Dearly Beloveds,

A weird gap in knowledge exists from the Prince Discography from the late 1979 through the early 1981 period, recording-wise.

Looking at the years of 1977, 1978, 1979...and 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, etc., you can see that Prince known output was steadily, incredibly prolific.

But 1980 stands out.

Besides the known songs he recorded for the DIRTY MIND project and it's associated b-side there is very little known to exist. 8 or so songs of DIRTY MIND and 1 b-side (Gotta Stop Messin' About).

Beyond that we know of 8 songs: EROS, WHEN THE SHIT COMES DOWN, I DON'T WANNA STOP (given away to Ren Woods), TOO TOUGH, ROUGH, PLASTIC LOVE AFFAIR, BULGARIA, and LISA.

And Prince at this time was recording in a fury, lightning quick. He sometimes would fully record and mix a song in a day. Hell, DIRTY MIND is essentially an album of demos, on purpose.

Prince in 1980 was touring like he normally did. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But in years like 1979 and 1981 and 1982 when he was touring just as much as he did in 1980 he recorded WAY WAY more songs. For himself and for all sorts of protege projects.

Why is the cupboard for 1980 so bare then?

Where are the songs?

What if there's a trove of unknown songs we have no idea about?

This is pure conjecture ... but I wonder if it isn't as simple as him getting his feet wet as a live artist.

I mean ... we all know the tale of WB thinking he "wasn't ready for prime time" when he did his first showcase in 1979. What if, after he was semi-successful with his second album (enough to give him some breathing room with the label, at least), he consciously put more time into honing his performance chops than recording?

We know he played several concerts in 1980. He probably didn't have the resources to find recording facilities on the road (as he famously did later).

ExTAFKASoladeo1 said:

Dearly Beloveds,

A weird gap in knowledge exists from the Prince Discography from the late 1979 through the early 1981 period, recording-wise.

Looking at the years of 1977, 1978, 1979...and 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, etc., you can see that Prince known output was steadily, incredibly prolific.

But 1980 stands out.

Besides the known songs he recorded for the DIRTY MIND project and it's associated b-side there is very little known to exist. 8 or so songs of DIRTY MIND and 1 b-side (Gotta Stop Messin' About).

Beyond that we know of 8 songs: EROS, WHEN THE SHIT COMES DOWN, I DON'T WANNA STOP (given away to Ren Woods), TOO TOUGH, ROUGH, PLASTIC LOVE AFFAIR, BULGARIA, and LISA.

And Prince at this time was recording in a fury, lightning quick. He sometimes would fully record and mix a song in a day. Hell, DIRTY MIND is essentially an album of demos, on purpose.

Prince in 1980 was touring like he normally did. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But in years like 1979 and 1981 and 1982 when he was touring just as much as he did in 1980 he recorded WAY WAY more songs. For himself and for all sorts of protege projects.

Why is the cupboard for 1980 so bare then?

Where are the songs?

What if there's a trove of unknown songs we have no idea about?

I think a money issue.
Wasn't Dirty mind the last album for his contract and released as is because WB didn't want to put more money in it and just release it, because they already lost alot of money investing in him? And then Dirty Mind kind of blew up in the underground music scene and they renegociated a new contract?

I was thinking exactly the same. Money problems possibly.

When Prince was on the road, he probably could write songs and record it on a cassette recorder, if there was no studio available. This is optional of course and speculation.

Though this is assuming due to his way of working before he recorded his first album.

If so, like that he could've recorded hundreds more, true.

So why there is no mention of them?

-

In 1976 he recorded at his

- Home Studio, quite some, the ones we know of, and he recorded also demo tracks in

- Moonsound, his first studio efforts.

-

In 1976, till summer of 1977, he recorded in

- Sound '80

- Owen Husney's room, plus some more

- Home Studio demos,

- CBS Village recorders,

- Warner's Amigo Studio, and finaly his first album in

- The record Plant in Sausolito (end of 1977).

-

In 1978 he didn't record much according to PrinceVault :

a few songs at

- Home Studio,

- Sound 80, and

- Willie's Home.

-

In 1979 he recorded more, at his own

- Home Studio,

- NY Music Farm Studio,

- LA Alpha Studio,

- Hollywood Sound Records,

- Mountain Ears Studio Colorado.

-

in 1980 he recorded basically only in his own home studio from what we know so far.

And indeed not so much mentioned in PrinceVault :

But you forgot to mention ''Everybody Dance'' (only live recording is know, i presume he recorded it at home too)

-

As you can see from the list in bold, he recorded here and there in different places, and that must've cost money.

