Hi everyone. So I've finally finished reading Duane Tudahl's magnificent new book 'Prince and the Parade/Sign O’ The Times Era Studio Sessions' and there is a lot of information to disseminate which I'm sure we'll all be doing over the coming weeks and months.

However I just wanted to take a closer look at a few updates / contradictions to things we thought we knew about Prince's albums, and various preliminary projects.

Parade (1st May 1985 configuration)

Up until now many of us were under the assumption that Prince's first attempt at configuring Parade took place on the 1st May 1985 with the following track list...

1. Wendy’s Parade
2. New Position
3. I Wonder U
4. Under The Cherry Moon
5. Others Here With Us
6. Life Can Be So Nice
7. Sometimes It Snows In April
8. Old Friends 4 Sale
9. All My Dreams

... however according to Duane, the 1st May 1985 configuration also included 'Kiss' and an updated version of 'Velvet Kitty Kat'.

1. Wendy’s Parade
2. New Position
3. I Wonder U
4. Under The Cherry Moon
5. Others Here With Us
6. Life Can Be So Nice
7. Velvet Kitty Cat
8. Sometimes It Snows In April
9. Kiss
10. Old Friends 4 Sale
11. All My Dreams

This is mysterious since the former track list has been in circulation on the bootleg market ever since 1987, so what happened to the two missing tracks?

Is it possible that Prince made a work in progress sequence prior to 1st May that didn't include these two extra songs? Possible, although I'd guess this is unlikely since a Prince version of 'Kiss' was completed just before he began work on 'All My Dreams' according to Duane.

Could he have began the sequencing on March 1st (resulting in the creation of a cassette with 9 tracks on it), felt the album needed something extra, pulled 'Velvet Kitty Kat' out from storage, then made a second configuration on the same day that also included 'Kiss'?

Since the creation of Kiss, All My Dreams, Velvet Kitty Kat (revamped) and the Parade sequence were all done at Sunset Sound, the creation of a preliminary compilation should be noted on Prince's paper work. Since it's not mentioned in Duane's book, part of me thinks that the 9 track sequence isn't an authentic complete tape.

Having said that, there is an element of doubt. If you look at the liner notes of the digital only bootleg 'Parade Demos' (2012), it mentions that the source of the collection is a low generation tape, and that the sound quality is the best possible short of an official release. This doesn't state outright that the source was a Sunset Sound studio cassette, but to me it did imply it.

In conclusion, I'm lost with this one. Either Prince did make an earlier 9 track version of the album, or the 11 track version got redacted as it was being traded around. I have no idea which.

I'm leaning more towards the theory that the 9 track bootleg is actually the 11 track version with two songs missing based on the running time. The bootleg comes to around 33 minutes in total, whereas Prince's albums up until this point usually clocked in around 40+ minutes. Having said that, there was an exception with Dirty Mind that was closer to half an hour, so who knows.

The Flesh (22nd January 1986 configuration)

The Flesh is another album where we've assumed that the track list is something different to what Duane has published. On the 2015 Japanese bootleg 'Crystal Ball + The Flesh' (and as currently listed on PrinceVault.com), the sequence for The Flesh album is as follows...

Side A:

Junk Music (19:40)

Side B:

Up From Below (4:49)

Y'All Want Some More? (1:31)

A Couple Of Miles (4:24)

... however according to Eric Leeds, the sequence he came up with was...

Side A:

Junk Music (20:25)

Side B:

U Gotta Shake Something (15:23)

Up From Below (4:57)

Conversation Piece (3:16)

Y’all Want Some More? (1:36)

So what is the story with the sequence that includes 'A Couple Of Miles'? Could it have been an early attempt at 'The Flesh' album? I took a look at the four Flesh tracks from 'Crystal Ball + The Flesh' through the program 'Spek' and it turns out that although 'Junk Music', 'Up From Below' & 'Y'All Want Some More?' all have a consistent spectral pattern, 'A Couple Of Miles' doesn't. So it appears that the sequence on this bootleg isn't an authentic / consistent source. It's something that's been cobbled together after the fact. Also side B is only 10 minutes long, implying that this was never an intended sequence.

Despite this sequence not being genuine, it is worth noting that both 'A Couple Of Miles' along with 'Madrid' were considered for 'The Flesh' album. This may have led to the confusion as to what the final sequence was supposed to be.

