I was only young when Prince was first starting out, so I have no memories of his first tours and performances. But I have read a lot about his earlier shows, and it’s apparent that he was great right from the start. Today I will be listening to a show from 1980 when he was opening for Rick James. By all accounts, he gave Rick a run for his money every night, and this show seems to confirm this.
6 March 1980. Omni, Atlanta
For the age of the recording, it is surprisingly good and crisp. It doesn’t start with a roar as you might expect, just a nice beat provided by Bobby Z. The keys join in very soon and it’s straight into “Soft and Wet.” I have a couple of immediate impressions. The first is that the band sounds very accurate and it sounds very much like the album recording. I expected something a little more rugged like the recordings I have heard of the Dirty Mind and Controversy eras. My second impression is that Bobby Z is very good. I enjoy his playing here, it’s not stand out spectacular, but very solid. The song sounds great, good enough that it makes me want to go back and listen to the original. It sounds just as sharp as it does on record, the only real moment it deviates is the 1.40-minute mark when there is a brief guitar moment. It’s held in pretty tight, and the rest of the song is played straight.
The guitars take a step forward after Prince introduces “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad,” in his high/shy voice. But as soon as the song starts he sounds much stronger again, so I assume he was shy about speaking and preferred to let his music speak for him. The song isn’t as loud and in your face as can be heard on later tours, but it's fresh sounding. In particular, the bass has a good fat sound here. The guitars are all over it, but they are pulled back in the mix much more than I have heard elsewhere. The guitar solos start rather tentatively but pick up as the song goes on. They sound a little thin in places, but still, bring a smile to my face. The second half of the song is the highlight for me. After the guitar break and the song moves into the second half Prince sings “why you wanna treat me so bad? is it the clothes I wear? why you wanna treat me so bad? is it the style my hair?” and another couple of lines. It all sounds great as the guitar chugs along nicely underneath.
A nice little change of pace next, as Prince brings us down with “Still Waiting.” I would love to see some footage of this show, I would like to see who is playing what. “Still Waiting” has a nice little keyboard intro, I want to say it's Prince, but that’s just guessing, and a little wishful thinking. Still Waiting is beautiful. It’s a forgotten song in my collection, and listening here I want to grab out the first couple of albums and give them a week in the car. Again, I am amazed at how good the band sound, everything is very clean, and I can’t fault a single note. It’s not very rock n roll, but it’s fantastic on my stereo. Things take an upswing about the five-minute mark, and nice drum fill by Bobby, and then the ever-familiar Prince falsetto wailing. He sounds so young, and already so good. I can’t see the crowd, but I imagine some young ladies are passing out about now.
There is a pause as Prince introduces the band, although it takes him a few seconds to quieten the crowd – “shhhh, Atlanta, shhh” The Prince I know and love becomes apparent as he introduces himself “I’m just a freak baby” Its a moment in the recording when I smile to myself. “I Feel For You” is very vibrant, and I guess most of the crowd is moving to it. The keyboard isn’t too strong, and the bass is more prominent. It gets two thumbs up from me. In fact, every song on this recording sounds great, it's hard to say one is a highlight or any better than another. During the bridge, Prince hits us with his faux seduction. He starts with “there’s so much I want to do to you”, and then goes on to mention his desires, before the music ups again, and dirty Prince starts “When I’m with you, all I want to do is screw you” Very funny, it seems in contrast to the rest of the song, but gives a true indication of what Prince was about in the earlier days. Straight after this Dez plays hard for a minute, and in the last couple of minutes of the song we see the template for the Dirty Mind/Controversy albums to follow.
The bass is fantastic in “Sexy Dancer,” much louder and more popping than I have previously heard. I wish the album version was more like this, I would play it more often if it was. This for me is the most surprising song on the recording. Normally I would have “Sexy Dancer” on, but wouldn’t give it much attention, but on this recording, I can’t ignore it. I listened raptly to the bass and guitar interplay. Weaved in with the keyboard, it casts quite a spell. The band plays this one to death and the keyboards towards the end are well worth giving attention to. Things get even better when Prince says “Andre…” and we get a minute of bass work. I was just thinking, “Wow, this is a great song, the band is stretching out” and then the guitar enters for its turn. It’s fast and tight. Even with all the fretwork the song never once threatens to become rock, and I love it even more for this.
“Just As Long As We’re Together” begins with Prince asking “Is everyone wet?” The song has a nice little feel to it, and I love it when Prince sings “I gotta always have you in my hair” – a foretelling of things to come. Once again I find myself listening to mostly the keyboards and Bobby Z on the drums. The song flies by and I find it finishing before I have properly composed any thoughts about it. There is another change near the end and some nice interplay between the keys and the guitars. In fact, the whole band locks in very nicely and keeps it going for some time. Andre again is impressive on the bass, and again I find myself wishing there was some footage of this. I am very surprised, the song goes for 10 minutes, but it's always interesting, and it is one of the most enjoyable parts of the gig for me.
Prince thanks the crowd, and then encourages them to get up as the band plays “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” Like every song on this recording, the playing is so good that it’s hard to believe it’s live. The band is obviously very well-rehearsed and drilled. There’s not much to say about this song, all the elements of it that we know so well are there, and sound just as good as ever. I was thinking that this gig was pristine, and missing the grittiness that I often enjoy, but there are 30 seconds of guitar work near the end that remind me that it is a live show. It’s not too much, just enough to give it a live dirty sound. Again the band stretches it out after the three-minute mark and it heads off into the territory I love, and good groove and some jamming. The whole thing winds up about with Prince exhorting the crowd “Yea……yea…….yea!” then in a flash it is over.
Although very short, this recording is very highly recommended. The quality of the recording is excellent, and Prince and the band sound great. As I said earlier, I was impressed by how sharp they were. Although not as nitty-gritty as the live recordings I normally enjoy, you cannot fault a band for being so sharp and good. There are plenty of indications as we listen here of what will come in the future, but this is hindsight, I don’t think at the time I would have guessed. All in all a great peek into the beginnings of the legend.
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