Much better than version 1. It would be even better without the horns.

NME01 said:

There’s a lot of discovery for us boot fans who were not in the ‘exclusive trader club’.

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This version has been on boots for 30 years.

https://www.facebook.com/...764198327/

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https://twitter.com/princ...0244766721

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https://www.instagram.com...166kjFE2t/

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SquirrelMeat said:

I know its a minority view, but I've always much preferred this version.

same here

I like this version much better.

Is this the first instance of that muted keyboard bass sample and other noise/samples that sound like a Bontempi keyboard (songs like; The Line (early version), Cookie Jar, American in Paris etc). I love it though!

[Edited 8/14/20 3:38am]

It's interesting how many people prefer the unfinished guitar only version, I can hear why as well, the horns and extra vocals aren't necessarily needed, I wonder why Prince didn't think this though.

I suppose when you think of all the tracks in Parade that had loads of orchestration added and then mostly removed for release, we'll never know what a final version might have sounded like. Maybe a few backing vocals and keys or the odd horn stab but nothing full on? hmm

[Edited 8/14/20 4:09am]

lavendardrummachine said:

This could be renamed the "See how tape traders aren't experts?" version.

Did I miss something?
Did someone claim something about this widely circualting on bootlegs version that wasn;'t true?
I think when it leaked in teh 90's it came with a disclaimer that it was speeded up and most tape traders corrected it when they traded the tapes (I used to be one, I didn;'t buy many bootlegs but traded them on tape, unfortuantely I never got any uncirculating stuff, but I have the speeded up version and this exact version on different tapes.)

heymistermusic said:

dupe

Oh so when he posts a dupe it get's stickered. I see how this works.

I don't run this joint... but I can clearly see that https://prince.org/msg/7/463987 was first posted on 08/10/20 10:11am , and this post was... you know the rest

IAdoreWeronika said:

heymistermusic said:

dupe

Oh so when he posts a dupe it get's stickered. I see how this works.

JorisE73 said:

lavendardrummachine said:

This could be renamed the "See how tape traders aren't experts?" version.

Did I miss something?
Did someone claim something about this widely circualting on bootlegs version that wasn;'t true?
I think when it leaked in teh 90's it came with a disclaimer that it was speeded up and most tape traders corrected it when they traded the tapes (I used to be one, I didn;'t buy many bootlegs but traded them on tape, unfortuantely I never got any uncirculating stuff, but I have the speeded up version and this exact version on different tapes.)

I'll just leave it at that statement for now.

As for correcting it, you'll notice how many people here only knew of the speedy version.

Most of the speed variations we got happened during the sloppy tape to tape duplication.

idk, guys. the copy i had sounds pretty similar in speed to the released version, if not identical. i have no clue how many differently sourced versions have been circulating so maybe i just happened to find the right one or you all have some old rips.

Giovanni777 said:

Ugh. Definitely not a fan of this version. I'm seeing more and more that Prince was a far better curator for what he released than previously thought!

Although I like this version more than you do, I have to agree with the bolded statement.

lustmealways said:

I don't think this was a very good choice for promo. It's the weaker of the 2 versions, IMO. Of course as a diehard fan I'll be getting this set. But if I were just a casual fan, I doubt this track would spark interest.

lustmealways said:

idk, guys. the copy i had sounds pretty similar in speed to the released version, if not identical. i have no clue how many differently sourced versions have been circulating so maybe i just happened to find the right one or you all have some old rips.

I heard one boot with it at the as of now-confirmed to be correct speed, but I think a lot of bootlegs operated on the assumption that this was a Camille-ified track and ran with it

this version is the best cuz he made it for the HOOD! other version is for the squares who came round Purple rain and after!...Hood was with him from 1978 to 1983.This for the Northside!

whatever that noise is, sounds like it's from a video game, at the "as soon as i'm free i will run to you part" that's cool, that's a cool sound. always loved that.

anyway.

toejam said:

I don't think this was a very good choice for promo.

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Oh for crying out loud, we're getting this now because that exclusive 7" singles set is shipping this week, and this was the only unreleased track on it.

Love love love this version. Version 1 and the one I've heard on a crappy bootleg bored me to death and I'd never get to the end of the track without my mind wandering.

This is like a brand new revelation to me. A different song entirely. Brilliant.

lavendardrummachine said:

JorisE73 said:

Did I miss something?
Did someone claim something about this widely circualting on bootlegs version that wasn;'t true?
I think when it leaked in teh 90's it came with a disclaimer that it was speeded up and most tape traders corrected it when they traded the tapes (I used to be one, I didn;'t buy many bootlegs but traded them on tape, unfortuantely I never got any uncirculating stuff, but I have the speeded up version and this exact version on different tapes.)

I'll just leave it at that statement for now.

As for correcting it, you'll notice how many people here only knew of the speedy version.

Most of the speed variations we got happened during the sloppy tape to tape duplication.

Oh ok.
I heard back then after it was shared on bootlegs that the tape speed thing was delibaerate from the person who sold it to the bootlegger.
Some people here also didn;t seem to understand the whole "versioning" thing and claimed this was "version 3" (with them claiming Witness without W&L and Eric Leeds is version 1 and the released version 1 is version 2 to them)
In another topic here it was explained that Prince didn't version mixdowns with additional tracks on the same song: Witness version 1 as released on SOTT SDE being just that and this re-recording of the song being obviously the version 2 because it was a re-recording.
If Prince did version specific mixdowns of a song he would probably label them as version 0.4 or 1.3 etc. but he ssemingly didn't do that (I used to have some stems from Gojira tracks that were labeled like that.)
But anyway I love to finally have this one in this quality, great track!

Great stuff but my ears are so used to the sped up version.

Good to have this sounding as it should. Of the bunch, Cosmic Day is the winner for me.