Oslo 14 August 1988

 

This week Lovesexy is in the air – everywhere I look I see people celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the release of the album. I enjoy the album just as much as anyone else, but for me, it is always about the love bootlegs, and Lovesexy and its subsequent tour gives us an array of stunning performances and recordings. The one I would like to focus on today comes from the European leg, the single performance of the tour in Oslo, Norway. Although the recording is incomplete, it is one of the better audience recordings I have heard, with the audience barely audible throughout. A good review from The Data Bank seals the deal for me, this is the one I want to celebrate Lovesexy‘s birthday with.

14th August 1988, Oslo, Norway

It’s hard not to drift back into 1980’s nostalgia as I feel as much as I hear the opening drum beat. This bootleg will be an exercise in nostalgia all the way, and there is no way to untangle my feelings from the music I am hearing. The music is familiar from the start, we all know what to expect, although it does take a minute for the guitars to emerge cleanly from the mix and into their dry funk sound. It is with Prince’s first verse of “Erotic City” that the loudness and clarity of the recording improve dramatically, not that it was bad before, but suddenly it opens up into a more panoramic sound.

The concert gains a sense of urgency with “Housequake” – the band bringing a fuller sound and an immediacy with horn and synth stabs punctuating the sound.  The horns are the most notable addition to the overall sound, but it is the guitar that holds my attention with its taut funk rattle. What little audience noise there is, is easily enough drowned out by the horns and the performance of Prince that seems to stun the audience into silence.

 

The concert threatens to slow down with “Slow Love,” but Prince has the setlist finely tuned, and it is merely a gradual introduction to the next opening barrage of abridged versions of some of his most beloved songs.

“Adore” follows suit, the sweetest of openings quickly gives way to the oncoming “Delirious” which keeps the tempo of the concert quickly moving forward. The recording remains solid, the music clearly heard as Prince rumbles through his back catalog. “Jack U Off” gets more time in the sun than the previous two numbers, and for the most part is a vehicle for the horns and organ to strut their stuff. The recording does thin near the end of this, but it’s not enough to derail the performance I can hear. “Sister” comes as a final orgasmic rush, and although the lyrics make the middle-aged me cringe, I still feel the energy of the performance flowing through me.

The welcoming sound of “Adore” rounds out this medley with a romantic reprise. It’s not as full-bloodied as I would like, but it does bring us full circle in a carefully crafted setlist.

I find it impossible not to be taken back by the appearance of “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” a song that immediately transports me back to high school. The snare drum that serves as its backbone through the Lovesexy tour is deliciously dry and adds extra tension to a previously familiar pop song. There is a darkness in the final minutes that tempers its pop roots and leads us nicely into more salacious territory.

The primeval funk of “Head” is slightly lost on this recording, but I know it well enough to bring my own darkness to it. The song is well-honed, yet retains its air of dangerous sexuality, even in the lightness of a stadium performance one senses that this is a song where some of the younger girls hold the hand of their mothers just that little bit tighter.

It is a different Prince who plays “When You Were Mine,” the undercurrent of “Head” replaced by the purity of a simple guitar-driven song. It is too short to properly register, but I welcome its brief appearance.

The flow of the show is interrupted by “Blues In C (If I Had A Harem)” but it is a lot of fun and gives Prince to showboat on his guitar. Prince is in no hurry, and he takes his time to lead the audience through his performance. He keeps the blues firmly under his thumb, there is no point where it feels like the song might ignite. A clean performance, it suffers in that the following song offers a much more interesting worldview.

 

There is a portion of the concert missing, and unfortunately, we miss the pleasure of hearing the next 20 minutes as Prince digs deeper into his back catalog. The recording resumes with a swirling and claustrophobic “Bob George” – a song that seems to have gained an extra depth since the last time I listened to a Lovesexy show. With a calculated backbeat, Princes plays out this musical psycho melodrama. While not the most powerful moment on the recording, nevertheless the next few minutes are riveting as Prince spins his tale, ending with an emphatic bang that brings this mini-play to an end.

Some of the power of “Anna Stesia” is lost as for the first time the audience becomes audible, in this case with hand claps. It isn’t too much of a distraction later in the song as the guitar rises up with its throaty anguished cry. The real power of the song comes from the memories it evokes within me, and for the next few minutes, I am again fifteen and listening to this for the first time alone in my room. The memory is a powerful thing, and I am lost in my own thoughts and feelings as the song plays in my ears, I am transported away and temporarily forget where I am and what I am doing.

The music for the interval is interesting enough, but it doesn’t compare to the punch of the main show, and I instead wait expectantly for what will follow.

