.
I come back to this little album so much more often than the more established 'classics'. It has so many good cuts on it...

The Rest of My Life - lighthearted little opener

It's About That Walk - funky little song with great horns and feel.

She Spoke to Me - great riff, the middle section is a little weird, but still cool.

5 Women - GREAT song - one of the best 2

When the Lights Go Down - fucking genius song. this is a tie of best song with 5 women, although i like this one a little better.

My Little Pill - weird interlude, not great, not bad...obviosuly intended for the project these tracks were part of orginall...this one is notable for the line "a pixie does my laundry"???

There Is Lonely - Another fabulous song - great low vocals on display here with choice guitar solo from someone who is not Prince...Levi?

Old Friends 4 Sale - Great. I can hear why people preferred the original version (it had a more desolate, bluesy, soulful feel and rawer lyrics)...but a great song nonetheless.

Sarah - I love this song, for it's simple funkiness. It's like a Stevie Wonder song almost. A throwaway in the best sense - he could do these in his sleep, which is a good thing!

Extraordinary - divine little song. It's lounge, it's jazz, it sounds great on ONA Live (which made me rediscover this studio version). A great little closer.

All in all, a great album, which if anything is too short and leaves you wanting more of the same. Much better than a lot of the "contractual obligation" albums...Who agrees?

ABBA the movie was recorded in Australia.
Nuf said.





Hehehe.

I totally agree with you, it's one of my favorite albums. The songs seem to fit better to eachother than most other Prince albums and I like the organic sound of the album.

Although maybe not his best songwriting, it is still a very pleasant listening experience.

gooeythehamster said:

damn you!

mrdespues said:

I love ABBA, you silly.
And I love YOU, even though you have ignored me lately.
I forgive you.
Now gimme a kiss, you monobrow.
:K:

mrdespues said:

I think all the 'contractual obligation' albums are better than some of his other recent work:

Come
Chaos and Disorder
The Vault



New Power Soul
Rave

When the Lights Go Down is incredible. Extraordinary should have been looonger

antoon said:

co-sign, though of these 3 "The vault" is by far my favourite

You're right.
Only really bad track is "My Little Pill". Was written with one project in mind, and really doesn't work as a stand-alone track.
I would of prefered the original "Old Friends For Sale" though, and some of the lyrics to "There is Lonely" and "The Rest Of My Life" are a bit weak.
But the other tracks are all great !

Not a bad album at all. Tracks 3, 4 and 5 are my faves.

And the breakdown in "She Spoke 2 Me" is one of the highlights of the album (I wouldn't call it weird - just a brilliant exercise in stretching the band out).

That song, When The Lights Go Down and Extraordinary are the best cuts on that album. I can really do without the re-working of OF4S - the original was so cool and heartfelt, the new version is so weak and distant. WTLGD, by the way, is a great test for anyone's hi-fi, if you want to hear how well your system copes with bass, transients and the atmosphere of the tune.

I really like this one too!

This is a fun little companion album to "Crystal Ball". I love odds-and-sods compilations by my favorite artists, and hope there are more random heaps of Vault lovin' on the way.

I completely agree. I like most of the songs on the cd, but I absolutely love "5 Women".

When The Lights Go Down & She Spoke 2 Me = real music from real musicians!

sure - love the album. if only the song "make believe" had not been left out.
but okay - still a killer record.
Of all the tracks recorded with michael b and sonny t - the ones on the vault are my personel favourites. the sound is great, too. pretty dry, sharp and crisp. it`s a fact that everybody played their asses off on TGE, but i don`t like the sound of that record. that`s probably because i prefer a more natural sound. wonderful arrangement for the horn-section on "it`s about that walk".
[This message was edited Thu May 15 8:42:23 PDT 2003 by TonyWilliams]

Could "When the lights go down" be in the top 3 of Prince piano playing?

calldapplwondery83 said:

top 3?
hm. let`s see.

1 how come u
2 venus de milo
3 when the lights

not sure.

what about "sweet baby" when he played it as a duo with michael bland during act1. boy, he played some weird stuff there. that`s when the song started to grow on me.

Yeah - love it too. Didnt pay it much attention when it came out, expept 5 Women which is stunning. But later went back to it and personally prefer it to anything else released since '88, up until TRC. Some great vocals, great organic sound, and a few classic songs. Beautiful. Proved that all that glitters wasn't Gold.

Hmmm? I avoided this album like the plague when it came out.I think Ill go get it now.Thanks for the posts.

PhilG said:

Get it! I was the same way! I only bought it last year and it didn't leave my CD player for months.

The Vault -
One of my favorites!
I just don't care for the "Little Pill" song; really feels out of place on the album- I always skip over it / breaks the mood for me - sounds like something you'd here in a 60's acid coffeehouse

The rest of the album is so

I like to play it for people and have them try and guess who it is. They are always amazed and impressed.
It feel more like what Prince is doing today than some of his other albums - a tiny glimpse into the depth of his talent...

xtraloveable said:

I couldn't agree more, those are my favs, especially "She Spoke 2 Me"

Very nice CD, I agree. Extraordinary is way too short.

Rave66

totally LOVE this album!!! def one of my faves!
c'mon handsclap...try it...you'll like it!

A great album with a FANTASTIC SOUND !

gooeythehamster said:

i'm not ignoring you, goeey...i just haven't been on here much of late...

as for the kiss... perhaps a will suffice?

eh, ok...heh...*runs away nervously*

j/k dude

FunkMistress said:

Yea Phil, GET IT I avoided it for a long time & I regret waiting so long...

It really is a good cd. I do enjoy it. It's different.