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The things you need to know: This is an official release of a cassette recording made by Prince back in 1983 of him basically messing around on the piano. It hasn't been remastered or remixed at all, so there's background hiss, you hear him giving instructions to whoever it is that is recording him, the sound fades at one point due to a flaw on the cassette, and you can hear Prince sniffing as he plays. This isn't something he would have released himself but was instead recorded for personal use. It's also short - 30-odd minutes, that's all.
I've been a huge Prince fan since I first heard his music back in 1983, and since then I've seen him play live countless times, bought everything I could lay my hands on, and still grieve for him today. One thing I didn't do though was seek out unofficial releases, sold at record fairs and the likes, or more recently found online, so I'd never heard this set before, and didn't even know of its existence. For me, this was all new.
As much as I loved his music I felt that since about 1990 he lost much of his spark, which he only regained when he played live. On record he overproduced himself, putting layer upon layer of keyboards on many tracks, buffing out any rough edges, often killing great songs stone dead in the process. When he was on stage though we heard those edges, and the songs came back to life.
I was delighted to hear this recording because it is unpolished. You can hear that roughness, the flaws in the sound, and it's all so intimate. I listened to it the first time on headphones, and it felt like I was there in a room with him, listening to him play on a nearby piano. It feels startlingly real, and natural. I wish he'd released more stuff like this when he was alive.
The album is essentially split into two halves. The first section (forming side 1 of the vinyl) is a medley. Some songs are played almost or in full, and others - noticeably "Purple Rain" - are a fragment, a part of a verse. It's thrilling to hear him move from song to song, not pausing between them, and the styles shift from the poppy stomp of When Doves Cry B-side "17 Days", to the bluesy "Mary Don't You Weep". At the end of the section you hear Prince ask the person recording to turn the tape over, and if you're listening on vinyl you flip the disk. The second half consists of two longer tracks, "Cold Coffee and Cocaine" sounds like a song written for The Time, and Prince sings it in a strangulated voice. It's a fun and amusing track. "Why The Butterflies" is inspired by Jill Jones (she says so in the sleeve notes) and is a long, quiet track with sparse vocals.
If you buy the deluxe edition, the packaging is like a hardback book. Inside you'll find a heavyweight vinyl copy of the album, a large booklet with sleeve notes notably from Lisa Coleman and Jill Jones, a black & white print, and the album on CD. There isn't a download code for an MP3 version.
Should it have been a bonus disk with something else? Should it have been released at all? Would he have wanted the world to hear him like this? We could argue about such questions forever. But for this Prince fan, I absolutely love this record, and it's my favourite Prince album since 1988.
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Customer reviews
I so much wanted to love this (quality control fail)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 May 2019
As I like to discover the origins of artists I follow, this is a grand way to get an insight of the processes Prince used to come up with songs and arrangments.The cd sounds great, the booklet is informative, overall packaging is beautiful as is the photo quality. BUT the crux of the biscuit - the vinyl - is a catastrophy. The center hole appears to be made manually with a hammer and a nail, is not in the center, has sharp edges (see photo), and causes the vinyl record (especially on side 1) to wow and flutter close to a half note, making it impossible to listen to.Sad to see such a small lack of detail attention destroy an otherwise great product.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 May 2019
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 May 2019
The cd sounds great, the booklet is informative, overall packaging is beautiful as is the photo quality. BUT the crux of the biscuit - the vinyl - is a catastrophy. The center hole appears to be made manually with a hammer and a nail, is not in the center, has sharp edges (see photo), and causes the vinyl record (especially on side 1) to wow and flutter close to a half note, making it impossible to listen to.
Sad to see such a small lack of detail attention destroy an otherwise great product.
I so much wanted to love this (quality control fail)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 May 2019
As I like to discover the origins of artists I follow, this is a grand way to get an insight of the processes Prince used to come up with songs and arrangments.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 May 2019
The cd sounds great, the booklet is informative, overall packaging is beautiful as is the photo quality. BUT the crux of the biscuit - the vinyl - is a catastrophy. The center hole appears to be made manually with a hammer and a nail, is not in the center, has sharp edges (see photo), and causes the vinyl record (especially on side 1) to wow and flutter close to a half note, making it impossible to listen to.
Sad to see such a small lack of detail attention destroy an otherwise great product.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 November 2018
