Way Back Home is just one of a bunch of really great songs from his last albums.

For me Revelation, Groovy Potencial, When She Comes, 2Y2D are pretty perfect Prince too... and maybe others...

james said:

bonatoc said:

I never heard any unintentional distorsion on the last chorus of "The Breakdown".

Prince obviously mixed the whole album, even if he let Joshua choose some sounds.
This distorsion IS intentional, the guy is breaking down, get it?

Nah, it's simply bad engineering and there are examples of that on a LOT of Prince releases too, especially when a lot of more recent releases are brickwalled.. (Don't tell me the distortion on the vocal in Little Red Corvette was intentional, for example, or that 'U Know' is intended to sound that hot compared to the rest of AOA.)

Prince was just too creative to care too much about engineering – I guess he was always much more concerned about capturing the moment instantly than spending hours, days, weeks (or months and years, as some other artists do..) rerecording and polishing every single note to technical perfection.

And I admired him for that approach.

It's just that on his more recent releases the mastering has become so bad it's hardly tolerable. And it only adds to the faults in tracking and mixing.

It's a great song. I posted it on FB a few months back as it was one of the few youtube Prince tracks available. I asked a 30 year old today if she knew or liked Prince and she said "Everybody loves Prince"! It made me happy. And I remembered his song "Everybody loves me" which I never liked, but there again, Prince knew..... Everybody loves him Some comfort in the still denial state here.

Maybe....but how do you explain how he was superfast with engineering without compromsing the sound? There are so many examples of songs that were recorded and engineered so quickly, and they still sounded great.

Or could it be because he left the job of engineering to peopel like Femi Jiya, Susan Rogers and Hans Martin Buff , and Michael Koppelmann?

KaresB said:

bonatoc said:

I never heard any unintentional distorsion on the last chorus of "The Breakdown".

Prince obviously mixed the whole album, even if he let Joshua choose some sounds.
This distorsion IS intentional, the guy is breaking down, get it?

Nah, it's simply bad engineering and there are examples of that on a LOT of Prince releases too, especially when a lot of more recent releases are brickwalled.. (Don't tell me the distortion on the vocal in Little Red Corvette was intentional, for example, or that 'U Know' is intended to sound that hot compared to the rest of AOA.)

Prince was just too creative to care too much about engineering – I guess he was always much more concerned about capturing the moment instantly than spending hours, days, weeks (or months and years, as some other artists do..) rerecording and polishing every single note to technical perfection.

And I admired him for that approach.

It's just that on his more recent releases the mastering has become so bad it's hardly tolerable. And it only adds to the faults in tracking and mixing.

I absoultely love this song along with affirmation III, but still can't listen to it. Too soon.

KoolEaze said:

jaypotton said:

KoolEaze said:

Maybe....but how do you explain how he was superfast with engineering without compromsing the sound? There are so many examples of songs that were recorded and engineered so quickly, and they still sounded great.

Or could it be because he left the job of engineering to peopel like Femi Jiya, Susan Rogers and Hans Martin Buff , and Michael Koppelmann?

Susan Rogers is on record saying that she made a mistake one time on a song (can't remember which one off my head) and she was bricking it that Prince would go mad. She tried to rectify the mistake but couldn't. When Prince found out he thought it was cool and meant to be and that they should keep it the way it recorded.

I think she was talking about 'Forever In My Life', where at one point she started the tape at the wrong place so the background and lead vocals ended up misaligned. That turned out to be really cool indeed so I can absolutely see why Prince loved the results. That's a technical error turned into a creative decision.

Distortion resulting from tracking too hot, mixing too hot or (most commonly) aggressive compression are present on a lot of Prince releases.

And no, I do not agree that he was engineering "without compromising the sound". Often, he has compromised the sound and he didn't care. He was more concerned about getting it done quickly so he could move onto the next idea.

i thought it was the camille voice that came about by a mistake of hers.

coffeebreak said:

Way Back Home became an instant favourite when I first heard it. It feels so close to me it almost hurt. It's the first song I thought of when I heard the news. It took me a few days to actually listen to it, but now I go to it often... For some reason it consoles me. Love it.

THIS. But choronologically, I am of the opinion that REVELATION is his last classic track. Just my 2 cents.

His last greatest song hasn't yet been released...

