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A Better Place 2 Die (1CD)

Studio outtakes from 82 / Studio outtakes from 85 (The Family)

Review
Tracklist
  1. Turn It Up #1
  2. Turn It Up #2
  3. Feel U Up
  4. Irresistible Bitch
  5. Possessed
  6. A Better Place 2 Die
  7. U Call Me
  8. High Fashion [The Family]
  9. Mutiny [The Family]
  10. Desire [The Family]
  11. Susannah's Pyjamas [The Family]
  12. Yes [The Family]
  13. The Screams Of Passion [The Family]
  14. All Day All Night [The Family]

Act 2 Augst Ten 1993 (2CD)

Live at Brabanthalle, Den Bosch, 10.Aug.93

Label
??? - MI 902/3
Review
Tracklist
[*] recorded aftershow at Le Bains Douches, Paris, 11.Jul.92 (incompl.)
[^] recorded live at MTV Awards, Los Angeles 5.Sep.91

Act Deux (2CD)

Live at Bercy/Paris, 31.Aug./1.Sep.93

Review
Tracklist

All of us (2CD)

Live from the Civic Arena/Pittsburgh, Oct. 28th 1988.

Review
Tracklist
  1. Erotic City
  2. Housequake
  3. Slow Love
  4. Adore
  5. Delirious
  6. Jack U Off
  7. Sister
  8. Do Me Baby
  9. Adore
  10. I Wanna Be Your Lover
  11. Head
  12. A Love Bizarre
  13. Irresistible Bitch
  14. Holly Rock
  15. When U Were Mine
  16. Blues In C
  17. When U Were Mine
  18. Little Red Corvette
  19. Controversy
  20. U Got The Look
  21. Superfunkycalifragisexy
  22. Controversy
  23. Bob George
  24. Anna Stesia
  25. speech
  26. Anna Stesia
  27. intro
  28. Lovesexy
  29. Glam Slam
  30. The Cross
  31. I Wish U Heaven
  32. Take This Beat
  33. Kiss
  34. Dance On
  35. Sheila's rap
  36. Sheila's drum solo
  37. When 2 R In Love
  38. Venus De Milo
  39. Starfish And Coffee
  40. Raspberry Beret
  41. It's No Secret (What God Can Do)
  42. Strange Relationship
  43. Condition Of The Heart
  44. International Lover
  45. What'd I Say
  46. When 2 R In Love
  47. Let's Go Crazy
  48. When Doves Cry
  49. Purple Rain
  50. 1999

America (2CD)

From the Rex Club/Paris and the NPG support act in Paris, 31.Aug.93

Review
Tracklist
  1. Intro [From the Rex Club/Paris, 31.Aug.93]
  2. House In Order
  3. The Undertaker
  4. Black MF in The House
  5. Race
  6. Blue Light
  7. Delirious
  8. drum solo
  9. The Ride
  10. Bambi
  11. Jailhouse Rock
  12. Poor Goo
  13. Come
  14. Endorphinemachine
  15. Peach
  16. Pope
  17. America
  18. Gett Off
  19. Johnny
  20. Deuce And A Quarter [From the NPG support act in Paris, 31.Aug.93]
  21. Oilcan
  22. 6
  23. Intermission
  24. House In Order
  25. Peach [From the aftershow in Brussels, 4.Sep.93]

An American In Paris

Label   : Ritual           Cat # : 07/08
Released: Unknown         Format: 2 CD
Source  : 6th July, 1988, Palais Omnisport, Paris
Type    : Audience Recording
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Tracklist
Disc 1
  1. Erotic City
  2. Housequake
  3. Slow Love
  4. Adore
  5. Delirious
  6. Jack U Off
  7. Sister
  8. U Got The Look
  9. I Wanna Be Your Lover
  10. Head
  11. When U Were Mine
  12. Little Red Corvette
  13. Pop Life
  14. Controversy/Dirty Mind
  15. Superfunkicalifragisexy/Controversy Reprise
  16. Bob George
  17. Anna Stesia
  18. LoveSexy
  19. I Know
Total time: 68:31

Disc 2
  1. Alphabet Street
  2. Glam Slam
  3. The Cross
  4. I Wish U Heaven/I'll Take You There*
  5. Kiss
  6. Drum Solo
  7. When 2 R In Love
  8. Let's Go Crazy
  9. When Doves Cry
  10. Purple Rain
  11. 1999
Total time: 56:22

