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Printablewhere these tracks ever recorded in a studio? | |
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Be assured: I do own the audio of this Undertaker. Pills and thrills and daffodils will kill... If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry. | |
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Surely you're not saying that you were unaware of this disc?!? That can't be possible...I suppose I should clarify one thing - yes, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World was commercially successful, but take it from a young UK-based Prince fan at that time - it was a song considered to be beyond ludicrous and taken the utter p*ss out of.
Which frustrated the life out of me because I still find the Gold Experience to be the album I love most, with so much on there which really showed why Prince was better than anyone else, but all you had was a bunch of teenagers running around screaming "Could you be!" in a high pitched voice.
Let's be honest here - chart success and number 1s haven't meant anything since the record companies became big business, and we're all happy to agree on that when the radio won't play our man these days. I love the song personally, but a #1 anywhere just means it was promoted well, nothing more.
I just feel like, with everything that was going on with Prince at that time, an album like The Undertaker, stripped down, hard guitar, raw, nigh-on sexual feel to it, would have been a better reminder that this man was about musicianship rather than making money, which many will still see as the main motivation for the name-change......... So look into the mirror, do u recognise some1? Is it who u always hoped u would become, when u were young? | |
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Co-sign. It's just a really cool album. I remember playing the video to non-Prince fans and they were very impressed and quite shocked. "That's Prince?!" they would exclaim. This was the mid '90's, I was 16-17 years old, we were all in school and I can't overstate the damage that the TMGITW single had done to his image and general perception. But this video showed him in a completely different light, almost underground, alternative, very raw and stripped back. I always hoped that he would do MTV Unplugged around this era to demonstrate to my friends his incredible musicianship, but this video did it even better. Anyone experince something similar? O+> | |
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This is exactly what I'm talking about, and it was the same thing all over again when he released Betcha By Golly Wow as the Emanicipation lead single! O+> | |
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Not dead, not in prison, still funkin'... |
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I spent the 80s as a huge Prince fan. As countless others have made reference to, the early 90s were rocky for Prince and his long time fans - it did seem like the inspiration was running low with Graffiti Bridge, and the silky pop sound of D&P did nothing for me at all.
I was a huge fan at the time, and knew nothing about The Undertaker. The internet didn't exist. There was no way to know unless you were hooked into a fanzine, fanclub, record store employee, etc.
Fast forward to 10 years ago - The Undertaker was the release that got me back into Prince. It was and is one of the best things I had heard from him post 80s.
While it's not perfect, it would have had huge appeal to certain fans in the early 90s that missed the raw edge of Prince that was totally missing from D&P and TMBGITW.
Peas "..free to change your mind" | |
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KoolEaze said:
It all depends on how you personally define "impact". First of all, while I did not like The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, it was a huge hit, especially in the UK. It was his last great hit to this date and reached the top of the charts and Prince was all over the radio back then, so while we may dislike TMBGITW, it was still an undeniabale success (I did like the Mustang Mix version though....absolutely loved it). - . You are making some very valid points as far as the raw feeling of that album goes. You are absolutely right that The Undertaker album, especially released as a free giveaway with a respected guitar magazine, would´ve helped cement Prince´s reputation as a serious musician in general and as a guitar player in general. Most of my non-Prince-fan fans went absolutely nuts when they first heard that album in my car back then, and I´m talking about real music afficionados here who didn´t even know it was Prince. So, yes, it would have helped to make him more respected than he already was and maybe refreshed the memories of those who started to doubt him. It also helped that it was, unlike 3rd Eye Girl, a gimmick-free project. Just Prince and Sonny and Michael, his tightest band to this day (and yes, I´m a huge Revolution fan but let´s not go there now).
. . Commercially and as far as WB´s interests go, this would probably not have made a huge impact but then again, why not? It could´ve helped him to win new fans or at least made even more people interested in his live shows. ( Some shows of the 1995 Ultimate Live Experience tour were not that successful due to the lack of classic Prince material being played, and due to lack of promotion). Also, this was during a time when Prince was rather fan friendly and before he started sueing his dedicated fanbase left and right, and when even the most skeptical Prince haters were still fans, so yes, I believe releasing this album as a free giveaway would´ve shed a very positive light on Prince in the long run, albeit not necessarily in a commercial sense in that very moment. You are also right about some critics ridiculing him during the time right after the name change and maybe a release like this could´ve silenced at least some of those critics. . . I think the choice of songs, while I personally was not that fond of some song choices back then, was quite good....a Rolling Stones cover, a long version of the bluesy Undertaker, the hard and no frills take on Bambi, and the psychedelic feel of it all were quite amazing back then. I still own the original VHS tape that was sold and distributed by WB back then but I have no idea how successful it was in terms of sales.
