Your thoughts regarding this version, please.

Now this is really great!!!

I ever liked OHWU as it was, but this version is simply wonderful.

got it going now... so far it seems to be mixed too loud and adds little to the song... it is really overwhelming the rest of the song

One minute into it, it sounds way too busy! Too much going on, in my opinion...

Silvertongue7 said:

One minute into it, it sounds way too busy! Too much going on, in my opinion...

yeah me too... it is too loud if it was mixed down (or whatever i do not know what i am talking about) it would work better

Perhaps it would be functional this way if the 'demon scream' track were removed from the mix.

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[Edited 7/22/17 16:11pm]

The atonal screaming synths make it really difficult to focus on the melodies of the orchestration. I dig the sparse sound of the original mix, now it'd be cool to have a version with just vocals, percussion, and the orchestra

Silvertongue7 said:

One minute into it, it sounds way too busy! Too much going on, in my opinion...

That's how I always felt about that full orchestration version of I Wonder U that the Fischers played in that lecture. Probably Prince would have mixed it lower and probably eliminated much of the Fischer parts if he'd gone on to use the track. Still, glad to have it.

It's like the musical equivalent of a horror movie.

Never heard this song before now, so listened to both versions with/without orchestration.

My conclusion?

I'm not sleeping tonight.

I agree that it sounds too busy in this particular incarnation, but the orchestration certainly adds a new dimension and drama to the track. It could have worked beautifully if he'd chipped away at the underlying track a little (cutting out those screams as the orchestration builds). Interesting to hear though.

[Edited 7/22/17 16:31pm]

Not sure if I like this. The orchestration seems to get in the way, if anything. The version we've always had's creepiness has always been accentuated by it's sparse-ness.

I didn't like this version at all. The other version has always been one of my favorite P boots! Like somebody else said, the sparsness of the original made it GREAT!

Way too much going on. Sounds like a mess to me.

Prefer the "classic" version I've got to say. Like others have said the orchestration is too loud or more accurately the rest of the mix is too quiet. It's distracting and a bit of a jumble. Nice to be able to hear it though.

mbdtyler said:

The atonal screaming synths make it really difficult to focus on the melodies of the orchestration. I dig the sparse sound of the original mix, now it'd be cool to have a version with just vocals, percussion, and the orchestra

Yeah I'd really prefer if this were just a completely alternate rendition of the track without the screams from the previous one we had, instead of being an awkward combination of elements that overall overwhelm the song. A bit of a shame but still glad to have it.

Prefer the previous version I've heard...

I was very eager to hear this one, but no, like I mentioned in the main thread, the orchestra is fighting for space with the sound FX layers and the vocal. I'm keeping it, but the previous version remains definitive.

This sounds like the answer mix from Clare Fischer with his added stuff turned up for Prince to hear.

Funny, it sounds in this form even more like the post-industrial stuff released by labels like Cold Meat Industry or Cold Spring than what I thought was the case earlier - noisy stuff in the background mixed with orchestral elements and lyrics that deal with "horror" themes.

One band that you might recognize by the name would be Coil. This track is pretty close to that type of stuff.

RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

mbdtyler said:

The atonal screaming synths make it really difficult to focus on the melodies of the orchestration. I dig the sparse sound of the original mix, now it'd be cool to have a version with just vocals, percussion, and the orchestra

Yeah I'd really prefer if this were just a completely alternate rendition of the track without the screams from the previous one we had, instead of being an awkward combination of elements that overall overwhelm the song. A bit of a shame but still glad to have it.

Yes, I agree, that would be great to hear. I do actually like the orchestration and there are moments when his vocals and the orchestral swells coincide beautifully (1:40), but it’s constantly vying for dominance in this mix and just sounds a bit of a mess. I’m happy to hear experiments like this though – we can’t expect everything in the vault to work, and even failed experiments can help to illuminate the process.