MODS: THIS IS NOT A DUPLICATE THREAD!

Simply put; the story we've always heard is the Prince took the live version of Electric Intercourse and later remixed and added strings to it, much like Purple Rain. With the recent release of the "Studio Version", it makes this story a bit hazy. That's not to say he couldn't have recorded two versions of it (which is likely the case), but I wouldn't mind verifying this story we've always heard.

PrinceVault:

No studio version is known to exist; Prince used the live version when adding overdubs to the track in mid-September 1983 at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA.

It is likely the track was planned to be included on the album Purple Rain (and in the movie Purple Rain) in the same overdubbed-live format as I Would Die 4 U, Baby I'm A Star and Purple Rain. A few days after recording overdubs, however, Prince recorded The Beautiful Ones, which replaced Electric Intercourse.

Although the recording is mostly a solo performance by Prince, with Bobby Z. being the only other performer on the track, it is listed here as a Prince and the Revolution recording as this is how it would have been credited upon release on the Purple Rain album.

So, where did this originate? And has anyone close to Purple Rain or the Vault actually verified it?

[Edited 4/27/17 19:39pm]

I saw that, and this new version certainly isn't something that's been overdubbed from First Avenue. He took a few liberties with both the rehearsal and performance at First Avenue.

Per Nilsen lists EC as August 3, at the First Avenue gig as being its recording date. Princevault says "a few days later" he recorded TBO. It's noted as August 20. That's over two weeks later, not a "few days". (Granted, a "few" is anything past 3, but still - it's a stretch.)

Your theory about two versions could hold up. Here's why: The Revolution recorded "Let's Go Crazy" and "Computer Blue" at the St. Louis Park warehouse. The warehouse version of LGC is on Purple Rain. However, Prince also recorded CB at Sunset Sound and used the Sunset version on Purple Rain. So there's already another version of CB which exists from the warehouse. (read: duplicate takes of one song here and there). And with the IWD4U/BIAS/PR purposing, it's sorta possible he also, at some point, worked on the live version in the studio with overdubs. The version released is obviously not it.

BUT, I think the overdub story is an assumption, based on IWD4U etc. He did record the whole show - so was it the first recording? Perhaps, but the one at Sunset Sound (he was there for almost a month starting mid-August) is the one we're hearing now. I dig that because it's him in the studio doing whatever instead of following what they rehearsed with the band. I prefer his band songs most times, but there are great moments of the one-man show that I enjoy.

TrivialPursuit said:

I saw that, and this new version certainly isn't something that's been overdubbed from First Avenue. He took a few liberties with both the rehearsal and performance at First Avenue.

Per Nilsen lists EC as August 3, at the First Avenue gig as being its recording date. Princevault says "a few days later" he recorded TBO. It's noted as August 20. That's over two weeks later, not a "few days". (Granted, a "few" is anything past 3, but still - it's a stretch.)

Your theory about two versions could hold up. Here's why: The Revolution recorded "Let's Go Crazy" and "Computer Blue" at the St. Louis Park warehouse. The warehouse version of LGC is on Purple Rain. However, Prince also recorded CB at Sunset Sound and used the Sunset version on Purple Rain. So there's already another version of CB which exists from the warehouse. (read: duplicate takes of one song here and there). And with the IWD4U/BIAS/PR purposing, it's sorta possible he also, at some point, worked on the live version in the studio with overdubs. The version released is obviously not it.

BUT, I think the overdub story is an assumption, based on IWD4U etc. He did record the whole show - so was it the first recording? Perhaps, but the one at Sunset Sound (he was there for almost a month starting mid-August) is the one we're hearing now. I dig that because it's him in the studio doing whatever instead of following what they rehearsed with the band. I prefer his band songs most times, but there are great moments of the one-man show that I enjoy.

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Well, the St Louis Park Warehouse take of CB is essentially the initial tracking for what was improved and finalized at Sunset Sound, and I believe it to be the one circulating with the f-bomb in it.

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I don't believe there is really any other proper version of CB recorded at the SLPWH, but if there technically is, it would have to be a very, very rough demo or early conception of the song. The song has been alleged to have evolved from jam sessions/rehearsals of 'Automatic' in the first half of 1983.

