimony of the happy fews who saw it back then.

So I have a few questions:

1/ WHY are there versions with and without Soft And Wet?

2/ Was Soft And Wet EVER broadcast on TV in any country or is the version with Soft And Wet bootleg only?

3/ Are there other differences between the Japanese and international versions than the first being shorter and having different end-credits?

4/ What in the world is the "hybrid" version???

Many thanks for your help

Just adding to what I know about this show. I have a copy of the official Japanese laser disc release and Soft and Wet is not on there. I have only seen the song included as an extra on a bootleg, and the quality wasn't as good as the rest of the show. I find it really hard to believe that the whole show ever aired on television, and that it isn't circulating amongs fans by now.

with Soft & Wet = bad / dark pic quality

without Soft & Wet = is taken from laser disc or tv broadcast = better pic quality...

This is afaik,

Weren’t the first few CD versions (including Moonraker’s) taken

from mono TV broadcasts, while the later release on SAB

sourced from an NPG in-store video in stereo, previously played

for customers at the shop? If I remember it correctly, then this

hour-long in-house video also featured a longer version of "Kiss"

– which is included on SAB’s "Birthday Parade"-CD plus CD-ROM

(SAB #56/57).

Or does anyone here know any better?

motherfunka said:

Just adding to what I know about this show. I have a copy of the official Japanese laser disc release and Soft and Wet is not on there. I have only seen the song included as an extra on a bootleg, and the quality wasn't as good as the rest of the show. I find it really hard to believe that the whole show ever aired on television, and that it isn't circulating amongs fans by now.

This is a bootleg, the show was never officially released in any country whatsoever.

All the copies I mentionned ARE circulating.

LOGIC said:

Weren’t the first few CD versions (including Moonraker’s) taken

from mono TV broadcasts, while the later release on SAB

sourced from an NPG in-store video in stereo, previously played

for customers at the shop? If I remember it correctly, then this

hour-long in-house video also featured a longer version of "Kiss"

– which is included on SAB’s "Birthday Parade"-CD plus CD-ROM

(SAB #56/57).

Or does anyone here know any better?

Mindbells9 said:

I know a guy here in Detroit who claims to have allegedly seen the full unedited 2 hour show at a Detroit Prince house party in the early 90s. But supposedly the person who had the video was told not to copy it or leak it under any circumstances.

*

there were other songs edited out:

Girls and boys, the dance electric, I have also heard of the full show being out there but I suspect it was just the one with soft and wet.

databank said:

4/ What in the world is the "hybrid" version???

If you run the Europe version and Japan version simultaneouly side by side, you will see what this hybrid version is, it's a combination of both to have the best possible quality.

And all I have seen was the one played on tv in Japan that had commercials for Rocky IV. And the lower quality Soft and Wet.

OK, so now what we have is:

1/ Unedited broadcast on a Detroit TV channel, uncirculating.

2/ Original US broadcast, circulating in both audio and video BUT IS THAT WITH OR WITHOUT SOFT AND WET???

3/ Original international broadcast, most likely the same as the US broadcast and therefore also circulating in audio and video as well UNLESS ONE HAD SOFT AND WET AND NOT THE OTHER???

4/ If Soft And Wet was not part of any official broadcast then we have a bootleg version of the 2 above with Soft And Wet added to the mix.

4/ Original Japanese broadcast, shorter than the 2 above but ARE THERE ANY DIFFERENCES OR WAS IT JUST EDITED DOWN?

5/ Hybrid version: fanmade, therefore irrelevent.

6/ NPG Store tape, longer than the US/Int. version and in stereo while all others were in mono, released by Sabotage and circulating in audio only OR DID THE VIDEO VERSION LEAK AS WELL?

IDK from which boot my audio version of it but it seems to be in stereo and Kiss is 6:52. Give or take a few seconds it's the same with my video version (international), which also seem to be in stereo (and has Soft And Wet included). So does it mean that the version we now have circulating is the version from the NPG store and that the original UD broadcast is lost forever? I have a hard time believing this.

+ I may be wrong but I believe I remember that when originally broadcast on french TV the show was simultaneously broadcast on a French radio channel and that they made a big deal of it being in stereo, but I'm not 100% sure about this. I remember hearing about it being aired in NPG Stores but it's the first time I ever hear that it was a different version...

Ok, so I just found my old DVD bootleg copy (as opposed to the new one that recently leaked) and it says "for some reasons known only to themselves, Channel 4 edited this concert: unfortunately Soft And Wet was cut, however thanks to an alternate source, Soft And Wet is included here and can be watched separately or as part of the full show". The show seems to be in mono (but that doesn't necessarly means that the original tape was in mono, as it may have been broadcast in mono from a stereo tape).

