Now It's On

Bootleg Review: Prince "Welcome 2 Sydney: Night 2"

After opening his Welcome 2 Australia Tour at Sydney's Allphones Arena May 11, 2012, Prince was back the next night with a show filled with enough changes to the setlist to keep things from getting too repetitive. Once again, FT Records brings us the recording of this show on "Welcome 2 Sydney: Night 2". As was the case with the first show, the audience recording here is wonderful. Clear vocals, nicely mixed and another solid B+ recording.

The opening of this show is drastically different from the first night. Things kick off with "D.M.S.R.", one of my favorite purple funk jams, but I simply despise the butchering Prince has done to the lyrics of this song. His no cursing policy to please the Jehovah's Witnesses is one thing, but the lyrical changes here are nonsensical and asinine. You can't say 'screw the masses'? "Wear lingerie 2 a restaurant' is a problem but changing it to "get busy in the middle of a restaurant" which is easy to take as people fucking on the floor at Applebees is cool? 'Strip right down 2 your underwear' becomes 'shake that body 2 the early light, c'mon now if U dare', I mean this is fucking ridiculous. Yes, if Prince won't swear I will because that is what it is. I'd prefer he NOT play this song anymore, the lyrical crimes bother me so much.

"This is not a Lionel Richie concert! You're in this too!" Prince announces as the band starts "Pop Life". Once again, his banter from the stage alone makes it worth checking out these shows. He is very talkative on this tour and a lot of it is damn funny. Prince is starting to sound even kookier than normal if you can believe it. "Musicology" is turned into an extended jam that incorporates the unreleased "Prince And The Band" before the run of songs not played on the first night continues with a near seven minute version of the guitar heavy "Shhh". Prince then addresses the crowd by expressing how much he loves their country then says, "I have the most beautiful view... of my bathroom mirror. I'm kidding...sort of."

Prince and The NPG then run through a number of his hits with "Take Me With U", "Raspberry Beret" and "Cream" all bunched together. Of note, they incorporate the chant from AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" into "Take Me With U", showing some love for the rock legends from Australia. One of my favorite parts of the show follows with another long jam on The Time's "Cool" mixed with some of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". During the call and response part at the end of "Cool" Prince cracks on his backing singers, asking Shelby J. "Shelby, are ya hot? Do you know why? Cuz you ain't got no hair!" before turning his attention to Elisa Dease with "Elisa, are ya hot girl? Do you know why? Cuz you got somebody else's hair on." The old school funk-fest continues with "Let's Work" which Prince precedes by saying, "It's Saturday night. We're not gonna leave the 80's. Prince, you ain't funky no more. I don't have to be cuz I was funky then. If it was good then it's still good."

Disc One closes with a rather messy "U Got The Look" before the mash-up of "The Question Of U" and "The One" that was often played on the Musicology Tour. This is a jazzier, piano heavy version and is lacking the emotion and fire he played it with in the past. The same can be said for the next song, the incredible funk monster that is "Days Of Wild". Of course all the cursing is gone, and this song suffers more than most because of it. It represents a certain time in Prince's career, an angry time and it is just stripped of its raw energy playing it this way. Again, a nice addition to the setlist but the true Days Of Wild are long gone with Prince.

The second half of the show and Disc Two opens with a piano medley. The highlight here is a full performance of "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore" where the 'old Prince' makes an appearance, saying towards the end, "So what I got baptized. I still like, I still like a fire between your thighs."  I doubt Larry Graham would approve. After "Nothing Compares 2 U" and "Controversy", another long version of "Purple Rain" has the crowd singing along, this time topping 15 minutes in length.

Prince is in full on brag mode at this point. "Didn't your parents warn you about me? I got too many hits. We could be here till tomorrow. Didn't they warn you about me? Too. Many. Hits." In typical Prince fashion, his threat to play all night means the concert is about to come to an end, all Prince-heads should know this by now. A funky version of "Kiss" gives way to the Sampler Set and this truly is just a sampler, as nothing is played very long. Of note are brief instrumental portions of "Pheromone" and "Shockadelica". The show then ends with that short, awful medley of "Let's Go Crazy" and "Delirious" that I griped about on the Night One review. So that was about twenty more minutes of show, mostly just the Sampler Set, after vowing they could be there 'till tomorrow', all part of the hilarity of being a diehard fan.

Although the first show of the tour is the better of the two, I still enjoyed the second night. Prince's comments from the stage are priceless, if a little 'out there', and there were plenty of changes to the setlist. The opening of this show is head and shoulders better than the mess of night one. It's always my preference to listen to concert recordings chronologically, especially on smaller tours like this, to hear the progression and changes on a nightly basis. Hopefully the recordings from the rest of this tour match the sound quality of the first two nights in Sydney.

