Moonbeam said:

The official version of 'Something In The Water...' might have been appropriate for the era in which the '1999' album was released given the fact that in those days electronica was all the rage.

In retrospect, I have to say the demo version has aged far better than the album version.

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giotto said:

It's cold and sterile for a reason besides the fact that it fits the "1999" theme. Prince feels cold and sterile because of the treatment he gets from women. I think the released version is Prince's number 1 crown jewel out of the many he has.

Something in the water

PhilG said:

Can't wait, actually!

Pity then that the 'Noon Rendezvous' rehearsal for the 7th June one-off gig was never filmed

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Moonbeam said:

I never thought of it like that

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giotto said:

co-sign
it's a fucking shame!!!
[This message was edited Mon Oct 20 10:44:30 PDT 2003 by Vashti]

giotto said:

I have to agree though that all 3 versions have their place. I would give all of them 10s. They just add different flavors. I personally think the cold and sterile studio version suits it best of all. It seems to capture the lyrics perfectly. That frenetic yet robotic beat, the mixture of eerie and soothing synths, ahhh...

Moonbeam said:

Precisely put. Despite what I said, one of the merits of the released version is the way the lyric is so fully rendered and realised, particularly the dramatic, blood-curdling screams near the end of the album version, sadly absent from the other two.

None of the other versions contain a vocal delivery I would particularly care for. Having said that, the instrumentation on both the demo and rehearsal versions (piano and guitar) remain unsurpassed and full of virtuosity.

Which is why I have to agree that all three versions do indeed have their place, including the cold, sterile studio version that most people are familiar with.

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giotto said:

It just shows how versatile the song can be and how it is unique in that it has inspired Prince in 3 diametrically different ways.

My absolute favorite Prince song of all time. I've been so poor that I haven't been paying attention. How can I get my hands on these alternate versions.

giotto said:

it mightve been filmed but just hasnt been released, all the rehearsals for the 1984 Birthday gig are circulating on CD arent they,but the one that was filmed and is around on video and DVD does feature him doing Something ITW

moonshine said:

The key rehearsal of 'Something In The Water...' remains the performance from 'Neon Rendezvous'.

To my knowledge, said rehearsal was never filmed.

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giotto said:

The rehearsal is filmed.And Something In The Water from this rehearsal (June 7th 1984) is his greatest geetar performance bar fuckin none. It is slow, spooky, sexy, and fulfilling.

that rehearsal version fucking blows me away.

question, and if it's against the rules then my bad...

my copy of it is 11:29 in length. it cuts off abruptly, how much am i missing?