OldFriends4Sale said:

iZsaZsa said:

Which part is about Wendy?

thedoorkeeper said:

iZsaZsa said:

"Is it too much?" asks Prince about playing his own songs in his own car.
"Not long ago I was driving around L.A. with [a well-known rock star], and all he did was play his own stuff over and over. If it gets too much, just tell me."
This is cracking me up!

Gotta be Lenny Kravitz.!!!!!

BEAUGARDE said:

how many artists can release such excellent ....contractual obligatioin CDs like this and chaos?

OldFriends4Sale said:

The Rest Of My Life

Don't look now but there's another rocky road
Another heavy wow of the much too heavy, heavy load
But today I'm gonna face it, yeah, 'cause I'm sick of dealin' any other way
Nobody said the race was fair but I'm gonna keep runnin' just the same
Today, today is the first day of the rest of my life

Don't look now but here comes another heartbreak
Benefit of the doubt I'll give it, control of my life I've gotta take
'Cause I'm alive and that's reason enough for me to bust a smile
I've arrived and now I wanna stay for a little while
'Cause today, today is the first day of the rest of my life

Let's go

Today, today is the first day of the rest of my life
'Cause today, today is the best day of the rest of my life

I still can't believe that song is only one minute and forty-one seconds. Who writes and arranges something that intricate and then only plays it for 1:41?

Oh, yeah: the lil' Minneapolis mofo, that's who.

eyewishuheaven said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

The Rest Of My Life

Don't look now but there's another rocky road
Another heavy wow of the much too heavy, heavy load
But today I'm gonna face it, yeah, 'cause I'm sick of dealin' any other way
Nobody said the race was fair but I'm gonna keep runnin' just the same
Today, today is the first day of the rest of my life

Don't look now but here comes another heartbreak
Benefit of the doubt I'll give it, control of my life I've gotta take
'Cause I'm alive and that's reason enough for me to bust a smile
I've arrived and now I wanna stay for a little while
'Cause today, today is the first day of the rest of my life

Let's go

Today, today is the first day of the rest of my life
'Cause today, today is the best day of the rest of my life

I still can't believe that song is only one minute and forty-one seconds. Who writes and arranges something that intricate and then only plays it for 1:41?

Oh, yeah: the lil' Minneapolis mofo, that's who.

yup, this is one cool little song. i could not stop listening to it over and over and over

when it first leaked on a bootleg and was glad it finally got an official release on this
album.

as you said, all that in 1:41 and a solo as well

thedance said:

controversy99 said:

A great, mature sounding album. It's amazing that it's recorded primarily by the same group that did the super-slick sounding new-jackish Diamond & Pearls. It really shows the range of the original NPG. A great 20+ minutes of music is: She Spoke 2 Me (Extended Remix) (8:19) 5 Women (5:12) When The Lights Go Down (7:10) That's just so chill, yet complex. I'd love more stuff like this mature sound. Those 3 and Old Friends 4 Sale are my favorites. At the time, I listened to it and NPS on headphones in the record store and was completely disappointed by both. I was just asking myself why Prince was torturing his fans. Then a few years later I heard When the Lights Go Down and was totally blown away. Wow, what unreleased jam is this? Wait, it's on TV:OF4S? Better get that. Now, I'd say it's in the top 3 of the post-1995 released albums.

thedance said:

It's About That Walk is my fave track..

Otherwise it's an average album imo..

That's one of my favorites! It reminds me of 1930s New York City for some reason

CharismaDove said:

iZsaZsa said:

CharismaDove said:

That's one of my favorites! It reminds me of 1930s New York City for some reason

Ass like a fine cut diamond Mounted on 2 legs of stone

Always make me smile and the next line:

.

prison I could do some time in
If I ever got that ass alone

.

Great song, love the horns

It's About That Walk
It was released to radio around the same time as the album, in Germany only, with no commercial release.
Basic tracks were recorded on 2 September, 1993 at Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris, France (the day after the second and final Paris concert of the Act II tour, on the same day as some unknown recordings with French actress/singer Ophélie Winter. -PrinceVault

dodger said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

It's About That Walk
It was released to radio around the same time as the album, in Germany only, with no commercial release.
Basic tracks were recorded on 2 September, 1993 at Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris, France (the day after the second and final Paris concert of the Act II tour, on the same day as some unknown recordings with French actress/singer Ophélie Winter. -PrinceVault

This one almost sounds like a 1977 demo updated with horns and organ
I wonder when this one was actually started.

