1) What a cracking little-mentiond b-side. Just a dance track with Prince throwing away riff after riff on the Piano & Guitar.

2) Who's the Q that's in doubt? Quincy Jones?

I think there's a neat trifecta of the EPs for New Power Generation, Cream, and Gett Off. They all have their trinkets and treasures. For me, those are "Loveleft, Loveright", the last 4 tracks on Cream, and "Violet The Organ Grinder". It's a nifty idea to not really remix the tracks, but let certain elements inspire all-out new songs. It really just shows how possessed and focused he could be with music, literally taking pieces of an existing track, and making something totally new, over and over.

You can see the same sort of cross-pollination with "18 & Over", "Come", and their remixes and alt versions. Also with "My Summertime Thang", "Latest Fashion", etc.

Noodled24 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I think there's a neat trifecta of the EPs for New Power Generation, Cream, and Gett Off. They all have their trinkets and treasures. For me, those are "Loveleft, Loveright", the last 4 tracks on Cream, and "Violet The Organ Grinder". It's a nifty idea to not really remix the tracks, but let certain elements inspire all-out new songs. It really just shows how possessed and focused he could be with music, literally taking pieces of an existing track, and making something totally new, over and over.

You can see the same sort of cross-pollination with "18 & Over", "Come", and their remixes and alt versions. Also with "My Summertime Thang", "Latest Fashion", etc.

Yes it's definitely some of my favorites EPs, especially Gett Off

Noodled24 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I think there's a neat trifecta of the EPs for New Power Generation, Cream, and Gett Off. They all have their trinkets and treasures. For me, those are "Loveleft, Loveright", the last 4 tracks on Cream, and "Violet The Organ Grinder". It's a nifty idea to not really remix the tracks, but let certain elements inspire all-out new songs. It really just shows how possessed and focused he could be with music, literally taking pieces of an existing track, and making something totally new, over and over.

You can see the same sort of cross-pollination with "18 & Over", "Come", and their remixes and alt versions. Also with "My Summertime Thang", "Latest Fashion", etc.

His maxi-singles were like EPs or mini-albums. "Space" was always one of my favorites. The Beautiful EP follows a similar trend. Even the Breakfast EP years later was a nice surprise.

It's kind of like a Jazz-take on a Pop single. Central themes taken from the album cut/single and expanded as you said to become new tracks in their own right.

I'd love to hear from someone who was involved with one of these projects... How it came about the Prince was going to do 10 remixes... Why he decided to do it... Was it common for him to have multiple mixes? Or was it only for specific songs considered as singles.

SchlomoThaHomo said:

Noodled24 said:

1) What a cracking little-mentiond b-side. Just a dance track with Prince throwing away riff after riff on the Piano & Guitar.

2) Who's the Q that's in doubt? Quincy Jones?

Haha never thought about that before. But yeah Prince has mentioned Quincy saying he's not a piano player during live shows right before going into some killer piano playing.

I just wondered since there seems to be nobody associated with the song who's name starts with Q. Scott McCullough(?) mentioned having some footage of Quincy talking about Prince - inter-cut with Prince playing piano.

Noodled24 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I think there's a neat trifecta of the EPs for New Power Generation, Cream, and Gett Off. They all have their trinkets and treasures. For me, those are "Loveleft, Loveright", the last 4 tracks on Cream, and "Violet The Organ Grinder". It's a nifty idea to not really remix the tracks, but let certain elements inspire all-out new songs. It really just shows how possessed and focused he could be with music, literally taking pieces of an existing track, and making something totally new, over and over.

You can see the same sort of cross-pollination with "18 & Over", "Come", and their remixes and alt versions. Also with "My Summertime Thang", "Latest Fashion", etc.

His maxi-singles were like EPs or mini-albums. "Space" was always one of my favorites. The Beautiful EP follows a similar trend. Even the Breakfast EP years later was a nice surprise.

It's kind of like a Jazz-take on a Pop single. Central themes taken from the album cut/single and expanded as you said to become new tracks in their own right.

I'd love to hear from someone who was involved with one of these projects... How it came about the Prince was going to do 10 remixes... Why he decided to do it... Was it common for him to have multiple mixes? Or was it only for specific songs considered as singles.

