Might be Prince's greatest blues song.

Love the warmer delivery.

The weirdness of the released one and that drum sound plus all the other quirky things that make it so great also make it a sleeper, but they weren't the things that made that song after all. Love both versions and maybe I'm overly exited but this could have been a huge hit and Prince held it back for the moodier one.

We're so lucky we got this.

[Edited 8/27/20 11:28am]

lavendardrummachine said:

Might be Prince's greatest blues song.

Love the warmer delivery.

The weirdness of the released one and that drum sound plus all the other quirky things that make it so great also make it a sleeper, but they weren't the things that made that song after all. Love both versions and maybe I'm overly exited but this could have been a huge hit and Prince held it back for the moodier one.

We're so lucky we got this.

[Edited 8/27/20 11:28am]

YES - THIS! Can you imagine if the rest of the album had this feel?

If heard it through the direct link, but I'm getting the impression I'm not the only one finding that the search on You Tube doesn't work for them.

If I go to the official page or do a direct search for this or the 2 version of Witness, they do not show in an search result.

It moved me, it's beautiful, I love it.

The sort of nugget that gives a fascinating insight into the creative process. The song starts life as this cute, twangy little number, in which a somewhat busy track rather crowds out the interesting juxtaposition of the drum machine and the acoustic guitar during the song section; and the instrumentation is warmer, but less distinctive, and more conventional - dare I say, a tad corny? I wondered if his blithe and bluesy way of hitting the 'la-da-da' bits was him straining to avoid it all getting too saccharine. Still, it's packed with feel in the latter half, thanks to the gorgeous acoustic guitar work.

Then, somewhere along the way, he revisits it, pares it right down, leaving with just the sparse rhythm track offset against a beautifully sincere, rich and heartfelt vocal. I wonder whether that decision came before the vocal session that birthed the off-kilter backgrounds, or if the 'happy accident' with the tape was the butterfly that flapped its wings to initiate a reworking of the whole track. It's remarkable how he goes all-in with the new feel, anyway, stripping out all but the coolly delivered under-layers of the vocal arrangements and pushing these up in the mix, to add these odd textures in the space between the rhythm and the words. Then the acoustic guitar, so integral to the original track, is all but silenced, and just used sparely in the coda. It's so distinctive - and what extraordinary discipline and artistic assuredness to realise it.

And, to give the whole story a happy ending, the warmer and more earthy blues/gospel feel finds a new home in the live version, where the song gets transformed from an intimate proposal to something more outgoing and impassioned, with the whole choir of kooks belting it out in harmony.

I tell you, you don't get that GOAT mantle easily.

Number23 said:

Not what I expected at all. Actually reminds me of some of the more conservative material on his earliest albums, clean production reminiscent of the alternative version of HCUDCMA on 1999 deluxe. It’s beautiful. Full of joy - and, rarely for Prince, without any cynicism, sarcasm or knowing wink. I get why he did what he did with it for SOTT - and that’s magnificent in its own way (particularly the ‘dawn’ light-after-the-darkness the acoustic guitar provides right at the end on the fade. That fact this version is so warm all the way through is a revelation. My totally unsubstantiated theory is that his undying love for SM had soured slightly before the release of SOTT and he felt this version was too straight. He had to skew it, to match his true feelings. Maybe there’s a ‘skewed’ avant guard version of Adore in the vault lol.

I like this interpretation.

People would often cite the album version as this apex of committment and devotion, refer to how it has been used as a wedding song and the like... To me, it's always been a little too askew musically, forget lyrically, to be to me what everyone else seemed to feel about it.

Now this, this I could see played at a wedding personally selected by both bride and groom equally. It's just sweet for everyone, all ages, everyone could enjoy this as just a pure sweet song with no reservations. While the album version is certainly more artistic and unique, this makes me feel for the song's sentiment what everyone else has always tried to argue was the central message.... It's not cold, it's not stark, it's just direct and genuine... the other version is almost like a "Something in the Water" but more esoteric... it's the superior art but for me this is the superior song.

[Edited 8/27/20 15:26pm]

SquirrelMeat said:

If heard it through the direct link, but I'm getting the impression I'm not the only one finding that the search on You Tube doesn't work for them.

If I go to the official page or do a direct search for this or the 2 version of Witness, they do not show in an search result.

It showed up as result #3 when I search "Forever in My Life" no quotations:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=forever+in+my+life

bwaaatch said:

What exactly does 'Early Vocal Run-Through' mean?

Why THAT as a title, rather than 'Early Version' or 'Demo'? Clearly this is not just the album version with a different, embyonic take on the vocals?

Reasonable to assume that it's because that is what's written on the source tapes? Also, is a 'Vocal Run-Through' a standard term in the industry? It feels like it doesn't tell the full story of what this is.

It's been commented on in other threads about how the way the WE might name things and the way that PRINCE might neame things is legitimately different. What is 'early', and what is 'final' any way?

'Early Vocal Run-Through' as a label on a tape iplies it was labelled sometime after being recorded - probably after the finished version was complete – as who knows what 'early' means when you don't know when it was finished …

Not that it really matters how these tracks are called but I wondered the same.

