I like the lengthy reviews - keep 'em coming!

Having said that, you have also made me really miss the Peach and Black Podcast. I missed those guys doing an in-depth review of SOTT:SDE, and will miss them this time around too.

LILpoundCAKE said:

I was just listening to my old bootleg version of "Letter 4 Miles" and I hope there is perhaps
another tune in that style on the set. A vocal song perhaps with that jazzy vibe?

Because I just realised how incredibly smooth "Letter 4 Miles" would fit on "The Vault OF4S".

I can't wait to add it on my playlist for that album and kick off that stupid version of OF4S,
that has about 4% of the charm of the original version.

Letter 4 Miles...embaressed to say, never listened to this one. It's great....wow. It fits that sound I have loved of Prince's ....sort of 70s jazz/funk....

I can't believe I'd missed this one.

Se7en said:

I like the lengthy reviews - keep 'em coming!

Having said that, you have also made me really miss the Peach and Black Podcast. I missed those guys doing an in-depth review of SOTT:SDE, and will miss them this time around too.

Have you ever listened to The Mountains and the Sea podcast? A husband wife duo that has done a really great job...I loved those P&B guys but, Josh and Christy have done a very good job picking up.

JOsh, like Player (or maybe it was Rob Esse) has an uncanny ability to draw some excellent observations...similarities in songs, or other subtle things.

Se7en said:

I like the lengthy reviews - keep 'em coming!

Having said that, you have also made me really miss the Peach and Black Podcast. I missed those guys doing an in-depth review of SOTT:SDE, and will miss them this time around too.

I've never been asked to do a podcast. The groups who do them seem very insular, however. Maybe I should start my own.

dodger07 said:

TheNumber23 said:

I'm capable of objective criticism too. The Last Dance contains one of the most cringeworthy moments of P's career - and there's certainly been a few. It's an 'at the club' scenario song, perhaps, if I'm being kind, attempting to harken back to Christopher Tracy/Tricky prowling the French Rivera ballrooms. It's essentially a back and forth rap narrarive between P and Tony M. A DJ opens the song stating that it is 'The Last Dance' and that it's clubbers' 'last chance'. P and Tony start scouting the talent before closing time ... Tony clocks a 'slimmy stella' and P, in his sleaziest, trying-so-hard-to-sound-sexy voice replies 'Slimmie slimmie gimmie gimmie'. The rest of the tune is essentially P and Tony going back and forth about certain ladies' attributes over the music of Jughead. It sounds exactly like you think it will.

Cannot fucking wait...

Your dreams have certainly been answered with this one.

LILpoundCAKE said:

very excited already about the reviews of tracks that I haven't heard yet. Streetwalker being the first one, today.

I'll try and get it done tonight.

TheNumber23 said:

LILpoundCAKE said:

very excited already about the reviews of tracks that I haven't heard yet. Streetwalker being the first one, today.

I'll try and get it done tonight.

no rush

JoeyCococo said:

TheNumber23 said:

Yeah, I wrote all that shit for no reason other than to fuck with people. I've got lots of time to waste annoying strangers on the internet.

You just have to ignore some comments…your SOTT SDE vault song reviews were SPOT ON. In fact, when I first contacted you, I told you I had read your review over again and now with those SOTT vault songs firmly ingrained in my head, I appreciated your descriptions even more!! As for Last Dance- I have wondered if some kind of quality control would be exercised in regards to cringe worthiness. Work That Fat was the one I was worried about…

I LOVE Work That Fat. It's hilarious and it's great to hear him have a good time and just enjoy his talent.

TheNumber23 said:

JoeyCococo said:

TheNumber23 said: You just have to ignore some comments…your SOTT SDE vault song reviews were SPOT ON. In fact, when I first contacted you, I told you I had read your review over again and now with those SOTT vault songs firmly ingrained in my head, I appreciated your descriptions even more!! As for Last Dance- I have wondered if some kind of quality control would be exercised in regards to cringe worthiness. Work That Fat was the one I was worried about…

I LOVE Work That Fat. It's hilarious and it's great to hear him have a good time and just enjoy his talent.

Actually, when I first heard of this SDE..i wondered if Work That Fat was going to be on b/c of the subject matter and today's sensitivities. Then I went back to listen. It is indeed a funny song...he always was clever and had such a great sense of humour.