Bootleg Review: Prince "Welcome 2 Sydney: Night 1"

I've made it no secret I am not a big fan of Prince's most recent tours. The whole series of 'Welcome 2' dates have been amongst the least exciting of his career. Oh, I am sure if you are there they are still highly entertaining, but if you've followed Prince through most of his career, it's obvious dude is in full-on coast mode. Despite that, I was anxious to hear the recordings from his May travels Down Under on his Welcome 2 Australia tour. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, it wasn't long before shows were easily obtainable and FT Records has covered the Sydney leg of the tour with their "Welcome 2 Sydney" releases. 

So let's start with Night One, recorded May 11, 2012 at the Allphones Arena. Before I get into the show itself, it has to be said the quality of the recording is wonderful. Even though this was recorded from the audience, Prince's vocals are amazingly clear and the mix on the music is of high quality as well. I'd give the overall recording a B+, if anything the occasional audience member overheard adds to the experience of 'being there' while listening. There are times I enjoy these high quality audience recordings as much as a soundboard as they just give you the feeling of what it would have been like to be in attendance. High marks to those responsible for recording the first two nights in Sydney. 

Opening with an acoustic guitar performance of "Purple Rain" by special guest Andy McKee, the first segment of the show is nothing short of a mess. Normally I'd get excited to see "Gold" in the setlist, and it is nice to hear, but this is a pretty tame version, no guitar solo but a lot of calls for the audience to sing along. From there, things deteriorate into one of those long medleys of a bunch of songs you'd prefer to hear played completely or not played at all. I know Prince has a gazillion songs to play, I do not envy his task of coming up with a setlist that pleases everyone, it is IMPOSSIBLE. But I'd much rather hear "Jam Of The Year" in complete form then have it lead into a disjointed portion of "$" from "Lotusflow3r" before that suddenly turns into the truly cheesy "Song Of The Heart".

Things don't get much better with "Let's Go Crazy" mixed with "Delirious". These are truly the worst live versions of these two songs Prince has ever performed. They sound like some awful renditions a Vegas cover act would play, complete travesties both of them. Maybe Prince has to pay some karmic debt for these putrid arrangements as his guitar completely fails him when it comes time for the famous guitar solo in "Let's Go Crazy". Let that be a lesson to you Prince, these songs deserve better treatment than these tossed off show-tune versions. 

Somewhat surprisingly, the show starts to pick up with "1999". Yes, we've heard this song performed a ton of times, but at least this is a mostly complete version and puts an end to the silly medleys. Prince's guitar is still failing him for "Little Red Corvette", and I'm sure someone had hell to pay for that, but it makes for a unique performance as he has to fill the time usually spent on guitar improvising vocally. The new, slowed down, bluesy arrangement of this classic continues to be a highlight of Prince's recent shows. The other real highlight of the first half captured on Disc One is the over twelve minute version of The Time's "Cool" with some of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" mixed in. Old school funk at it's finest. A lovely version of "Sometimes It Snows In April", with Andy McKee on guitar, closes out the first disc. 

The second half of the show, and Disc Two of this set, starts with some rarities. An over eight minute version of "Love...Thy Will Be Done" is a pleasant surprise, even though Prince screws up a few of the lyrics. His stage banter on this tour is equal parts funny and strange. During this song, Prince explains how music has the power to unite then throws out the question "What other reason would we be here tonight? Free pizza?" HUH??? The highlight of the night follows as Prince and the NPG start things off with "Mountains" which already has the drum pattern from "The Dance Electric" running underneath it. The song then segues right into a nine minute version of "The Dance Electric" and it is fantastic that Prince has pulled this song out to perform again. This is among my favorite tracks Prince gave away back in the 80's, in this case to old friend Andre Cymone. 

"Somebody slap your neighbor and tell 'em how many hits Prince got" he boasts as the introduction to the Sampler Set portion of the show. I'm really torn on this whole segment. I hate the medleys, I hate him playing backing tracks on a sampler, but it is actually fun to hear some of these tracks with him singing live over them, especially "Hot Thing". It is hilarious though to hear Prince say "Y'all hear that funk? This cannot be reproduced by a band, because I am that band", when the 1987 Sign 'o' The Times band seemed to have no problem performing this live.

The night starts to come to a close with some of Prince's biggest hits starting with "Kiss". An epic 25 minute version of "Purple Rain" may sound cool, but it is a bit too much given the near nine minute instrumental opening. The always funky "Controversy" closes the main set with another of the night's funny moments as drummer John Blackwell starts the song off tapping on a cowbell way off beat and too slow It almost sounds like he is doing the opening tempo to "Cream". He catches on but Prince doesn't miss a thing as he tells him, "Just leave it John, you're already docked!" before chuckling. The band eventually makes it back out for one last song, the rocking "Peach".