. I think an interview or some sort of liner notes also would´ve helped. I mean, it is pretty cool and amazing that this was recorded in one take after 3 a.m and it was all a very spontaneous thing. Which, again, just goes to show you how tight Prince, Sonny and Michael were back then. Let´s also not forget about Morris Hayes and Tommy B. (who were not part of this session, but still....).
The storyline was a bit silly but hey, we never expected great storylines after all those previously released short films with questionable plots. This project was, in my opinion, a wasted opportunity on WB´s behalf. It´s a good thing that they released the VHS tape and I understand why they blocked it but in terms of public relations, this would´ve been a smart idea. I agree with pretty much everything you said. The Undertaker has great appeal to a certain music listener, and those folks have influence and enthusiasm. This CD would've solidified Prince's position as an outstanding musician. I've played it for friends. Some go bananas, amazed that it's Prince, and start listening/buying to Prince when they might not have before, or not since they were kids. Others aren't that interested, usually because they're not rock fans, which makes sense, or because they don't like that particular style of playing. Would it have been a commercial smash? No. Have impact? Absolutely yes. "Love & honesty, peace & harmony" | |
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I actually bought the laserdisc here in the US & video taped it off of that, the time & $$ I used to spend on the purple Yoda before there was internet ... |
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I was a 17-year-old Prince fan in the UK when The Most Beautiful Girl In The World came out and I didn't see or hear any such ridicule. Everyone thought it was a great pop song... which it was and is.
Generally, those who already hated Prince continued to hate him and those who loved him continued to love him. I would say it didn't win him any new fans, but as it was his biggest UK hit, it must have done...
I actually used the song's lyrics in my English literature class, as an example of modern metaphysical poetry, and it was very well received....
Also, I loved wandering into Woolworths (woah!) and suddenly discovering that there was a new Prince video out: The Undertaker. It had nothing to do with any of his albums, and has no promotion whatsoever.... very little info on the sleeve and was not really commercial... Also, at the time, The Gold Experience was (in my world) still considered to be an album that would never be released... so to hear a snippet of Dolphin and then later realise what it was when the album was finally released was exciting.
That excitement was really intoxicating, and so was the music. Much as I love the availability that the interwebs provide, I do miss that old feeling. |
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owen said:
This is exactly what I'm talking about, and it was the same thing all over again when he released Betcha By Golly Wow as the Emanicipation lead single! Agreed. As much as some people try and spin the line that Prince never cared about commercial success since the 90's, his single choices have shown otherwise. He has been very ballad-heavy since the international success of TMBGITW and i think it did alienate many casual fans who didn't care much for shmaltzy Prince. They wanted the funk-n-roll dirty Prince to tear-up the clubs, not just the bedroom. | |
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I used to watch The Undertaker video on repeat in the NPG Store in Camden. Great times. It would have done wonders as a free giveaway with Guitar magazine, but I can see WB point in blocking it - if indeed that's what happened. Although am not sure how true that is. Prince making a throwaway comment in an interview to have a dig a WB doesn't mean he would have really gone through with giving away the music FOR FREE to Guitar magazine. It's not like the session was recorded for that sole purpose. It was an album (we are led to believe) that he wanted to release - though I doubt it got as far as clearances for HTW with the Stones, who would have definitely wanted money. | |
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Prince had a lot of good ideas at the time back then and that was when WB was starting to block these ideas. I wonder how different things would have been if WB had allowed Prince to have his way. A lot of these projects would have been better if they were released faster instead of being delayed, and in many cases delayed years.
I think the free Undertaker CD would have made an impact with fans and guitar players. It would have helped push Prince's rock fans more which was a trend that music was shifting to in the 90s with grunge and all of that. And the Undertaker would have been a good set up for the Chaos and Disorder material.
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