Just listening to the 12 Inch Remasterd again--I Would Die For You--and I don't like this version of the song at all. It doesn't have the immediacy and warmth of the album version IMO. Too over-worked and mechanical for my liking. On the other hand, I can't get enough of the extended version of America. Or Erotic City. I also like the uneasy and slightly forbidding end to the 12 inch of Raspberry Beret. What 12 inches (lol) do you like or dislike?

[Edited 3/12/15 1:13am]

Its a "live in the studio" version, 10 minutes.

I like it..... but you are right the short album version is still the best.....

I'm not mad on any of the remixes, as opposed to just unedited versions, so Paisley Park, Raspberry Beret, Let's Work, Let's Go Crazy etc.

Not that I think they're straight up bad (in fact Let's go Crazy and Let's Work extended are GREAT) but I always feel his 80's remixes are a bit clumsy and prefer the standard versions.

It upsets me that the Pop Life extended remix is more common than the standard extended version which I think is one of the best releases he ever had.

jaawwnn said:

I'm not mad on any of the remixes, as opposed to just unedited versions, so Paisley Park, Raspberry Beret, Let's Work, Let's Go Crazy etc.

Not that I think they're straight up bad (in fact Let's go Crazy and Let's Work extended are GREAT) but I always feel his 80's remixes are a bit clumsy and prefer the standard versions.

It upsets me that the Pop Life extended remix is more common than the standard extended version which I think is one of the best releases he ever had.

Regardless of what is written in parenthesis in the the title, Let's Go Crazy 12" is the unedited version, NOT a remix.

I like all of the 12" mixes except for America. Being as long as it is its too repetitive. All of the others though I really enjoy and miss him doing those nowadays

thedance said:

Its a "live in the studio" version, 10 minutes.

.

Recorded at a rehearsal, IIRC. So not exactly a studio.

I love them all. Mountains and I Wish U Heaven being my favorites.

Bambi82 said:

djThunderfunk said:

Bambi82 said:

I love them all. Mountains and I Wish U Heaven being my favorites.

I love them all..... as well..



Ps.... especially the 12 inches from Around The World In A Day.

The 2 I don't like at all are generally the ones most Prince fans love and that is "America", way too long for my tastes, and "I wish U heaven", he took a beautiful song and ruined it with a bunch of horse feather lyrics and just made it silly. Of course, that's just my opinion. There are so many I do love, "Thieves in the temple", "Let's work", "Pop life" (the 9 minute UK version), "Scandalous" (in it's full 19 minute glory, one of the few really long songs I DO like.), "Partyman", "Paisley Park" and so on and so forth.

shock and la la hee

Hot Prince 12 inches :

1. Sign ‘O’ the Times / La La La He He Hee

I don’t care if side A is not a remix and “just” the album version instead.
The analog mastering on this 45rpm is pure perfection. More dynamics compared to the album, and that’s saying a lot.
If you never listened to SOTT the album on the 1987 vynils or cassettes, you have absolutely no idea of what Susan Rogers and Prince have really achieved.
Thank God for Record Service GmbH, Alsdorf. The best, accurate, transparent sounding vynils were pressed in Germany. Analog precision and engineering at its best, giving you the sound that Bob Clearmountain was hearing in his monitors.

The loss of dynamics and nuances on the CD is mind-numbing.
It’s like B&W and color, it’s that extreme. I’m always feeling sorry for the young fans who rave about SOTT, they deserve to hear it as it was originally intended.

The song itself, well… If the Holy Grail of the 12 inches is to have perfect matching sides, this one is maybe the best example. This is Gemini Prince defined : on side A it’s the end of the world as we know it, on the other it’s horny human zoophilia collapsing in an orgy of needles in the red.

Nutty Nutsack was breaking our balls (girls included) last month, by autoproclaiming that Prince never wrote a song “that really matters”.

Well, dig it if you will, bozo. 1987 : Wilson Phillips are on top of the charts, Madge is singing songs for 12 years old (“Who’s That Girl”), Michael is still 12 years old (“Bad” and then “Moonwalker”), Brucie is feeling sorry for himself on his way to the studios in his Ferrari (“Tunnel Of Love”).