* = featuring Mavis Staples

Review by lindeemb@uwec.edu
This is a pretty good sounding recording of the first show of the European LoveSexy tour. Its not a soundboard, but its fairly close. The audience gets in the way of the enjoyment of the music only once or twice. The highlights of the show include a surprising terrific rendition of When U Were Mine, with a great horn flurish at the end. Prince is in good form, as is Cat Glover, who does a nice job on Head, which is another highlight of the show. The best part of the show comes with the beginning of the LoveSexy material about 1/2 way through the show. A 8 minute of rendition of Anna Stesia is the highlight here. On Disc 2, the highlights include the almost always spectacular The Cross with its scorching guitar solo in the middle. There is also Cat's inspired rap on Alphabet Street along with her trademark meowing alongside it. Finally, there is Shelia E's eye-popping 3 minute drum solo, where she demonstrates again why she is the most talented performer that he has worked with. The band tries stopping her three times, to no avail.

The packaging leaves much to be desired. It consists of a cover photo of a almost nude Prince in a picture from that era. That is all. Also, the person who bootlegged this didn't do a good job in labeling it. Adore is in the wrong spot and the CD wasn't tracked properly. Thats why its impossible to get timings of each track.


Recommendation
This is probably a good boot to buy if you do not have any other LoveSexy-era non-aftershow bootlegs. This one does a good job of showing off the band, especially the very good horn section of Atlanta Bliss and Eric Leeds. The sound quality is very good for a non-soundboard recording. Its my favorite bootleg out of the ones that I have. Its a very enjoyable show. This bootleg again shows why this was his high point as a performer. There were none much better than he was in 1988.

An American In Paris (2CD)

Live at Bercy/Paris, 9.Jul.88

Review

An American In Paris

Live in Paris 25.Aug.86

Label
WOT 1011
Review

Astoria (1CD)

Live at The Astoria, London, 18. Mar. 1995

Label
NP150-2
Review
Tracklist
  1. The Glam Slam Boogie (w/George Benson)
  2. Sweet Thing (w/Chaka Khan)
  3. U Got The Love (w/Chaka Khan)
  4. Love...Thy Will Be Done
  5. Funky (aka:Let's Get Funky)
  6. 18 & Over
  7. I Believe In U
  8. The Ride
  9. Get Wild
  10. Gold [*]
The Lyrics for this concert has been by transcripted by The Live lyrics Team

The Avenue

Label   : Moonraker       Cat # : 089/90
Released: June 1996       Format: 2 CD
Source  : 3rd August 1983, Live at 1st Avenue, Minneapolis,USA
Type    : Soundboard Recording
Rating
Sound: VG/VG+ (Dazeofwild@aol.com)
Tracklist
Disc 1 - 3rd August 1983, Live at 1st Avenue
  1. Let's Go Crazy
  2. When U Were Mine
  3. A Case Of You*
  4. Computer Blue
  5. Delirious
  6. Electric Intercourse
  7. Automatic
  8. I Would Die 4 U
  9. Baby, I'm A Star
  10. Little Red Corvette
  11. Segue
  12. Purple Rain
  13. D.M.S.R.
Total time: 70:38

* original by Joni Mitchell

Disc 2 - 3rd August 1983, Afternoon Rehearsal at 1st Avenue
  1. Let's Go Crazy
  2. When U Were Mine
  3. A Case Of You*
  4. Delirious
  5. Electric Intercourse
  6. Little Red Corvette
  7. D.M.S.R.
  8. Africa Talks To You^
  9. I Could Have Danced All Night~
  10. Our House#
  11. Jam
Total time: 45:56

* original by Joni Mitchell
^ original by Sly Stone
~ from My Fair Lady
# original by Madness

Review by bergerp@kapsch.co.at
This is another release of the great Purple Rain try out concert at 1st Avenue in Mpls. It has been already released on the M.P.L.S. bootleg CD but this one comes in much better quality. Furthermore it features the reahearsal for the show too!

Here are some words from the booklet:

A benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre company. "Let's Go Crazy", "Computer Blue", "Electric Intercourse", "I Would Die 4 U", "Baby, I'm A Star", and "Purple Rain" were played for the first time. From this recording, "I Would Die 4 U", "Baby, I'm A Star", and "Purple Rain" were used for the Purple Rain album. This show was also the debut for Wendy Melvoin.

