Today, "America" was uploaded to Prince's YouTube channel. As I watched it for the umpteenth time, a few things stuck out to me, and how interesting of a piece of Princestory this video has become over time.

We know the basics. It was filmed in Nice, France, during the filming of Under The Cherry Moon. And while the band wasn't in the movie, most of them did come to France during the filming, always on hand at Prince's whim. (Of course, they're still a group, right?)

It's really a pivotal transition moment for Prince and the Revolution. The Parade era had a very different look than Purple Rain. The costumes were cleaner, simpler, hair was shorter, there was a classy casual feel to the band opposed to the up-to-the-neck jacquard textiles used prior to that. (Although Wendy would still wear some of Prince's outfits it seemed, she also just slapped on a black dress and play her ass off). She was barefoot, giving the whole video a laid-back but we're-gonna-kick-your-ass feel. It felt like they were all in France, barefoot and vaping the fumes of the success of Purple Rain.

"America" had a lot of the past and the future in it.

Prince's pants were still the lacy pants from Purple Rain Tour, yet his trench coat was the camel-hair we saw in the Parade era.

Lisa wore a familiar military style hat that harkened back to 1981/2.

Eric made his debut on the PR Tour, as did Eddie M., and was part of Prince's band for years to come. Eddie was a Sheila E. residual and Eric would be his replacement in the counter-Revolution.

Bobby was still a stand-up drummer literally standing up (an element Prince wanted and the Linn-1 helped with that ability).

While the rest of the band wasn't fully inhibiting their "Raspberry Beret" looks, they hadn't fully graduated to their Parade looks either.
During Prince's drum solo, there even seems to be a hint of "Life Can Be So Nice" in there; a track from Parade.

As quickly as Prince wanted to release ATWIAD after the PR tour, he almost immediately went into the planning stages for UTCM. Yet he still had the foresight to arrange for four singles, and three music videos.

[Edited 7/29/17 12:32pm]

Nice to see the video in good quality.

I first saw this video on tv last year during one of the tribute video blocks, not too long after he passed away. I was already in the early process of becoming a fan, but this performance is what sealed the deal for me. My mind was blown by just how tight and funky his band was live, but also by how much fun they all seemed to be having. Goddamn, now I have to go watch the entire thing again

I've never seen this video before. We didn't have MTV when I was a kid, and I hit college in the fall of 84. My parents didn't get "extended cable" until '88, and the first video I saw was "Alphabet St.". So, these old, archival videos are incredibly wonderful.

.

Beyond all the music, all the choreography... the most amazing thing about this video is just how damn HAPPY Prince seems. Look at that face. When he's tossing those 45s into the crowd... that grin! He seemed to be in a good place at that point in time. It's nice to see.

pretty sure Wendy is the coolest woman in the world here

paintsprayer said:

pretty sure Wendy is the coolest woman in the world here

Wendy AND Lisa were the coolest women in the world there...(and here, in my little world, to be honest).

khill95 said:

I wonder how much one of those 45s thrown into the crowd would be nowadays

It's been over 30 years and I still haven't been able to forgive Prince for cutting that guitar solo short

Now that we can hear them much more clearly, what do you guys think of the noticable Prince overdubs in this recording?

6:00 BG vocal

6:47 guitar

7:02 guitar

8:11 guitar

8:18 DX7 bassline

strange it still seems bootleg visual quality.

The stereo seperation on the elements of the drum kit is w i d e

khill95 said:

I wonder how much one of those 45s thrown into the crowd would be nowadays

it would be difficult to prove they were from that shoot... i would think the ticket stubs from that show would be worth more... add in the record (assuming it was paired with a 1-3 row ticket)

Eleventeen said:

Now that we can hear them much more clearly, what do you guys think of the noticable Prince overdubs in this recording?

6:00 BG vocal

6:47 guitar

7:02 guitar

8:11 guitar

8:18 DX7 bassline

YES!

I have alwys heard these elements and wondered who the heck was playing them onstage.

Was like Miko off in the shadows playing little guitar licks? You can hear that there is guitar other than what Wendy is playing.

Then today watching the new YT upload it hit me, ahhhh they must be overdubbed!

chewymusic said:

Eleventeen said:

Now that we can hear them much more clearly, what do you guys think of the noticable Prince overdubs in this recording?

