This looks promising:

.

Disc One (65’02):
-LinnDrum studio jam | Instrumental studio jam on drum machine, including musical elements and interpolations reminiscent of various songs | 13 October 1982 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)
-Rehearsal for the First Avenue 1983 Benefit Concert | July-August 1983 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)

Disc Two (68’34):
-Benefit Concert | First Avenue | Minneapolis, MN | USA | 3 August 1983 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)

Disc Three (86’):
-Benefit Concert | Santa Monica Civic Auditorium | Santa Monica, CA | USA | 25 February 1985 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)
-Funky Rehearsal Jam | USA | Spring 1985 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)

.

Details:

.

LinnDrum studio jam - 13 October 1982 (16:59):
01 Drive Me Wild (instr.)
02 Let's Pretend We're Married (instr.)
03 Dirty Mind (instr.; incl. electric guitar solo)

Rehearsal for the First Avenue 1983 Benefit Concert | July-August 1983 (48’03):
04 Little Red Corvette
05 Purple Rain (take #1) incl. "BB King style blues guitar solo"
06 Purple Rain (take #2)
07 D.M.S.R.
08 Bodyheat [James Brown] (take #1; instr.)
09 "Kinda nasty jam in A minor"
10 Bodyheat [James Brown] (take #2) -White Girls (chant) -Ice Cream Castles (short) -Sex Shooter (short) -unidentified classical requiem (short) -lyrics to unknown song

(Disc two is well-known...)

Benefit Concert | Santa Monica Civic Auditorium | Santa Monica, CA | USA | 25 February 1985 (61’18):
01 Let’s Go Crazy
02 Delirious
03 1999 incl. Reveille [traditional] (instr.)
04 Little Red Corvette
05 Take Me With U
06 4 The Tears In Your Eyes
07 Free08 Do Me, Baby
09 When Doves Cry
10 Baby I’m A Star
11 Bodyheat [James Brown]
12 Baby I’m A Star (reprise)
13 Purple Rain

Funky Rehearsal Jam, Spring 1985 (25’41):
14 I Don’t Know jam - Part I « Lyrics »
15 I Don’t Know jam - Part II « Solo Eric »

.

(Updated the title to include the 1986 soundboard; see details further on in the thread...)

.

[Edited 6/21/17 11:48am]

I've heard snips. It DOES sound good!

BartVanHemelen said:

This looks promising:

.

Disc One (65’02):
-LinnDrum studio jam | Instrumental studio jam on drum machine, including musical elements and interpolations reminiscent of various songs | 13 October 1982 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)
-Rehearsal for the First Avenue 1983 Benefit Concert | July-August 1983 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)

Disc Two (68’34):
-Benefit Concert | First Avenue | Minneapolis, MN | USA | 3 August 1983 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)

Disc Three (86’):
-Benefit Concert | Santa Monica Civic Auditorium | Santa Monica, CA | USA | 25 February 1985 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)
-Funky Rehearsal Jam | USA | Spring 1985 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)

.

Details:

.

LinnDrum studio jam - 13 October 1982 (16:59):
01 Drive Me Wild (instr.)
02 Let's Pretend We're Married (instr.)
03 Dirty Mind (instr.; incl. electric guitar solo)

Rehearsal for the First Avenue 1983 Benefit Concert | July-August 1983 (48’03):
04 Little Red Corvette
05 Purple Rain (take #1) incl. "BB King style blues guitar solo"
06 Purple Rain (take #2)
07 D.M.S.R.
08 Bodyheat [James Brown] (take #1; instr.)
09 "Kinda nasty jam in A minor"
10 Bodyheat [James Brown] (take #2) -White Girls (chant) -Ice Cream Castles (short) -Sex Shooter (short) -unidentified classical requiem (short) -lyrics to unknown song

(Disc two is well-known...)

Benefit Concert | Santa Monica Civic Auditorium | Santa Monica, CA | USA | 25 February 1985 (61’18):
01 Let’s Go Crazy
02 Delirious
03 1999 incl. Reveille [traditional] (instr.)
04 Little Red Corvette
05 Take Me With U
06 4 The Tears In Your Eyes
07 Free08 Do Me, Baby
09 When Doves Cry
10 Baby I’m A Star
11 Bodyheat [James Brown]
12 Baby I’m A Star (reprise)
13 Purple Rain

Funky Rehearsal Jam, Spring 1985 (25’41):
14 I Don’t Know jam - Part I « Lyrics »
15 I Don’t Know jam - Part II « Solo Eric »

Two threads already on this... You're slipping Bart...