I find this interesting. First I just realized that I don't even know if the show was ever broadcast in the US (save the unedited Detroit broadcast) since every copy refers to the long version as being "european" as opposed to the shorter "japanese", + Channel 4 is a British channel: so can someone please clarify this?

Then it is here said that Channel 4 edited the show, meaning that the original promo tape sent by Paisley Park included it. This would make sense except that if you look at the end credits of that copy, Soft And Wet is NOT included in the tracklist, and I see no way the guys at Channel 4 could have tempered with the end credits. + that would have meant that every version broadcast in other european countries WOULD have had Soft And Wet, and it seems unlikely to me at this point.

Now I've just looked at the end-credits of the newly leaked version and... hold on to you wigs: Soft And wet IS CREDITED in the end credits

So this means this new leak has NOT been tempered with fans adding and edited out Soft And Wet back into the mix from bootleg copies, but that such an unedited show DOES exist and that BOTH versions originate from Paisley Park, with Channel 4 having nothing to do with the editing.

Therefore that leaves us with 3 possible explainations:

1/ The version with SAW and the version without SAW were both officially sent to some TV stations, with the possibility of a US and European version, or some european countries getting a version and some others another version, without any explainable reason for that.

2/ The version with SAW was made, then edited down and sent to every TV channel without SAW, and the version we have circulating with SAW credited in the end credits is a bootleg leak of the pre-edit version.

3/ The broadcast versions lacked SAW and the version we have with SAW credited in the end is also bootleg, but it's the leak from the NPG Store (more or less same as above but in this case we know where it comes from)

Please note that I don't think there's any difference on Kiss that I could observe: both have the extended part running with the end credits, and I think every version we got has Kiss having the same duration.

OK, and I also know that some people here have the answers to all these questions, so please guys let us know

OK, so I just got a VERY interesting insight from a dedicated fan by email:

According to him, there have been indeed 3 versions aired

1/ The version that was aired on WGPR (the Detroit channel) is the version with Soft And Wet. The full show was, in fact, never aired anywhere.

2/ The version that was aired in Europe is the version without Soft And Wet.

3/ The Japanese version is... the Japanese version

We still don't know about the NPG Store tape but it is my belief that it was, in fact, similar to the European version, though it's possible that a copy of that particulat tape allowed us to get it in stereo on boots (as opposed to previous versions that came from mono TV recordings on VCR's). Anyway being played in a NPG Store doesn't qualify for an "official broadcast", but if anyone has any info on this version being different in any way from the others it's still interesting to know

The full concert, according to the email I got, is indeed in possession of someone, probably a single individual. It has never leaked and it probably never will.

I still need to check if the Japanese version is only an edit or if there are other differences. If any one knows and can spare me the effort...

But apart from that it seems the mystery is at last solved, thanks to all of you who helped me on that one

Oh, and yeah, of course it would be wonderful for my online discography if I could find the date of the first broadcast for all 3 versions (Detroit, Europe, Japan) but I don't know if that information is avalaible.

So by the way that means that the recent leak has one of them mislabeled: what is labeled as the "Europe version" is, actually, the "US version"

thedance said:

with Soft & Wet = bad / dark pic quality

without Soft & Wet = is taken from laser disc or tv broadcast = better pic quality...

This is afaik,

By "dark pic quality" do you mean poor camera work etc?

rap said:

thedance said:

with Soft & Wet = bad / dark pic quality

without Soft & Wet = is taken from laser disc or tv broadcast = better pic quality...

This is afaik,

By "dark pic quality" do you mean poor camera work etc?

It is actually darker...not as bright. I assume due to it being copied from a different source.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

rap said:

By "dark pic quality" do you mean poor camera work etc?

It is actually darker...not as bright. I assume due to it being copied from a different source.

It's safe to assume that, due to the fact that it was only aired once in Detroit, the version with Soft And Wet came from a lower generation tape than the European version that had been aired (and therefore recorded) multiple times, including reruns in subsequent years. So when they added SAW to the mix they of course chose to keep the better quality tape for the reste of the show.

SANSKER7 said:

I was one of a small group of peeps that seen the entire show on video at a house party in ann arbor mi back in 1992. I didn't know what thw show was from at first as Iwas knew to bootlegs. It had andre cymone and sheila e performing in it. Fantastic show, but was not pro shot. I tried to get a copy of it several years later but could not find the person who owns it. I do have the whole audio show on cd but this is a poor audience recording. Hope that helps.

What u saw may be a fanshot version, as opposed to the unedited pro-shot version that's in the hands of one or 2 people. IDK. Interesting to know that it's also somewhere as well