He has the early falcetto

OldFriends4Sale said:

databank said:

Could someone actually post the lyrics to the original OF4S? I like the lyrics of the final cut but I'd like to compare. Not being a native speaker it never made much difference to me as the instrumental track is absolutely the same, so I was always puzzled by the hate people have for the released version (which itself was already circulating on boots IIRC).

Anyway I'll add my voice to the crowd praising that album. I read a lot of threads recently with praise for albums that were the subject of a lot of hate from the fanbase at the time of release and I'm happy about that I always knew Prince's post WB output would be rediscovered and reevaluated overtime (I remember a critic writing this in a music mag in the early 00's, too).

Old Friends 4 Sale

The sun set in the west this mornin'
4 I know, I know L.A. is callin'
Bad news, Steve said, and people are talkin'
They say your kingdom is fallin', yeah
They say U lost your fire
When another musician U hired
Little do they know, U wouldn't have passed go
Unless they could take U higher, yeah

The sun set in my heart this afternoon
4 2 friends of mine got stuck in the snow
In Uptown when winter's alarmin', oh
Cocaine becomes charmin'
But U talk about things U don't know 'bout
I know, no matter how pleasant your past was
Green and white return 2 blue
U're happy as long as your last buzz
And then U think U want something new, yeah

The sun, the sun set in my mind this evening
4 someone who said they would die 4 me
Sold some, they sold some more pictures and all my little memories
Chump change is 2 unravel the mystery, ah ha
But life is no fun, life ain't no fun without fantasy
Some things are better left unsaid
And some people are better left untrusted
Maybe, maybe, maybe it'll all make sense when I'm dead
When I'm dead

Old friends 4 sale
Get'em while the gettin' is hot
Watch out, they'll kiss U until they get what U got
And they'll show U the friends that they're not
Old friends 4 sale

Old Friends 4 Sale
This slow bluesy classic is one of Prince's most autobiographical songs in which he sings about Steve Fargnoli, Wendy Melvoin, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and the late bodyguard Chick Huntsberry. A somber mood is established from an eerie slightly discordant synth with a piano the main accompaniment. Recorded during the Parade sessions, two versions exist, with one including Clare Fischer's orchestra. It was revised in 1991.

The song "Old Friends 4 Sale" was written in 1985
and was featured in Prince's movie "Under The Cherry Moon" but not included on the soundtrack "Parade".
The original song contained lyrics with veiled references about the firing of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis of The Time
and "Big" Chick Huntsberry, his former bodyguard,
who supposedly sold a fictious story about Prince to a tabloid to support his cocaine habit.

The song was re-recorded in 1991 with less personal lyrics, and released in 1996.

Prince Talks Interview April 1985

Prince is fiddling with the tape deck inside the T-Bird.
On low volume comes his unreleased "Old Friends 4 Sale,"
an arrow-to-the-heart rock ballad about trust and loss.
Unlike "Positively 4th Street" -- which Bob Dylan reputedly named after a nearby Minneapolis block --
the lyrics are sad, not bitter. "I don't know too much about Dylan," says Prince, "but I respect him a lot. 'All Along the Watchtower' is my favorite of his. I heard it first from Jimi Hendrix."
"Old Friends 4 Sale" ends,
and on comes "Strange Relationships," and as-yet-unreleased dance tune.
"Is it too much?" asks Prince about playing his own songs in his own car.
"Not long ago I was driving around L.A. with [a well-known rock star], and all he did was play his own stuff over and over. If it gets too much, just tell me."

Cool, thx

Reading both version's lyrics back 2 back I really can't decide which is better, the second version has some great verses in it, too. I think the lyrics to the original are considered superior because we KNOW the story behing lots of it but a scholar in petry who'd be given both versions without knowing who wrote them might not necessarily pick the first one as the best, honest. It'd be interesting to test both versions on a group of people with a background in literature, ask them which one they think is best, and see what come up

databank said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Old Friends 4 Sale

The sun set in the west this mornin'
4 I know, I know L.A. is callin'
Bad news, Steve said, and people are talkin'
They say your kingdom is fallin', yeah
They say U lost your fire
When another musician U hired
Little do they know, U wouldn't have passed go
Unless they could take U higher, yeah

