I'm loving SotT SDE and the podcast & interviews. I'm sure all of us learned something from this release and roll out. Here's what I learned ... and didn't.

Learned
1. Prince already had the vamp, outro part of Forever in My Life worked out mostly before he even created the album version. I always figured this was something that he developed after he recorded the album version, during rehearsals for the tour.

2. Some of the songs that Prince gave to Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt were really good, but they just didn't match their style. I already knew the latter (style issue), but I hadn't listened to all the tracks prior to this releaes. I Need a Man and Promise to Be True are really good, and Emotional Pump is pretty good, too.

3. Lisa, Dr. Fink, and Levi give great interviews. They're straightforward, funny, and provide cool insights. Matt Blistan is pretty good, too.

4. Prince started editing Crystal Ball down from 3 albums to the 2 albums of SotT within a day of hearing from WB that they wanted it trimmed down. I thought he might have stewed about this for a while or presented his case to others at WB.

5. If Eric or Wendy say something untrue in an interview, it can result in mad fighting among fans. And the person interviewing them didn't even offer a correction or push back.

6. A good remastering of SotT really kicks ass. This release, the vault tracks, and live tracks are mostly awesome.

7. Susannah really cared for Prince, was trying to creat a semi-normal life with him, and tried to give him space for his artistic process.

8. Band members loved Boni Boyer, at least those who have spoken.

DIDN'T Learn
1. How Prince decided which tracks to keep and which to cut when he took it from 3 albums to 2. It's possible that nobody knows this.

2. The development of the individual songs on the official release of SotT, either their writing or recording. I gather that Duane's notes in the book only cover the vault tracks. (I've been streaming the music, so I haven't read the book). And the roll out interviews only barely touchd on this. We learned a little from the two versions of ICNTTPOYM and FIML.

3. What influence various 87-89 band members had over the arrangements and show for the SotT tour. We at least got some idea about Eric's involvement in the horn parts--he did some and Prince did some. It sounds like Matt didn't do any of the horn arrangements, which is interesting. I gather Boni was allowed to improvise her singing some, even in the main shows. I know Cat did a lot of choreography for the Lovesexy tour, but I haven't heard for SotT.

4. How much I would enjoy good sound quality versions of songs that Prince recorded with Levi and Miko in 85 and 86. We didn't get anything from The Flesh sessions, the rehearsal of We Can Funk, or other studio or rehearsal tracks with them.

[Edited 11/18/20 17:47pm]

[Edited 11/18/20 17:59pm]

2. The development of the individual songs on the official release of SotT, either their writing or recording. I gather that Duane's notes in the book only cover the vault tracks. (I've been streaming the music, so I haven't read the book). And the roll out interviews only barely touchd on this. We learned a little from the two versions of ICNTTPOYM and FIML.

yep its totally weird that this isnt in the book.

billymeade said:

I'm sure there's other threads for this. But, we didn't learn anything about Madhouse, Black Album, Sheila"a third album... I get there's an album to sell, but dang, a weekly history podcast about the Prince universe would be awesome.

I was a bit suprised that we didn't hear anything about Madhouse in the interviews or podcasts. I mean, I didn't expect it to be included in the box set, but a mention would've been nice.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Book that big and it has no liner notes for the actual album? Lol

The actual album liner notes are on page 97 of the book.

LoveGalore said:

We didn't learn where Wally got the glasses. I guess we'll never know.

LoveGalore said:

We didn't learn where Wally got the glasses. I guess we'll never know.

LoveGalore said:

We didn't learn where Wally got the glasses. I guess we'll never know.

He got 'em from Billy. You ain't too far gone to see that.

TrivialPursuit said:

LoveGalore said:

We didn't learn where Wally got the glasses. I guess we'll never know.

He got 'em from Billy. You ain't too far gone to see that.

I got two people wit glasses, I don't need 3. So one of these freaky MFers got ta go.

Big surprises for me were:

-some of the tracks I had never even heard of turned into fast favourites.It be’s like that sometimes and Blanche have been on repeat.

-the edit of Soul Psycodelicide is surprisingly effective.

-Who knew that Big tall Wall started out so poppy.

-the full length version of ecalp no neveah is really good

-the full length version of Cosmic day was worth the wait.

.

[Edited 11/20/20 8:24am]

LoveGalore said:

TrivialPursuit said:

He got 'em from Billy. You ain't too far gone to see that.

I got two people wit glasses, I don't need 3. So one of these freaky MFers got ta go.

RJOrion said:

andrewm7 said:

Big surprises for me were:

-some of the tracks I had never even heard of turned into fast favourites.It be’s like that sometimes and Blanche have been on repeat.

-the edit of Soul Psycodelicide is surprisingly effective.

-Who knew that Big tall Wall started out so poppy.

-the full length version of ecalp no neveah is really good

-the full length version of Cosmic day was worth the wait.

It Be's it's really great song, so laid back and lighthearted but full of great lines.

Big Tall Wall version 1 it's so great as well, despite the dark lyrics the melody is upbeat and very close to the one from Teacher, Teacher. Whereas the second version is much more darker and it fits better the lyrics, although I like better the first vrsion.

Nevaeh Ni Ecalp A sounds a lttle bit unsettling and iI love it for it.

Cosmic Day at first I thought it was nothing special, but now it has grown on me so much, I love it know, it has a lot of magic in it. I wish the lyrics were a little better, but the music could have been much better, those guitars are great.

andrewm7 said:

Big surprises for me were:

-some of the tracks I had never even heard of turned into fast favourites.It be’s like that sometimes and Blanche have been on repeat.

-the edit of Soul Psycodelicide is surprisingly effective.

-Who knew that Big tall Wall started out so poppy.

-the full length version of ecalp no neveah is really good

-the full length version of Cosmic day was worth the wait.

Agree that Big Tall Wall, version 1, was a surprise. His creativity actually made me like that song, despite the awful lyrics in the chorus.

controversy99 said:

Agree that Big Tall Wall, version 1, was a surprise. His creativity actually made me like that song, despite the awful lyrics in the chorus.

Amazing song. Received no help from George Harrison or Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, nor any of his mistresses. All the more incredible!

version 1 is bloody awful.

so irritating in its upbeat-ness.

give me the creepy, obsessive, fucked up possessiveness and drum machine minimalism of the second version any day.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

version 1 is bloody awful.

so irritating in its upbeat-ness.

give me the creepy, obsessive, fucked up possessiveness and drum machine minimalism of the second version any day.

Nah, it's a great juxtaposition to the dark subject of the lyrics. I love both versions actually, but Ithink, there's a little more to the version 1 musically.

fortuneandserendipity said:

controversy99 said:

Agree that Big Tall Wall, version 1, was a surprise. His creativity actually made me like that song, despite the awful lyrics in the chorus.

Amazing song. Received no help from George Harrison or Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, nor any of his mistresses. All the more incredible!

Indeed.