Dream Factory (18th July 1986 configuration)

This one is interesting. To my knowledge, the first time the track list for the July 'Dream Factory' was published was by Per Nilson in his 1999 book 'Dance Music Sex Romance'. I did hear rumblings that this may have also been published as early as 1998 in an issue of Uptown Magazine previewing the upcoming book (although I haven't seen this for myself). Either way in 98 / 99 this track list was published as follows...

Side One:

Visions

Dream Factory

Train

The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker

It

Side Two:

Strange Relationship

Starfish And Coffee

Colors

Slow Love

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

Side Three:

Sign O’ The Times

A Place In Heaven

Crystal Ball

Side Four:

The Cross

Last Heart

Witness 4 The Prosecution

Movie Star

All My Dreams

However, in the year 2000 Thunderball released a bootleg Dream Factory album sourced from a cassette tape with a slightly different sequence (same tracks, different order)...

Side One:

Visions

Dream Factory

Train

The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker

It

Side Two:

Strange Relationship
Slow Love

Starfish And Coffee

Colors

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

Side Three:

Sign O’ The Times

Crystal Ball
A Place In Heaven

Side Four:

Last Heart

Witness 4 The Prosecution

Movie Star
The Cross

All My Dreams

Since a tape of the bootleg sequence exists I had assumed that Per had simply made an error in his book. As of right now PrinceVault.com reflects this by listing the Thunderball bootleg sequence as the July 18th configuration. However Duane still insists that the last sequence Prince put together on July 18th was the same as the one published by Per Nilson.

So which one is genuine? In this case it's probably both. According to Duane's book...

"Prince had been assembling the tracks he wanted to include in the updated configuration for Dream Factory. For the first 2 hours of the session, Prince continued working on several of the songs, but at 9:30 p.m., he left the studio for 5 hours. It is possible that he drove around listening to the new structure. If that is the case, he was not happy with what he heard and spent another 6 hours reworking the order and creating segues for several of the tracks."

Since Prince made two sequences of Dream Factory on this day, it's likely both of these sequences are genuine. Of the two, it also appears that Duane is correct that the sequence originally published by Per Nilson is indeed the 'final' one, as it shares more in common with Crystal Ball & Sign O' The Times. Note how in the Per / Duane's list 'Slow Love' is moved to appear after 'Starfish & Coffee', also how 'The Cross' opens the final side rather than appearing later on it. The same is true on both Crystal Ball & Sign O' The Time.


There is so much more in this book to go over, but I'll leave it here for now. Hopefully if I get time I'll be able to post some more of the points I've noted. Once again, a huge 'thank you' to Duane Tudahl'. If you haven't ordered his book yet, please do pick up a copy. It really is an incredible piece of work.

Please share your thoughts and comments. Have a good day everyone.

[Edited 6/18/21 7:03am]

tab32792 said:

After reading the book, I realized a lot of things were more so ideas or tapes made just to get an idea for the flow of things for sequencing. This was a regular practice for him. I didn’t know moonbeam levels was on sott at one point either Dream factory keeps being named by him in the book but Prince never called it that. He just put together a bunch of tapes for listening of his most recent stuff. It never had a catalog number unlike Camille, etc. All of this stuff depends on the source of the info. Duane has access to Eric Leeds who Kept documentation so he could get paid and work orders, etc.

According to Susan Rogers, he tried to fit Moonbeam Levels onto all his albums for several years but never thought it fit.

I always thought it would be perfect for ATWIAD or SOTT.

I really want to hear this updated VKC.

Makes me wish the Parade deluxe was up next.

[Edited 6/18/21 8:00am]

I finished the book yesterday and it was great. There were a few minor errors in it, but nothing major.

In reference to Dream Factory. I believe the Thunderball release is wrongly tracked, even if it came from a legitmate source. I think its that release where, if you listen really carefully at the end of Movie Star you can hear the first note of All My Dreams before it cuts to The Cross.

Databank and I were comparing samples a few months back and one of the versions of Movie Star I had definitely segued into All My Dreams.

So I think Per/Duane are correct.

I can see how that original Parade sequence would flow really well, but also be droll unless he wanted New Position to be the big single.

