Can anyone tell me about those groovy ass instrumentals from the 70s that are attributed to Prince? I'm talking about the untitled ones (usually numbered 1 - 14) that turn up on old boot compilations. Do we know for a fact that these are Prince? I'm curious.

zagnut1813 said:

Either you are talking about the Madhouse sessions, which are numbered 1-16 (not including the 2 different confusing 24 boots), and recorded in 1987, or you are talking about his studio work with 94 East in 1976-1977. They sound like porno music for the most part, and have names. You can buy one of about a billion releases of this stuff if you want. I have a two disc version, one disc with the original released stuff (which I have on a tape that shows it was released in 1984 officially), and the second disc with some other stuff, studio sessions, and a new song or two.

It's ok, I'll throw a song onto mix tape every now and then, but it doesn't see much air time for the most part.

Either that, or there is something that I'm missing? I don't follow most of the boot world, so I dunno.

savoirfaire said:

No ... this is probably not what is being talked about here.

I believe zagnut1813 is most likely talking about instrumental material that Prince recorded early in his career which has not been officially released (i.e. not the 94 East regurgitations. Rather, this other material originated between 1976-7 and included 19 unnamed recordings from different sessions before the recording of For You (which sessions in 1977 also yileded an unreleased, unnamed instrumental. A further 6 unreleased instrumental demos are known to have been recorded in 1978-79 sessions.

langebleu said:
No ... this is probably not what is being talked about here.

I believe zagnut1813 is most likely talking about instrumental material that Prince recorded early in his career which has not been officially released (i.e. not the 94 East regurgitations. Rather, this other material originated between 1976-7 and included 19 unnamed recordings from different sessions before the recording of For You (which sessions in 1977 also yileded an unreleased, unnamed instrumental. A further 6 unreleased instrumental demos are known to have been recorded in 1978-79 sessions.[/quote]

That's right. But I've heard somewhere that there is some doubt about whether Prince is actually on those recordings.

zagnut1813 said:

That's right. But I've heard somewhere that there is some doubt about whether Prince is actually on those recordings.[/quote]I,m in no position to authentic him being on those recordings.

However, for what it is worth, these recordings have been included in Turn It Up 2.0, and such entries are invariably well researched.

The stuff being discussed is most likely 2 be the instrumentals on the Studio Nights bootleg. There is a double CD called 'Sound 80' which on the 2nd disc has 16 (Ithink haven't the boot in front of me!) instrumentals. And another double called 'Untitled' which features 2 untitled instrumentals.
These were packaged with2 discs I passed on at the time. The Rebels sessions (heard some of it but wasn't convinced it was P!) And one of 'boombox' recordings I just didn't like!!
Can't be sure these instrumentals are Prince. They sound convincing though.

Jamademus said:

If you're referring to the 'Studio Nights' set then it's definitely Prince, with the exception of a couple of the more polished instrumentals featured on the Sound 80 disc..

The only early outtake they've left out (because it wasn't circulating until very recently) is something titled 'A capella' (circa 1976). It's not even one minute long, but it now features as a legit outtake on outtake surveys.

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