The first night of this tour had its technical problems and the band still needed to work out some kinks to be sure. I actually do like the musicians in Prince's band. Blackwell is a fantastic drummer, I adore Ida Nielsen on bass and Cassandra O'Neal and longtime NPG member Morris Hayes hold things down on piano and keys. But this current version of the NPG is the difference between Prince having a real BAND behind him and a group of hired musicians. And there is no need for me to continue emphasizing how much I dislike the trio of backing singers. This is a fairly enjoyable listen, but it's still hard for me to get past the whole Vegas act feel of Prince's concerts these days. I will say the Australian Tour was an upgrade over the previous Welcome 2 gigs, with the inclusion of some rarer material, but these shows are one and done listens for me.  

Bootleg Review: Prince "Slave At The Garage"

 

It's a sign of the high regard I hold this era of Prince's career that I made it through this disc. "Slave At The Garage" is a major upgrade from the previously available recording of this show, but that does not make it any less rough of a listen. This is a throwback to the old days of trading cassette tapes of Prince's latest shows through the mail, sound quality be damned.

Confusion Records is to be credited for making this show at least listenable, but it still falls at about a C-/D+ range in the sound department. It was obviously recorded in the middle of the small crowd at the tiny Garage in Glasgow back in the wee hours of the morning of March 15, 1995. Talking in the audience is audible throughout, but Prince's vocals are at least relatively clear, if not muddy. In fact muddy is a good description of most of the mix, the bass and vocals especially. Again, this was a previously unlistenable show so at least for the completists among us, and giant fans of this era, we can enjoy this show at least once, then add it to the collection. 

This is what I like to call Prince and the Real NPG. Sonny T, Michael Bland, Tommy Barbarella, Morris Hayes, just one of my all-time favorite Prince bands. So many epic aftershows, shows at Paisley Park, etc. The aftershow captured here is about 50 minutes long and features a lot of the standard stuff played during this time, from originals like "Race", "Days Of Wild" and "Dark" to covers of "Babies Makin' Babies" and "Funky". Prince also tears shit up on guitar during "The Ride", some blazing guitar work on this one. 

"Slave At The Garage" is another 2012 release that is strictly for completists only. If you're as fond of this time in Prince's career as I am, you'll still want it for the collection, but there are countless shows from 1994-95 with far superior quality, so it's unlikely to be revisited often.

Bootleg Review: Prince "Days Of Soundboard Volume 3: The Facebook Edition"

Free Boot Generation has been responsible for some of the finest Prince releases of the last few years, from stunning soundboard concert and rehearsal recordings to perfect quality studio outtakes. Not every release can be as exciting as "Box O' Chocolates" or "From The Soundboard: 1984 Birthday Show" and this one certainly falls in that category.

"Days Of Soundboard Volume 3: The Facebook Edition" captures all the tracks posted on NPG member Andy Allo's Facebook page of various performances from Prince and the NPG's 2011 tour. They were often posted the day after the show, so Prince must have obviously approved of the practice. So for completists, this is a nice collection of all of the tracks on one CD. And yes, they're all soundboard and in fine quality. Once again, it's not the quality of the release that is in question, Free Boot Generation do a great job as always bringing you the best sound quality possible. Material-wise, there simply isn't much here I'll re-visit.

There is a killer version of "Little Red Corvette" worth your time, taken from a show in Rotterdam. I love the way Prince has re-worked this song, with sexy, slowed down bluesy guitar, and this is a near eight minute version that is by far the best thing on the CD. An over 12 minute jam on "Alphabet St." recorded in Oslo, Norway is worthwhile and "Stratus" is always cool to hear Prince perform, but this is just a snippet that cuts off after a couple minutes.

A near ten minute jam on The Beatles "Come Together" is torturous having to endure the shouting and yapping of the always insufferable Shelby J., as is the NPG Girls cover of Sarah McLachlan's "Angel". It's easy to enjoy the performance of "Hot Thing" here as it comes from Prince's 'sampler set'. Essentially he is just singing over the pre-recorded backing track which he manipulates during this segment of the show. Hilariously, he has the gall to ask the crowd in Sweden where this was recorded, 'Do you like REAL music??' as he plays the music from "Hot Thing" on tape. Only Prince.   

I've never been a big fan of these compilation discs, they serve their purpose, but I grab them for completists sake only. That is my recommendation here, if you simply have to have everything, you can do a lot worse than a collection of live soundboard clips and tracks from one of the best labels out there right now. 