JoeyCococo said:

Se7en said:

I like the lengthy reviews - keep 'em coming!

Having said that, you have also made me really miss the Peach and Black Podcast. I missed those guys doing an in-depth review of SOTT:SDE, and will miss them this time around too.

Have you ever listened to The Mountains and the Sea podcast? A husband wife duo that has done a really great job...I loved those P&B guys but, Josh and Christy have done a very good job picking up.

JOsh, like Player (or maybe it was Rob Esse) has an uncanny ability to draw some excellent observations...similarities in songs, or other subtle things.

No I haven't, but thank you for the tip! I'm going to check them out ASAP.

JoeyCococo said:

TheNumber23 said:

I LOVE Work That Fat. It's hilarious and it's great to hear him have a good time and just enjoy his talent.

Actually, when I first heard of this SDE..i wondered if Work That Fat was going to be on b/c of the subject matter and today's sensitivities. Then I went back to listen. It is indeed a funny song...he always was clever and had such a great sense of humour.

I remember hearing Work That Fat . . . a lot of people didn't think it was really him. But here we are!

It is indeed a funny song if you don't read too much into it. Always reminded me of The Humpty Dance, which was released the year prior to D&P.

STREETWALKER

AT one point, most songwriters get round to writing a tune about prostitution. Or sex work, as monetising your genitals is cosily branded these days.

Flip through the sleeves of most catalogue artists and you’ll spot one sooner or later.

We’re all familiar with Roxanne by The Police (with Sting piously condemning a woman for turning on her red light and simultaneously willy-waving his white saviour complex by vowing to rescue her), Brenda’s Got A Baby by 2Pac (a poetic requiem for society’s blinkered ignorance towards the struggle of single mothers) and I’m In Love (Wit A Stripper) by T-Pain (where T-Pain is in love wit a stripper).

It’s not just men either - PJ Harvey’s Angelene, Jezebel by Sade, Lady of the Night by Donna Summer, Joni Mitchell’s Raised on Robbery and Call Me by Blondie are all excellent female-gaze ruminations on why some people are either forced or compelled to sell their bodies to manky desperate strangers.

Even The Corrs had one - ‘Somebody For Someone’. A genius-level social commentary which actually solves the problem of prostitution once and for all so no-one ever has to do it again. Any government sociologists advising senior politicians and lawmakers should give it a stream. Only kidding, it’s shite.

Prince, however - as ever - is an anomaly when it comes to writing about the world’s oldest profession. A quick dash through my memory palace gives up no P songs primarily focusing on prostitution (ones where P portrays himself as a funky and/or brokenhearted gigolo don’t count).

Which makes Streetwalker somewhat unique in his catalogue, now that it is about to see the light of day.

And coincidentally - or perhaps not due to both songs' repeated 'work it' whispered motifs) - Alice Through The Looking Glass could also be perceived as a song about prostitution, inspired by those morally dubious Amsterdam ‘ladies in windows’ who clearly piqued P’s interest on the Nude tour. I think it's likely Streetwalker was recorded as some sort of 'sorbet' to lighten the darkness of its counterpart, to achieve a form of balance/harmony in his musical universe. But we’ll get to Alice on another day.

Streetwalker, like Pain, has its origins in a tune - allegedly - brought to P by Rosie Gaines in 1990. He then took ownership, re-recording the song from scratch in his own inimitable manner. According to PrinceVault, it was written by Rosie in 1989 - hopefully the D&P Deluxe Edition linear notes will provide some clarification on this … but I doubt they will. PrinceVault also speculates P ‘may have played on the track’. I can conclusively reveal that P likely plays every single fucking thing on this track. And sings all the (many, many, many) vocal lines.

To my ears, it’s a clear one-man-band P recording - one which musically evokes Purple Music (that prominent emergency room electro-pulse bassline is immediately reminiscent of it) and also Trust with its urgent, frantic pace and whirling devil-may-care euphoric dervish. Dawn of the Morning Comes also flashed in my mind during repeated listenings - it's rich with fevered gospel stylings throughout, P’s unique intonation and alien harmonies to the fore.

It’s all a definite nod towards his Controversy/1999 period but there’s a sophistication on display here that P utilises to keep an observational coldness on his subject matter - although the vocal performance is a passionate and forthright one, almost entirely sang in sassy falsetto with moreish multi-track harmonies.