Agree, I love the maxi singles. Space is also one my favourites along with the likes of Gett Off, Cream, I Hate U, The Good Life.

.

It's a shame the rumoured Come EP didn't happen. Would have been some great mixes on there.

.

Noodled24 said:

wonder why Quincy would find it necessary to say that, he wasn't much of a player on trumpet and I've only seen him fuck around on piano so he's not much of an instrumentalist himself. Prince, for his genre was way more than good enough. Try to find video of George Michael or Michael Jackson playing an instrument. I saw a GM docu and every time he went to play, the vid would cut, that told me he couldn't play very well. It's not that necessary in their field, prince gave you a lot more than what was needed in every way. Q is an asshole.

Hard to say Q is Quincy, it's a theory that makes sense but it could be anything from "question" to the character "Q" in Star Trek.

Noodled24 said:

His maxi-singles were like EPs or mini-albums. "Space" was always one of my favorites. The Beautiful EP follows a similar trend. Even the Breakfast EP years later was a nice surprise.

I'd love to hear from someone who was involved with one of these projects... How it came about the Prince was going to do 10 remixes... Why he decided to do it... Was it common for him to have multiple mixes? Or was it only for specific songs considered as singles.

Space is a nice EP for sure. The Beautiful Experience seems to take the whole idea up a few notches. It sorta stands out on its own. I couldn't care less about Breakfast EP. Horrible song, lame video.

It was only in the 90s there that he did multiple mixes. It seems NPG was the first one, and it ended with Space & TBE. (Not even considering that Breakfast mess.) The 90s are sometimes dismissed by people, but to me it was more prolific than the 80s in many ways. While we got b-sides on singles, we weren't getting 3 or 4 mixes. The exception being 2 mixes of "Pop Life". I think it was just as the mood hit him.

Let me add that with Cream EP and Gett Off EP he was on a mission to be relevant again on the charts and on radio. Diamonds and Pearls was a concerted effort to make a pop record. Those longer singles lent to that promotion. TBE was a single he owned outright, and released not on WB, so he put the effort and work into promotion of it. I don't know why Space EP got the remix attention it did, but we like it. Seems like "Letitgo" should have had the same treatment.

[Edited 1/3/17 8:58am]

I've never heard this one...

TrivialPursuit said:

dodger said:

There was a few more, some on a smaller scale, after Space and TBE: I Hate U, The Good Life, Come On (albeit both under NPG), Somebody's Somebody, Face Down (promo only) and TGRES . Agree on his 90s output but I'm probably in the minority as I prefer his 90s stuff on the whole.

Those are just remixes, maxi singles.

Stuff like "Do Your Dance" took one phrase from "Cream", "do your dance why should wait any longer" and made it into it's own song. It's not "Cream (Do Your Dance Mix)". It is its own song. Tony M rapping over the beat and some new keyboards on "Gangsta Glam" on the Gett Off EP is another song entirely. Same with "Violet The Organ Grinder". "Loveleft, Loveright" sounds like "New Power Generation", but it is its own beast.

But the studio live cut of "Somebody's Somebody" is still "Somebody's Somebody" lyrically etc. "The Good Life" is just full of remixes, maybe longer versions, but it's not a new song. TGRES has long versions, and "Come On" has an extended portion or some alt lyrics ("I Hate U"). That's stuff we got on any 80's 12" single (eg: "Hello", "Pop Life", "Raspberry Beret", "Let's Go Crazy", "Little Red Corvette"). Stuff like the "My Name is Prince" is just the same song as a Club Mix, Remix, and whatever other mix is on there.

The EPs mentioned groove on a theme or an idea, but take it to a new song in itself. So really EP vs. Remix single.

Space EP is sooorta between because most are remixes (acoustic version like "7" had), but the Universal Love cut is an entirely different song, hinting at the original. It's - it's both. (And OMG that Universal Love......golden.)

TrivialPursuit said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Noodled24 said:

His maxi-singles were like EPs or mini-albums. "Space" was always one of my favorites. The Beautiful EP follows a similar trend. Even the Breakfast EP years later was a nice surprise.

I'd love to hear from someone who was involved with one of these projects... How it came about the Prince was going to do 10 remixes... Why he decided to do it... Was it common for him to have multiple mixes? Or was it only for specific songs considered as singles.