Bootleg Review: Prince "Live In Nice 2010"

Soundboard recordings are always great to have, and there have been plenty of wonderful Prince releases in the last few years that have surfaced. The latest to add to this list comes courtesy of Confusion Records with "Live In Nice 2010", a recording from his 20Ten Tour.

This is not a complete recording, it only captures the first hour of the show. The sound quality is indeed fantastic, the quality of the actual concert is another story. I'm not the biggest fan of Prince's current touring band, they come across to me more like a Prince cover band than a solid musical unit. Yes, I am spoiled by the bands of Prince's past, The Revolution, the Sign o The Times/LoveSexy band and the 93-95 era NPG. The band captured here are among the weakest Prince has toured with and the whole show comes across as way too 'Vegas' for me. Thankfully Prince has since replaced Cora Coleman-Dunham on drums with the far superior John Blackwell and Josh Dunham on bass with Ida Nielsen.

Unfortunately the insufferable Shelby J. is still around and she's here along with Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield on backing vocals. I know Prince had Rosie Gaines for some time, but for some reason the female backing trio is an annoyance on these shows. They can overpower Prince, something that simply shouldn't happen, and they inexplicably get a seven minute rendition of Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" that is nothing more than a snooze-fest. They just don't fit with his music as the backing vocalists and Shelby's loud shouting and hyping is completely obnoxious.

There also aren't a lot of surprises in the set. The show opens with an over 11 minute version of "Purple Rain" that is piano heavy before going into big hits like "Let's Go Crazy", "Delirious" and "1999". Frederic Yonnet's harmonica playing is featured at times as well, an odd inclusion to my ears. The versions of Prince's biggest hits are rather run of the mill. They're often truncated and, again, it's tough to shake that 'Vegas act" feeling. They are simply lacking the raw energy and funk that made Prince so great. It's frankly a boring listen. "Shhh" is the highlight here simple because you get to hear Prince shred a little, but the monster drumming of Michael Bland is sorely missed. 

The funkiest stretch starts with "Musicology", runs through a shortened take on "A Love Bizarre" and ends with a seven minute workout on "Controversy", but I'd be lying if I said it was the same level of funk as Prince's best bands were capable of putting out there. This lineup simply can't hang. This disc ends with a Prince/Shelby J. duet on "Nothing Compares 2 U", but the show went on for another ten songs. It's a shame the second half wasn't captured in this sound quality as a number of intriguing songs were performed including "Forever In My Life" and "Dreamer". 

Again, the sound quality is not in question here. This is a fine soundboard recording so it's one you'll want to add to the collection. But it's not one I'll re-visit as I can't get past how badly Prince is coasting at this point of his career, with a rather weak band behind him to boot.

Bootleg Review: Prince "10,000 Wallpaper"

The 1993-95 period was truly Prince's last great run. Set aside the name change, the feud with Warner Bros. and the sideshow that surrounded it and focus on the music and you'll hear an artist re-born, focused and hungry to prove himself yet again. He has not come close to reaching the excellence of this era since. During this time frame, Prince was recording a ton of new music, eschewing his hits to play this new material live, often in smaller clubs or his Paisley Park Studios where a run of shows became legendary amongst fans and collectors.

Although nothing really new to the Prince collecting community, the newly released "10,000 Wallpaper" is a fantastic document of what was going on during this time. This release is sourced from a videotape that was run at both the NPG Store and Glam Slam nightclub promoting Prince's '10,000 Magazine' venture, another in a long line of failed business ventures. But the fans get to reap the benefits of the great music contained here. The videotape is essentially miscellaneous images and computerized graphics set to what was, at the time, new and unreleased Prince music. Nothing exciting to watch, but rip the audio from it and you are left with a must-have listening experience in perfect quality.

There are twelve full songs in all on "10,000 Wallpaper" starting with "Poem" which ended up being used on 1994's "Come" album, but there it was split up as segues in between songs, with the last part of the song tacked on to the end of the album and re-titled "Orgasm". "Poem" leads into the full length version of "Interactive" before the true highlight here, an alternate, unreleased version of "Come" that completely blows away the long, drab version that was released. This contains all the reasons I became a Prince fan. Nasty, funky bass line, filthy lyrics, searing guitar, when he was on top of his game like this, he had no competition.

"Come" segues into the far superior version of "Endorphinmachine". Once again, Prince completely screwed with and ruined a perfect song by overproducing the bejesus out of it for release on 1995's "The Gold Experience". Here it is stripped down raw, one of his best rock tracks and sadly, the general public never got to hear this version. "Space" follows, no different than the released version before an extended version of "Race", again better than the released version as this is almost two minutes longer with an extended ending.