The First Avenue "soundboard" doesn't. Definitely not from the master tapes

jjam said:

The First Avenue "soundboard" doesn't. Definitely not from the master tapes

I don't know. The soundboard isn't a master tape. It's apples and oranges, of course. Someone hooking a tape player into a soundboard and recording it directly isn't the multi-track master tape that the mobile unit recorded. The soundboard is a direct feed, and of course better quality, but it's not a "mix" per se, as a multi-track recording can be.

I know you probably realize that, but I wanted to be clear before I say - I do think these are soundboard, but not master recordings. I heard the snips, as most here have already. And while they do lack some finesse, there are sounds & keyboard parts in them that aren't there in the VHS tape that we know. There also isn't that overt natural reverb we hear being in a medium room environment.

To me, it is a better recording than the VHS tape. If someone has touched up the VHS tape audio, that would be quite a task they've undertaken and somewhat accomplished. I suppose the true test is to find those warbly parts on the tape, and hear them on the soundboard claims, to see if they're there, if something else has been dubbed in to replace that, or if they simply don't exist. If it's the latter, it's a strong testament to them being soundboards.

There is also a soundboard of the 3rd April '86 show from The Boston Metro coming.

jjam said:

The First Avenue "soundboard" doesn't. Definitely not from the master tapes

After hearing the sampler, honestly I couldn't care less. It sounds fantastic to me, much better than what we currently have.

feeluupp said:

BartVanHemelen said:

This looks promising:

.

Two threads already on this... You're slipping Bart...

.

Where then? I've only seen one mention, and that was IN A COMPLETELY UNRELATED THREAD. Not my fault some genius decides to pollute other threads with this. Why aren't mods intervening?

.

Hell, ideally each of these sources should get a thread of its own.

BartVanHemelen said:

feeluupp said:

Two threads already on this... You're slipping Bart...

.

Where then? I've only seen one mention, and that was IN A COMPLETELY UNRELATED THREAD. Not my fault some genius decides to pollute other threads with this. Why aren't mods intervening?

.

Hell, ideally each of these sources should get a thread of its own.

There was one earlier this morning but I guess the mods deleted it...

BartVanHemelen said:

It sounds like noise reduction has foolishly been applied to the First Avenue benefit concert. Noise reduction SHOULD NEVER be applied to live concerts! Who keeps making these stupid decisions?

TheDigitalGardener said:

There is also a soundboard of the 3rd April '86 show from The Boston Metro coming.

.

Amazing setlist for that one:

.

-Disc One-

01 Around The World In A Day

02 Christopher Tracy's Parade

03 New Position

04 I Wonder U

05 Raspberry Beret

06 Alexa De Paris

07 Controversy

08 Mutiny - Dream Factory - Cold Sweat [James Brown] (instr.)

09 (How Much Is) That Doggie In The Window? [Patti Page]

10 Lady Cab Driver (instr.)

11 Automatic

12 D.M.S.R.

13 The Dance Electric

14 Under The Cherry Moon

15 Anotherloverholenyohead

16 Soft And Wet

17 I Wanna Be Your Lover

18 Head

-Disc Two-

01 Pop Life

02 Girls & Boys

03 Life Can Be So Nice

04 Purple Rain

05 Safety announcement over PA

06 Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On [Jerry Lee Lewis]

07 A Love Bizarre - Holly Rock - Take Your Dead Ass Home! [Funkadelic] (chant)

08 America - Spanish Key [Miles Davis] feat. Prince on drums

09 Kiss (extended)

10 Or $ - Ain't It Funky Now [James Brow (instr.)

BartVanHemelen said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

There is also a soundboard of the 3rd April '86 show from The Boston Metro coming.

.

Amazing setlist for that one:

It is indeed. To be honest I'm more excited about this than the First Ave '83 show. Remember 4DF's First Avenue '86 boot? Amazing, and this Metro show is soundboard too. Sounds like a winner.

Cool. Looking forward to downloading a free copy as soon this one is released.

That's some great looking stuff! Awesome.

BartVanHemelen said:

This looks promising:

.

Disc One (65’02):
-LinnDrum studio jam | Instrumental studio jam on drum machine, including musical elements and interpolations reminiscent of various songs | 13 October 1982 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)
-Rehearsal for the First Avenue 1983 Benefit Concert | July-August 1983 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)

Disc Two (68’34):
-Benefit Concert | First Avenue | Minneapolis, MN | USA | 3 August 1983 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)

Disc Three (86’):
-Benefit Concert | Santa Monica Civic Auditorium | Santa Monica, CA | USA | 25 February 1985 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)
-Funky Rehearsal Jam | USA | Spring 1985 (uncirculating soundboard recording!)

