prince Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Prince and the Revolution “I Would Die 4 U”

sfilzen — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 18:43:20 +0000

Prince and the Revolution “I Would Die 4 U” released 40 years ago (tomorrow), November 28th, 1984. 12″ extended version. The shorter 7″ version of “I Would Die 4 U” was the fourth single from Prince’s 1984 smash hit masterpiece Purple Rain; it went to #8 in the US and to #58 in the UK. I totally remember making up ridiculous dance/gymnastic routines to the song in junior high, complete with YMCA-style body letter forming and finger guns to the head. This 12″ has the much much longer extended version which “is actually a rehearsal jam on the song with The Revolution and musicians from Sheila E.’s band, Eddie M (on sax) and Miko Weaver (guitar), along with Sheila E. herself recorded some time before the Purple Rain Tour. The jam features some overdubbing and fades at the end; a longer version, nearly 31 minutes long, was never released officially, but has been bootlegged.” (wiki) I do not have that half-hour bootleg. Side B is the seasonal “Another Lonely Christmas,” a sexy and soulful song, reminiscent of the style of the single “Purple Rain.”

The post Prince and the Revolution “I Would Die 4 U” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Jherek Bischoff & Amanda Palmer “Strung Out in Heaven”

sfilzen — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:46:21 +0000

Jherek Bischoff & Amanda Palmer “Strung Out in Heaven” a Bowie tribute. 2016. Eight Foot Records. A tribute to Bowie today on what would have been his 77th birthday. Strung Out in Heaven is an EP of Bowie songs (Side A), all on orchestral strings conducted by composer Jherek Bischoff (who also performs double bass) and sung gorgeously by Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer. The project came together and was recorded within just two weeks following Bowie’s death on January 10th, 2016 and the digital version released on February 5th 2016. The complexity of most Bowie songs lend themselves well to orchestral interpretation and Palmer’s rich voice blends perfectly with the strings. My top track on the Bowie side is “Space Oddity” which I’m guessing was super-fun to conduct, with its time-changes and sad-string vibes. The runners-up are “Ashes to Ashes” and the instrumental-only “Life on Mars?” is gorgeous: the conversion to a string quartet arrangement seems perfectly obvious. Also of note is performer John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) who sings on “Heroes.”

The vinyl release came out in November 2016 and includes a cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” a tribute to Prince who died in April 2016. The track begins with a whispery recreation of the intro to “Let’s Go Crazy,” backed by ambient strings, before segueing into a delicate rendition of “Purple Rain.” It’s pretty OK but the Bowie side is better.

The post Jherek Bischoff & Amanda Palmer “Strung Out in Heaven” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Prince “1999”

sfilzen — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 20:46:43 +0000

Prince “1999” released 40 years ago today, October 27th, 1982. Considered one of the greatest albums of all-time, 1999 catapulted Prince into the mass popular culture consciousness, where he remains even after his premature death in 2016. His first record with his band the Revolution went to #9 in the US and reentered the charts after Prince’s death in 2016, hitting #7. Funky, soulful, ridiculously sexy and danceable, 1999 spawned massive singles still played regularly 40 years later. The title track “1999” charted multiple times: first at #44 in the US (#1 on the Dance chart) in ’82, then #12 in ’83 with its re-release; in 1999 it went to #40 and then in 2016 to #27. “Little Red Corvette” made it to #6 in the US in early ’83 and then re-charted in 2016 on both the R&B and Hot Rock charts (#11 and #4 respectively). The manic “Delirious” went to #8. The ultra-dirty (and highly edited for radio: the album version has the lyric “I wanna fuck you…look here, Marsha, I’m not saying this just to be nasty. I sincerely wanna fuck the taste out of your mouth”) “Let’s Pretend We’re Married,” Prince’s final single from 1999 released in the US, only made it to #52. The synth-funk track “Automatic” was just released internationally which is too bad because it’s amazing. The rest of the 2-disk album is just as sexy and spectacular. “D.M.S.R.” (Dance, Music, Sex, Romance) is infectiously and hypnotically funky, as is “Lady Cab Driver.” And “International Lover,” while not a single, did earn Prince his first Grammy nomination in the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance category.

The post Prince “1999” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Prince “Controversy”

sfilzen — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 17:14:16 +0000

Prince “Controversy” released 40 years ago today, October 14th, 1981. Shockingly, our copy still includes the large poster which somehow escaped the normal rips, wears and tape tears from being attached to an 80′s teenager’s wall (the image cropped a bit here because posting it in its full glory got me thrown into “violates social standards” jail 🙄).

Controversy is Prince’s fourth album; it hit #21 on the US album chart and #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop album chart. Funky and danceable, its themes are a mix of socio-political commentary (most explicitly on “Ronnie, Talk to Russia” but also on the pro-gun control song “Annie Christian”), religion and sex sex sex without even a whisper of innuendo. Songs- and that poster! – like “Sexuality” (released outside of the US as a single – 1981 America was clearly not ready for it), “Do Me, Baby” (which was released, hitting #41 on the single chart and #1 on the R&B chart; it was supposedly written not by Prince but by Revolution bassist Andre Cymone), “Private Joy” and “Jack U Off” tell us exactly where Prince’s mind was at when writing the LP. Other singles he released were the title track “Controversy” (#70 US, #5 UK) and my favorite song on the album, the ultra-funky “Let’s Work” which went to #1 on the US Dance chart.