Two monster funk jams follow in "Funky Design" and "Mad". Both were officially released, but only through Prince's NPG Music Club as downloads and both are top notch. An alternate, unreleased version of "Chaos And Disorder" is next. Prince's vocal track is the same, but here Rosie Gaines' vocals had not been added yet and there are, mostly silly, sound effects after practically every lyric. Some were left in the released version but they are way more prominent here. I still think this is an under-rated track, placed on a throwaway album used to fulfill a contractual obligation. Another solid rock number.

One of Prince's most embarrassing musical moments is the only downfall here. "Right The Wrong", as I refer to it, a country show tune, is one of the worst things he has recorded. It's so awful, I can only hope it was done as a joke. Sung in a mock country accent, this turned up on the "Chaos And Disorder" album, but here it is an alternate version, slightly less produced, but still every bit as wretched as the released version. "Strays Of The World" follows, no different from what was released on the "Crystal Ball" compilation, before things come to a close with an alternate version of "Gold". Once again, this is the vocal that was used on the released version, but here Ricky Peterson had not yet added the additional production and keyboard work that appeared on the final version. So you get a more stripped down version of the song, and it still works well. It's simply a great pop/rock anthem that should have been a huge hit, but fell victim to the Prince/Warner Bros. feud and Prince losing interest in "The Gold Experience" after it was finally released.

Just because there is nothing here that has really not been circulating before does not make this any less essential. Everything flows together nicely, "Right The Wrong" the exception, and everything is in perfect sound quality. It's a nice release to have and major thanks, as always, go out to those responsible for sharing this with the collecting community for free, as it should be. If you missed the boat on what Prince was up to during this time period, "10,000 Wallpaper" is a great place to start. 

Bootleg Review: The Revolution "#MyPurpleHeart"

Nearly 28 years after the "Purple Rain" phenomenon swept the world, and a year after drummer Bobby Z suffered a near fatal heart attack, The Revolution reunited at the club immortalized in the movie that made them stars, First Avenue. First and foremost, this concert served as a charity gig, organized by Bobby Z, to bring attention to heart health in light of his scare. A portion of the proceeds went to both Bobby's mypurpleheart.org as well as the American Heart Association.

February 19, 2012 will go down as a monumental night for those lucky enough to be in attendance at this historic show, and now that night can be re-lived for those who were unable to get there thanks to the Akashic Records release "#MyPurpleHeart". Although this is an audience recording, it is very well done. With the technology available today, you truthfully either have to have crappy equipment or not know what you are doing to produce a lousy audience recording these days. The vocals are wonderfully clear, there is good bass response and separation between all the instruments. A very good mix and recording. Yes, there is audience response in the background, but on a well taped show, this actually adds to the charm of the recording. It puts you more 'in the moment' of the show than a soundboard recording. All credit to the taper responsible for allowing this show to live on for the fans.

As for the concert, The Revolution run through material dating back to Prince's "Dirty Mind" album up through their final album with him, 1986's "Parade". In Prince's absence, Wendy Melvoin handles most of the lead vocals and does a good job playing the role of band leader. Greg "G Sharp" Sain, a Minneapolis music scene regular, also helps out on backing and co-lead vocals throughout the show. Joining Wendy, Bobby, Lisa Coleman, Brownmark and Dr. Fink onstage were former Prince guitarist Dez Dickerson and 'Mr. Madhouse' himself, Eric Leeds on saxophone.

The band takes to the stage, fittingly, to Bobby Z banging out the beat to "Controversy" which goes on for over seven minutes. A bit of a surprise, "Do It All Night" is next followed by "Partyup". I like the fact the band did not stick strictly to 'Revolution only' songs, since Bobby, Fink, Dez and Lisa were all there from the early days prior to The Revolution being formed. After "Let's Work" they do the first true Revolution song of the night with "Pop Life"

Wendy announces 'Alright, now it's gonna get hot' as they kick into a charged "America". I always loved Eric Leeds' killer sax work on the live versions of this and he does not disappoint here. "1999" is a highlight as Dez Dickerson gets to sing his lyrics performed on the studio version which gets a big response from the crowd.

As nice as all the nostalgic songs are, the show really kicks into gear at this point with a trio of 'Parade' songs, starting with "Life Can Be So Nice". This was the time when The Revolution, particularly Wendy and Lisa, had the most influence on Prince's music, and these songs truly feel like 'theirs'. The near ten minute version of "Mountains" is the highlight of the night as it turns into an extended jam featuring a sax solo from Leeds, a lovely piano solo from Coleman, and Dr. Fink getting to show his stuff on keyboards, all while Bobby Z and Brownmark hold down a nasty groove. "Anotherloverholenyohead" closes out the triple play of 'Parade' classics. The main set then ends with the finale of the 'Purple Rain' movie,  "Baby I'm A Star".