Beautiful song, May he found his Way Back Home.

jaypotton said:

Susan Rogers is on record saying that she made a mistake one time on a song (can't remember which one off my head) and she was bricking it that Prince would go mad. She tried to rectify the mistake but couldn't. When Prince found out he thought it was cool and meant to be and that they should keep it the way it recorded.

That would be "The Ballard Of Dorothy Parker."
.

The song’s hazy, narcotic sound was an accident: engineer Susan Rogers was setting up a home studio for Prince and “Dorothy Parker” was the first song recorded on the new equipment. Unbeknownst to them, there had been an electrical failure and the board was running at half power. Prince loved the murky sound and opted not to re-record

.

[Edited 5/19/16 18:20pm]

suomynona said:

Musze said:

....choronologically, I am of the opinion that REVELATION is his last classic track. Just my 2 cents.

It's beautifully melancholy and vulnerable. I played it constantly and cried even before Prince left us.

I don't think I'll be able to play it again for a long time.

God, I miss him so much....

ivey0126 said:

suomynona said:

That would be "The Ballard Of Dorothy Parker."
.

The song’s hazy, narcotic sound was an accident: engineer Susan Rogers was setting up a home studio for Prince and “Dorothy Parker” was the first song recorded on the new equipment. Unbeknownst to them, there had been an electrical failure and the board was running at half power. Prince loved the murky sound and opted not to re-record

.

[Edited 5/19/16 18:20pm]

I thought it was IIWYGF. Didn't someone on here say she had the mic up too high so it actually burned the voice?

It was IIWYGF. http://daddyrockstar.tumb...times-part

SR: That was a blunder. He would record his vocals by himself in the control room. I would set him up and then I would leave him alone and he would work entirely by himself. It was the only way he could get the performance he needed; he needed that privacy. But I made a mistake and I’d inadvertently set the preamp 10db hotter than normal so it was distorted. When he was done he would call me back into the room and have me do a rough mix or set up for something else. So he left the room and I came back in and I’m doing a rough mix and I realize the entire vocal performance is distorted and I thought, ‘oh no, I bet he hasn’t listened back to this in the speakers. He’s probably just listening in the headphones…he’s gonna come back into this room and have me killed!’ (laughing) But he didn’t mind at all and of course he heard it–he’s as sharp as they come. There’s nothing that slips past him, but he heard it but he didn’t mind.

donnyenglish said:

jdcxc said:

Musze said:

MIRvmn said:

Musze said:

THIS. But choronologically, I am of the opinion that REVELATION is his last classic track. Just my 2 cents.

yes I agree

I would also throw Free Urself into the mix. Great song with uplifting lyrics, and was a real highlight of the Piano & A Microphone tour

farnorth said:

BobGeorge909 said:

farnorth said:

It was IIWYGF. http://daddyrockstar.tumb...times-part

SR: That was a blunder. He would record his vocals by himself in the control room. I would set him up and then I would leave him alone and he would work entirely by himself. It was the only way he could get the performance he needed; he needed that privacy. But I made a mistake and I’d inadvertently set the preamp 10db hotter than normal so it was distorted. When he was done he would call me back into the room and have me do a rough mix or set up for something else. So he left the room and I came back in and I’m doing a rough mix and I realize the entire vocal performance is distorted and I thought, ‘oh no, I bet he hasn’t listened back to this in the speakers. He’s probably just listening in the headphones…he’s gonna come back into this room and have me killed!’ (laughing) But he didn’t mind at all and of course he heard it–he’s as sharp as they come. There’s nothing that slips past him, but he heard it but he didn’t mind.

I was under the impression that in Dorothy, half the board was misconnected or something so that some of the sound never made into tape...hence it's odd sound...

You can never underestimate the power of a detuned Oberheim chorus LFO pedal. I am still bloody pissed off at this deliberate trade agreement sanction called ISIS - not only did you deliberately make sure Prince didn't tour Europe before he died, you've also made it impossible to shop or travel without the shadow of terrorism above our heads. You're like a dead algorthmic simulation of the continuity IRA

kristy said:

I knew this song was special just by one listen, you can always tell when a songs got it when you have to listen to it again before moving on to the next song

doesn't in any way sound like a Ellie Goulding / Laurie Anderson generational mashup