Space is a nice EP for sure. The Beautiful Experience seems to take the whole idea up a few notches. It sorta stands out on its own. I couldn't care less about Breakfast EP. Horrible song, lame video.

It was only in the 90s there that he did multiple mixes. It seems NPG was the first one, and it ended with Space & TBE. (Not even considering that Breakfast mess.) The 90s are sometimes dismissed by people, but to me it was more prolific than the 80s in many ways. While we got b-sides on singles, we weren't getting 3 or 4 mixes. The exception being 2 mixes of "Pop Life". I think it was just as the mood hit him.

Let me add that with Cream EP and Gett Off EP he was on a mission to be relevant again on the charts and on radio. Diamonds and Pearls was a concerted effort to make a pop record. Those longer singles lent to that promotion. TBE was a single he owned outright, and released not on WB, so he put the effort and work into promotion of it. I don't know why Space EP got the remix attention it did, but we like it. Seems like "Letitgo" should have had the same treatment.

[Edited 1/3/17 8:58am]

Partyman & Batdance had remixes. Scandalous I suppose is somewhere between an EP and extended version, but he's definitely going to unnecessary lengths to do more with "the single" format.

I get what you mean about radio - but then again, We know there were multiple mixes of "Come", P.Control, Loose!, Lovesign.

I don't doubt that the various mixes etc were a way to cover all bases radio/nightclubs - I think from Lovesexy onwards he was able to take full advantage of Paisley Park. Not paying for studio time and being state of the art likely made having multiple mixes/versions possible.

Space was originally one of the "Come/Gold Album" songs. He believed in both those albums, until he mutilated the "Come" album to spite WB. Letitgo IIRC had a number of remixes though I think they were out-sourced?

I like the Breakfast EP. I mean the song is ruined by the chipmunk voice WAY too high in the mix. But the Grits/Espresso/Honey & especially the Buttermilk mixes are pretty good. It'd been a while since he'd done any mixes. Sexy adult R'n'B for the summer.

[Edited 1/3/17 17:02pm]

dodger said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Those are just remixes, maxi singles.

Stuff like "Do Your Dance" took one phrase from "Cream", "do your dance why should wait any longer" and made it into it's own song. It's not "Cream (Do Your Dance Mix)". It is its own song. Tony M rapping over the beat and some new keyboards on "Gangsta Glam" on the Gett Off EP is another song entirely. Same with "Violet The Organ Grinder". "Loveleft, Loveright" sounds like "New Power Generation", but it is its own beast.

But the studio live cut of "Somebody's Somebody" is still "Somebody's Somebody" lyrically etc. "The Good Life" is just full of remixes, maybe longer versions, but it's not a new song. TGRES has long versions, and "Come On" has an extended portion or some alt lyrics ("I Hate U"). That's stuff we got on any 80's 12" single (eg: "Hello", "Pop Life", "Raspberry Beret", "Let's Go Crazy", "Little Red Corvette"). Stuff like the "My Name is Prince" is just the same song as a Club Mix, Remix, and whatever other mix is on there.

The EPs mentioned groove on a theme or an idea, but take it to a new song in itself. So really EP vs. Remix single.

Space EP is sooorta between because most are remixes (acoustic version like "7" had), but the Universal Love cut is an entirely different song, hinting at the original. It's - it's both. (And OMG that Universal Love......golden.)

Good points. Totally agree on Space Universal Love Remix - shit hot. . The Good Life also had the Big City Remix which is cool with some great lines.

Big City is definitely a track in it's own right. I'd argue that the Dancing Divas mix is the same. It samples the chorus but it's an entirely new track.

PeteSilas said:

wonder why Quincy would find it necessary to say that, he wasn't much of a player on trumpet and I've only seen him fuck around on piano so he's not much of an instrumentalist himself. Prince, for his genre was way more than good enough. Try to find video of George Michael or Michael Jackson playing an instrument. I saw a GM docu and every time he went to play, the vid would cut, that told me he couldn't play very well. It's not that necessary in their field, prince gave you a lot more than what was needed in every way. Q is an asshole.

Ummm.....Faith

http://prince.org/msg/8/437181

[Edited 1/4/17 19:13pm]

Noodled24 said:

dodger said:

TrivialPursuit said: Good points. Totally agree on Space Universal Love Remix - shit hot. . The Good Life also had the Big City Remix which is cool with some great lines.