The 2nd disc which includes the rehearsal is also in very good quality, much better than the tape of this gig which I've already owned. The second part features a lot of jammin' and goofin'. I.e. instaed of Dance, Music, Sex, Romance they sing London, Paris, Holland, France. Another highlight is Sly Stone's Africa Talks To You which is one of my all time favourite songs. I'm not sure who sings I Could Have Danced All Night, but I doubt that it's Prince's voice. Sounds like Klaus Nomi (maybe unknown to people in the US) joined them on stage...

Review by Dazeofwild@aol.com
A long overdue release. The first in a series of classic Prince reissues begins with the finest sounding CD release ever of perhaps PrinceAEs greatest performance, the Minnesota Dance Theater Benefit show on August 3rd, 1983 at First Avenue. This is then followed by a great copy, albeit incomplete, of the rehearsal for that show on disc 2, reportedly recorded that same day at First Avenue.

Moonraker has chosen wisely thus far for these reissues. No place better to begin than with a classic First Avenue show (I think all of the First Avenue gigs are now regarded as classics, aren't they?). Packaging is very nice with several attractive Purple Rain tour photos, much in the same vein as the City Lights series of CD's released last year. My only complaint here is that none of the photos used come from the historic 8/3/83 show. This would not normally be a complaint if it wasn't for the fact that the show is so familiar in our eyes as much as our ears, due to the very popular video of the show that has been in circulation for about 10 years now. I would have much rather seen some of the awesome black and white pics from the show such as the one used on the cover of Uptown issue # 3 and in Jon Bream's excellent book Inside the Purple Reign (which is a MUST HAVE for Prince collectors). Perhaps also missed in the packaging is an evaluation of the show with a telling tale of its historic significance. This show was one of the first signs of the prolific Prince that we now take for granted. We must remember this show takes place a mere 9 months after the release of the 1999 album but yet he premieres no less than 6 new songs, 5 of which wouldn't be released for an astounding 11 more months, and one that continues to be an unreleased gem (Electric Intercourse).

The show is not all outstanding. Tracks like Let's Go Crazy, and Little Red Corvette come off surprisingly bland. Others though, namely When You Were Mine, A Case of You, Computer Blue and Electric Intercourse are absolutely electrifying showcasing Prince's increasing wide range of talents both in musicianship and as a vocalist. The emotional high point climaxes with THE version of Purple Rain complete with scintillating guitar work and an extra verse that was left off the LP version. His guitar solo as he approaches the microphone before the first verse and his endless solo after the final chorus just ooze emotion. This must be seen on video to fully realize. The expressions on his face during the final 6 minute guitar solo make this the defining version of his most popular song. It is certainly 15 minutes of the finest Prince work ever recorded, whether its experienced on CD or watched on video. The energy he possesses here is second to none for any show that exists on tape in my opinion. His encore of D.M.S.R. is to this show what A Day in the Life is to the Beatle's Sgt Pepper album, separating the greatest from just the great.

The rehearsal on disc 2 is in very good quality, recorded at a much higher level (which does not automatically mean its better quality) than my already fine copy of it on tape. However, it is very incomplete with several tracks missing such as Purple Rain, Computer Blue, Automatic, etc. This is confusing since the second disc comes in with over 30 minutes of time left to spare. It's ashame that these were left out. What is here is great though. In particular are the rare versions of ElectricIntercourse and A Case of You. The instrumental fooling around at the end with tracks like Africa Talks to You and Stand Back is great fun and a nice insight to the fun the Revolution had in rehearsal on days when Prince was in a good mood. The rehearsal in no way comes close to the energy of the actual show. First Avenue obviously brought out a unique quality in his early performances that we don't hear in other shows during this same time frame. His hometown energy is no secret.

Reviewing this show cannot be done without referring back to the video copy I've owned for about 9 years now. It's special for me to review this show because I received my video copy directly from the First Avenue DJ who was actually at the show & took part in the taping. My video copy is 2nd generation with excellent audio sound which makes me quite impressed with this release because the sound quality here is very comparable, but yet noticeably different. The audio from my video master contains a much improved high end with no hiss whereas this copy on CD seems to have a better low end with a tad bit stronger bass response. Choosing one over the other is tough. Tapes of the 8/3/83 rehearsal do exist in better quality that what appears here on disc, but this most definitely is the finest release ever for these 2 recordings on CD.

Recommendation
A must for have for any Prince fan who collects bootleg material. This show must be in your possession as should the video and was a pleasure to review.
Marius Gimle Hansen <mariush@unik.no>
26. august 1996