I guess Kiss, Mountains, G&B, Anotherlover and High Fashion, could have become their own album. Nothing Compares 2 U could have worked on that first configuration and been huge for the soundtrack but he wasn't hearing that hit.

I can't really weigh in on the sequences, but ...
SOTT and Crystal Ball back to back makes sense.
Opening side 4 with The Cross makes sense too.
Moving a ballad like Slow Love to group the more esoteric songs makes sense as does breakng them up.

SquirrelMeat said:

I finished the book yesterday and it was great. There were a few minor errors in it, but nothing major.

In reference to Dream Factory. I believe the Thunderball release is wrongly tracked, even if it came from a legitmate source. I think its that release where, if you listen really carefully at the end of Movie Star you can hear the first note of All My Dreams before it cuts to The Cross.

Databank and I were comparing samples a few months back and one of the versions of Movie Star I had definitely segued into All My Dreams.

So I think Per/Duane are correct.

Hi Squirrel Meat. I've just played the end of Movie Star and the start of All My Dreams a few times with my headphones up as loud as possible and I didn't hear any cross over. I checked both the Thunderball version and the SaTim / Sabotage clean up. No joy on either.

The only version where there is crossover is the PimpSandwhich edition, but he re-tracked that one himself to match the sequence in Per's book.

If you or Databank have another version or something you can show me (a waveform, a spectral, anything) please do as I'd like to know more. If the Thunderball tape was re-arranged I'd like to rule it out as genuine, but everything looks solid as far as I can tell.

LoveGalore said:

I really want to hear this updated VKC.

Makes me wish the Parade deluxe was up next.

[Edited 6/18/21 8:00am]

I'd really like a Parade SDE too. Some of the tracks Prince recording during the album sessions is very intreguing. Evolsidog & Tibet for example. There’s also a period in ‘85 between August and September where he recorded some belters (Splash, Empty Room, Sexual Suicide, Go).

Also it would be the one set where I’d actually treasure the singles edits and mixes disc. Parade had some of my favoriute 12” mixes / extended versions.

Romeoblu said:

I always thought A Couple Of Miles sounded out of place with other tracks on the Flesh album.

Fits better than Coversation Piece.

@VaultCurator,

Thanks for laying this all out. I just finished the book last night and was planning to contact you today to see if you've updated your Dream Factory sequence based on Duane's info.

LoveGalore said:

This is just speculation from me, but the tracks that circulated from c1987 that were used in bootlegs like Charade might be a worktape for Clare Fischer to arrange strings to. This makes sense to me, as Prince may well see no need for strings in Kiss or Velvet Kitty Cat

andrewm7 said:

This is just speculation from me, but the tracks that circulated from c1987 that were used in bootlegs like Charade might be a worktape for Clare Fischer to arrange strings to. This makes sense to me, as Prince may well see no need for strings in Kiss or Velvet Kitty Cat

Wow! I think you might be right. 8 of the 9 songs on that casette had string arrangements, the only exception being All My Dreams. Both Kiss and VKC never had string arrangements according to PrinceVault.com. I think you've solved that one Andrew.

VaultCurator said:

andrewm7 said:

This is just speculation from me, but the tracks that circulated from c1987 that were used in bootlegs like Charade might be a worktape for Clare Fischer to arrange strings to. This makes sense to me, as Prince may well see no need for strings in Kiss or Velvet Kitty Cat

Wow! I think you might be right. 8 of the 9 songs on that casette had string arrangements, the only exception being All My Dreams. Both Kiss and VKC never had string arrangements according to PrinceVault.com. I think you've solved that one Andrew.

VKC with strings would be impossible I think given the frantic boogiewoogie nature of that version.

JorisE73 said:

VaultCurator said:

Wow! I think you might be right. 8 of the 9 songs on that casette had string arrangements, the only exception being All My Dreams. Both Kiss and VKC never had string arrangements according to PrinceVault.com. I think you've solved that one Andrew.

VKC with strings would be impossible I think given the frantic boogiewoogie nature of that version.

-

If strings can be added to Killin at the soda shop then strings can be added to anything

VKC was most likely running too fast

tab32792 said:

Dream factory keeps being named by him in the book but Prince never called it that.

Indeed.

Revolution81 said:

JorisE73 said:

VKC with strings would be impossible I think given the frantic boogiewoogie nature of that version.