Its many sonic easter eggs truly reveal themselves on good headphones - he’s having fun, referencing his illustrious past in a multiple of manners for his own amusement. It almost feels like voyeurism - which is maybe too deep a take on what he was intending to convey musically with a song about a prostitute but it’s fun to speculate that was the intent.

The song begins with fast feminine-sounding heavy panting very deep in the mix (only heard it on headphones). It sounds like P psyching himself up to get into the vibe of the song. Streetwalker is not a typical D&P-style production - it’s a fully fleshed song but with a minimalist soundscape, everything has sharp clarity and there’s little reverb/effects post-production on the instrumentation. It’s raw, ready and all the better for it.

Silence. A drum roll builds up, like a circus coming to town, then a high pitched ‘Aow!’ signals a minimalist electro techno-funk bassline built round a repetitive three note structure - it’s extremely funky. Like I say, think Purple Music. A stuttering snare finds the pocket instantly and the bass drum hits HARD and FAST. We now have the fundamental groove to layer some icing on - it’s a runaway train, but controlled, steam powered on mathematical gas … an outrageously fast bpm designed to get the head nodding and arse cheeks twitching. Then P enters, whispering …

Work it baby
Work it
Work it baby
Work it

Again, a fairly obvious homage to Let’s Work but it, well, works. A Brown Mark-style ‘rumbling’ bass line is then layered with what sounds like a processed piano hitting simple minor key five note hook (that is is so deep and low it acts as another bassline really, similar to the The Max’s main piano hook) which is then mirrored by the same playful motif this time played by what sounds like a Fairlight keyboard patch in a major key - it’s a call-and-response musical refrain that will remain the song’s anchor.

Silk stockings, lipstick red
Fire burning in her head
Her arms are open
But her heart is cold
If you got the money - SOLD!

Then the hi-NRG church revival, preacher-man style four-track falsetto harmony chorus:

To the streetwalker
It’s just a 9 to 5
Streetwalker
Tryin’ to stay alive
Streetwalker
Used to be my friend
Streetwalker
Are you gonna get down again? HEY!
Let’s talk about it

In the next verse, things become clearer. It transpires this girl was once ‘P’s best friend in Sunday School’ where he ‘tried to save her’ but ‘she broke the rules’. The soul man/JB gasps and gospel vocal extortions at the end of each line hit hard.

The groove maintains it relentless juggernaut beat but then suddenly breaks down to leave space for a wonderful and florid P piano solo - I’d wax lyrical about what I think he’s trying to convey with it but you’ll have your own ideas … it’s chaotic, sexy, has a menacing undertone but it's sure of itself. This girl clearly doesn’t care about P’s piousness.

He then enters under the last bar of the piano solo with a stunning multi-tracked gospel vocal harmony that sounds like a righteous wind wailing around the walls of a house of sin … before another piano solo, more jazzier and flashier this time without the sinister blue notes … maybe P is coming round to her way of thinking. Certainly seems to be the case as he whisper-pants again:

Work it baby
Work it
Work it baby
Work it

Those righteous, yet non-judgemental wailing wind multi-track harmonies enter again over the solo,

‘Streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalker’

It’s heaven offset by hell - that pounding bassline, the pulse of illicit passion, not fucking giving up one inch to attempted purification.

Then, a joyous musical turnaround on piano and bass, which breaks down to the drums alone … over which we are now introduced to Prince’s snarling baritone, all attitude and spite, speak-singing:

A man in waiting
Without a name
Some lonely John or ‘hurry up’
It’s all the same
No love or passion
Left for her to show
If you got the money
If you got the money
If you got the money
If you got the gold
SOLD!

It all gets too much for P at this point and he lets loose a huge - yet pure, crystalline, yearning - falsetto proclamation to the heavens as that musical ‘turnaround’ on piano and bass repeats continuously underneath, working P into a Tambourine-style wordless hysterical dervish on the insane multi-tracked vocals. Harmonic screaming brings us back into the verse, where P asks the girll to 'look in the mirror' (looking glass?) And pleads, asking if they they 'can talk about it?’. But, eventually, despite his best efforts, he concedes it’s hopeless:

So if you got the gold
SOLD!

One final burst of the high-octane chorus is concluded with a seismic primal scream ... and a new element is added as the song fades, a wildly funky heavily processed funk guitar line, again harkening back to an earlier era. It adds a playful element to the groove, playing out as the song ebbs from view ... as the streetwalker heads off into the night once again.

