If DREAM FACTORY was officially released as an album, do you think it would've been the all time greatest configuration of an album released by PRINCE?

ORIGINAL CONFIGURATION (from PrinceVault: http://www.princevault.co...m_Factory:)

• Side 1:

1. Visions ¹
2. Dream Factory (preceded by Nevaeh Ni Ecalp A, not listed as such)
3. Train (different version than released)
4. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
5. It

• Side 2:

1. Strange Relationship (different version than released)
2. Slow Love ²
3. Starfish And Coffee ³ (omits the alarm clock intro)
4. Interlude – Wendy ⁴
5. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (different version than released)

• Side 3:

1. Sign O' The Times (version released as edit on the single Sign O' The Times)
2. Crystal Ball
3. A Place In Heaven (Lisa Coleman lead vox)

• Side 4:

1. Last Heart
2. Witness 4 The Prosecution
3. Movie Star
4. The Cross
5. All My Dreams

mabye

No. Crystal Ball is even better..

I woiuld need In A Large Room With No Light & Power Fantastic
But yes. I think that era would have been great

feeluupp said:

controversy99 said:

Housequake vs. Dream Factory - toss up

WAHHHHHAAAATT?

ufoclub said:

controversy99 said:

ufoclub said:

WAHHHHHAAAATT?

Which do you think is better?

Housequake for miles and miles. Dream Factory was cool idea, but I think the arrangement and flow of it don't do much for my ears. I'd love to see how he would remake it.

Dream Factory is better than Housequake i love the lyrics. In A Large Room With No Lights should be in the Dream Factory project.

warning2all said:

June 3 1986 version is for my money the best Prince album ever. Or, tied w/ "Parade". Would.love to see the real DF album cover.

I heard Susannah has the original artwork

controversy99 said:
Gone:
Play in the Sunshine
Housequake
Hot Thing
Forever in My Life
U Got the Look
If I Was Your Girlfriend
It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night
Adore
(part of Sign of the Times)

Added:
Visions
Dream Factory
Train
Sexual Suicide

Power Fantastic intro
Power Fantastic
(Interlude - Wendy)
A Place in Heaven

In A Large Room With No Light
Crystal Ball
Last Heart
Witness 4 the Prosecution
Old Friends 4 Sale
Movie Star
All My Dreams

Comparisons (imo of course)

The Best Songs
Adore vs. Crystal Ball - Adore wins. Can you imagine Prince's career without Adore released in 1987? What a loss that would be. Adore is the best slow jam from one of the greatest slow jammers ever.

If I Was Your Girlfriend vs. All My Dreams - toss up

Housequake vs. Dream Factory - toss up

Middle of the pack songs
This is basically a toss up. It'd be a little sad to lose Hog Thing but nice to have Train officially released, and so on. There's really not a big impact.

Least Good Songs
It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night vs. A Place in Heaven - Beautiful Night wins. Prince's only live song released in the 80s vs. a weak ballad. Not even close.

Movie Star vs. U Got the Look - U Got the Look wins. Movie Star is funny, but it's a bit of novelty song when released by Prince. It would be more appropriate for The Time, although the performance probably wouldn't have been better. U Got the Look is a pretty decent single, lyrics are clever, and I like the interplay between their voices.

So for me, the answer is "no", it wouldn't be his greatest album. I currently consider 1999 his greatest. Changing Sign into DF doesn't change that at all.

1.) Adore and Crystal Ball are two very different types of songs/themes etc I need to be in a certain mood to listen to either. I love both of them. But One is about 'love/romance' the other is about Social Spiritual Sexual Soul issues

2.) Housequake and Dream Factory. Housequake is a fun pumped song. High energy, the message is limited. Dream Factory takes us into a different scene. Paints a picture, city nights, parties, dates, Pop Life, friends, business etc Dream Factory wins for me on this one

3.) Train and Hot Thing. Again like 2, Hot Thing fun pumped song. Energy. But it sorta stays in the same place, musically and message. In the long run Train, takes me someplace, paints a scene, very much connected to Dream Factory, after all the fun, friends leaving the Dream Factory or Uptown or Erotic City and heading out into new adventures.

4.) I agree about IGBABN and A Place in Heaven. But I would like Nevaeh ni ecalp A on the album
IGTBABN and A Place in Heaven could easily be place on a B side But better yet IGTBABN should be released somehow with the Flesh

5.) Movie Star and U Got the Look. I would prefer U Got the Look. I love both though. Movie Star could have been a nice B side too.

Add Power Fantastic (intro/Song) Sexual Suicide Old Friends 4 Sale and In A Large Room With No Light and I'm in 100% with Dream Factory

ufoclub said:

controversy99 said:

ufoclub said: Which do you think is better?

Housequake for miles and miles. Dream Factory was cool idea, but I think the arrangement and flow of it don't do much for my ears. I'd love to see how he would remake it.