“Eye Know” provides the punch I am looking for, and initially it explodes out of the recording at me. Soon enough the quality of the thirty-year recording pulls it back a little, but it matters not as Prince and the band can be heard playing yet another storming version. Princes vocals are slightly trebly on the recording, but I forgive all as the recording is remarkable for what it is.

The live version of “Lovesexy” would be every bit as good as the album version, that is if it was on a soundboard recording. As it is in this state, it merely is very good. All the key elements are in place, however, the audience recording doesn’t quite capture the array of sounds and complexity of the original. It is a complaint I also have for “Glam Slam” that follows. Both songs are uniquely Prince, and this recording provides us with a washed-out sound that doesn’t highlight the real strong points of these two songs.

 

“The Cross” sounds much more powerful, perhaps due to its stripped-back sound and the forceful drum sound coupled with Prince’s crisp guitar. The audience noise again rises but is well matched by the music, and the roar when the song takes off has both the audience and me at home gasping as it soars into the sky. It’s almost a cliche to point to this as the highlight of the show, but along with “Anna Stesia,” it is the spiritual heart, and both carry power and beauty that cannot be denied.

“I Wish U Heaven” comes to full bloom in the live setting. On record, it is deceptive, a simple enough pop song, while in concert Prince turns it into a spectacular jam and unifying coming together of audience and artist. The appearance of “God Is Alive” drives Prince’s point home as he whips the crowd up, all the time riding across the beat of “I Wish U Heaven.” It’s not as dramatic or long as I have heard elsewhere, but it does capture the spirit of the show.

The band makes their mark on “Kiss,” and as a unit, they do their best to bend it to the style of the show. It is busy sounding, with the band taking a familiar song and giving it a good shake-up. It may be far from the original sound of the album, but it is unmistakably “Kiss” and it sits easily with the surrounding songs.

The band spin and spirals around the horns before setting on the opening blitzkrieg of “Dance On.” They don’t settle on the song, it is merely a door into a drum solo from Sheila E. With locomotive power she steams through her solo, giving the concert a respite from the constant cacophony of sound and visuals. A simple focal point, she brings some intensity to the concert and a sense of pure fun and enjoyment.

Somebody can actually be heard shouting “Yes!” as Prince begins his opening sermon of “Let’s Go Crazy.” Although it comes from another time and place entirely, it still elicits a response from the crowd and it is obviously just as loved as it has always been. It becomes more interesting for me later in the song as Prince goes off script for some unhinged shredding, but the return to chanting with the crowd is less so and undoes some of the intensity of earlier in the song.

 

The cold sparseness of “When Doves Cry” is undone but the extra horns and elastic bass. It is still enjoyably enough but fails to bring the emotional clout of the recorded version. I do eventually decide that I enjoy the horns' contribution, but it does make it a different song for me.

I have always felt that “Purple Rain” is the odd man out at these shows, and I don’t hear anything here to change that opinion. The tempo is ponderous, and although it carries Prince’s spiritual message it doesn’t sound as urgent and important as the previous music. Asides from his opening speech, Prince does keep it relatively short. The verse and chorus are crisp before he plunges deep into the guitar solo. The sound of the recording is uneven – midway through the guitar solo, the volume leaps up, making for an uneasy listen.

Normally “1999” plays like a well-oiled machine, in this case, it has an uneven quality, something I can directly attribute to the recording. Prince keeps the lion that is ready to roar firmly in his pocket, and the song never threatens to be anything more than a reminder of past glories. With its memorable chorus and riff, it plugs directly into the past and the crowd sing mindlessly along, pleasant in sound it doesn’t come close to some of the more challenging music earlier in the evening.

“Alphabet St.” splutters into view, it doesn’t have the sharpness of the previous few numbers and is an easy comedown as some of the previous histrionics. It is refreshing to hear Prince's vocals sitting at the center of the song and even as it devolves into a rhythmic outro, Prince remains the ring leader of this revolving circus. It’s a fitting end to a typical Lovesexy show, and as always I feel like I have been on quite a journey by the time it's over.

There is a range of Lovesexy concerts available on bootlegs, including the superb Dortmund soundboard, and an array of classic after-shows. However, this concert should not be forgotten, as it stands as a great audience recording of a standard Lovesexy show. There are twenty minutes is missing from the middle of the show, and with no piano set it is considerably shorter, yet it has its own charms, making me wonder why more people don’t talk of it. The thirty years from then to now have passed so quickly, yet Prince’s music of the time sounds fresh and remains uniquely his. Every part of Lovesexy is to be celebrated, and this concert is no different, it captures a moment in time when Prince moved beyond genres and created a sound that could only be described as his and his alone.