[Edited 9/21/23 16:43pm]

Considering the mediocre quality of "Schoolyard", him not releasing it is understandable.

TheNumber23 said:

STREETWALKER

AT one point, most songwriters get round to writing a tune about prostitution. Or sex work, as monetising your genitals is cosily branded these days.

Flip through the sleeves of most catalogue artists and you’ll spot one sooner or later.

We’re all familiar with Roxanne by The Police (with Sting piously condemning a woman for turning on her red light and simultaneously willy-waving his white saviour complex by vowing to rescue her), Brenda’s Got A Baby by 2Pac (a poetic requiem for society’s blinkered ignorance towards the struggle of single mothers) and I’m In Love (Wit A Stripper) by T-Pain (where T-Pain is in love wit a stripper).

It’s not just men either - PJ Harvey’s Angelene, Jezebel by Sade, Lady of the Night by Donna Summer, Joni Mitchell’s Raised on Robbery and Call Me by Blondie are all excellent female-gaze ruminations on why some people are either forced or compelled to sell their bodies to manky desperate strangers.

Even The Corrs had one - ‘Somebody For Someone’. A genius-level social commentary which actually solves the problem of prostitution once and for all so no-one ever has to do it again. Any government sociologists advising senior politicians and lawmakers should give it a stream. Only kidding, it’s shite.

Prince, however - as ever - is an anomaly when it comes to writing about the world’s oldest profession. A quick dash through my memory palace gives up no P songs primarily focusing on prostitution (ones where P portrays himself as a funky and/or brokenhearted gigolo don’t count).

Which makes Streetwalker somewhat unique in his catalogue, now that it is about to see the light of day.

And coincidentally - or perhaps not due to both songs' repeated 'work it' whispered motifs) - Alice Through The Looking Glass could also be perceived as a song about prostitution, inspired by those morally dubious Amsterdam ‘ladies in windows’ who clearly piqued P’s interest on the Nude tour. I think it's likely Streetwalker was recorded as some sort of 'sorbet' to lighten the darkness of its counterpart, to achieve a form of balance/harmony in his musical universe. But we’ll get to Alice on another day.

Streetwalker, like Pain, has its origins in a tune - allegedly - brought to P by Rosie Gaines in 1990. He then took ownership, re-recording the song from scratch in his own inimitable manner. According to PrinceVault, it was written by Rosie in 1989 - hopefully the D&P Deluxe Edition linear notes will provide some clarification on this … but I doubt they will. PrinceVault also speculates P ‘may have played on the track’. I can conclusively reveal that P likely plays every single fucking thing on this track. And sings all the (many, many, many) vocal lines.

To my ears, it’s a clear one-man-band P recording - one which musically evokes Purple Music (that prominent emergency room electro-pulse bassline is immediately reminiscent of it) and also Trust with its urgent, frantic pace and whirling devil-may-care euphoric dervish. Dawn of the Morning Comes also flashed in my mind during repeated listenings - it's rich with fevered gospel stylings throughout, P’s unique intonation and alien harmonies to the fore.

It’s all a definite nod towards his Controversy/1999 period but there’s a sophistication on display here that P utilises to keep an observational coldness on his subject matter - although the vocal performance is a passionate and forthright one, almost entirely sang in sassy falsetto with moreish multi-track harmonies.

Its many sonic easter eggs truly reveal themselves on good headphones - he’s having fun, referencing his illustrious past in a multiple of manners for his own amusement. It almost feels like voyeurism - which is maybe too deep a take on what he was intending to convey musically with a song about a prostitute but it’s fun to speculate that was the intent.

The song begins with fast feminine-sounding heavy panting very deep in the mix (only heard it on headphones). It sounds like P psyching himself up to get into the vibe of the song. Streetwalker is not a typical D&P-style production - it’s a fully fleshed song but with a minimalist soundscape, everything has sharp clarity and there’s little reverb/effects post-production on the instrumentation. It’s raw, ready and all the better for it.

