I am still discovering a lot of stuff I have never heard before at the moment (the joys of the internet!) and after listening to this pre-version of SITW (recorded in mid-April 1982), and having loved and enjoyed the album version for years, I am suddenly finding myself preferring this other version. It's a lot warmer, less bleak and sounds so much better with the piano, oh and those clapping at the start, and that sound... just wow. So yeah, big love for this. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

CherryMoon57 said:

I am still discovering a lot of stuff I have never heard before at the moment (the joys of the internet!) and after listening to this pre-version of SITW (recorded in mid-April 1982), and having loved and enjoyed the album version for years, I am suddenly finding myself preferring this other version. It's a lot warmer, less bleak and sounds so much better with the piano, oh and those clapping at the start, and that sound... just wow. So yeah, big love for this. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

.

It's good, but it's clearly an unfinished and unpolished take. It fails to reach the heights of the austere, chilling electronic abstract art scaled by the released version on the '1999' album.

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[Edited 10/19/16 15:13pm]

imprimis said:

CherryMoon57 said:

I am still discovering a lot of stuff I have never heard before at the moment (the joys of the internet!) and after listening to this pre-version of SITW (recorded in mid-April 1982), and having loved and enjoyed the album version for years, I am suddenly finding myself preferring this other version. It's a lot warmer, less bleak and sounds so much better with the piano, oh and those clapping at the start, and that sound... just wow. So yeah, big love for this. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

.

It's good, but it's clearly an unfinished and unpolished take. It fails to reach the heights of the austere, chilling electronic art scaled by the released version on the '1999' album.

.

[Edited 10/19/16 15:13pm]

Setting aside the fact that one is unfinished and the other one is finished and let's imagine for a moment that the unfinished version would have been completed with the additional piano arrangement and keeping the warmer tone of the song, then it would almost feel like a different song, and I absolutely love that. Like I said, I loved the album version for years but this one feels more complete and fresher, like it has aged better or something...

[Edited 10/19/16 15:25pm]

I absolutely every version I've heard, so far.

imprimis said:

CherryMoon57 said:

I am still discovering a lot of stuff I have never heard before at the moment (the joys of the internet!) and after listening to this pre-version of SITW (recorded in mid-April 1982), and having loved and enjoyed the album version for years, I am suddenly finding myself preferring this other version. It's a lot warmer, less bleak and sounds so much better with the piano, oh and those clapping at the start, and that sound... just wow. So yeah, big love for this. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

.

It's good, but it's clearly an unfinished and unpolished take. It fails to reach the heights of the austere, chilling electronic abstract art scaled by the released version on the '1999' album.

.

[Edited 10/19/16 15:13pm]

They're 2 different songs to me.

The early sketch has this nightly urban feel, it's a glossy despair. Moreover, it's the basis for all the brilliant jams of the Purple Rain Tour era, Miami 1985 soundcheck is the definitive example of how brilliant this version can be.

The second, the official version, is a masterpiece. It's up there with "The Beautiful Ones": sexual paranoia, screaming desire, a futiristic vision in which the machines themselves are subject to one's emotions.

I think the earlier version is a hell of a lot more commercial, i've played it for people and they've really jumped up "oh cool, what's that now?" in a way they don't with the album version. It sounds more like a hit. The album version fits more in with the vibe of the rest of the album but in a weird way is a bit more more dated or of its time as a result.

Not that I see that as a bad thing btw, i'm not sure which version I prefer, glad I have them both. The birthday show version is often my go to version these days.

[Edited 10/19/16 16:56pm]

CherryMoon57 said:

I am still discovering a lot of stuff I have never heard before at the moment (the joys of the internet!) and after listening to this pre-version of SITW (recorded in mid-April 1982), and having loved and enjoyed the album version for years, I am suddenly finding myself preferring this other version. It's a lot warmer, less bleak and sounds so much better with the piano, oh and those clapping at the start, and that sound... just wow. So yeah, big love for this. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

Love this version. I find myself listening to it more than the album version lately.

The official version is maybe the first Prince's record without a bass line.
Maybe it encouraged him to try it again on When Doves Cry.

