Bloomington 20 May 1986

 

1986 stands above all other years of Prince's career as his creative peak. I don’t say that lightly, for a career of 35 years he has had many fertile periods when his creativity has astounded all of us. But for me, 1986 tops them all. He released the fabulous Parade album, the not so fabulous Under The Cherry Moon movie, recorded the bulk of Sign O The Times/Crystal Ball/Dream factory/Camille, worked on The Family project, Shelia E, the hit and run tour of the US (and who doesn’t love the Cobo arena gig?), and the Parade tour of Europe. And Prince's huge outpouring of work this year is a boon for we collectors of unofficial recordings. Fantastic concerts, and great work that was recorded but never released, it’s a gold mine for us. Some of my favorite recordings are from this period, but in this flurry of music and recordings, it’s easy to overlook some of the smaller, lesser-known shows. Today I will be listening to a recording of Prince playing at the Minnesota music awards. It slots in early on in the hit and run shows, just a couple of weeks before the Cobo show. Prince and the Revolution only play 40 minutes at the awards, just enough time to play the highlights of the arena shows, but it is worth a listen.

May 20, 1986, Minnesota music awards, Bloomington

The show starts simply enough, with one of Prince’s trademarked “Awwwww!” There is a cheer from the crowd then after a drum roll and pause everyone is left waiting in anticipation, me included! Another flurry of horns and guitars, then the familiar refrain of “Raspberry Beret.” Such an upbeat song, it’s hard not to feel uplifted. Nowadays “Raspberry Beret” is beginning to sound a little stale to my ears, but here in 1986 it’s still fresh as a daisy, and the crowd gleefully sings along. The female vocals on this one are right out front and very strong. The song is abridged, somewhat surprising for a song that is already so short. Prince is very playful with the crowd, as he was throughout this era. He asks Jerome “can I tell you about this little nasty girl?” And Eric Leeds's sax makes its first appearance as the groove of “Girls and Boys” begins.

 

“Girls and Boys” is my favorite song on the Parade album, and this live version certainly delivers the goods. So much I enjoy about this one, the guitar, the deep groove of the keys, Fink’s quirky sound, and the deep honk of Eric Leeds. Prince exhorts the crowd to get up, and I should think it would be pretty hard to stay seated as the band grooves on this one. “Girls and Boys” always sounds so different live, but it never diminishes the sound of the song to me, often live it feels much more muscular to me, it hit me like a punch. Prince calls Eric to solo, and it crosses my mind that this would be a great jam song if they decided to take it that way. But Prince keeps the band on a tight leash and hammers us with the funk in the song. The song has a false ending and then continues with Prince calling for everyone to get up again. I would love to see the visuals for this one, I am sure it looks as good as it sounds. I smiled when after a few “Vous etes tres belle, mama, girls an’ boys”, Prince tells the crowd “that’s French, you understand”

 

There is no respite as the distinctive intro to “Life Can Be So Nice” plays. The band and crowd sound like they are having lots of fun, there is plenty of squeals and screams from the crowd. There is a deep refrain coming out of the left speaker, I don’t know what it is, but it drives the song along for a minute or two. There is a nice change of tempo and the song winds down, the Revolution sounds as tight as ever, and even at the slower tempo it still sounds funky. The song continues in this vein, and then a steady beat and some very funky guitar take us into the next song.

With the pounding beat and funky beat, at first, I think it’s going to be “Mutiny,” but then Prince sings “all day, all night” and I think my heart is going to explode out of my chest. Unfortunately, it’s just another Prince tease and the band continues with some great funky rhythm guitar. This recording is not the greatest quality, but it’s worth listening to just for these two minutes of funk guitar. I don’t mind admitting, that when I was writing this I listened to the first three minutes of this song five or six times in a row. It felt so good. And all the while Prince is encouraging the crowd to make a funk face. His humor is further displayed when he tells the band “Bring it way down fellas, and ladies, I’m sorry” I have listened to enough Parade shows that I should have realized what was coming, and this funky intro slams in “Controversy.” “Come on band, groove” and the band plays the horn-infused intro that we are familiar with from the Parade shows. Of the 1986 shows I have heard and seen this is always one of the highlights for me when he plays “Controversy” and into “Mutiny.” “Controversy” has a massive groove to it, much more so than on the album, and energy levels are high, especially encouraged by Wally and his calls to the crowd. Things slow as Prince does his whole smoking a cigarette charade. I know what is coming next and I can’t wait. With a shout of “Get Up!’ the band storms into “Mutiny.” This is one song that never got the release it deserved. I can’t help but move every time I hear it, it’s an absolute monster, and here the band plays a rousing version. Something about the organ and the horns just really gets me. I could listen to this all day long. Eric plays such a great role in this song, I love it when the band drops out and gives him space to play his solo, especially when Prince cuts him short with “Eric, shut the fuck up” and the band explodes back into action. “On the one” ends the song, but thankfully they enter back into the groove right where they left off for another couple of minutes. During this long groove, Prince sings lines from ‘Hollyrock’ which always seems to go over well with the crowd. Prince teases me further when he has the girls singing the chorus of the “Dream Factory.” I wonder if those in the crowd knew what they were hearing. Some more funk guitar ends it, and there is a pause for the crowd to catch their collective breath.

 

It doesn’t last long, as the instantly recognizable intro of “Kiss” is played. After the full-on assault of “Controversy/Mutiny,” it feels a little light. It is, nevertheless, still very good. I cringe when I hear Prince say the words “Wooden Leg” during the bridge, glad I don’t have to watch THAT dance again. I have always loved the guitar break in this song, and I was surprised when I saw Prince live and how many other people dig it too. As usual, here it sounds very good. It is strange to hear the original “you don’t have to watch Dynasty” line still in it, I have become so used to the move recent versions with the TV show of the moment inserted here. 1986, and the line is still fresh and humorous. There is s a long playout, and Brown Mark is sounding very good, he often gets overlooked when I am writing these.

 

The show ends with “♥ Or $.” It’s refreshing to hear it, and it's another chance for the band to show how good they are. Especially the horns and Eric Leeds are very prominent throughout. I was surprised he finished with this one, but I did enjoy the horns on it. It very quickly settles on repetition with the girls singing “love or Money” while the horns play all over it. It comes to a sudden halt where I am expecting Prince to call them back in, but he never does.

The recording itself goes for another minute, with Prince thanking the crowd for his award. He thanks the usual people, The Revolution, The fans, before finishing by thanking God.

This recording was very short, and yet very enjoyable. It briefly presents the best of the Parade era tours. All the material played, except for Controversy, is new, yet the crowd responds to it well, and everything is well received. Like I said earlier, this is many more recordings from this era I would grab before this one, but it would be a shame if this was overlooked.