Forgive me folks if this has been asked before but I couldn´t find a thread that already covers this topic.

I just read on Facebook that there´s a slightly different version of Erotic City on Tidal, but since I´m not on Tidal and have no desire to join them or use the trial, I thought maybe some orgers could talk about the differences between this supposedly different version and the 12" version we´re all familiar with.

It is labeled as 12" version, too, so it might create a bit of confusion.

Are the lyrics censored? Or is it longer, shorter, different?

It's the same digital version that has been available as a download since the late 2000's, released as part of some Digital 45's/ EP's series. The only difference is a bit of a laser sound at end.

They've been available on various websites to purchase and stream for years now, including Spotify until he removed his music. I have no idea on what the original source on it is though...

Wanna Duck Un2 the dawn.

jaawwnn said:

It's the same digital version that has been available as a download since the late 2000's, released as part of some Digital 45's/ EP's series. The only difference is a bit of a laser sound at end.

They've been available on various websites to purchase and stream for years now, including Spotify until he removed his music. I have no idea on what the original source on it is though...

That's weird, I wonder why that random change was made.

RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

Aerogram said:

RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

That's weird, I wonder why that random change was made.

Prince was recording another tune in the 2000s when a little extra laser overflowed right into Erotic City in the same shelf in the vault. That turned out to be The Breakdown.

Could be

I'm kinda curious now, I think if this digital version has been available for a long time now it must be the one I bought from the Google Play Store some time ago, might have a listen and see what on earth's up with this laser thing.

I wonder... I wonder if it's in any way related to the original tracklisting and mix on Ultimate. To help with a segue maybe?

http://www.popmatters.com/feature/the-critical-untimeliness-of-ultimate-prince/

“The way I had sequenced it originally was that it was all mixed up so that every single song was in chronological order, with singles mixed together with 12-inch versions,” Dicker explains. The original track listing for Ultimate Prince began with “Purple Medley”, followed by three album cuts, three 12-inch mixes (including “Erotic City”), three more album cuts, and three more extended or alternate mixes. Disc two originally had a similar breakdown, beginning with the extended version of “Kiss”, leading into a back-and-forth of album cuts and remixes, including the single edit mix of “Sexy M.F.”, “Sexy Mutha”. The last song on Ultimate was to be “My Name Is Prince”. “After you hear this two-hour overview of Prince’s career,” Dicker says, “it just ended with him shouting out ‘My name Is Prince!’ I thought it was really cool, but unfortunately it’s not how it came to pass.”

He doesn't say he edited the mixes in any way but it was just after this was put together that the digital downloads were released. Just a guess.

[Edited 10/20/15 3:06am]

The origin of this alt version is totally mysterious.

dualboot said:

À crude way of tagging the digital sources

whattya mean? Why would official sources be tagged?