Prince's own Yo Mister version, which I just recently found, has been on steady repeat for me of late. It's jaw dropping from beginning to end.

I have to wonder though...the tracking was done on November 11, 1986, in between the amazing Sign O The Times material If I Was Your Girlfriend and U Got the Look.

The Camille effect is on Prince's voice. The song is a brilliant social critique. Prince clearly put a ton of nuance into his own version -- it's not a bare-bones demo at all.

To anyone's knowledge, was Prince ever considering his version of Yo Mister on SOTT? I can't find it listed in any formulations, but I'm obsessed with how it fits into the puzzle of his output during that time. Now I keep wanting to hear it sequenced into the second half of the album.

Would be very interested to know your thoughts.

paraded said:

Prince's own Yo Mister version, which I just recently found, has been on steady repeat for me of late. It's jaw dropping from beginning to end.

I have to wonder though...the tracking was done on November 11, 1986, in between the amazing Sign O The Times material If I Was Your Girlfriend and U Got the Look.

The Camille effect is on Prince's voice. The song is a brilliant social critique. Prince clearly put a ton of nuance into his own version -- it's not a bare-bones demo at all.

To anyone's knowledge, was Prince ever considering his version of Yo Mister on SOTT? I can't find it listed in any formulations, but I'm obsessed with how it fits into the puzzle of his output during that time. Now I keep wanting to hear it sequenced into the second half of the album.

Would be very interested to know your thoughts.

To anyone's knowledge, no.

It doesn't mean more tentative tracklists won't be found in the PP archives or the vault, but all that's known to this day is what's listed on Princevault.

On a sidenote, it's a pity the circulating Prince version doesn't have the horns yet. Though those horns are not credited on either the album nor Princevault, I assume they're from Eric (they could be keyboards but it sounds like Eric to me).

databank said:

On a sidenote, it's a pity the circulating Prince version doesn't have the horns yet. Though those horns are not credited on either the album nor Princevault, I assume they're from Eric (they could be keyboards but it sounds like Eric to me).

Thanks for confirming our current tracklist info. That was my suspicion based on scouring Princevault.

But it’s amazing how completely his version locks into the sounds of SOTT. It’s like a secret track. Even the Dream Factory and Crystal Ball tracks that didn’t make it in don’t quite, in my view, have the homogenous flavor of this version.

The airy synth sounds, the buzz-saw guitar, the low-fi keyboards, not to mention Prince’s astounding vocals — he uses that guttural singing style that characterizes Strange Relationship and Dorothy Parker to make this story sound desperate. It fits into that bleak SOTT landscape effortlessly. And that scream of Prince’s toward the end…wow, it's one of the best I’ve ever heard.

Those horns you mention work so well on the Patti LaBelle version. Still I’m really really digging his exit guitar solo prominently mixed in this version too.

[Edited 6/21/18 23:48pm]