The sun set in my heart this afternoon
4 2 friends of mine got stuck in the snow
In Uptown when winter's alarmin', oh
Cocaine becomes charmin'
But U talk about things U don't know 'bout
I know, no matter how pleasant your past was
Green and white return 2 blue
U're happy as long as your last buzz
And then U think U want something new, yeah

The sun, the sun set in my mind this evening
4 someone who said they would die 4 me
Sold some, they sold some more pictures and all my little memories
Chump change is 2 unravel the mystery, ah ha
But life is no fun, life ain't no fun without fantasy
Some things are better left unsaid
And some people are better left untrusted
Maybe, maybe, maybe it'll all make sense when I'm dead
When I'm dead

Old friends 4 sale
Get'em while the gettin' is hot
Watch out, they'll kiss U until they get what U got
And they'll show U the friends that they're not
Old friends 4 sale

Old Friends 4 Sale
This slow bluesy classic is one of Prince's most autobiographical songs in which he sings about Steve Fargnoli, Wendy Melvoin, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and the late bodyguard Chick Huntsberry. A somber mood is established from an eerie slightly discordant synth with a piano the main accompaniment. Recorded during the Parade sessions, two versions exist, with one including Clare Fischer's orchestra. It was revised in 1991.

The song "Old Friends 4 Sale" was written in 1985
and was featured in Prince's movie "Under The Cherry Moon" but not included on the soundtrack "Parade".
The original song contained lyrics with veiled references about the firing of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis of The Time
and "Big" Chick Huntsberry, his former bodyguard,
who supposedly sold a fictious story about Prince to a tabloid to support his cocaine habit.

The song was re-recorded in 1991 with less personal lyrics, and released in 1996.

Prince Talks Interview April 1985

Prince is fiddling with the tape deck inside the T-Bird.
On low volume comes his unreleased "Old Friends 4 Sale,"
an arrow-to-the-heart rock ballad about trust and loss.
Unlike "Positively 4th Street" -- which Bob Dylan reputedly named after a nearby Minneapolis block --
the lyrics are sad, not bitter. "I don't know too much about Dylan," says Prince, "but I respect him a lot. 'All Along the Watchtower' is my favorite of his. I heard it first from Jimi Hendrix."
"Old Friends 4 Sale" ends,
and on comes "Strange Relationships," and as-yet-unreleased dance tune.
"Is it too much?" asks Prince about playing his own songs in his own car.
"Not long ago I was driving around L.A. with [a well-known rock star], and all he did was play his own stuff over and over. If it gets too much, just tell me."

Cool, thx

Reading both version's lyrics back 2 back I really can't decide which is better, the second version has some great verses in it, too. I think the lyrics to the original are considered superior because we KNOW the story behing lots of it but a scholar in petry who'd be given both versions without knowing who wrote them might not necessarily pick the first one as the best, honest. It'd be interesting to test both versions on a group of people with a background in literature, ask them which one they think is best, and see what come up

one of the things that stands out as far as the original being better than the latter version is how it flows. The flow to the lyrics of the second are choppy to me, there is a smoothness to the delivery with a different level of emotion because of the closeness of the people in the reference. The latter version doesn't have that emotion to me.

KingSausage said:

To me, the lyrics of the original are clearly more biting and personal. And I have a background in literature.

yes but u know the background story.

databank said:

KingSausage said:

databank said:

yes but u know the background story.

I didn't know the background story when I first heard both versions in 1999. At that time, I definitely liked the original better. More meaningful lyrics, more heartfelt delivery.

Fair enough. I'd still like to do the test, though

Love this album. The looooong intro on When the Lights Go Down is worth the price of admission all by itself.

LOVE this album. One of my faves of the 90s...very solid all the way through. I WAS disappointed with the new lyrics on Old Friends 4 Sale, but its still a good song. When the Lights Go Down is the highlight and has become on of my absolute faves from the guy. Such a cool tune.

OldFriends4Sale said:

databank said:

Cool, thx

Reading both version's lyrics back 2 back I really can't decide which is better, the second version has some great verses in it, too. I think the lyrics to the original are considered superior because we KNOW the story behing lots of it but a scholar in petry who'd be given both versions without knowing who wrote them might not necessarily pick the first one as the best, honest. It'd be interesting to test both versions on a group of people with a background in literature, ask them which one they think is best, and see what come up

one of the things that stands out as far as the original being better than the latter version is how it flows. The flow to the lyrics of the second are choppy to me, there is a smoothness to the delivery with a different level of emotion because of the closeness of the people in the reference. The latter version doesn't have that emotion to me.