That's why I think too it can be a money issue, knowing he wasn't all that popular yet, just like JorisE73 says.

please let me hear Plastic Love Affair

i'm confident soladeo will get to the bottom of this

lustmealways said:

that 40 minute jam of lisa that turns into chocolate halfway through

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

LoveGalore said:

ExTAFKASoladeo1 said:

sorry ma forgot to take out the trash is the greatest album of all time

Jesse Johnson lived at Prince's house in 1980. “What I learned from Prince about the studio was there are absolutely no rules,” Johnson told Wax Poetics (and Soulhead) in 2011. “Stuff people said about spending a million dollars on equipment and going to recording school, he flushed all that down the toilet. When I first moved in, he had garbage speakers and a 16-track board that was made for live sound; it wasn’t even a recording board. The studio itself was just a regular bedroom, but whenever you walked in, Prince was recording some incredible stuff. He always worked in the middle of the night on some vampire shit, but dude knew how to make records.” https://www.soulhead.com/...hedangelo/

mikemike13 said:

lustmealways said:

sorry ma forgot to take out the trash is the greatest album of all time

not sure if yr jokin but i freakin love that album ..

TrevorAyer said:

not sure if yr jokin but i freakin love that album ..

not joking at all but sometimes Sorry Ma and Lovesexy fight for my favorite album of all thyme. people who don't pay attention to early mats just don't get it. complete genius and raw energy start to finish, i've never heard it done better. alex chilton may be my fave song of all time but sorry ma is best album.

lustmealways said:

rudeboy4711 said:

Oooh if they ever decide to release another Originals volume they should add Prince’s original version of Ren Woods’ “I Don’t Wanna Stop”! We need more material from the Dirty Mind sessions!

noice. That track is str8 fiyah, more jammin' than his first two LPs.

LoveGalore said:

ExTAFKASoladeo1 said:

Wha-??! Dirty Mind is for me a Top 5 album. Maybe even a Top 3! It’s a tight, 30 minute punch in the face of punk-edged rock funk take no prisoners. It set the tone for the albums to come, the weird, dangerous, mysterious Rude Boy who perfectly fused soul, R&B, rock, and funk. Anything from this era is amazing. [Edited 3/1/23 12:25pm]

When I was growing up, I was listening to real punk music. I don't think there's much punk in DM. I think all of Prince's punk aesthetic and output is contained in the two albums that followed it. I ain't ever heard a punk band do anything remotely close to Do It All Night. Maybe DM is more New Wave than anything.

It's like post-punk punk sorta, like right smack when it was transitioning to new wave.

Never understood how "post-punk" was really much punk either, or much of The Clash, whom all the punk rockers told me was seminal punk but it seemed like just 70s rock? A lot of punks would proselytize about how punk was about ethics and attitude blahblahblahblah. And they'd rep psychobilly which just seemed like heavier rockabilly. Odd scene. I would have gone more punk rock in my youth if I could get some concrete answers back then.

WhisperingDandelions said:

eye think if yr a punk punk can mean a lot of things .. like stooges and velvet underground are considered pretty groundbreaking to the punks but then you have the clash and the police which both started punky but hit reggae vibes a bit harder .. then again a lot of reggae has that punk attittude .. bob marley even has a song called 'punky reggae' .. a lot of bob marley has that protest fuck the gov vibe going on that punks like .. i don't care for patti smith but she has that power to the people thing and hairy armpits and married a punk so the punx love her .. i fucking hate yoko ono but some dumb punks thinks her fried cat on a hotwire vocals are punk .. lotso stuff like the mats or janes addiction or pixies have the punk tude but really its just good rawknroll .. devo are new wave but the punks love it as they do the cramps which were just strait rockabilly with a goth vibe .. how far off is that narcissiist cunt madonna from say lydia lunch or wendy o williams (not the talk show host) .. not too far .. the brazen sexuality and bondage is all punk ethos .. p onstage in a speedo singing about fucking his sister and banging some chick right before her wedding and mixing it all with politics which in the face of very conservative values was pretty punk at the time .. and of course the fashion .. lets not forget how much time the punks spent on outlandish fashion statements .. prince aint no punk but he got that rude boy new wave attitude that was pretty bold at the time and if elvis costello is punk than so is prince i guess .. but yeah .. bring on the dirty mind vault .. eye love the rawness of that album .. eye go out of my way to find raw soundboards of otherwise overproduced bloated shiney sounding bands .. at least it sounds like real instruments and not some star trek sound effects made on a sampler ..

TrevorAyer said:

well she did pretend to play guitar that one tour and wasn't she in docs?