-

If strings can be added to Killin at the soda shop then strings can be added to anything

VKC was most likely running too fast

I don't think it's running fast and i think it isn;t pitched because it's a solid A minor blues.
I think this version has so much music blaring that anyyhting Fisher would have added would be drowned out.

Revolution81 said:

JorisE73 said:

Mindbells9 said:

velvet kitty cat is "not so hot" in any form, bring me the katrina's paper dolls re-record and then we'll talk

Mindbells9 said:

The first Dream Factory sequence mentioned by Per Nielsen and Duane Tudahl is the one I have on bootleg CD. I've never heard of the Thunderball release before this thread. I suppose you're right the Thunderball release could have been a work in progress with the Per/duane one being the final configuration.

[Edited 6/23/21 13:24pm]

I agree that the circulating 1 May configuration of Parade may be incomplete because of it's short duration. I haven't yet read this part of Duane's book, but the full 1 May configuration has been believed to be an uncirculating late May configuration. I'll look forward to read along in Duane's book and get all this cleared up. Life Can Be So Nice on the full/late May configuration is longer than the one on the circulating 1 May configuration, and Old Friends 4 Sale is supposedly segued with All My Dreams on the full/late May configuration which they aren't on the circulating 1 May configuration. But it does seem strange that Prince would make a 1 May configuration without Kiss. But maybe the circulating configuration is genuine and Prince later segued Old Friends 4 Sale with All My Dreams to make room for Kiss? If you take the 21 April configuration into consideration, the 1 May and late May configurations seem like natural progressions of a work in progress.

[Edited 6/23/21 13:52pm]

scififilmnerd said:

The first Dream Factory sequence mentioned by Per Nielsen and Duane Tudahl is the one I have on bootleg CD. I've never heard of the Thunderball release before this thread. I suppose you're right the Thunderball release could have been a work in progress with the Per/duane one being the final configuration.

[Edited 6/23/21 13:24pm]

Hi scififilmnerd.

If you have a CD with the sequence in Duane and Per's book then you may have the 'Pimpsandwich' version.

Thunderball released a 'Dream Factory' bootleg in the year 2000 which sounds as if it's sourced from a casette and you can hear the tape noise throughout. (The configuartion being the one where The Cross is the second to last track). In 2002 a cleaned up verison of this tape was released by SaTim, and that edition would later be factory pressed to silver discs on the Sabotage label in 2003 (labeled 'Dream Factory Remastered').

However in 2004 a fan who went under the name 'Pimpsandwich' took this remastered version, made some tweaks to the sound (EQ curve etc) and rearranged the running order to match what was lister in Per's DMSR book.

Enjoy the book. I look forward to hear more of what you make of it.

[Edited 6/23/21 14:25pm]

Mindbells9 said:

lustmealways said:

velvet kitty cat is "not so hot" in any form, bring me the katrina's paper dolls re-record and then we'll talk

This version isn't even mentioned in the book but last year (or the year before.. time flies) a sample of a 'Cosmic Day-like' version of Katrina's Paper Dolls along with re-recordings of Make U Mine and Rearrange was shared to some (plus some stuff mentioned some time ago pon a topic here).

VaultCurator said:

If you have a CD with the sequence in Duane and Per's book then you may have the 'Pimpsandwich' version.

Thunderball released a 'Dream Factory' bootleg in the year 2000 which sounds as if it's sourced from a casette and you can hear the tape noise throughout. (The configuartion being the one where The Cross is the second to last track). In 2002 a cleaned up verison of this tape was released by SaTim, and that edition would later be factory pressed to silver discs on the Sabotage label in 2003 (labeled 'Dream Factory Remastered').

However in 2004 a fan who went under the name 'Pimpsandwich' took this remastered version, made some tweaks to the sound (EQ curve etc) and rearranged the running order to match what was lister in Per's DMSR book.

Oh, I have the Pimpsandwhich version, then. I remember buying two copies around 2005 and giving one of them to Virgo for her birthday.

All these years I've thought it was genuine, so I'm a bit disapoointed to hear it's fanmade. Oh, well.. I've enjoyed listening to it immensely over the years.

I have a 2 CD bootleg with both the fake The Flesh configuration AND Crystal Ball on it. I assume that Crystal Ball configuration is genuine... That the album was leaked in its entirety.

[Edited 6/24/21 5:17am]