Big City is definitely a track in it's own right. I'd argue that the Dancing Divas mix is the same. It samples the chorus but it's an entirely new track.

Is it the one that opens with "Testicles, one two"?
One of the funniest Prince's cracking jokes (maybe it's a regular joke amongst roadies).

At some point some of the intrumental mixes of certain Carmen tracks or Letitgo are totally new jams with little (if anything) left from the original recording.

However it's a thin line and I guess it's up to Prince to decide whether a track was a remix or a new track. Is Grace really anything more than a remix of 777-9311? Is Peach on ONA Aftershow really Peach? Not really but if Prince says so... Similarly if it's labeled as one song + "remix" then it has to be considered the same song I guess, even though it's totally different.

Of course there are a few cases when a title change can't justify the track to be considered a new composition: it'd be hard to justify claiming Wow and The Unexpected are 2 different songs, same with Medium and ICNTTPOYM. But except for those very few cases I guess the title has to be the reference.

[Edited 1/4/17 23:38pm]

bonatoc said:

PennyPurple said:

PeteSilas said:

wonder why Quincy would find it necessary to say that, he wasn't much of a player on trumpet and I've only seen him fuck around on piano so he's not much of an instrumentalist himself. Prince, for his genre was way more than good enough. Try to find video of George Michael or Michael Jackson playing an instrument. I saw a GM docu and every time he went to play, the vid would cut, that told me he couldn't play very well. It's not that necessary in their field, prince gave you a lot more than what was needed in every way. Q is an asshole.

Ummm.....Faith

http://prince.org/msg/8/437181

[Edited 1/4/17 19:13pm]

faith? where he plays air guitar? the riff is simple enough but on the album credits i'll bet someone else's name is in the rhythm guitar slot.

PeteSilas said:

wonder why Quincy would find it necessary to say that, he wasn't much of a player on trumpet and I've only seen him fuck around on piano so he's not much of an instrumentalist himself. Prince, for his genre was way more than good enough. Try to find video of George Michael or Michael Jackson playing an instrument. I saw a GM docu and every time he went to play, the vid would cut, that told me he couldn't play very well. It's not that necessary in their field, prince gave you a lot more than what was needed in every way. Q is an asshole.

Quincy said it because he is an asshole. He knew how good Prince was and just would not give him props in fact he is still talking shit only now he is talking shit about MJ as well.

When is Q's family going to put him in a fucking home.

TrivialPursuit said:

dodger said:

There was a few more, some on a smaller scale, after Space and TBE: I Hate U, The Good Life, Come On (albeit both under NPG), Somebody's Somebody, Face Down (promo only) and TGRES . Agree on his 90s output but I'm probably in the minority as I prefer his 90s stuff on the whole.

Those are just remixes, maxi singles.

Stuff like "Do Your Dance" took one phrase from "Cream", "do your dance why should wait any longer" and made it into it's own song. It's not "Cream (Do Your Dance Mix)". It is its own song. Tony M rapping over the beat and some new keyboards on "Gangsta Glam" on the Gett Off EP is another song entirely. Same with "Violet The Organ Grinder". "Loveleft, Loveright" sounds like "New Power Generation", but it is its own beast.

But the studio live cut of "Somebody's Somebody" is still "Somebody's Somebody" lyrically etc. "The Good Life" is just full of remixes, maybe longer versions, but it's not a new song. TGRES has long versions, and "Come On" has an extended portion or some alt lyrics ("I Hate U"). That's stuff we got on any 80's 12" single (eg: "Hello", "Pop Life", "Raspberry Beret", "Let's Go Crazy", "Little Red Corvette"). Stuff like the "My Name is Prince" is just the same song as a Club Mix, Remix, and whatever other mix is on there.

The EPs mentioned groove on a theme or an idea, but take it to a new song in itself. So really EP vs. Remix single.

Space EP is sooorta between because most are remixes (acoustic version like "7" had), but the Universal Love cut is an entirely different song, hinting at the original. It's - it's both. (And OMG that Universal Love......golden.)

With every stroke of my buh-rush

That's right, baby. Get busy with your brush. Uh-huh. Just like that.

[Edited 1/5/17 12:17pm]