The post Prince “Controversy” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Prince “Around the World in a Day”

sfilzen — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 19:16:51 +0000

Prince “Around the World in a Day” 1985. Prince’s 7th LP and his second with the Revolution, Around the World in a Day went to #1 in the US and to #5 in the UK (and re-charted at #51 after Prince’s death in 2016). Swirly, funky psychedelic pop, it’s an album I admit to not thinking much about beyond the hits until relatively recently (I was far too into British new wave in ‘85) and now have a much greater appreciation for its complexity in the context of 80′s pop. I also now realize that this record probably inspired my 14-year-old self’s fashion choices (my friends and I wore a LOT of paisley that year). The singles are amazing of course: “Raspberry Beret” (#2 US, #25 UK) is a classic that I still listen to frequently, “Pop Life” (#7 US, #60 UK) and “America” (#46 US). “Paisley Park,” another great track, was a single only in the UK, Europe and Australia; it hit #18 in the UK and #38 in Australia. I also really love the funky groove of “Tamborine.”

The post Prince “Around the World in a Day” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

The Time “Ice Cream Castle”

sfilzen — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 00:13:27 +0000

The Time “Ice Cream Castle” released on this date, July 2nd, 1984. Prince produced the album and wrote most of the tracks though a couple were collaborations by Prince and Time members Morris Day (vocals) and Jesse Johnson (guitar). Prince also probably played most of the instruments, except guitar, on the album. (This despite their contentious past: “A rivalry developed between The Time and Prince’s band during their 1982 Controversy Tour. Frustrated with their lack of input on the albums bearing their name and at being underpaid, The Time would take to the stage with the intent of showing up Prince. On the final night of the tour in Cincinnati, during The Time’s set, Prince and some of his band threw eggs at their supporting act from offstage. After The Time’s performance, guitarist Jesse Johnson was handcuffed to a wall-mounted coat rack. Prince demanded no interruptions during his performance, but as soon as he left the stage, a food fight erupted. When the battle continued at the hotel, Prince held Morris Day responsible and made him pay for all damages.”) The two hit singles from Ice Cream Castle, “Jungle Love” and “The Bird,” were both featured in Purple Rain, though by the time the movie came out, The Time had broken up (they regrouped in 1990). Ice Cream Castle made it to #24 on the US Billboard album chart and #3 on the Soul chart.

About a week ago I finally got to see a show at First Avenue in Minneapolis and the whole time I was picturing the videos for “Jungle Love” and “The Bird” which feature concert footage at First Avenue from Purple Rain. I wasn’t a huge Time fan in ‘84 but I really liked both songs, which hit #20 and #36 on the pop charts, respectively, in ‘84. The album’s title track, “Ice Cream Castles,” was also released as a single, and though it failed to crack the Top 100 it did hit #11 on the R&B chart. These three tracks are really the only great ones on the LP; Allmusic calls the remaining three songs (“My Drawers,” “Chili Sauce” and “If The Kid Can’t Make You Come”) “filler” and I totally agree.

The post The Time “Ice Cream Castle” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Prince and the Revolution “Purple Rain”

sfilzen — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 12:46:39 +0000

Prince and the Revolution “Purple Rain” 1984. 12″ single on purple vinyl. Today, June 7th, would have been Prince’s 60th birthday (b. 1958, d. 2016). “Purple Rain” is one of Prince’s most iconic singles, released from both the album Purple Rain and the soundtrack to the movie. The song hit #2 in 1984 and #8 in the UK, reentering the charts after his death in 2016 at #4 (US) and #6 (UK). It was the last song he ever performed live, at a concert in Atlanta on April 14th, 2016. The version on this 12″ is the original long version, clocking in at 8:45; the more radio-friendly edit (4:02) appeared on the 7″ single release. According to wiki, “’Purple Rain’ was originally written as a country song and intended to be a collaboration with Stevie Nicks. According to Nicks, she received a 10-minute instrumental version of the song from Prince with a request to write the lyrics, but felt overwhelmed. She said: ‘I listened to it and I just got scared. I called him back and said, ‘I can’t do it. I wish I could. It’s too much for me.’” The song is about judgement day – “When there’s blood in the sky – red and blue = purple… purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/god guide you through the purple rain.“ The b-side, “God” is also, obviously, highly religious with a lot of soaring vocal experimentation. The instrumental version was used in the movie Purple Rain.

The post Prince and the Revolution “Purple Rain” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Prince “1999″

sfilzen — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 19:00:34 +0000

Prince “1999″ 1982. RIP Prince. His music shaped much of the soundtrack to my 80′s childhood, beginning with this record when I was 11 (his music was, um, mostly inappropriate for me before that time). MTV was just being introduced into our Midwestern market and I probably watched “1999″ and “Little Red Corvette” about a million times.

Then the summer of ‘84′s soundtrack was dominated by Duran Duran and Prince’s Purple Rain. I spent a significant amount of each summer at camp and that particular summer involved a canoe trip down the Menomonee River which borders Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. My friend Allyson and I were passionate Duranies and sang “The Reflex” over and over over. My other friend on the trip, Stephanie, was a rabid Prince fan (I liked him fine – just not as much as Simon LeBon – even making up gymnastic routines to “Let’s Go Crazy”) and countered us with an inexhaustible repetition of “When Doves Cry.”

The post Prince “1999″ appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.