The encore started with "Let's Go Crazy" before the legendary "Purple Rain". It was at this point that I think a lot of people expected Prince to join the band. There certainly had been speculation all week leading up to the show as Prince was in Minneapolis, and there was plenty of buzz coming from the show about some of his gear being there. But, alas, for reasons only he truly knows, Prince was a no-show on this night. The crowd plays their part signing along throughout the song, it must have been amazing to be there in person for this performance in particular. The night ends with a long 15 minute finale that starts with G-Sharp singing "Uptown" before it morphs into a jam that incorporates "Sexy Dancer" and ends with a reprise back into "Uptown". 

Certainly, as fun and nostalgic as this show is, it is still missing a true front man and we all know his name. Wendy does a fine job, but no one can truly fill Prince's shoes. Keep in mind when listening that the band only got three days to rehearse for this show, so some of the occasional moments of sloppiness or forgotten lyrics can be forgiven. Give them a few weeks of rehearsal, The Revolution would kick the ass of that collection of side musicians Prince currently has backing him. That is the difference between a true 'band' and hired hands. It would be nice if Prince could learn that with the 30 year anniversary of "Purple Rain" quickly approaching. If not, maybe The Revolution can take this show on the road themselves. As Wendy says during the show, they are a sentimental, nostalgic band, and you'll feel the same way after listening to "#MyPurpleHeart". 

Please be sure, if you grab this release, to strongly consider making a donation to mypurpleheart.org 

Bootleg Review: Prince "L.A. Confidential"

Three shows on the same night with three different bands. Only Prince could pull something like that off, and he did just that the night of March 28, 2009 in Los Angeles in celebration of the release of his "Lotusflow3r" CD set. Making the L.A. Live complex his home base on this night, he started out with his current touring band at the time, (as well as a guest appearance by Sheila E.), for a show at the Nokia Theatre that focused on a lot of his funkier hits and some covers. The night then moved to The Conga Room for an incredible, guitar heavy show with the New Power Trio of Prince and old NPG members Sonny Thompson on bass and Michael Bland on drums.

That brings us to the show captured here. The final show of the evening started well after midnight at the Club Nokia. Prince was joined by Rhonda Smith on bass, the incomparable Renato Neto on keyboards and John Blackwell on drums for a mellow set focusing on his more jazzier, laid back material. This show can now be seen as the precursor to his July Montreux Jazz festival appearance, as many of the songs that were played here for the first time live would be incorporated into the setlists at Montreux.

Like the Montreux concerts reviewed here last month, this Club Nokia show has been released as a Pro-Shot DVD and soundboard CD on the "L.A. Confidential" set by Eye Records, and it is a stunner. Prince fans continue to be spoiled with these incredible releases as this is another high quality, must have item. The only letdown is that the other two shows from this night weren't recorded in this fashion that I am aware of. What you get here is the entire set, just over 90 minutes long, professionally filmed and recorded. The CD here is obviously just the soundtrack to the show, although there have been some complaints about the audio mix missing much of the low end. The focus though should be on the true highlight of this set, the Pro-Shot DVD. 

The show kicks off with a couple of instrumentals before Prince takes the stage. The band runs through "Under The Cherry Moon" and "Dreamin' About U" before Prince appears for "When Eye Lay My Hands On U". It's one of the few songs on the night where Prince plays guitar, and it's always a treat to hear this song done live. A couple of major surprises follow as the rarely performed 'Emancipation' outtake "Journey 2 The Center Of Your Heart" is next. Prince's version was never released, but the song was recorded by Chaka Khan on her 1998 NPG Records release 'Come 2 My House'. The second half of the over eight minute performance features Prince's best guitar work of the night. A smoothed out version of "The Sun, The Moon And Stars" is yet another rarity in the set. 

Prince leaves the stage for another band instrumental, this time on "Sometimes It Snows In April", before returning for a twelve minute workout on "When The Lights Go Down". He then literally asks for the lights to go down and the crowd to be as silent as possible for a performance of "Eye Love U, But Eye Don't Trust U Anymore".  

It must be said at this point, Prince was unhappy with the sound quality throughout the evening. All three shows were marred by technical problems, feedback and poor sound systems. By the time this show was in motion he had enough. During the early part of this set he asked for adjustments to the sound several times. Before the next song, he launched into an epic rant from the stage, directed at AEG who he had been working with for a number of years on his tours, including the massively successful Musicology Tour of 2004. AEG oversees the entire L.A. Live complex and Prince started naming names, specifically calling out AEG Live President and CEO Randy Phillips and AEG's President and CEO Tim Leiweke from the stage in a 90 second public lambasting. 