.

Details:

.

LinnDrum studio jam - 13 October 1982 (16:59):
01 Drive Me Wild (instr.)
02 Let's Pretend We're Married (instr.)
03 Dirty Mind (instr.; incl. electric guitar solo)

Rehearsal for the First Avenue 1983 Benefit Concert | July-August 1983 (48’03):
04 Little Red Corvette
05 Purple Rain (take #1) incl. "BB King style blues guitar solo"
06 Purple Rain (take #2)
07 D.M.S.R.
08 Bodyheat [James Brown] (take #1; instr.)
09 "Kinda nasty jam in A minor"
10 Bodyheat [James Brown] (take #2) -White Girls (chant) -Ice Cream Castles (short) -Sex Shooter (short) -unidentified classical requiem (short) -lyrics to unknown song

(Disc two is well-known...)

Benefit Concert | Santa Monica Civic Auditorium | Santa Monica, CA | USA | 25 February 1985 (61’18):
01 Let’s Go Crazy
02 Delirious
03 1999 incl. Reveille [traditional] (instr.)
04 Little Red Corvette
05 Take Me With U
06 4 The Tears In Your Eyes
07 Free08 Do Me, Baby
09 When Doves Cry
10 Baby I’m A Star
11 Bodyheat [James Brown]
12 Baby I’m A Star (reprise)
13 Purple Rain

Funky Rehearsal Jam, Spring 1985 (25’41):
14 I Don’t Know jam - Part I « Lyrics »
15 I Don’t Know jam - Part II « Solo Eric »

Wow i guess some people weren't kidding about some of those elite collector's panicking after that little sample of the First Avenue '83 sample was posted online.

Thank you for the info Bart. This is the kind of thing that keeps me coming back to the Org. Most of my sources of information are gone, or have been reconfigured as something else.

I am looking forward to this set, and the other soundboard leaks that have not been announced yet.

So I just compared it to the LGC snippet from Sifi, and...wow. Doesn't even compare. The Rainmaker sample is mono, the LGC sample is stereo. Still, it'll do for now. Plus the First Avenue is being shopped for streaming services anyway, we'll hear it in pristine quality soon enough.

The Boston show is in the wild. I'm listening to it now. It's really rough sounding up until it hits Mutiny but it seems to even out after that point.

Speaking of Mutiny, they do a 'St. Paul, punk of the month' chant in the middle with bits of Dream Factory thrown in Prince is in a really playful mood and The Dance Electric is wild.

Jamming Boston now

is rainmaker hitting the rounds yet?

TheVaultKeeper said:

It sounds like noise reduction has foolishly been applied to the First Avenue benefit concert. Noise reduction SHOULD NEVER be applied to live concerts! Who keeps making these stupid decisions?

This ^ , Quote of the Month.

I' expected Alexa De paris to be a short, quick flash. Nope, five minutes long, full band. Astonishing.

I love the Boston 86 show, especially "Soft and Wet." I can't decide if the Boston, Paris Le Zenith, or the Yokaohama Show is my favorite of the tour.

*

As for the new leaks coming soon, from Disc one, [10 Bodyheat [James Brown] (take #2) -White Girls (chant) -Ice Cream Castles (short) -Sex Shooter (short) -unidentified classical requiem (short) -lyrics to unknown song,] is this where Prince can be heard saying something to the effect of "it sounds like [somebody else's song]; oh, well, it's not ours"? When I think he says this, it almost sounds like a Janet Jackson song to which he is referring.

BartVanHemelen said:

I' expected Alexa De paris to be a short, quick flash. Nope, five minutes long, full band. Astonishing.

Thought so to. Also interesting that ATWIAD is the full version, no the usual edit.

TheVaultKeeper said:

It sounds like noise reduction has foolishly been applied to the First Avenue benefit concert. Noise reduction SHOULD NEVER be applied to live concerts! Who keeps making these stupid decisions?

Not sure you've applied that rule purely to live concerts.

Noise reducttion can be great, but most people don't bother to go through the multitude of tedious passes it takes to keep it sounding great.

still NOTHING from sign o the times tour?????

Got the Boston 86 show this morning but keeping my expectations low I wasn't in a rush to listen, figured I'd get to it this weekend. Unexpectedly I had to spend a couple hours driving tonight so I decided I might as well make the best of it, synced up the iPod & listened as I drove.

Wow! What a great set. "The Kid is in rare form tonight", Prince is in such a great mood. As tight as the band is the set feels loose and spontaneous. The setlist is fantastic and the vibe is fonky!

Thanks to those that leaked and those that shared! Keep 'em coming, please...