6:00 BG vocal

6:47 guitar

7:02 guitar

8:11 guitar

8:18 DX7 bassline

YES!

I have alwys heard these elements and wondered who the heck was playing them onstage.

Was like Miko off in the shadows playing little guitar licks? You can hear that there is guitar other than what Wendy is playing.

Then today watching the new YT upload it hit me, ahhhh they must be overdubbed!

According to PrinceValut they did America Twice maybe they just mixed some elements from the other take into this one?

OnlyNDaUsa said:

chewymusic said:

YES!

I have alwys heard these elements and wondered who the heck was playing them onstage.

Was like Miko off in the shadows playing little guitar licks? You can hear that there is guitar other than what Wendy is playing.

Then today watching the new YT upload it hit me, ahhhh they must be overdubbed!

According to PrinceValut they did America Twice maybe they just mixed some elements from the other take into this one?

Princevault corrected Miko's inclusion in the band for the video. He was not there.

TrivialPursuit said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

According to PrinceValut they did America Twice maybe they just mixed some elements from the other take into this one?

Princevault corrected Miko's inclusion in the band for the video. He was not there.

it also says "By the end of the video Prince takes this coat of and is shown to be bare-chested."

Which not only has a typo of "off" but that is not exactly what happened.

I have seen stills of the other take *in the red shirt* but is there a video out there?

TrivialPursuit said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Today, "America" was uploaded to Prince's YouTube channel. As I watched it for the umpteenth time, a few things stuck out to me, and how interesting of a piece of Princestory this video has become over time.

We know the basics. It was filmed in Nice, France, during the filming of Under The Cherry Moon. And while the band wasn't in the movie, most of them did come to France during the filming, always on hand at Prince's whim. (Of course, they're still a group, right?)

It's really a pivotal transition moment for Prince and the Revolution. The Parade era had a very different look than Purple Rain. The costumes were cleaner, simpler, hair was shorter, there was a classy casual feel to the band opposed to the up-to-the-neck jacquard textiles used prior to that. (Although Wendy would still wear some of Prince's outfits it seemed, she also just slapped on a black dress and play her ass off). She was barefoot, giving the whole video a laid-back but we're-gonna-kick-your-ass feel. It felt like they were all in France, barefoot and vaping the fumes of the success of Purple Rain.

"America" had a lot of the past and the future in it.

Prince's pants were still the lacy pants from Purple Rain Tour, yet his trench coat was the camel-hair we saw in the Parade era.

Lisa wore a familiar military style hat that harkened back to 1981/2.

Eric made his debut on the PR Tour, as did Eddie M., and was part of Prince's band for years to come. Eddie was a Sheila E. residual and Eric would be his replacement in the counter-Revolution.

Bobby was still a stand-up drummer literally standing up (an element Prince wanted and the Linn-1 helped with that ability).

While the rest of the band wasn't fully inhibiting their "Raspberry Beret" looks, they hadn't fully graduated to their Parade looks either.
During Prince's drum solo, there even seems to be a hint of "Life Can Be So Nice" in there; a track from Parade.

As quickly as Prince wanted to release ATWIAD after the PR tour, he almost immediately went into the planning stages for UTCM. Yet he still had the foresight to arrange for four singles, and three music videos.

[Edited 7/29/17 12:32pm]

*

This topic is interesting because I've often wondered if there was/is a "look" for the ATWIAD era. Like you said and as we all know, there is a Purple Rain look/era and there is a Parade look/era. But, is there really an ATWIAD look/era, especially since he never toured for ATWIAD? Of course, there are looks/eras that seem to blend together, such as Exodus/Chaos/Gold/Emancipation looks/eras or the Batman/Graffiti Bridge looks/era, but with these looks/eras we can--even if arbitrarily--draw lines or cite demarcations that delineate or separate those looks/eras.

Thewooh said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Princevault corrected Miko's inclusion in the band for the video. He was not there.

It's an interesting question though. Either this isn't completely live or there were extra musicians off camera.

I don't think Prince ever did that, so probably 100% it is what it is as far as musicians go

OldFriends4Sale said:

Thewooh said:

TrivialPursuit said: It's an interesting question though. Either this isn't completely live or there were extra musicians off camera.