What imprimis and Bonatoc said

databank said:

What imprimis and Bonatoc said

and my only issue with the album version is how loud Prince's screams are toward the end.. that part could have been a little more subtle.

fbueller said:

databank said:

What imprimis and Bonatoc said

and my only issue with the album version is how loud Prince's screams are toward the end.. that part could have been a little more subtle.

The album version has definetely got a more resentful vibe to it, not unlike the rest of the album, at least in some parts (Lady Cab Driver, All the Critics Love U In New York). The first version is a more of a chilled jam. I love them both though, depending on the mood.

bonatoc said:

imprimis said:

.

It's good, but it's clearly an unfinished and unpolished take. It fails to reach the heights of the austere, chilling electronic abstract art scaled by the released version on the '1999' album.

.

[Edited 10/19/16 15:13pm]

They're 2 different songs to me.

The early sketch has this nightly urban feel, it's a glossy despair. Moreover, it's the basis for all the brilliant jams of the Purple Rain Tour era, Miami 1985 soundcheck is the definitive example of how brilliant this version can be.

The second, the official version, is a masterpiece. It's up there with "The Beautiful Ones": sexual paranoia, screaming desire, a futiristic vision in which the machines themselves are subject to one's emotions.

I agree to all of this and I think your descriptions are spot on.

This is a weird song for me. I absolutely love every live version I've heard but do not like the studio versions.

Love it. Quite jazzy. The album version is a lot starker emotionally- more painful. Agree that it's dated a bit more than this one, but I just love those painful songs that Prince put out in the 80's.

So you guys are now sure that it is indeed an earlier version from 1982 ? You are talking about that piano and bassline heavy version from the Studionights boot, right?

I´m asking because many years ago we discussed this version here on the org and some very well respected orgers wrote that this version was actually recorded one year AFTER the album version was released, not earlier, making it kind of a revisited re-recording of this gem of a song.

I prefer the album version but then again, I have yet to hear a bad version of this song. It is one of my favorite songs in all its incarnations.

TrevorAyer said:

Love this, 1999 version and the 83 live version. Can't stand the subsequent honkytonkpiano medley version and not too fond of 3rd eye version either

Are you familiar with the rendition they gave at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam?

I absolutely love that one...how he starts on the piano, then sings , then picks up his guitar, plays some great solos and then holds his guitar above his head and slowly puts in on the floor and bows to the crowd.

But aside from the visual aspects, it was, in my opinion, the tightest and most beautiful version he did with 3rdEyeGirl.

My favorite versions are the rehearsals at the warehouse in the early 80s. The instrumental soundcheck version (Miami 1985) is also fantastic.

Too bad that the Ziggo Dome show is no longer on Youtube.

Were you able to watch it?

KoolEaze said:

So you guys are now sure that it is indeed an earlier version from 1982 ? You are talking about that piano and bassline heavy version from the Studionights boot, right?

I´m asking because many years ago we discussed this version here on the org and some very well respected orgers wrote that this version was actually recorded one year AFTER the album version was released, not earlier, making it kind of a revisited re-recording of this gem of a song.

I prefer the album version but then again, I have yet to hear a bad version of this song. It is one of my favorite songs in all its incarnations.

I remember that as well, i'm glad it wasn't all in my head, thought I was going mad. I went and checked Princevault before posting and it only says there were only 2 versions recorded back then so either there's a third version or someone is wrong somewhere

I know Princevault isn't 100% up on everything but its usually right for stuff off the big albums.

[Edited 10/20/16 13:14pm]

[1] I believe the album version, instrumentally, was laid down similarlly to the outtake version, but modified into the Kraftwerk/Gary Numan-esque abstraction through the mixing and revision processes (similar, perhaps, to the 1983 'Irresistible Bitch' and 'When Doves Cry')

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[2] The 1982 'Strange Relationship' has a lot in common with the outtake SITW(DNC) structurally.

[Edited 10/20/16 13:27pm]

Quite funny, that the 199 version does not feature any bass (IIRC) and the outtake version includes some of my favorite Prince bass lines. I actually tend to listen to the outtake more. The keyboards and bass just work so perfectly together.

jaawwnn said:

KoolEaze said:

So you guys are now sure that it is indeed an earlier version from 1982 ? You are talking about that piano and bassline heavy version from the Studionights boot, right?

I´m asking because many years ago we discussed this version here on the org and some very well respected orgers wrote that this version was actually recorded one year AFTER the album version was released, not earlier, making it kind of a revisited re-recording of this gem of a song.