I think it's just Michael Howe making up shit as it comes, trying to excite hardcore fans (and achieving the exact opposite effect) by using whichever knowledge he has of bootlegs and Prince history to make it sound more appealing. Like calling Rebirth "original outro" just to make a point of the fact that this is not the one we have on bootlegs, and this one probably because of the story revealed by Per Nilsen (thru Susan) about how the background vocals were originally supposed to be in synch, etc.

To be honest it sounds very amateurish to me, precisely like bootleg titles. As if any hardcore fan would think "naw, I'm not gonna buy this", then think "oh, no, wait, it's the original outro version of ROTF, dude, I didn't know, take my 200 bucks then!!". Like, seriously Michael?

.

On the other hand the sensible thing to do with P&AM83 would have been to title it Intimate Moments in homage to the old bootleg but it didn't appear to have crossed their mind. I mean seriously, the day they finally release Small Club, would you like them to title it "Live at The Hague, August 19, 1988"? Fuck it, it's the legendary Small Club, call it that way!!

bwaaatch said:

What exactly does 'Early Vocal Run-Through' mean?

Why THAT as a title, rather than 'Early Version' or 'Demo'?

Hopefully the liner notes and/or a pic of the tape box will let us know. I suppose, just conjecture, that it's got the description because this version seems much more non-commitical than the ''feels'' that went into the actual album version; on that, his voice breaks in all the right places, has a more gospel feel, which is something he expanded on the sublime 1987 live version and the oddity of the crazy but right sounding backing vocals; all total Prince.

I am just sad because of two reasons; both version are actual fade-outs and I would have loved, loved, loved to have found out what the extended album version sounds like.

But it's already heaven to hear this version expand and have ties to the extended live work-out.

WhisperingDandelions said:

SquirrelMeat said:

If heard it through the direct link, but I'm getting the impression I'm not the only one finding that the search on You Tube doesn't work for them.

If I go to the official page or do a direct search for this or the 2 version of Witness, they do not show in an search result.

It showed up as result #3 when I search "Forever in My Life" no quotations:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=forever+in+my+life

I got to hear it from the direct link, but on my computer and TV, it doesn't come up on youtube search at all. Same for Witness V2. However, ICNTTPOYM and Witness V1 do.

HamsterHuey said:

bwaaatch said:

What exactly does 'Early Vocal Run-Through' mean?

Why THAT as a title, rather than 'Early Version' or 'Demo'?

Hopefully the liner notes and/or a pic of the tape box will let us know. I suppose, just conjecture, that it's got the description because this version seems much more non-commitical than the ''feels'' that went into the actual album version; on that, his voice breaks in all the right places, has a more gospel feel, which is something he expanded on the sublime 1987 live version and the oddity of the crazy but right sounding backing vocals; all total Prince.

I am just sad because of two reasons; both version are actual fade-outs and I would have loved, loved, loved to have found out what the extended album version sounds like.

But it's already heaven to hear this version expand and have ties to the extended live work-out.

I'm with you.

Everytime a Prince song fades out between 82 and 88, I want to hear the rest.

As this song is an early take, I wonder why they felt the need to fade it. Was it a finished transfer, or did they choose to fade it out. We know how long the live version went on. Did this version match?

Guess we'll never know.

[Edited 8/27/20 17:33pm]

ChocolateBox3121 said:

you forgot the (r.i.p.) after prince (r.i.p.)

lustmealways said:

ChocolateBox3121 said:

you forgot the (r.i.p.) after prince (r.i.p.)

And the 'For' in Forever.

and the 'I' in 'in'.

And an image of what he looked like the week he recorded it.

BEAUTIFUL! Possibly my favourite of the vault tracks for this era released so far. Loving the raw and stripped back feel of this version, it's my preferred version of Prince as a general rule. It's like something from The Truth or One Nite Alone. What a wonderful Friday treat.

Amazing. This should have been the first commercially available single for this deluxe set. There should have been a marketing campaign for it and pushed at radio. I dont even know if radio promotion is a thing anymore but this track should be on the charts.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

HamsterHuey said:

I am just sad because of two reasons; both version are actual fade-outs and I would have loved, loved, loved to have found out what the extended album version sounds like.

Yeah as mentioned there's the live version that gives a sense how long it could go and the intro on the released version and the ending of this are just so good I could listen to it looped. I think 6 minues is about right for this version but this definintely isn't predictable so I hate assuming that.

I forget if Questlove played the live version or regular, or if it was his own mix/edit but the intro sounded much longer than I remembered. Made it sound more complete and majestic.

databank said:

While the first three previews left me happy but somewhat indifferent, this one moved me to tears. It's damn beautiful. As with SITW(DNC) he took a perfectly accessible pop song and weirded it out, and of course that was the right thing to do, but hearing the original intent, WOW!!! Let's rejoice purple brothers and sisters

My thoughts....exactly

duplicate thread. please lock and reopen the original.

Great but the album version is just better.

The 'new' people moaning about Cosmic Day's ''Tralalala'' made me think how Prince uses lalala a LOT in songs, but The Estate's focus on Susannah Melvoin in their promotional material for Forever In My Life made me think; are the ''ladadadadada's'' in Forever linked to the ''oh me la di da's'' on Wally?