By weird, I don't mean it in a bad way. By weird, I mean it sounds uncanny, odd and/ or mysterious.

Here are my picks:

I Wonder U

Crystal Ball

Poorgoo

"I Wonder U" and "Poorgoo" are rather straight forward songs, IMO. "Crystal Ball" without Clare's orchestration isn't that remarkable. It's Clare that puts the mystery into the song.

The weirdest is definitely "Others Here With Us". It's straight up creepy.

While a great song, "Something In The Water" is weird, as is an earlier version of it.

The Question of U

I wonder U

[Edited 10/19/16 11:53am]

TrivialPursuit said:

"I Wonder U" and "Poorgoo" are rather straight forward songs, IMO. "Crystal Ball" without Clare's orchestration isn't that remarkable. It's Clare that puts the mystery into the song.

.

This is true. However, we don't know whether he removed certain of his own instrumental parts from the mix, when he added in Clare Fischer's contributions. The song may have been more developed than presumed. I believe the CF-less 'Crystal Ball' that circulates is merely the final mix (in its full, unedited length) with the Fischer parts muted, and not necessarily the original demo recording.

.

[Edited 10/19/16 11:57am]

'Allegiance'

.

'Cosmic Day'

.

'If I Was Your Girlfriend'

.

'Dance with the Devil'

.

'We Can Funk'

.

'It'

.

'Baby Go-Go'

.

'God' (Vocal)

.

'Toy Box' (demo)

.

'Rockhard in a Funky Place'

.

'Rebirth of the Flesh'

.

'Annie Christian'.

.

'Crystal Ball'

.

'Bob George'

.

'Question of U'

.

'I Wonder U'

.

'Others Here with Us'

.

'Heaven'

.

'Dream Factory'

.

'Wet Dream Cousin'

.

'Possessed' (1984 'instrumental' version)

.

'By Alien Means'

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'U' (1987 version)

.

[Edited 10/19/16 13:25pm]

imprimis said:

TrivialPursuit said:

"I Wonder U" and "Poorgoo" are rather straight forward songs, IMO. "Crystal Ball" without Clare's orchestration isn't that remarkable. It's Clare that puts the mystery into the song.

.

This is true. However, we don't know whether he removed certain of his own instrumental parts from the mix, when he added in Clare Fischer's contributions. The song may have been more developed than presumed. I believe the CF-less 'Crystal Ball' that circulates is merely the final mix (in its full, unedited length) with the Fischer parts muted, and not necessarily the original demo recording.

Well Prince rarely had demos sitting around. So we can probably throw out that idea. There were worked-up versions, but those developed into more over time, opposed to a full re-record from scratch. The CF-free version is most likely the version he sent to Clare to work on. Clare's counter melody approach to writing has always given Prince's music a real depth that not even Wendy & Lisa provided.

Sometimes I think it would be cool to hear Clare's work in full just over the instrumental of Prince's song. Cut his vocals out overall, and let Clare be the showboat. Stuff like "Mia Bocca", "Christopher Tracy's Parade" and so forth would be quite interesting to hear.

Annie Christian that song give me the chills.

I'm taking the license to use an expansive meaning of 'demo' here. I mean P's original recording, before it was forwarded to Clare Fischer. Even if P created a [very spartan] mix prior to forwarding it to him, in anticipation of his orchestral additions, there may be a more fully instrumentally fleshed out (Fairlight or synth), pre-CF version to be had among the multitracks.

.

Omitted parts from the early recording are the case with at least some of the tracks submitted for CF input (cf. 'Baby You're A Trip', 'Mia Bocca', 'Our Destiny', 'Can't Stop This Feeling I Got', 'Pink Cashmere', etc)

.

I'll agree, however, that it is still a very basic song, even if there exist omitted parts, and it is the orchestration that makes the show on 'Crystal Ball'.

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TrivialPursuit said:

imprimis said:

.

This is true. However, we don't know whether he removed certain of his own instrumental parts from the mix, when he added in Clare Fischer's contributions. The song may have been more developed than presumed. I believe the CF-less 'Crystal Ball' that circulates is merely the final mix (in its full, unedited length) with the Fischer parts muted, and not necessarily the original demo recording.

Well Prince rarely had demos sitting around. So we can probably throw out that idea. There were worked-up versions, but those developed into more over time, opposed to a full re-record from scratch. The CF-free version is most likely the version he sent to Clare to work on. Clare's counter melody approach to writing has always given Prince's music a real depth that not even Wendy & Lisa provided.

Sometimes I think it would be cool to hear Clare's work in full just over the instrumental of Prince's song. Cut his vocals out overall, and let Clare be the showboat. Stuff like "Mia Bocca", "Christopher Tracy's Parade" and so forth would be quite interesting to hear.

.

[Edited 10/19/16 12:44pm]

Others Here With Us

Christopher Tracy's Parade

RJOrion said:

Christopher Tracy's Parade

Really,why?

214 said:

RJOrion said:

Christopher Tracy's Parade

Really,why?

just the whole carnival, state fair, marching band arrangements, swirling throughout the recording....i always used to skip it, but as ive gotten older, ive come to appreciate it....the whole Parade Album has aged gracefully...maybe moreso than any of his other older albums...

RJOrion said:

214 said:

Really,why?

just the whole carnival, state fair, marching band arrangements, swirling throughout the recording....i always used to skip it, but as ive gotten older, ive come to appreciate it....the whole Parade Album has aged gracefully...maybe moreso than any of his other older albums...

I love that album, and no long ago i used to despise Parade. You're right, it has aged gracefully.

NorthC said:

Christopher Tracy's Parade really isn't that much weirder than Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35, which also fits RJ's description.

Those lyrics are beyond weird, and we're talkin about fuckin Dylan,and that's sayin something.

NorthC said:

I was thinking more about the music. Both songs have this carnival/ marching band atmosphere. And lyrics about rain made out of strawberry lemonade are also pretty wacky...

Every little thing about that song is weird.