"Before we play this, Randy Phillips, Tim Leiweke, they run AEG. And, uh, this is their building so the buzzes you hear you can talk to them about it. I'm gonna play through it, I'm gonna do my best. Now feel me, they spent a lot of money on the seats, and the lights are beautiful. But I done told them several times, let's work on that sound. I came to see Alicia Keys here and it was the worst sound I ever heard. But Alicia is a genius, bar none. She is music and she deserves the best, alright? So we're all in this together. So if we fix the sound, I'll be here every night. This is what I do. And I'll do it for free, I won't charge 'em. But now I got to go back to my three million a night!"

Prince then kicks into "She Spoke 2 Me" by shouting sarcastically "It's alright Tim and Randy, we love ya!", then during the performance gets the crowd to chant 'AEG, AEG' over and over. I cannot emphasize enough what a monumental night this then became. AEG made Prince a ton of money helping him make his 3121 shows in Las Vegas and his 21 Nights in London a reality. He planned to do a similar 21 night stand in L.A., but in one onstage rant, he called out the highest executives of the company by name, publicly embarrassed them and burned yet another bridge in the entertainment industry. His relationship with AEG, again a company that made Prince millions of dollars, was over and he blew it up right in front of about 2,500 fans. The fact we now get to see it on video is priceless.  Prince closes the performance of "She Spoke 2 Me" by introducing the band then getting one last shot in at AEG by declaring, "And my name is Randy Phillips. Thank you, goodnight."

Prince and the band return for the first ever live performance of the unreleased "In A Large Room With No Light", before he breaks into that famous guitar line that kicks off "Sweet Thing" and special guest Chaka Khan makes her way to the stage. The performance is just Chaka on vocals and Prince on guitar while the audience helps by singing along. A very cool version that, in some strange way proves Prince's point, by ending in a big burst of feedback from Khan's microphone causing her to voice in agreement, "This ain't no joke! You were not kidding about the sound", as Prince chuckles and shouts, "What?? Told ya! Told ya!" I can't imagine the uncomfortableness in the room for those in attendance but this is gold to watch on video.

The show then ends with four of Prince's finest ballads, truncated versions of "Insatiable" and "Scandalous", a mostly complete run through of "The Beautiful Ones" and the closing "Nothing Compares 2 U". Now make no mistake, as pissed off as Prince obviously was at the sound problems, enough to destroy a relationship with the entertainment behemoth AEG, he does not make the fans suffer over his problems. He is very grateful for their support and still appears to be in a good mood overall, enjoying his band and the music. The band is on fire all night, with Neto especially displaying his mastery of the keyboards during numerous spotlight solos.

With gorgeous packaging to boot, "L.A. Confidential" is a must own set. These professionally filmed shows that are making their way to DVD are an embarrassment of riches for Prince fans and collectors. Here you get a set loaded with rarely performed songs, a Chaka Khan guest appearance and an incredible tongue lashing of the giant AEG. Who else but Prince can deliver this much excitement in one night?          

Bootleg Review: Prince & The Revolution "August 2, 1986 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY"

How fitting that on the same weekend the original line-up of The Revolution (sans Prince) reunited in Minneapolis, a brand new, soundboard recording from 1986, when Prince and The Revolution were at the peak of their powers, was released to the collecting community. Free Boot Generation have freed this previously un-circulating soundboard tape to the world, again providing a tremendous service to the fans, and doing the work Prince refuses to do when it comes to quality archival releases. 

As a warm-up to his upcoming European Parade Tour, Prince took an expanded version of The Revolution on the road in the spring of 1986 for a group of shows that came to be known as the Hit & Run Tour. Prince hit select cities in the U.S. with very little advance notice, often using radio ads to get the word out about ticket sales, resulting in a frenzy that sold out shows in minutes. The concerts were often played in smaller venues but for New York, he decided to do it up big time with two shows at the vaunted Madison Square Garden.  

This recording captures the first night on August 2nd, but it is not without its drawbacks. First, despite it being a soundboard source, there is still a fair amount of hiss and obvious warpage on the master tape. Considering this show is nearly 24 years old, that is no surprise. This is also not the complete concert. The recording of "Anotherloverholenyohead" is cut off and the tape does not continue until the very ending of "Pop Life", meaning the performances of "Soft And Wet", "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Head" are not included here. Also, this recording ends after "America" meaning the last five songs performed on the evening are also not here. So if you are looking for a complete show there will be some disappointment, but again the fact this is a soundboard recording is the selling point here that still makes this a must have.

