Welcome 2 the Dawn (1CD)

From the TV special A Night In Erotic City

Label

DAWN 140294

Review

• DISC LENGTH : 68:20
• OVERALL SOUND QUALITY : Thunder & 319 are EX+, Beautiful Experience tracks = EX. All tracks are soundboard.
• SOURCE: * = from Billboards commercial video release, ^ = unreleased 1994 studio outtake. All other tracks are taken from The Beautiful Experience TV movie special aired in spring of '94.
• COMMENTS : Thunder & 319 are outstanding quality. In particular the quality of 319 easily matches the quality of the infamous Now bootleg CD released last year. Thunder may be somewhat boring but that's besides the point here. As far as I know this is the only CD in which the extended version appears. It appears here in near flawless quality making it a very welcome addition. But....the other 12 tracks on this disc are all pulled directly from The Beautiful Experience TV special and are relatively meaningless since all the tracks appear in superior quality on previous releases. Not to mention some of the tracks are commercially available on the Come LP (Loose!, Papa, etc.). The one note to make here though is that the version of The Jam on this disc is the COMPLETE version. It includes the introduction & solo of Morris Hayes which every other release had edited out. The reason behind this is that when the Beautiful Experience concert was aired on FM in Europe it contained the edited version of The Jam whereas the video version contained the complete rendition. Hence, when all of the live bootlegs of the Beautiful Experience show were made off of the FM broadcast tapes, the complete version was forgotten. This boot that I'm reviewing here was taken from the video, not the FM broadcast of the concert. No big deal but worth mentioning I thought. Quite attractive packaging with a collage of photos from the Beautiful Experience video and a nice photo on the back sleeve of the man performing Endorphinemachine for Top of the Pops.
• RECOMMENDATION : It all depends on how much it's worth to you to have the extended version of Thunder, a perfect version of 319 and the full version of The Jam. Otherwise, all of the remaining tracks are worth searching out on other superior releases.
• Cover and booklet of this CD is nice (many pictures taken from the TV special A Night In Erotic City). The sound quality is perfect because most songs were taken directly from high quality video tapes.

Tracklist

1. Thunder (extended version) [*]
2. Come
3. Race
4. Acknowledge Me
5. Pheromone
6. Loose!
7. Papa
8. 319 [^]
9. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
10. Interactive
11. Days of Wild
12. The Jam
13. Shhh
14. Now

Welcome To The Beautiful Experience (1CD)

Live at Paisley Park Studios, 12.Feb.94

Label

Kiss The Stone KTS 285

Review

• Same as Minneapolis (Kisses No. 40) & Love Simple's Interactive Night
• Grade: A+
• Soon to be the one of the most heavily bootlegged Prince shows. Flawless sound quality, great unreleased material as well as being Prince's debut show under the 'O+>' moniker. Not quite as compelling a performance as the 'Small Club' CD above, but equally exciting in several parts. This combination of sound quality, packaging and what has become one of the most exciting periods of Prince's career make this a must have to any collection. Both of these CD's listed have the same sound quality, the KTS one though has far superior packaging. Don't set the fidelity of this wonderful CD.
• Picked up the "Welcome To The Beautiful Experience" boot. Very...very good. There seems to be 2 boots of this show... but the KTS version has the nicer packaging.
• This CD has the same content as Love Simple's Interactive Night. The cover is more beautiful (brand new photos!) but there are no bonus tracks (only the live concert). Therefore the concert is a few seconds longer at the begin and the end.
• EX quality as well. A must have disc with very nice packaging.
• Sound quality on this disk is excellent.

Tracklist

1. Interactive
2. Days Of Wild
3. Now
4. The Ride
5. The Jam [orig. by Graham Central Sation]
6. I Believe In You [orig. by Graham Central Sation]
7. Shhh
8. What'd I Say [orig. by Ray Charles]
9. Peep The Technique
10. Martial Law
11. None Of Your Business [orig. by Salt'n'Pepa]

What am I Doing Aftershow (1CD)

Brussels 5 Sept. 93 aftershow and BBC radio show, 7.Aug.93

Label

MAD 5

Review

• 5 sept. 93, The Mirano, plus some live tracks the BBC radio show, 7.Aug.93. Features the NPG set plus the few songs Prince played there. I listened to it, but didn't buy it.
• Sound : VG
• The sound quality is average and it is an audience recording of the Brussels 93 aftershow which has not been circulating that well... the total time is 76:33... which is longer than the concert the last tracks appears to be from the REX club show.. the cd tracks: (this just what it says on the back no trusting it or the times)

Tracklist

1. Oilcan (0:57) [Brussels after show, 5 sept. 93]
2. Drum solo (0:52)
3. Levi talks (1:52)
4. Gold nigger (5:08)
5. Call the law (5:24)
6. 2 gether (4:57)
7. House in order (9:22)
8. Intermission (0:42)
9. Johnny (6:45)
10. Peach (7:52)
11. Race (9:27)
12. 1999 (3:10) [The BBC radio show, 7.Aug.93]
13. Baby, I'm a Star (1:03)
14. Rock the House (0:20)
15. America (1:39)
16. DMSR (1:38)
17. The Pope (5:31)
18. Peach (5:32)

What's My Name (2CD)

Wembley 93

Why U Wanna Treat Me So Bad (1CD)

