Well, mainly I'm just wondering all about Madhouse. I know of it by name, and that it supposedly Prince's jazzier recordings. is this right? Does anyone have any good info on the outfit, and anywhere I can get a reliable discography? I'm interested in checking this out.

In addition, anyone get their 'N.E.W.S.' yet? I went to get it in the UK today, but it's supposedly still not out yet.

FunkATron said:

Two legitimate albums, Madhouse 8 and Madhouse 16 were released in 1987. Sales were poor, and as a result the records and especially the CDs are now very rare.

Madhouse 8 was allegedly all done by Prince, with exception of the horn and sax stuff, done by Eric Leeds.

Madhouse 16 has credits to each instrument, although I am not at home, so I don't have it handy. I believe Prince still played a role in it though.

The songs are titled simply by number, with Madhouse 8 having songs titled 1 - 8, and 16 titled 9 - 16

There were also two singles released, 6 and a half, and ten and a half. These are not variations of the original 6 and ten, but rather totally new songs.

Two versions of 24 were recorded. One song off the second version of 24 can be found on the officially released 1-800-NEW-FUNK CD. Both 24s exist as bootlegs. As well, a lot of the 24 stuff can be heard on Eric Leeds' Times Squared. That's all there is to say

These are the bomb,in my opinion.I never thought sales were poor on these because everybody I knew,at the time,had teh album and in one of Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince's videos ,on the wall,I think "parents Don't UNderstand",you see something about madhouse 16.My understanding is that P played everything except horns,like was earlier said.I think in a few moments,Sheila played a drum part,as on the Times Squared album,which is,basically,another Madhouse record.

If mAdhouse was released by a jazz label instead of Warners or Paisley,it would have been considered a huge success.Black college bands everywhere played versions of "8".

A few clarifying points on savoirfaire's information:

There were 3 different singles: Six, Ten and Thirteen. The 12"s each included extended remixes (Six was called The End Of The World Remix, I think the others were just called Remix). Each single (both 7" and 12") included b-sides: Six And 1/2, Ten And 1/2, and Thirteen And 1/4 respectively.

I don't remember the instrumentation completely, but I think Prince played everything on 8, except the sax by Eric Leeds. On 16, I think it was the same except for Sheila E playing drums and percussion on a few tracks. I may be wrong here, though. As for the first version of 24, I'm not sure who else might have played.

8 and 16 also included dialogue segues between tracks taken from The Godfather Part II movie.

Only an edit of one of the 1988 Madhouse 24 album, called 21-24 (The Dopamine Rush Suite) was heard on Eric Leeds' Times Squared album as The Dopamine Rush. The rest of Times Squared was originally a different Madhouse album called 26 (!)

Some of the 1988 24 tracks were also given to Miles Davis, who recorded his own versions. Someone else can give the names (I think it was Penetration, R U Legal Yet? and A Girl And Her Puppy, but I may be getting them mixed up). Miles' versions were going to appear recently on a WB box-set of Miles' final recordings from 1985-1991, called The Last Word. The box-set was postponed/cancelled, though, when Prince declined use of the tracks...

There was some other project from 1988 called Brass Monkey which supposedly had something to do with Madhouse, but nothing else is known about this (by me, anyway).

The second Madhouse 24 album was recorded in 1993, and planned for release in 1995. Concert-goers on the European tour in 1995 were given a sampler tape including tracks from this and other NPG Records projects (including Exodus and the unreleased Tora Tora Experience). This album was recorded with Eric Leeds. Sonny T, Michael B, Tommy Barbarella and Morris Hayes. Nona Gaye also appeared on a mostly-instrumental version of her father Marvin Gaye's (Got 2) Give It Up. This album also includes a mostly-instrumental jazzy-version of Space from the Come album, as well as other tracks and instrumental segues.

There's plenty more to know about Madhouse, but all that's important is that it's fun music and worth getting hold of. You may find when you listen to it that you recognize different riffs, as Prince has tended to throw them in to live shows over the years.

Wow, I guess I know more pointless details about Madhouse than I thought.

And I guess it's a slower day at work than I thought...

I would like a live recording of Madhouse.Isn't there some live stuff on the Fine Line cd?

rockwilder said:

Kind of. If memory serves, it's a mixture of Madhouse tracks and other old instrumental covers (as well as some P-tracks done as instrumentals) performed by the SOTT band, calling themselves The Fine Liners.

Wow - thanks a lot. Are the CDs that rare? Any idea where I might be able to find them?

FunkATron said:

You can often find Madhouse 8 and 16 on Ebay.

After extensive searching, I managed to find a sealed copy of Madhouse 8 vinyl for $9.00 online at a rare vinyl store(the last one sold, so tough), and I later bought a used vinyl of Madhouse 16 on Ebay for... goddamn... it was a ripoff. I think I payed $16.99 for it, plus $6 for shipping or something. Then, to make matters worse, the ass didn't fill in a green sticker to ship it internationally, so I had to pay another $11.00 in handling charges. Pissed me off!

Since then, I have acquired the two legit CDs. But, I've seen both of them sell for over $100.00 US on Ebay, which is insane.

I don't own the singles, but I downloaded them from Kazaa Lite. Never heard of 13 and a quarter though, although it might have another name, because I know I have a 13 remix. I also have a couple of those other rarities from Kazaa Lite like Penetration. I personally find the 24 stuff to be boring, but I am a BIG fan of 8 and 16. It's some very interesting stuff, a great precursor to his later instrumental works.

Anyways, if you search long enough, you could burn yourself all the stuff from Kazaa-Lite for free. If you want vinyl, I'd say you should budget about $15.00 for each one, plus shipping. If you want the CDs, I'd be prepared to spend AT LEAST $50.00 US for 8 and $75.00 for 16, plus shipping. They ain't cheap. I lucked out. A kind orger sold me his 16 for $30.00 US (which is still $45.00 for me), and I resold my 8 and 16 on Vinyl for a reasonable amount, which subsidized my purchase of 8. All told, quite an expensive investment, but worth it I guess.

It sucks because I've only been collecting since 99. I'm only 20, and it means I have to pay primo prices for stuff I could have gotten for peanuts if I was born 20 years earlier. But, that's the price I have to pay for my youth.

booyah said:

Technically, the quotes were from Godfather not Godfather Part II.

The albums rock. One of Prince's best side projects. Look it up in your past collections of UPTOWN if you want all the 411.

booyah said:

Thanks.I want that.Madhouse should be revisited!

I have the cd boot with the live Madhouse set, it's called FINE LINE CAFE on the Universal label, comes in dvd case

Audience recording but sounds like a soundboard, no lie!
Also, this was the first ever release of this show in FULL

TheLodger said:

WHERE CAN ONE FIND THIS???

I've heard this...the performance is amazing, but the quality on what I heard (this was a few years back) left a lot to be desired, so I only listened to it once or twice.

This thread is making me wanna bust out my bootlegs.

TheLodger said:

Madhouse were billed as the support act on the Sign O' The Times tour weren't they??

Were the dialogue segues between every track? I ain't sure if I found the right stuff to download here.

YEAH I LOVE THE GODFATHER LINES BETWEEN THE TRACKS. TEN WAS VERY POPULAR HERE IN NYC. IT WAS PLAYED DAILY AT 5PM. ON 107.5 WBLS. GREAT SONG TO LISTEN TO WHILE STUCK IN TRAFFIC.