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(As an illustration of how the two are compatible in their design, or at least a neat curiosity, he works part of the CB 'hallway speech' instrumental into the 8/3/83 performance of 'Automatic')

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I believe this studio take of EI was recorded prior to the First Avenue benefit concert, although it may have been further overdubbed in August or September 1983 at Sunset Sound. If you listen closely enough, you can hear something of a less pronounced (less energetic) rendition of what we hear in the rehearsal/live versions of the song buried beneath layers of (abrasive?) vocal overdubs. Perhaps these were what were added later, and the live performance is based on the then-unadorned studio track at its state of development up to that point.

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The indulgent, quavering 'God'-style vocals overpower the subtler and more intimate ones that were possibly the first ones laid down. Those additional vocals change the feeling and posture of the song considerably (at least from our long-standing expectations).

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It's worth pointing out that the live version was faithful to many of the finer points (the Moog sweeps, patches used, Oberheim fills, general phrasing of the piano bits, etc), with 'wake-up' Wendy's chorusy guitar parts (to make it a full band effort) and different pacing (probably a combination of being a new song only hastily rehearsed, and P's playing off the energy of the crowd) the greatest liberties taken.

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I am wondering whether it had been recorded as little more than a piano and vocals track with some synth, with the bass-drum machine rhythmic interplay (the synth bass reminds me a bit of the released mix of 'Desire') and extra vocals superimposed later.

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The song starts and finishes with some 'Free'-like piano playing, which may be a hint that it was primarily driven by that, as first conceived. It sounds slightly out of place to me compared to how the instrumentation builds up/changes later into the song.

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He may well have considered, or naturally been led to, using an overdubbed version of the First Avenue recording, had the song lasted long enough as a viable candidate. I am doubtful that it ever made it that far. If it had, it would be analogous to the live 'The Bird' (or 'Jungle Love') vs the studio take as available options for putting the film and album together.

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The live version's similarity to PR is almost as big a notch against its long-term fate as having come up with a superior track that serves the same function only a short while later.

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To put it more succinctly, even if he set out to, and recorded it in this exact way during the same session from start to completion, all of the necessary parts to make a studio version of the EI we have come to 'know' are there in that elusive studio multitrack (where WB sourced this from is yet TBD). I believe he laid it all down very basically, and either built it up to this version over the course of the same session(s), or went back and overdubbed several weeks or months later.

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[Edited 4/27/17 23:50pm]

TrivialPursuit said:

BUT, I think the overdub story is an assumption, based on IWD4U etc.

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Which is another way of saying that a site that claims to be authoritative has at least one entry that is based on conjecture: smoke, mirrors, and a whole lotta nothin'.

EnDoRpHn said:

TrivialPursuit said:

BUT, I think the overdub story is an assumption, based on IWD4U etc.

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Which is another way of saying that a site that claims to be authoritative has at least one entry that is based on conjecture: smoke, mirrors, and a whole lotta nothin'.

The site says that no studio version is known to exist. If Prince recorded it on his own, how would anyone connected with princevault know about it?

Btw in past Prince said there wasn't outtakes from Purple Rain. Electric Intercourse proves he was telling the truth about this.

fabriziovenerandi said:

Btw in past Prince said there wasn't outtakes from Purple Rain. Electric Intercourse proves he was telling the truth about this.

When did he say this? And there are outtakes from Purple rain i.e wednesday

Dilan said:

fabriziovenerandi said:

Btw in past Prince said there wasn't outtakes from Purple Rain. Electric Intercourse proves he was telling the truth about this.

When did he say this? And there are outtakes from Purple rain i.e wednesday

Some years ago talking about a Purple Rain release with outtakes from Purple Rain. He said something similar to "there are no outtakes from Purple Rain". I do not remember where...

TheEnglishGent said:

The site says that no studio version is known to exist. If Prince recorded it on his own, how would anyone connected with princevault know about it?

Thank you.

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Maybe both exist: He overdubbed the live version as per the tracks on the second side of PR, AND recorded a studio version, a la The Bird.

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fabriziovenerandi said:

Dilan said:

When did he say this? And there are outtakes from Purple rain i.e wednesday

Some years ago talking about a Purple Rain release with outtakes from Purple Rain. He said something similar to "there are no outtakes from Purple Rain". I do not remember where...

Prince said a lot of things. CLEARLY there were unreleased songs recorded for/at the time of recording Purple Rain. I don't understand why this would even be a point of conjecture.

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[Edited 4/28/17 4:40am]

Listen to an Official Studio Version of the Purple Rain-Era Prince Rarity “Electric Intercourse”

http://www.spin.com/2017/04/listen-prince-electric-intercourse-stream/

rap said:

My guess is that Prince intended to use all of the new live tracks from 3rd Aug for inclusion on the album. Hence, he didn't muck around on the performance of them. If fact, it makes sense that a film that would contain 'live' performances should sound like live renditions.