Label

Templar TCD 14

Review

• Grade: A

With U Prince (1CD)

Live at the Amphitheater/L.A., 28.March.83

Review

• Limited Edition 500

Tracklist

1. Intro
2. Controversy
3. Let's Work
4. Do Me Baby
5. Sexuality
6. Let's Pretend We're Married
7. Instrumental
8. Moonbeam Levels [= A Better Place 2 Die]
9. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore
10. Lady Cab Driver
11. Little Red Corvette
12. Orgasm intro
13. Dirty Mind
14. International Lover
15. 1999
16. If A Girl Answers Don't Hang Up [Vanity 6 supp. act]
17. Nasty Girl [Vanity 6 supp. act]
18. Grace [bonus track, official The Time release]

Wonderboy (2CD)

Live from Palais Omnisport/Paris in Jun.87

Label

Library Products, Oxford - 2331-2335

Review

• Same concert as Paris Affair, but complete.
• With the release of the Sign O' The Times movie is this release essential? Yes. Who knows how much of the movie was actually a live recording. We know that most of the film footage was filmed at Paisley Park. This was a great tour supporting Prince's strongest album still to this date. The live renditions of this album did not disappoint and neither does this double CD set. Crystal clear sound quality. The opening guitar riff to Sign O' The Times sets the tone immediately. The scorching solo on could not sound better. Forget about the poor quality outtakes added onto the second disc. Pretend they're not even there. The cover is nice and the enjoyment of hearing a show that never made it to the states, is even better.
• This is bullshit! Expert Lover (or correctly Crystal Ball) is the most amazing recording he ever made. The version of Witness is also cool and sounds like J.Hendrix playing guitar. The other outtakes are not that good. But alone for Expert Lover I would buy this double CD (not to mention the SOTT live concert!).

Tracklist

• Disk 1
  1. Sign Of The Times
  2. Play In The Sunshine
  3. Little Red Corvette
  4. Housequake
  5. Girls and Boys
  6. Slow Love
  7. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
  8. Hot Thing
  9. Musical Jam [Now's The Time]
  10. Let's Go Crazy/When Doves Cry
  11. Purple Rain
• Disk 2
  1. 1999
  2. The Cross
  3. It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night
  4. Expert Lover [outtake, different version from Crystal Ball]
  5. If You Break My Heart On More Time [outtake]
  6. Strange Relationship [outtake]
  7. Wonderfull Ass [outtake]
  8. Neon Telephone [outtake]
  9. Witness [outtake]

Wonderboy

Label   : Moonraker        Cat # : 091/92
Released: July 1996        Format: 2 CD
Source  : 17th June 1987, Live in Paris, France
Type    : Soundboard Recording

Rating

Sound: EX+ (Dazeofwild@aol.com)

Tracklist

Disc 1 Live in Paris 17/6/87

1. Sign O' the Times
2. Play in the Sunshine
3. Little Red Corvette
4. Housequake
5. Girls and Boys
6. Slow Love
7. I Could Never Take the Place Of Your Man
8. Hot Thing
9. Now's the Time
10. Sheila E drum solo
11. Let's Go Crazy
12. When Doves Cry
13. Purple Rain
14. 1999
15. The Cross

Total time: 67:41

Disc 2 From the Sign O' the Times film

1. Sign O' the Times
2. Play in the Sunshine
3. Little Red Corvette
4. Housequake
5. Slow Love
6. I Could Never Take the Place Of Your Man
7. Hot Thing
8. Now's the Time
9. Sheila E drum solo
10. If I Was Your Girlfriend
11. Forever in My Life
12. It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night
13. The Cross

Total time: 69:16

Review by Dazeofwild@aol.com

Prince's best tour? Probably. Certainly 1987 will go down as perhaps his second best year ever (1984 will always be number one). 1987 featured his best album and a tremendous tour then followed up by an incredible concert movie. Put this CD set next to your official copy of Sign O' the Times and you will end up with a perfect document of Prince in his prime. Sound quality on this Moonraker reissue surprisingly surpasses the original release of Wonderboy by a very noticeable margin, and that says a lot because the original had sparkling quality. To my ears the Paris show on disc one actually has better sound quality than the Sign O' the Times film on disc two! The bass response and guitar both seem to be deeper and crisper respectively. I've always thought the SOTT film was mixed poorly (by Sheila E.) and had a very flat sound on the low end. This disc set furthers my opinion.

The missing songs on the incomplete Paris show are badly missed, in particular If I Was Your Girlfriend and Forever in My Life. Forever was perhaps the musical highlight of the film & tour and it would've been nice to have an additional copy of that song with this quality. What's here on the Paris show is great though, most notably the rendition of Girls and Boys, a killer guitar solo during I Could Never Take.. and a sizzling run through of the Purple Rain medley. We all have our own highlights of the SOTT film but the last four songs must be 30 minutes of the best music he's ever performed. On this rare occasion he was living up to all of our expectations of him, and he delivered spectacularly.

Packaging is gorgeous with a tremendous combination of the SOTT era graphics and photos, mixed in peach and black. The booklet includes pictures from the tour program and a complete itinerary of all dates played on the tour including aftershows.

Recommendation

Even if you already own the original Wonderboy and have the SOTT film on laserdisc like I do, this is a must have. The improvement of the Paris show in sound quality makes this a necessity.