Silence. A drum roll builds up, like a circus coming to town, then a high pitched ‘Aow!’ signals a minimalist electro techno-funk bassline built round a repetitive three note structure - it’s extremely funky. Like I say, think Purple Music. A stuttering snare finds the pocket instantly and the bass drum hits HARD and FAST. We now have the fundamental groove to layer some icing on - it’s a runaway train, but controlled, steam powered on mathematical gas … an outrageously fast bpm designed to get the head nodding and arse cheeks twitching. Then P enters, whispering …

Work it baby
Work it
Work it baby
Work it

Again, a fairly obvious homage to Let’s Work but it, well, works. A Brown Mark-style ‘rumbling’ bass line is then layered with what sounds like a processed piano hitting simple minor key five note hook (that is is so deep and low it acts as another bassline really, similar to the The Max’s main piano hook) which is then mirrored by the same playful motif this time played by what sounds like a Fairlight keyboard patch in a major key - it’s a call-and-response musical refrain that will remain the song’s anchor.

Silk stockings, lipstick red
Fire burning in her head
Her arms are open
But her heart is cold
If you got the money - SOLD!

Then the hi-NRG church revival, preacher-man style four-track falsetto harmony chorus:

To the streetwalker
It’s just a 9 to 5
Streetwalker
Tryin’ to stay alive
Streetwalker
Used to be my friend
Streetwalker
Are you gonna get down again? HEY!
Let’s talk about it

In the next verse, things become clearer. It transpires this girl was once ‘P’s best friend in Sunday School’ where he ‘tried to save her’ but ‘she broke the rules’. The soul man/JB gasps and gospel vocal extortions at the end of each line hit hard.

The groove maintains it relentless juggernaut beat but then suddenly breaks down to leave space for a wonderful and florid P piano solo - I’d wax lyrical about what I think he’s trying to convey with it but you’ll have your own ideas … it’s chaotic, sexy, has a menacing undertone but it's sure of itself. This girl clearly doesn’t care about P’s piousness.

He then enters under the last bar of the piano solo with a stunning multi-tracked gospel vocal harmony that sounds like a righteous wind wailing around the walls of a house of sin … before another piano solo, more jazzier and flashier this time without the sinister blue notes … maybe P is coming round to her way of thinking. Certainly seems to be the case as he whisper-pants again:

Work it baby
Work it
Work it baby
Work it

Those righteous, yet non-judgemental wailing wind multi-track harmonies enter again over the solo,

‘Streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalker’

It’s heaven offset by hell - that pounding bassline, the pulse of illicit passion, not fucking giving up one inch to attempted purification.

Then, a joyous musical turnaround on piano and bass, which breaks down to the drums alone … over which we are now introduced to Prince’s snarling baritone, all attitude and spite, speak-singing:

A man in waiting
Without a name
Some lonely John or ‘hurry up’
It’s all the same
No love or passion
Left for her to show
If you got the money
If you got the money
If you got the money
If you got the gold
SOLD!

It all gets too much for P at this point and he lets loose a huge - yet pure, crystalline, yearning - falsetto proclamation to the heavens as that musical ‘turnaround’ on piano and bass repeats continuously underneath, working P into a Tambourine-style wordless hysterical dervish on the insane multi-tracked vocals. Harmonic screaming brings us back into the verse, where P asks the girll to 'look in the mirror' (looking glass?) And pleads, asking if they they 'can talk about it?’. But, eventually, despite his best efforts, he concedes it’s hopeless:

So if you got the gold
SOLD!

One final burst of the high-octane chorus is concluded with a seismic primal scream ... and a new element is added as the song fades, a wildly funky heavily processed funk guitar line, again harkening back to an earlier era. It adds a playful element to the groove, playing out as the song ebbs from view ... as the streetwalker heads off into the night once again.

[Edited 9/21/23 16:43pm]

Keep them coming...don't know anything about thsi one but, that feels like my first listen:)

JoeyCococo said:

Keep them coming...don't know anything about thsi one but, that feels like my first listen:)

yes, indeed, it almost feels like a first listen.

TheNumber23 said:

Number23..where are you my man/woman. It's been 5 days since Streetwalker....

My Tender Heart came out 4 days after Schoolyard.

Pain came out 2 days after My Tender Heart.

Streetwalker came out 2 days after Pain.

Now, 4 days and counting!!

A friend of mine, a music critic, listened all the vault tracks (except the live disk) and was generally not impressed from the tracks. As we know it is far less interesting and esperimental era than Sign O The Times, for example. Anyway, he described Pledge Allegiance To Your Love as an elegant blues, one of the best tracks on the Vault cds.

themanfromneptune said:

A friend of mine, a music critic, listened all the vault tracks (except the live disk) and was generally not impressed from the tracks. As we know it is far less interesting and esperimental era than Sign O The Times, for example. Anyway, he described Pledge Allegiance To Your Love as an elegant blues, one of the best tracks on the Vault cds.