I prefer the album version but then again, I have yet to hear a bad version of this song. It is one of my favorite songs in all its incarnations.

I remember that as well, i'm glad it wasn't all in my head, thought I was going mad. I went and checked Princevault before posting and it only says there were only 2 versions recorded back then so either there's a third version or someone is wrong somewhere

I know Princevault isn't 100% up on everything but its usually right for stuff off the big albums.

[Edited 10/20/16 13:14pm]

The info on the version I am listening to says it was recorded in mid-April 1982. Princevault says there were two versions recorded in 1982 (see below). It also says that the unreleased one is the one from mid-April 1982. It is possible that the person who passed on that "pre-version" (as they called it), used that same info...

.

.

[Edited 10/20/16 15:01pm]

I love the piano version, sounds more haunting, but the album version sounds creepier.

I remain incredulous, and believe PrinceVault are bollocks on this point.

.

The difference in the polish and sheen of the production between the two versions is too great to credibly support the idea that the album version is the earlier recording. (It also ignores the idea of revisiting and what can be accomplished in the mix, even if initial-tracking-date accurate)

.

The soundscape on the unreleased version sounds considerably more cloistered (Kiowa Trl Home Studio) than the relatively modern amenities and careful engineering control afforded by Sunset Sound.

.

PV have promulgated many inaccuracies and implausible speculations with an air of authority. Cannot operate as a cabal and serve as a charitibly minded information resource at one time.

.

The idea that the 1984 Birthday Party and 1984/85 Purple Rain Tour soundcheck and rehearsal live performance arrangements of this song more closely resemble the unreleased studio recording certainly doesn't go very far to suggest that the unreleased one is the more recent one. The album version can be accomplished, given the technological limitations of the early/mid-1980s, only with the benefit of studio manipulation and effects. The advantages of looping/sampling/rackmount MIDI stacks/etc that were inimicable to P's 'real musicianship'/'No Memorex' stance particularly at the time would render that impossible in a mid-80s-era P live performance. And it wouldn't be the first time he favored a more basic or earlier version for live peformance (cf. 'Free', 'Strange Relationship', 'Purple Rain' with its extended opening, etc)

.

Recent cases in point: attributing 'Kiss Me Quick' to 1981 and an unknown Sue Ann Carwell project (it is most likely from 1979, and its exact intention hasn't been shown); 'Paisley Park' (ATWIAD) being recorded in February/March 1984, when in fact it is an entirely unrelated instrumental, 'Come Elektra Tuesday' alleged to have been a Jill Jones album entry, etc.

.

CherryMoon57 said:

The info on the version I am listening to says it was recorded in mid-April 1982. Princevault says there were two versions recorded in 1982 (see below). It also says that the unreleased one is the one from mid-April 1982. It is possible that the person who passed on that "pre-version" (as they called it), used that same info...

Recording Sessions
Date	Studio	Additional info
mid-April 1982	Kiowa Trail Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA	Initial tracking
28 April 1982	Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA	Re-recording

[Edited 10/20/16 16:44pm]

Released version all the way.

imprimis said:

I remain incredulous, and believe PrinceVault are bollocks on this point.

.

The difference in the polish and sheen of the production between the two versions is too great to credibly support the idea that the album version is the earlier recording. (It also ignores the idea of revisiting and what can be accomplished in mixing and mastering, even if initial-tracking-date accurate)

.

PV have promulgated many inaccuracies and implausible speculations with an air of authority. Cannot operate as a cabal and serve as a charitibly minded information resource at one time.

.

Recent cases in point: attributing 'Kiss Me Quick' to 1981 and an unknown Sue Ann Carwell project (it is most likely from 1979, and its exact intention hasn't been shown); 'Paisley Park' (ATWIAD) being recorded in February/March 1984, when in fact it is an entirely unrelated instrumental, 'Come Elektra Tuesday' alleged to have been a Jill Jones album entry, etc.

.

CherryMoon57 said:

The info on the version I am listening to says it was recorded in mid-April 1982. Princevault says there were two versions recorded in 1982 (see below). It also says that the unreleased one is the one from mid-April 1982. It is possible that the person who passed on that "pre-version" (as they called it), used that same info...

