'Twas listeneing the the Another Place 2 Die bootleg, which of course has the slightly longer version of Moonbeam Levels with the song fading out and the instruments coming back in. No other leak of this track has this that I'm aware of.

So wassup?

Darn it, no one's said anything yet. I don't have any idea, and I want to know.

rusty1 said:

I still don't understand the hate for this song. This is arguably his best unreleased song. This is when he Established the Minneaoplis Sound era. Everything about this song is kick ass. [Edited 7/11/15 17:05pm]

It's a very small percentage of fans that dislike this song. Very small.

im in that small percentage its just a really boring song in comparison to his other unreleased works of the 80's. i wonder how wally would hold out for me if she puts this song on a pedestal whilst she dislikes adonis (which i love)

[Edited 7/12/15 4:12am]

Anyway... The topic?

bluegangsta said:

Anyway... The topic?

Where is the question in the topic? You stated something which is true, what's your question?

Yes, for years the version of Moonbeam Levels on A Better Place 2 Die was the only version which featured the extended outro and segue into........something else.

KnowThySelfie said:

bluegangsta said:

Anyway... The topic?

Where is the question in the topic? You stated something which is true, what's your question?

Yes, for years the version of Moonbeam Levels on A Better Place 2 Die was the only version which featured the extended outro and segue into........something else.

I think the question was:

so, wassup? Whihcm in contet is asking if there's been any other leaks of the Better Place 2 Die version.

You say that, for years the version was the only version which featured the extended outro and segue, so are there now other leaks of that version? What is the something else which it plays into?

This track is exceptional.

Prince has done a handful of haunting tunes which are all great.

It would be great to compile them together.

'Others Here With Us' is a favourite of mine.

I loved it from the start, tape hisses and distorsion and all.

Now that we have it in full HD, it's further confirmation that
this is one of his greatest pop masterpieces.

Just the "and so he says" right before the chorus kill me.
Best ad lib ever. Best coda ever.
I love "Free", and I can understand why "Moonbeam Levels" wouldn't have fit
on 1999. But it should have been a B-Side.

This is as essential as "Irresistible Bitch" and "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore".

Maybe more.

bonatoc said:

Don't miss the importance of "Moonbeam Levels".

Its vocal takes are magic.

During the ad lib choruses, the further you advance towards the coda,
you can hear, in real-time, (what I would call) Prince's "insecure" voice,
morph into the full range and total confidence of the (what I would call) "Purple Rain" voice.

The voice that opens "Let's Go Crazy" has nothing to do with the 1999 era. It's striking.
You can blame the mike, the exaggerated chorus effect, but there's something else.
Prince is gaining the same confidence that would have him persuade the Macaroni Bros. persuade the Warner Bros.
to produce a motion picture based on his pubescent mustache and glossy-obscene lip moves (oh that's right, along with some tunes).

This is a crucial bridge.

First, let me be clear. There's no such thing as "insecure" when it comes to Prince's vocals.
But even if "For You" makes me wanna shut up right away, it's fairly obvious that,
during the eighties, Prince became more and more in control of his voice.
And tours being the best gym for it, no wonder there's a "before" and an "after" Purple Rain.
"Condition Of The Heart" and "Tamborine" are a direct result of the Purple Rain Tour,
Prince now being able to sing almost anything, mocking any genre.


As is see it, here's how it goes :

- 78/79 : Prince shyly tries to drive the lead vocal into low registers, but is still locked on falsetto mode.
The lows are probably OK for backing vocals, but for the lead, they still sound too "young".
"Bambi" opens the way for the "sung scream" technique, that would later reach its ultimate expression on "The Beautiful Ones".
Low register Insecurity : ****

- 80/81 : Prince discovers Punk, and Punk doesn't give a fuck if you like its voice or not.
So Prince goes for it, but his lows are still somewhat confusing, he yelps at the end "PartyUp", he croons a little on the background vocals of "Girl".
"Sexuality" has vocally a style of its own, that would rarely surface later in his career, and that makes you very forgivable
of the still bizarre-sounding quality of Prince's lows.
It's getting better all the time. But falsetto still prevails.

Low register Insecurity : **

- 82 : Prince has a mission. This time he's going to sing as a whitey boy all along.
He's gonna cross-over. He's gonna make those greasy Stones fans that kicked him outta stage, kiss his skinny ass.
He's gonna prove himself that Elvis, Jerry Lee and screaming lil' Richard are not untouchable.
After all, he shares the same gospel training. And he's no Stevie Wonder clone anymore.
And he's so damn commited to making a point about these fucking lows that escaped him for years,
that of course "1999" opens on an impossible, exaggerated low register.
A note so low, that you can only reproduce it artificially, by slowing the tape?
When insecurity became a very tiny distant memory, it resulted in the bass voice of "Walk Don't Walk".
But most of all it resulted in the bridge of "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World". No need to slow down the tape anymore, Skipper.
In one second, Prince jumps 3 octaves, and shouts out to the entire show-business : "How's that for vocal range, MF*ers?".
But for now it's still 1982, and, yes, there's a "shift in the tectonic plates".
Little Red Corvette's success makes a great deal of comforting Prince in the use of its new-found "white rock" low register.
But let's face it, he still drowns it under a mixture of chorus, phasers, delays, as if Prince still has a problem with his low timbre as it is.

Low register Insecurity : half a *



"Moonbeam Levels", is the first successful attempt at the voice persona that would dominate "Purple Rain".
It has a Bruce Springsteen quality of some kind, something that widely surfaces on the whole "1999" album,
but we still aren't quite there.
With this song, Prince is already in "Purple Rain" territory. I bet my ass that without it,
Prince would have not achieved the way he sings "It's such a shame our friendship had to end".
"Fight for perfect love" carries the same emotional, on the edge of breaking quality.

And that maybe tells us a great deal of how serious Prince was about his output.
He was very aware of "Moonbeam Levels" experimenting a different tone and persona
than the voice laid on "1999" the album, which is dark, murky, reverbed to death,
a kind of post-apocalyptic Elvis : "Something In The Water" owes a great deal to "Heartbreak Hotel",
and there's of course "Delirious" and the whole rockabilly Prince catalogue.

I think all the naysayers have a problem with the "whiny" aspect of it.
But this is not "whiny" : as for all Prince's masterpieces, you have to give in, totally embrace what you're hearing or pass your way.
Nobody considers "Purple Rain" to be whiny, and surely "Moonbeam Levels" isn't more abstract or enigmatic a title than a purple-colored rain.

This song, besides its magic, documents Prince confidence slowly taking over.
Before it became blinding and changed him back into the same asshole-paranoid-introverted Kid
the "Purple Rain" movie was pointing at, we had the second half of the eighties.
And after that, a whole new musician in the nineties.


Whether you like it or not, "Moonbeam Levels" is stylistically pivotal.

(how pompous can an orger get?)

[Edited 7/15/15 2:10am]

bonatoc said:

rusty1 said:

bonatoc said:

[some entertaining and thoughtful analysis of Prince's developing vocal confidence, pivoting on Moonbeam Levels]

And I bow to you, sir. Nice job.