Prince is at his highest peak (“Lovesexy” is his state of grace, not his peak). Critics and Intelligentsia are praising him non-stop. A normal (sane?) person would at least wait a couple of years and capitalize on it. But not Prince.

Prince has the bigger biggest balls in the entire 1987 american show-business (see the MTV awards in full, and see how bold and brave his performance is when compared to all the rest). He’s the only one who has the courage to kill himself (The Revolution is no more) to reinvent himself.

Here’s Prince leaving the slickness and supreme elegance of “Parade”, abandoning the childish, narcissistic, charmingly naive persona of Christopher Tracy (litterally killing his Revolution Era on “Sometimes It Snows In April”, what a catharsis), switching the post-war pimp jazz exuberance for a Depeche Mode-like dead beat shredded by delta blues. A bleak voice in pain aches in circles, on repeat. On top of it, here comes this bridge-slash-chorus, which is as creative and inventive as “When Doves Cry” : listen to the instrumental on the closing credits of SOTT The Movie. The distorted Fairlight flute on the second chorus are one of the greatest keyboard performances of all time. In a few seconds. So much with so little.

The B-Side? What could possibly be up to one of the decade’s, heck, all-time best pop songs? From the very first bark, everything here spells genius. But it would be nothing without the mood that perspires throughout. The whole gang is on fire, Eric and Atlanta are dead on it, the girls are hysterical, and Prince, against all odds, at the last minute, decides that he has enough Camille tracks for the moment, and choses not to speed up his vocals. Technically, this is par with the “Exodus Has Begun” mix. You have probably 30 tracks (maybe more) going crazy, exploding in all directions, and yet the sound never lose this to-the-plexus precision punches, nor its hilarious/delirious groove.


Ten “Highly Explosive” minutes indeed.


Be good, Rover. Don’t U bite no one.

[Edited 3/12/15 18:34pm]

[Edited 3/12/15 18:42pm]

Just a few (a couple more minutes of almost any of the songs back when was a good thing, but these stand out in my head right now)--

La La La, He He Hee

Scarlet Pussy

Raspberry Beret (I really like the end)

Let's Go Crazy (THE version of the song, in my opinion)

I Wish U Heaven (yes, the album version is perfect--but I like the way he plays with Housequake and when the choir hits the long note, and the guitar solo is hilarious).

Space (Universal Love)

AND

SHOCKADELICA!!!!!!

And let's just say I wish I still had all my old vinyl, because I'm pretty sure some of these sounded better than they do on the rips I have now).

Oh, and as for "I Would Die 4 U"--at least they didn't release the full 40 minutes.

Not-so-Hot Prince 12 inches :

1. New Power Generation / “Brother with a Purpose” / “Get Off” / “The Lubricated Lady” / “Loveleft, Loveright”)

As if the side A song title isn’t ridiculous enough, here are amongst the worst song titles ever conceived by Prince.

But fear not, the music is even worse.

Introducing Tony Mosley to the masses, this paranoid new-age bland chant, stretched on the perpetual void of its programming, trying to go left, to go right, but ultimately going nowhere, with absolutely no purpose whatsoever, lubricated or not, only brings shame and remorse of the time spent listening to this blob.

“Party 2night!” my wonderful ass.

*emptied*

[Edited 3/12/15 19:10pm]

bonatoc said:

Not-so-Hot Prince 12 inches :

1. New Power Generation / “Brother with a Purpose” / “Get Off” / “The Lubricated Lady” / “Loveleft, Loveright”)

As if the side A song title isn’t ridiculous enough, here are amongst the worst song titles ever conceived by Prince.

But fear not, the music is even worse.

Introducing Tony Mosley to the masses, this paranoid new-age bland chant, stretched on the perpetual void of its programming, trying to go left, to go right, but ultimately going nowhere, with absolutely no purpose whatsoever, lubricated or not, only brings shame and remorse of the time spent listening to this blob.