That's amused me. I thought you were saying no comparison, because Dream Factory was way better than HQ. Different strokes. Still love HQ too though.

controversy99 said:

The obvious point of comparison is Sign of the Times.

I think the obvious point of comparison is Crystal Ball. And CB is superior to DF.

• Side 1:

1. Rebirth Of The Flesh
2. Play In The Sunshine
3. Housequake
4. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker

• Side 2:

1. It
2. Starfish And Coffee ¹
3. Slow Love ²
4. Hot Thing

• Side 3:

1. Crystal Ball
2. If I Was Your Girlfriend
3. Rockhard In A Funky Place ³

• Side 4:

1. The Ball
2. Joy In Repetition
3. Strange Relationship
4. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

• Side 5:

1. Shockadelica
2. Good Love
3. Forever In My Life
4. Sign O' The Times

• Side 6:

1. The Cross
2. It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night ⁴
3. Adore (Until The End Of Time)

[Edited 1/12/16 6:56am]

jasontate said:

ufoclub said:

Housequake for miles and miles. Dream Factory was cool idea, but I think the arrangement and flow of it don't do much for my ears. I'd love to see how he would remake it.

That's amused me. I thought you were saying no comparison, because Dream Factory was way better than HQ. Different strokes. Still love HQ too though.

I feel the same.

paulludvig said:

controversy99 said:

paulludvig said:

I think the obvious point of comparison is Crystal Ball. And CB is superior to DF.

• Side 1:

1. Rebirth Of The Flesh
2. Play In The Sunshine
3. Housequake
4. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker

• Side 2:

1. It
2. Starfish And Coffee ¹
3. Slow Love ²
4. Hot Thing

• Side 3:

1. Crystal Ball
2. If I Was Your Girlfriend
3. Rockhard In A Funky Place ³

• Side 4:

1. The Ball
2. Joy In Repetition
3. Strange Relationship
4. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

• Side 5:

1. Shockadelica
2. Good Love
3. Forever In My Life
4. Sign O' The Times

• Side 6:

1. The Cross
2. It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night ⁴
3. Adore (Until The End Of Time)

[Edited 1/12/16 6:56am]

This tracklist is RIDICULOUSLY GOOD, AMAZING. I refer to SotT since it was actually released. Take that Crystal Ball tracklist, rename it Sign of the Times to give it hat bit some weight, and you have perhaps the greatest album of all time by anyone.

Add IALRWNL , Power Fantastic and let me think

just reading all the posts, the conclusion is some seriously wonderful music cam out of 1986

feeluupp said:

If DREAM FACTORY was officially released as an album, do you think it would've been the all time greatest configuration of an album released by PRINCE?

No.

One thing we need to remember is that according to our sources, the configuration you mention (the last known config, not the original one) was apparently not considered definitive yet by Prince. He was probably planning to toy with it again after the Parade tour. So we can't say for sure what the final cut of DF would have been but my take is it would have been closer to SOTT than we'd like to think.

I have a pretty good reconstruction of that last config (I'm sure you have the same) and I think it's vastly inferior to SOTT or Crystal Ball 86, because it's much more unfocused and less cohesive.

Do I love every track on it? Yes.

Do I think it works better as an ensemble? No.

I have to admit I'm biaised because I knew SOTT by heart when I first heard DF, but the same could be said about CB and I find CB even better than SOTT, so IDK if it's why I favor SOTT over that version of DF.

I also have to admit I've often read people here say they favor that version of DF over SOTT, so maybe it works better than I think, but I wonder if the holy status of DF as an unreleased "...And The Revolution" album doesn't play in its favor.

It would be great, however, if one day Prince would release digital versions of every config of DF, as well as CB and Camille, just to allow fans to study the road from the first config of DF to SOTT, it would make a fascinating documentation of the birth and growth of what ended up being his most critically acclaimed album ever.

Now, how would DF have been received if it had been released as such in early 1987? I couldn't tell, no one could, but I think there was a certain sobriety and maturity in SOTT that played in its favor with critics, and the more dreamy/poppish tonality of DF may have led some critics to see it as too much a continuation of Parade instead of something truly new. SOTT was for many critics the album that made Prince a truly adult songwriter, without the adolescent vibe of many of his earlier recordings. Maybe if we got the original tape in pristine sound, like we now have for CB, instead of a fanmade reconstruction with unequal sound quality, it'd be easier to make a fair comparison. Hopefully such a tape exists and will leak someday.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Add Power Fantastic (intro/Song) Sexual Suicide Old Friends 4 Sale and In A Large Room With No Light and I'm in 100% with Dream Factory

Add "Power Fantastic" (with intro) and "In A Large Room With No Light" and I'll like it more than Sign "O" The Times or Crystal Ball.