The music critic....can...kiss my ass. Haha. We already know there are gems on the set...

If someone is not impressed with Open Book, I have to question their appreciation for music. We know of Get Blue, Standing at the Alter, Pain and My Tender Heart. We just heard via the leaks, some more awesome stuff...Blood on the Sheets, a killer and aforementioned My Tender Heart, Something FUnky THis House Comes... the critic mentions how good Pledge Allegience is.

It's Prince...he was a music adventurer and so, you're not going to love every place he visited. If you love music, sometimes getting something like the songs mentioned are worth some less worthy cuts.

JoeyCococo said:

themanfromneptune said:

A friend of mine, a music critic, listened all the vault tracks (except the live disk) and was generally not impressed from the tracks. As we know it is far less interesting and esperimental era than Sign O The Times, for example. Anyway, he described Pledge Allegiance To Your Love as an elegant blues, one of the best tracks on the Vault cds.

The music critic....can...kiss my ass. Haha. We already know there are gems on the set...

If someone is not impressed with Open Book, I have to question their appreciation for music. We know of Get Blue, Standing at the Alter, Pain and My Tender Heart. We just heard via the leaks, some more awesome stuff...Blood on the Sheets, a killer and aforementioned My Tender Heart, Something FUnky THis House Comes... the critic mentions how good Pledge Allegience is.

It's Prince...he was a music adventurer and so, you're not going to love every place he visited. If you love music, sometimes getting something like the songs mentioned are worth some less worthy cuts.

.

I think my friend put the d&p outtakes in the in the broader musical panorama of the nineties. I'm loving many of the tracks that have come out so far but I know that part of my opinion is distorted by the fact that I adore Prince. I can understand that a critic who has listened to much more material than me and much more heterogeneous than me might be less impressed. For example, he found that inside there were several new jack swings that were also poorly produced. He's also a critic who says he's anxiously awaiting the release of Parade SDE, so he loves a certain more musically fortunate period in his own right.

ok, fair....I am no fan of that New Jack Swingy attempts Prince makes during this era. Just listened to Hey U and, well, don't love that sound. It's the 1st time I'd heard Prince sound...like others fairly blatantly.

Whatever the case, loving many of the songs I've heard....

JoeyCococo said:

JoeyCococo said:

ok, fair....I am no fan of that New Jack Swingy attempts Prince makes during this era. Just listened to Hey U and, well, don't love that sound. It's the 1st time I'd heard Prince sound...like others fairly blatantly.

Whatever the case, loving many of the songs I've heard....

.

BTW I also asked about the end of Live 4 Love and he told me the track is very long, ~ 8 minutes, with different rap inside. I don't think it is the same The Flow '90 I heard some times ago because my friend told me the last rap is sung by Prince (a good rap he said).

I think it is easy to forget, the man passed 7 years ago and we are still benefiting from his work. He still blows us away with each release. Who else can do this? So critics should keep this firmly in mind, there is no one who has left this much first rate material....

I’ll be keeping these a little less epic from now on … I’ll attempt to anyway. I suspect the entire set will leak soon so it’d be nice to get through everything before that happens and renders this thread redundant. Same thing occured with SOTT and W2A, so I’ll step on the gas from here. Darkside tomorrow.

LAURIANN

Lauriann enters with the same sensual exhalation of horny breath as Soft & Wet and countless other Prince songs, then it’s countered with a bright, bold, nursery rhyme do-do-do-do vocal hook - perhaps too sickly sweet for some.

Yet, it’s genuinely intriguing, and a poppy, pleasingly crunchy guitar riff underneath introduces the listener to the true soul of this warm, welcoming, loose, wide-open-space, ramshackle (deliberately, obviously) production, which highly likely started out as a solo stylistic exercise. It’s certainly a refreshing sorbet between other more ambitious, yet less nourishing, courses recorded in the same time period.