“Party 2night!” my wonderful ass.

But I LIKE Get Off and Loveleft, Loveright! I like Play better, so I might have been okay with the even longer version of the single if it had come out. NPG wasn't great, though, and Brother with a Purpose didn't have one. Lubricated Lady shouldn't really even count as a track, in my mind.

EddieC said:

bonatoc said:

Not-so-Hot Prince 12 inches :

1. New Power Generation / “Brother with a Purpose” / “Get Off” / “The Lubricated Lady” / “Loveleft, Loveright”)

As if the side A song title isn’t ridiculous enough, here are amongst the worst song titles ever conceived by Prince.

But fear not, the music is even worse.

Introducing Tony Mosley to the masses, this paranoid new-age bland chant, stretched on the perpetual void of its programming, trying to go left, to go right, but ultimately going nowhere, with absolutely no purpose whatsoever, lubricated or not, only brings shame and remorse of the time spent listening to this blob.

“Party 2night!” my wonderful ass.

But I LIKE Get Off and Loveleft, Loveright! I like Play better, so I might have been okay with the even longer version of the single if it had come out. NPG wasn't great, though, and Brother with a Purpose didn't have one. Lubricated Lady shouldn't really even count as a track, in my mind.

Side A might be sub-par but Side B of that 12" is my jam like LoveSex.

I'm not a big fan of the "Kiss" 12 inch anymore. I used to LOVE it!

bonatoc said:

Sigh.... where in the hell is a proper Take Me With U/Baby I'm A Star 12 inch release with extended versions

I mean come on! It's not like he didn't already have an extended version of Take Me With U on hand to offer up...

Doozer said:

bonatoc said:

Not-so-Hot Prince 12 inches :

1. New Power Generation / “Brother with a Purpose” / “Get Off” / “The Lubricated Lady” / “Loveleft, Loveright”)

As if the side A song title isn’t ridiculous enough, here are amongst the worst song titles ever conceived by Prince.

But fear not, the music is even worse.

Introducing Tony Mosley to the masses, this paranoid new-age bland chant, stretched on the perpetual void of its programming, trying to go left, to go right, but ultimately going nowhere, with absolutely no purpose whatsoever, lubricated or not, only brings shame and remorse of the time spent listening to this blob.

“Party 2night!” my wonderful ass.

Loveleft, Loveright is worth everything else you have to endure on that maxi single.

You know what? You're right.
It's a fine experiment, and it has soul.

I guess what pisses me off is that the whole 12" looks like the first example when he stopped caring about quality.
"Loveleft, Loveright" is indeed the only thing to save from it.

This song is the mirage of GB as an intimist movie, a detached reflection on man's spiritual needs in the 21st century.
But no, he has to paint the Honda blacque, and hire Paula Abdul's hairdresser.

no doubt the king of b-sides....

I've never been big on remixes. I prefer and enjoy the extended (unedited) versions. We used to get b-sides then a 12" extended b-side. Then it turned into DJ syle remixes. House mix, dub mix, etc with no b-side. That trend started in 87 with the 12" Housequake and Hot Thing imo.

luvsexy4all said:

no doubt the king of b-sides....

Drive Me Wild - Vanity 6 - but I love it

Lets Work - the first 12" I bought when it was first released and I still love it

Not that familiar with the 90s remixes/12 inch so I'll comment on the 80's only:

I Would Die 4 U - one of my favorite songs but I don't need it that long

America - I barely dig this song so 20 minutes of it NOOO... I heard this version was originally going to be on ATWIAD, thank God that didn't happen..

I Wish U Heaven - perhaps the most overrated Prince 12" of all time... he took a beautiful little song and made it into an unspectacular "three-set". I love Prince's funk, but this didn't deliver and it failed at whatever it tried to do. I do like the original song remixed with the dance beat, though

Glam Slam - I can't stand 'Escape'

12" I like:

Kiss - Hell yeah.

Scandalous - The Scandalous Sex Suite may be my favorite Prince 12" of all time