As for what is contained, this is a fairly standard 'Parade' era show. Prince had expanded The Revolution to include, amongst others, saxophone extraordinaire Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss on trumpet, so there is a strong emphasis on horns playing what were formerly keyboard lines, as well as extended solos by Leeds throughout. This show was much more of a soul and funk review, with Prince rarely on guitar thanks to the addition of Miko Weaver to the band. Despite the fact this hour long CD has 20 tracks, many of the songs were brief snippets of classics like "D.M.S.R.", "Automatic" and "Delirious" that Prince would have the band touch on then move on to something else. Very few songs are performed in full, often maybe a verse then moving on to the end, giving the whole show the feel of one long funk workout. 

There is no denying The Revolution were a funky force by this point and that is best exemplified when they are given time to stretch out and jam. As often was the case during these shows, The Family's "Mutiny" turns into an extended nine minute jam session, with Prince incorporating some of "Ice Cream Castles" by The Time, albeit with a revised chant of 'We are young, we're not old and we are funky!", along with chants of 'The roof is on fire'. The closing "America" is another highlight as Prince and The Revolution go for nearly twelve minutes, including Prince getting behind the drum set for a killer drum solo. It's also one of the few songs here where Prince is on guitar and it provides a huge burst of energy to close out the CD.

As always, one of the charms of hearing live shows, even when the set is fairly standard, is catching off the cuff comments made onstage. Especially when you've heard multiple shows from the same tour, it is these moments that can make a particular show stand-out from the rest. Here, Prince gets candid during the intro to "Do Me, Baby", sharing the following with the 20,000 in attendance. "New York. Let me just take a moment...let me just take a moment. First of all, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for coming out this evening. Listen, I got something I wanna tell you. When I was 17 years old, I ran away from Uptown and I came to New York City looking to be a big star. Check it out. My sister had to work so uh, she left me with one of her boyfriends, his name was Bill. So Bill said, 'Prince check it out, I want to take you over one of my other girlfriends house.'  I said 'ok'. On the way we went through the subway and uh, we stopped through here and he said, 'This is where the Knicks play basketball and this is where all the big stars come. Maybe one day, you'll make it.' Now I know that's kind of corny but I just had to say that because I've been trying to get here for a long time. I really love all y'all, thanks for coming out, I swear to God, from me to you." It's a really cool moment, especially considering how out of touch and incapable the Prince of today seems to be at displaying sentiment.

The verdict on this one is easy. Yes, it would be wonderful to have this in complete form in this kind of quality, but I'm not going to turn up my nose at new soundboard recordings. It is still an essential addition to a Prince fan's collection and it is again much appreciated that shows from this long ago continue to turn up in superior sound quality. Who knows what will be unearthed next, but you can bet I'll be here to review it.

Bootleg Review: Prince "Husney's: A Work In Progress"

 

Over the years, a large amount of material from Prince's pre-Warner Bros. debut has surfaced amongst collectors. Prince signed with the label in June of 1977 but his first album "For You" did not see release until April of 1978. Home recordings from 1976-77 circulated long ago, as did material recorded in various studios leading up to the sessions around "For You".

One such session is captured here, recorded in 1977 at the Loring Park office of Prince's first manager, Owen Husney. Prince is joined by Andre Cymone on bass and Bobby Z. on drums for a collection of eight instrumentals that feature Prince mainly on keyboards. There are no known titles for these instrumentals, but they are obviously songs that were worked on and not just loose, free form jamming or rehearsing.

These instrumentals have been circulating for quite some time but, as has been the case in the last couple years, this release brings with it a quality upgrade. Which is not to say the previous sources were bad, they were actually quite good. But Cosmic Records have put forth a release clearly from as lo generation a source as you're likely to find for these sessions. Once again we have a bootleg release that has been upgraded to commercial release quality.

The value of a release like this is all in the eye of the beholder. For sound quality, you can't get any better. For historical purposes, it is important for fans to have this in their collection. But these are not songs I will re-visit much, if ever. I love a lot of instrumental music, but these are fairly average 70's funk and R&B grooves with some jazzy numbers thrown in for good measure. The playing is certainly impressive enough, Bobby Z is given more room to show off his drumming skills than he would be as Prince's drummer in the Revolution, but an hour's worth of these type of instrumentals can be a bit much to get through. Again, for history's sake, this is a must own for collectors. But it is more a curiosity to check out once, then put on the shelf, content knowing you have it in your collection but will rarely play it again.

Still, even if I am lukewarm to the material, the quality here is top notch, from the sounds to the artwork. Cosmic Records have gone with a cartoonish 70's motif and the covers look great. Once again, thanks and much credit goes out to those responsible for sharing this material, and those who take the time to continue to provide high quality, completely free releases to the collecting community.