Perhaps it was simply P taking some time to recalibrate and defrag with a superficially simple rockabilly homage spiked with loose humour and some slyly revealing insight into the drawbacks of superstardom. I’m sure it offered him a gasp of creative fresh air. On this set, it certainly feels like someone’s opened a window - such groovy, playful, leathered-up, 50’s-style quiff-fronted rock n’roll is truly the antithesis to some of the more claustrophobic, cluttered and overly-polished modernistic productions of the GB/D&P era.

And perhaps P surprised himself with the quality of the song - it’s inspired and brightly energetic - certainly superior to similar creative exercises in this style that weren’t intended for any particular album, for instance the faster-paced ‘You’re All I Want’.

As ever with P, it’s an alchemic hybrid of a tune - deceptively simple on the first listen, but repeated spins reveal an embarrassment of sonic treasures, namely its complete absorption of numerous white archetypes and cliches, welded together so smoothly and cohesively that you can’t see the joins or rivets, like something familiar yet unfathomable in Hangar 18 at Groom Lake, Nevada.

So what is Lauriann? A rock song? Not really. Guitar-orientated, yeah, but it’s light on its feet, power-poppy, spiky, new-wave, punky rockabilly with an early Elvis Costelloy/Knacky crunchy garage rock groove with some psychedelic flourishes, bubblegum When U Were Mine-style harmonies and a truly rousing, exhilarating chorus that was built for arena singalongs.

Highlights: for me, when P sing-speaks ‘Like the rhythm of her walk/Like a tom-tom talkin’ and a lead guitar line cheekily enters the fray, way down in the mix, emulating some imagined swagger and wiggle. It’s playful, not pervy. Like a secret smile.

Also, the playful, word-caressing, impish hip-thrusting bridge - I absolutely love the vocals and jerky, serpentine groove, it’s that old-school 50’s hiccupy delivery in his voice, somehow simultaneously taking the piss and yet still utterly serious in intent.

Honey, what’s on your mind?

I also dig the sugar-sweet background ‘aaaahhh aaaahhh’ harmonies as the second bridge kicks in. They’re Grease as hell, a masterclass in 50s biker bravado. They sound like a light switching on, entering along with the line ’Every now and then/She would pet the dolphin’ (That’s a wild guess at the lyric and highly likely inaccurate) and then P even vocally emulates does that old-time stutter singing: ’She was t-t-t-t-t-touchin’ ma soul!'

It’s a professor of musicology brewing up a beaker of pre-60s white guitar music, downing it then vomiting up a whole new universe of possibilities from the same ingredients, much like the turtle we’re all riding on through infinite space-time.

Midway through the song, P watches two people get married:

One of them souls should have been me Lauriann

The other one should have been you

A wonderful ‘eee ooooo’ harmony which kicks in during the third chorus tickles the spinal cord/chord, it’s cute, clever, girl-group yet not overly saccharine … sweetening the roughness of P’s increasingly intense lead vocal on the chorus.

A minor descending chord sequence then lightly darkens the tail end of said chorus, with P warning Laurianne that this passion will not last forever, and that the reason he finds her worthy of his affections is that she treats him as a ‘human’. This is clearly a down to earth girl who takes no shit - and, for now, P’s digging her lack of reverence. It’s not like him. For me, it’s also interesting to hear P refer to himself as a ‘superstar’. Perhaps for the first time since ‘Baby I’m Star’. Was regaining his pop crown on his mind?

Closing the fourth chorus, P then jumps the octave with his full chest voice and belts: ‘You’re the only one that treats me like a human!” It strikes a different tone this time, slightly tortured, desperate … but before we think this song is about to get to heavy, P turns the tables with a funkily psychedelic middle eight.

Last time I heard you were looking twice as fine

Twice as fine as you did on the day we said goodbye!

And as that final, exhilarating chorus kicks in one last time, P then plugs the power-pop rock ecstasy into the mains as his background vocals jump the octave in full head voice, singing along with the multi-tracked main lead line in a delicious, joyous high harmony. It’s as commercially killer a chorus as Raspberry Beret - and it’s little wonder he kept working at this song through various incarnations.

Lauriann concludes with the eponymous protagonist’s name sang in full gospel style, multitracked to the max, taking her holy memory to the church, perhaps she was just what had he had been praying for - then signs off with a crunching, deeply-reverbed single guitar chord, leaving us shaking in its reverberations, in its wake … clearly P is still alone. And Laurianne is gone.

He had something special here, undoubtedly. This human, this superstar.

[Edited 9/25/23 17:06pm]