Having listened to both versions back to back I see what u and the others mean about the intensity of the singing and general flow of the vocals. I'd never realized that both versions sounded so different. I couldn't say after just one comparative listen that I like the 85 version more but I see where y'all coming from.

In all honesty I think I ain't objective because even though I had the 86 version since 1991 and listened to it more than the rerecording that I had a bit later in 1993, prior to the later's official release in 99 i.e. for the last 16 years I've listened to the released version repeatedly and hardly ever to the bootleg, also because before the 4DF rerelease in 2011 or 2012 the stringless original sounded like shit, and even since the original with string still sounds like shit, and because of that and the fact that I'm in love with the strings arrangements, I would still listen to the released version before any other.

So in my mind the 99 version is the one I know best and truly fell in love with, and therefore the definitive version. The original is just "the other version". Purely subjective I know, but it's hard to reprogram a man's brain

IstenSzek said:

for me this is the only one of the 'contractual obligation' albums that actually

feel like just that.

having said that, it is a nice album with some great tracks.

i just wish that horrid remake of Old Friends 4 Sale hadn't been on it and he'd

put "I'll Do Anything", "Make Believe" and possible "Be My Mirror" on there.

or the original Old Friends. but i can see why he wouldn't want to hand over
that song to warners at that time since it's obviously one of his best unreleased
songs, if not one of his best, period.

I doubt that Prince sees it that way. Sure, we as fans love the old version and think it´s the best version but the lyrics of the old version are much too dated to be released by Prince on this album or any other album in the future, unless he wants to release an album that also serves as some sort of autobiography or chronology of his work.

Think about it....it references Steve Fargnoli and Chick who already passed away, and most of the other friends and things he mentions are so early 80s that I doubt that Prince even cares about this song anymore.

The new lyrics with the Kuwait war references sound very dated, too.

eyewishuheaven said:

People were pretty mean to this album when it came out, but I have to say I really dig it. Solid musicianship, lots of humour and creativity, not a loop in sight, and a closing track that ranks up there with his best ballads.

Sure it ain't Sign o' the Times, but I feel that it's a solid, entertaining summer album. They can't all be masterpieces! Sometimes a collection of solid jams in capable hands is all you need. And I find it endlessly amusing that this is the kind of material that P can just 'throw in the garbage', so to speak.

What do you think?

True, but keep in mind that back then the standard regarding Prince´s albums was still pretty high compared to today, and people still had huge expectations. In hindsight, and compared to , say, Plectrum Electrum, that album looks like a masterpiece (though I must admit I never liked Extraordinary and find it very forgettable and bland). Some really good songs on it, and the sound is quite cohesive as far as the style goes....a bit jazzy, lots of live playing etc.

But there are also some songs on it where you can tell immediately that they are, indeed, just outtakes.

KoolEaze said:

IstenSzek said:

for me this is the only one of the 'contractual obligation' albums that actually

feel like just that.

having said that, it is a nice album with some great tracks.

i just wish that horrid remake of Old Friends 4 Sale hadn't been on it and he'd

put "I'll Do Anything", "Make Believe" and possible "Be My Mirror" on there.

or the original Old Friends. but i can see why he wouldn't want to hand over
that song to warners at that time since it's obviously one of his best unreleased
songs, if not one of his best, period.

I doubt that Prince sees it that way. Sure, we as fans love the old version and think it´s the best version but the lyrics of the old version are much too dated to be released by Prince on this album or any other album in the future, unless he wants to release an album that also serves as some sort of autobiography or chronology of his work.

Think about it....it references Steve Fargnoli and Chick who already passed away, and most of the other friends and things he mentions are so early 80s that I doubt that Prince even cares about this song anymore.

The new lyrics with the Kuwait war references sound very dated, too.

If he released it in 1985/86 it would have been perfect. I'm glad he did not release it later.
Just like Hello, if it was released in 1996/97 it wouldn't make sense
.
UNLESS he released them on another Crystal Ball type compilation.
.
But those 2 songs (I wouldn't call them dated) but they are timing sensitive.