Obviously, at the time of the gig When Doves Cry and Take Me with U didn't exist and Darlin' Nikki hadn't been recorded. So there is a very good chance that all the new tracks performed on the 3rd were intended as the base tracks.

Maybe once he got editting he didn't like some parts, or possibly they had flaws he couldn't cover. Let's Go Crazy was clearly rerecorded, but done in the warehouse with the very 'live' feel. He may well have attempted alternative recordings of all the tracks.


As for Electric Intercouse, my guess is he created a live overdubbed verion and that the studio track was either a guide track, or an attempt to re-record. Either way, he decided to park it within a month when he wrote The Beautiful Ones.

SquirrelMeat said:

My guess is that Prince intended to use all of the new live tracks from 3rd Aug for inclusion on the album. Hence, he didn't muck around on the performance of them. If fact, it makes sense that a film that would contain 'live' performances should sound like live renditions.

Obviously, at the time of the gig When Doves Cry and Take Me with U didn't exist and Darlin' Nikki hadn't been recorded. So there is a very good chance that all the new tracks performed on the 3rd were intended as the base tracks.

Maybe once he got editting he didn't like some parts, or possibly they had flaws he couldn't cover. Let's Go Crazy was clearly rerecorded, but done in the warehouse with the very 'live' feel. He may well have attempted alternative recordings of all the tracks.


As for Electric Intercouse, my guess is he created a live overdubbed verion and that the studio track was either a guide track, or an attempt to re-record. Either way, he decided to park it within a month when he wrote The Beautiful Ones.

I heard this version was actually performed solo by tyka.

SquirrelMeat said:

My guess is that Prince intended to use all of the new live tracks from 3rd Aug for inclusion on the album. Hence, he didn't muck around on the performance of them. If fact, it makes sense that a film that would contain 'live' performances should sound like live renditions.

Obviously, at the time of the gig When Doves Cry and Take Me with U didn't exist and Darlin' Nikki hadn't been recorded. So there is a very good chance that all the new tracks performed on the 3rd were intended as the base tracks.

Maybe once he got editting he didn't like some parts, or possibly they had flaws he couldn't cover. Let's Go Crazy was clearly rerecorded, but done in the warehouse with the very 'live' feel. He may well have attempted alternative recordings of all the tracks.


As for Electric Intercouse, my guess is he created a live overdubbed verion and that the studio track was either a guide track, or an attempt to re-record. Either way, he decided to park it within a month when he wrote The Beautiful Ones.

I always assumed that he re-recorded LGC because the 8-3-83 per4mance just didn't feel "BIG" enough 2 open his huge risk-taking film with. There was a slight lack of energy in the original live recording that is LARGELY made up 4 in the Warehouse session....THAT jam STILL puts hair on ur chest !!

Plus...we also have 2 consider the extended mix that's present in the film's opening scene. We didn't get THAT version on 8-3-83...the audience might have been like...."WTF is THIS and y is it going on so long ??"

Notice...I said MIGHT....most of US would have been losing our MINDS hearing a brand new song done live 4 the 1st time that went on 2 become iconic.

ChadNPG69 said:

I always assumed that he re-recorded LGC because the 8-3-83 per4mance just didn't feel "BIG" enough 2 open his huge risk-taking film with. There was a slight lack of energy in the original live recording that is LARGELY made up 4 in the Warehouse session....THAT jam STILL puts hair on ur chest !!

Plus...we also have 2 consider the extended mix that's present in the film's opening scene. We didn't get THAT version on 8-3-83...the audience might have been like...."WTF is THIS and y is it going on so long ??"

I think folks might be assuming all those songs at First Avenue were eventually going to be on Purple Rain. I'm not sure that's the case. I'd agree that there's a lack of energy. It was hot that night, and folks weren't really giving the feedback in the audience because they were unknown songs.

LOL @ the "going on so long". They sorta had that face anyway. Those people thought they were getting 1999 Prince, but they also got "OMG WHO IS THIS GUY" Prince. But remember, R&B had the "long version" down to a science in the late 70s, and remixes and 12" singles were already a thing by 1983. So I don't think it would have been that much of a weird moment. PR was longer at First Avenue than on record, too.