Recording Sessions
Date	Studio	Additional info
mid-April 1982	Kiowa Trail Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA	Initial tracking
28 April 1982	Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA	Re-recording

[Edited 10/20/16 16:30pm]

Could it simply be due to the fact that the tracking and re-recording were done in two different studio locations and the equipment might have been more state of the art at Sunset Sound?

But PV's information alleges that the unreleased recording was tracked at Sunset Sound (and the album version in the Kiowa Trl Purple House).

.

The unreleased version is a bit like the 1982 'Lust U Always', where he attempts to record every part quickly, semi-live, which sounds more like an early-era Prince home studio self-engineering thing to do, rather than on leased studio time with advanced equipment and several qualified personnel on hand.

.

(He did become highly accomplished alone in the studio after Galpin Blvd/PP were built, however)

.

CherryMoon57 said:

Could it simply be due to the fact that the tracking and re-recording were done in two different studio locations and the equipment might have been more state of the art at Sunset Sound?

.

[Edited 10/20/16 16:52pm]

imprimis said:

But PV's information alleges that the unreleased recording was tracked at Sunset Sound. The unreleased version is a bit like the 1982 'Lust U Always', where he attempts to record every part quickly, semi-live, which sounds more like an early-era Prince home studio self-engineering thing to do, rather than on leased studio time with advanced equipment and many qualified personnel on hand. (He did become highly accomplished alone in the studio after Gallapin/PP were built, however)

.

CherryMoon57 said:

Could it simply be due to the fact that the tracking and re-recording were done in two different studio locations and the equipment might have been more state of the art at Sunset Sound?

.

[Edited 10/20/16 16:50pm]

I am looking on the princevault website, on the general info page for SITW and it doesn't actually specify the location for the unreleased version, it just says studio. Where did you look?

CherryMoon57 said:

I am looking on the princevault website, on the general info page for SITW and it doesn't actually specify the location for the unreleased version, it just says studio. Where did you look?

.

Per PV:

.

Initial tracking took place at Prince's Kiowa Trail Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA, in mid-April 1982.

.

.

.

.

Prince re-recorded the song on 28 April 1982 (two days after How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore, four days before Automatic) at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA.

.

.

===

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To their credit, PV no longer reference the claim, as they did in the past (I freedly admit that I don't frequently re-review the information there), and which began on this forum (and which some here still vociferously maintain to be the case), that the 28 April 1982 recording is the unreleased (bass/piano) version. In fact, it seems that PV are (more recently) basically sharing in my view, by placing the 'Mid-April 1982' recording under the 'Unreleased Versions' heading at the bottom of the page.

.

So I guess I have been arguing in the dark here, given that they've reversed their judgment in the past several months to years on PV.

.

[Edited 10/20/16 17:10pm]

imprimis said:

CherryMoon57 said:

I am looking on the princevault website, on the general info page for SITW and it doesn't actually specify the location for the unreleased version, it just says studio. Where did you look?

.

Per PV:

.

Initial tracking took place at Prince's Kiowa Trail Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA, in mid-April 1982.

.

.

mid-April 1982

Kiowa Trail Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA

Initial tracking

.

.

Prince re-recorded the song on 28 April 1982 (two days after How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore, four days before Automatic) at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA.

.

28 April 1982

Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA

Re-recording

.

===

.

To their credit, PV no longer explicitly reference the claim, as they did in the past, and which began on this forum (and which many here still vociferously maintain to be the case), that the 28 April 1982 recording is the unreleased (bass/piano) version.

.

[Edited 10/20/16 17:01pm]

Ok, so that goes back to my initial understanding that the unreleased version is that of the Kiowa Trail and the album version is the sunset sound one. Unless I am missing something. The other info I was talking about re. the unreleased version with just a mention of an unnamed studio location is the one that appears at the bottom of the page, which I had also copied earlier above.

CherryMoon57 said:

Ok, so that goes back to my initial understanding that the unreleased version is that of the Kiowa Trail and the album version is the sunset sound one. Unless I am missing something. The other info I was talking about re. the unreleased version with just a mention of an unnamed studio location is the one that appears at the bottom of the page, which I had also copied earlier above.

.

I got confused, and a bit worked up, when someone mentioned the discussions on this forum from the past where the reverse attribution was claimed. PV used to endorse that view. So we are all on the same page now then.