Old Friends 4 Sale, how did i forget about it?

databank said:

feeluupp said:

If DREAM FACTORY was officially released as an album, do you think it would've been the all time greatest configuration of an album released by PRINCE?

No.

One thing we need to remember is that according to our sources, the configuration you mention (the last known config, not the original one) was apparently not considered definitive yet by Prince. He was probably planning to toy with it again after the Parade tour. So we can't say for sure what the final cut of DF would have been but my take is it would have been closer to SOTT than we'd like to think.

I have a pretty good reconstruction of that last config (I'm sure you have the same) and I think it's vastly inferior to SOTT or Crystal Ball 86, because it's much more unfocused and less cohesive.

Do I love every track on it? Yes.

Do I think it works better as an ensemble? No.

I have to admit I'm biaised because I knew SOTT by heart when I first heard DF, but the same could be said about CB and I find CB even better than SOTT, so IDK if it's why I favor SOTT over that version of DF.

I also have to admit I've often read people here say they favor that version of DF over SOTT, so maybe it works better than I think, but I wonder if the holy status of DF as an unreleased "...And The Revolution" album doesn't play in its favor.

It would be great, however, if one day Prince would release digital versions of every config of DF, as well as CB and Camille, just to allow fans to study the road from the first config of DF to SOTT, it would make a fascinating documentation of the birth and growth of what ended up being his most critically acclaimed album ever.

Now, how would DF have been received if it had been released as such in early 1987? I couldn't tell, no one could, but I think there was a certain sobriety and maturity in SOTT that played in its favor with critics, and the more dreamy/poppish tonality of DF may have led some critics to see it as too much a continuation of Parade instead of something truly new. SOTT was for many critics the album that made Prince a truly adult songwriter, without the adolescent vibe of many of his earlier recordings. Maybe if we got the original tape in pristine sound, like we now have for CB, instead of a fanmade reconstruction with unequal sound quality, it'd be easier to make a fair comparison. Hopefully such a tape exists and will leak someday.

SOTT for always had 2 different vibes. One had a mature ground to it, the other was more 'pop-ish'

I think Dream Factory overall had the Maturing ground. The lyrics on all the songs are very mature and meaty. SOTT when I think of the 'serioiusness' of the opening title cut didn't follow through throught the whole album. But that goes back to it seems mixed with 2 different concepts (Dream Factory & Camille) plus 2 stand off songs:IG2BABN and Slow Love

One of the big issues with the SOTT era is Prince did not tour it in the states. Which was a bad move. The other issue with the Dream Factory/SOTT change is that we last the UPTOWN scene. from 1982-1986 we had UPTOWN EROTIC CITY PAISLEY PARK ie Prince & the 'Revolution' the Time Vanity 6/Apollonia 6 Sheila E 'the Family' Mazarati. All that went away in 1987... Madhouse could not sustain itself, and Jill Jones was totally absent from what Prince was doing... and Prince was going through a major emotional/social/musical change...

TrevorAyer said:

Well if prince ever unleashes a 6cd set of sott, THAT could easily be the best record of all time ... So many great outtakes from this period

Dream Factory or Sound Factory would be a perfect compilation title.

Then release all the great outtakes from 1985

WOW

Now, how would DF have been received if it had been released as such in early 1987? I couldn't tell, no one could, but I think there was a certain sobriety and maturity in SOTT that played in its favor with critics, and the more dreamy/poppish tonality of DF may have led some critics to see it as too much a continuation of Parade instead of something truly new. SOTT was for many critics the album that made Prince a truly adult songwriter, without the adolescent vibe of many of his earlier recordings. Maybe if we got the original tape in pristine sound, like we now have for CB, instead of a fanmade reconstruction with unequal sound quality, it'd be easier to make a fair comparison. Hopefully such a tape exists and will leak someday.

paulludvig said:

Now, how would DF have been received if it had been released as such in early 1987? I couldn't tell, no one could, but I think there was a certain sobriety and maturity in SOTT that played in its favor with critics, and the more dreamy/poppish tonality of DF may have led some critics to see it as too much a continuation of Parade instead of something truly new. SOTT was for many critics the album that made Prince a truly adult songwriter, without the adolescent vibe of many of his earlier recordings. Maybe if we got the original tape in pristine sound, like we now have for CB, instead of a fanmade reconstruction with unequal sound quality, it'd be easier to make a fair comparison. Hopefully such a tape exists and will leak someday.

This would be one of the greatest REISSUES (cough) if he ever does them (ahem).

Hell fucking no. The best thing Warners did was to wittle that shit down. Sign would not have gotten the classic reviews. It would have been seen as self indulgent.

Thank Warners.

Madhouse 2 opening with the Revolution talking... sounds like an extended part from nevaeh ni ecalP or the Dream Factory opening