TrivialPursuit said:

ChadNPG69 said:

I always assumed that he re-recorded LGC because the 8-3-83 per4mance just didn't feel "BIG" enough 2 open his huge risk-taking film with. There was a slight lack of energy in the original live recording that is LARGELY made up 4 in the Warehouse session....THAT jam STILL puts hair on ur chest !!

Plus...we also have 2 consider the extended mix that's present in the film's opening scene. We didn't get THAT version on 8-3-83...the audience might have been like...."WTF is THIS and y is it going on so long ??"

I think folks might be assuming all those songs at First Avenue were eventually going to be on Purple Rain. I'm not sure that's the case. I'd agree that there's a lack of energy. It was hot that night, and folks weren't really giving the feedback in the audience because they were unknown songs.

LOL @ the "going on so long". They sorta had that face anyway. Those people thought they were getting 1999 Prince, but they also got "OMG WHO IS THIS GUY" Prince. But remember, R&B had the "long version" down to a science in the late 70s, and remixes and 12" singles were already a thing by 1983. So I don't think it would have been that much of a weird moment. PR was longer at First Avenue than on record, too.

Plus the songs were new(er) to the band, as well - and it was Wendy's first show. Speaking as a performer who has a lot of opening nights under her belt - the first show is never the best show.

Genesia said:

Plus the songs were new(er) to the band, as well - and it was Wendy's first show. Speaking as a performer who has a lot of opening nights under her belt - the first show is never the best show.

Agreed.

It wasn't the first or last time Prince used a show at First Avenue as a warm-up or rehearsal type gig.

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The larger portion of the audience were, by a limited number of degrees of separation (friends, family), affiliated with the club, the dance troupe, or P's own support crew. I don't believe the 'who or what is this guy' deadpan was as frequent as it was, say, for some of those in the audience of the infamous '83 James Brown concert footage (throwing the glove back). But they may not have been deeply 'into' or knowledgeable of Prince then, either, and it was a small venue on an uncomfortably hot evening.

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It's documented that he specifically set out to record PR here as the basis for the album track, primarily to obtain the right arena rock 'shine' to it, and I imagine he would have discarded it (to record it again perhaps at the Warehouse) only if a good result weren't obtained.

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It may be only circumstantial that he ended up using the skeletons of the live multitracks for the 8/3/83 show for the album versions of IWD4U and BIAS, rather than try to freshly record those or equivalent tracks in the studio. When he had a more definite notion of how the film would be produced and its various constraints, it was was clearly best of all possible worlds.

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He seemed to have a certain fetish for suites, song couplets, and an occasional preference for a semi-live approach to recording in general.

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The extended section of LGC was recorded at a different time from most of the track. Therefore, I cannot see how not being able to work that into the live performance for practical considerations had any weight in a decision to use (or not) the First Avenue recording as the basis for the album version.

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I also would not necessarily religiously abide by Per Nilsen/Uptown/princevault dating.

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LGC, of course, was brushed up a bit in the studio, as well, and is not truly a single-take recording by any means.

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The album version may have, for all intents and purposes, been recorded before the show, whose primary purpose was to entertain for charity and, in the course of so-doing, an opportunity to preview some of this new material.

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That canonical October date may have been the date any additional recording was last performed, when it was mixed/edited, sent out for mastering, the latest date interviewed studio personnel have on a log they kept in a filing cabinet, when it was placed on a test cassette, etc.

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PV quite frankly make no sense on this matter, in that they state the song was recorded during the same sessions that produced 'Computer Blue', which had been tracked months earlier, and finished the previous month. They may be at least partially right if the dating is changed from October. It's not clear that he was even extensively using St Louis Park for band rehearsals and recordings by that point.

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[Edited 4/28/17 13:33pm]

TrivialPursuit said:

I saw that, and this new version certainly isn't something that's been overdubbed from First Avenue. He took a few liberties with both the rehearsal and performance at First Avenue.

Per Nilsen lists EC as August 3, at the First Avenue gig as being its recording date. Princevault says "a few days later" he recorded TBO. It's noted as August 20. That's over two weeks later, not a "few days". (Granted, a "few" is anything past 3, but still - it's a stretch.)

Your theory about two versions could hold up. Here's why: The Revolution recorded "Let's Go Crazy" and "Computer Blue" at the St. Louis Park warehouse. The warehouse version of LGC is

The St. Louis Park warehouse (aka pet food supplier) was where I really started to get into Prince.

