i can think of 3 songs that prince released that where far better in their original demo like versions. he ruined "old friends 4 sale". he released an inferior version of "endorphine machine" and his first version of "beautiful strange" was far better in my opinion.

I have a great version of We Can Funk with heavy bass. There's no George Clinton and the whole thing sounds very raw. I prefere it to the released version. I'm with you on the Old Friends for Sale thing. And the original Crystal Ball had that extra bit with the girl talking and the "brothers and sister of the purple underground" bit.
I like the released Endorphinemachine though.

The original segue of "Girl Of My Dreams" (later released by TC Ellis) + Can't Stop This Feeling I Got + We Can Funk is really great.
These were amongst the first outtakes I got about 15 years ago and I still love them.
Everything that was done later to these songs did not make it better.

*All* the demos are better than the released versions; Prince produces his stuff to death in the studio. Especially since '90...

I prefer the early demo version of "Endorphinmachine" to the released version that appeared on 'TGE'.The original version was raw while the released version sounded overproduced.

the unfinished "New Power Generation" sounds better without the loud reverb laden snare smashes... brings out those "horn" lines.

The original Round and Round is much better than the Junior Vasquez boring house remix on Graffiti Bridge.

The original "Cloreen Baconskin" by far. The one that showed up on the "Crystal Ball" set was chopped to bits! It was cut down to only fifteen minutes or something.

unremarkable said:

hell yeah,

love p to death. but the guy doesn't know where to stop. Live 4 love i used to HATE. i just got the demo version. it's great. and as for Let's Go Crazy, Computer Blue - those tracks are incredible in the rough cut.

think about it, he has a studio full of toys, that doesn't have clocks. it must be hard to listen with the ear of an 'outsider'. Which is exactly what a producer does.

off the top of my head...

Open Book
Baby U're a Trip
The Beautiful Ones (with the extended scream)
Something in the Water Does Not Compute (with the piano)

something in the water and elephhants & flowers and also the extended version of electric chair.

The version of RACE that was on the Beautiful Experience video. I love the guitar sound on that one, he never should have changed it.

The original version of Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic with the strings and stuff was better than the released version.

The original Tick, Tick, Bang and Irresistible Bitch are da bomb!

JimmyNothing said:

i agree! i didnt like WeCanFunk too much bfore i heard the demo version. much better. too bad that the sound quality isnt as good.