I don't Prince ever did that, so probably 100% it is what it is as far as musicians go

Yeah, Prince never seemed shy about having people on stage, so I'd rule out having extra musicians off camera. Besides, given his penchant for adding overdubs onto live tracks to create a better, more fuller sound (ex. Baby, I'm A Star, Purple Rain, All DAy, All Night and It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night), I would bet that's exactly what happened here.

Great piece TrivialPursuit

.

I love those 'transitional' periods, and thinking about what could been.

.

We have the Rasperry Beret video look.

the America video/Nice concert outfits

all combinations of something new, a little Purple Rain, and a little Parade

We don't have any images/film of the 6.7.1985 Masquerade Ball show though

and there was another show they did @ the 7th St Entrance First Avenue we have no images from

We have Prince during the MTV interview a combination of PR pants and ruffled shirt with the tan trench common on the Parade tour.

Also the ATWIAD album preview where he was described as wearing a purple antique kimono and striped pajama like outfit. This was April 21st so he still had the PR hair.

.

I love how cranked the band/sound is on this video. I heard some pieces from the concert and rehearsals and it was electric. Temptation was really cranking.

TrivialPursuit said:

Today, "America" was uploaded to Prince's YouTube channel. As I watched it for the umpteenth time, a few things stuck out to me, and how interesting of a piece of Princestory this video has become over time.

We know the basics. It was filmed in Nice, France, during the filming of Under The Cherry Moon. And while the band wasn't in the movie, most of them did come to France during the filming, always on hand at Prince's whim. (Of course, they're still a group, right?)

It's really a pivotal transition moment for Prince and the Revolution. The Parade era had a very different look than Purple Rain. The costumes were cleaner, simpler, hair was shorter, there was a classy casual feel to the band opposed to the up-to-the-neck jacquard textiles used prior to that. (Although Wendy would still wear some of Prince's outfits it seemed, she also just slapped on a black dress and play her ass off). She was barefoot, giving the whole video a laid-back but we're-gonna-kick-your-ass feel. It felt like they were all in France, barefoot and vaping the fumes of the success of Purple Rain.

"America" had a lot of the past and the future in it.

Prince's pants were still the lacy pants from Purple Rain Tour, yet his trench coat was the camel-hair we saw in the Parade era.

Lisa wore a familiar military style hat that harkened back to 1981/2.

Eric made his debut on the PR Tour, as did Eddie M., and was part of Prince's band for years to come. Eddie was a Sheila E. residual and Eric would be his replacement in the counter-Revolution.

Bobby was still a stand-up drummer literally standing up (an element Prince wanted and the Linn-1 helped with that ability).

While the rest of the band wasn't fully inhibiting their "Raspberry Beret" looks, they hadn't fully graduated to their Parade looks either.
During Prince's drum solo, there even seems to be a hint of "Life Can Be So Nice" in there; a track from Parade.

As quickly as Prince wanted to release ATWIAD after the PR tour, he almost immediately went into the planning stages for UTCM. Yet he still had the foresight to arrange for four singles, and three music videos.

[Edited 7/29/17 12:32pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Great piece TrivialPursuit

.

I love those 'transitional' periods, and thinking about what could been.

and there was another show they did @ the 7th St Entrance First Avenue we have no images from.

Are you talking about the Parade warm up show? Because there is video of that. March 3, 1986.

TrivialPursuit said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Great piece TrivialPursuit

.

I love those 'transitional' periods, and thinking about what could been.

and there was another show they did @ the 7th St Entrance First Avenue we have no images from.

Are you talking about the Parade warm up show? Because there is video of that. March 3, 1986.

This was July 11, 1985

OldFriends4Sale said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Are you talking about the Parade warm up show? Because there is video of that. March 3, 1986.

This was July 11, 1985

AH! I always think it's obvious that we didn't get a lot of ATWIAD stuff because he was already onto Parade & UTCM. Most of ATWIAD was recorded on the PR tour. It's almost like even he didn't have time for ATWIAD. Had UTCM not been a thing, we might have gotten videos for "Pop Life" and a US release for "Paisley Park", or even "ATWIAD". But in retrospect, it feels like Parade's little brother. They go together like SOTT & Lovesexy do.