When me and my friends used to walk home from St. Louis Park High School we walked right past this. There would always be jamming, limousines, every day.

Sometimes I'd just sit and listen from the outside. Heard so many things there, but didn't know any of the names of the songs.

That was one pretty cool thing about going to St. Louis Park High School.

sro100 said:

The St. Louis Park warehouse (aka pet food supplier) was where I really started to get into Prince.

When me and my friends used to walk home from St. Louis Park High School we walked right past this. There would always be jamming, limousines, every day.

Sometimes I'd just sit and listen from the outside. Heard so many things there, but didn't know any of the names of the songs.

That was one pretty cool thing about going to St. Louis Park High School.

Cool! Where was the exact location of the warehouse? I know it was on Highway 7 - what road did it intersect with off of it? Was it north or south of the Highway 7 freeway that's there now?

My opinion: Prince recorded Electric Intercourse before "Purple Rain" (or whatever the album was going to be called) was fully formed. Was it orignally for "Purple Rain", a one off song, or for an idea he had before PR? I suspect only Prince would know that. "Purple Rain", like all albums, was a work in progress. No one wakes up one day and just has every idea for every song/sequence/etc. perfectly worked out. I'm also willing to bet that the other "live" Purple Rain songs have studio examples, because I highly doubt Prince didn't record them alone to get a feel for how they would be (remember, during this time he still mostly worked solo). He then taught all of these songs to the Revolution, some tweaked to match the "sound" he was going for once he got a better idea of what he wanted this new album to sound like. To me this seems like the simplest explanation.

[Edited 4/28/17 17:46pm]

plymouthavenuenorth said:

sro100 said:

The St. Louis Park warehouse (aka pet food supplier) was where I really started to get into Prince.

When me and my friends used to walk home from St. Louis Park High School we walked right past this. There would always be jamming, limousines, every day.

Sometimes I'd just sit and listen from the outside. Heard so many things there, but didn't know any of the names of the songs.

That was one pretty cool thing about going to St. Louis Park High School.

Cool! Where was the exact location of the warehouse? I know it was on Highway 7 - what road did it intersect with off of it? Was it north or south of the Highway 7 freeway that's there now?

Where Hwy 7 and Lake Street connected. At the "end" of Lake Street. Across the highway is a gas station. In back of the warehouse was a baseball field; aways back if I remember.

Now there's some large building; I'm not sure what it is.

fabriziovenerandi said:

Btw in past Prince said there wasn't outtakes from Purple Rain. Electric Intercourse proves he was telling the truth about this.

What do you think "Electric Intercourse" is? IT'S AN OUTTAKE.

fabriziovenerandi said:

Btw in past Prince said there wasn't outtakes from Purple Rain. Electric Intercourse proves he was telling the truth about this.

sro100 said:

plymouthavenuenorth said:

Cool! Where was the exact location of the warehouse? I know it was on Highway 7 - what road did it intersect with off of it? Was it north or south of the Highway 7 freeway that's there now?

Where Hwy 7 and Lake Street connected. At the "end" of Lake Street. Across the highway is a gas station. In back of the warehouse was a baseball field; aways back if I remember.

Now there's some large building; I'm not sure what it is.

Thanks! Do you mean this location on the map?

https://www.google.com/ma...93.3635088

There is a green patch below the industrial lot on the map where Hwy 7 service road turns into Lake St - could that have been the baseball field (Lions Field)?

There isn't a gas station across the highway from this spot now, but there are a bunch of soccer fields and one baseball field across the street.

I keep thinking that maybe Prince recorded the studio version in 2014 or 2015. Anybody else think this is possible?

OLDHATJ said:

I keep thinking that maybe Prince recorded the studio version in 2014 or 2015. Anybody else think this is possible?

The one that was just released? Its definitely from the early 80's based on the quality of the sound of the instruments captured, Prince's voice, etc.

Wendy & Lisa might know, I would tweet them, but I don't use twitter.

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The production here is an inimitable 1983 Prince. His attempts at revisiting a past era of his sound in the studio tend to be distinctly workstationy cheesy or overly simplistic ('Wherever U Go,. . .').

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[Edited 5/2/17 10:12am]

OLDHATJ said:

I keep thinking that maybe Prince recorded the studio version in 2014 or 2015. Anybody else think this is possible?

When I first heard this new version, I also thought it might have newer vocals on it. So you're not alone.

But hearing the vocals next to the live boot, they sound similar too. Who knows. There could be Prince vocals from every decade layered together for effect.