Paisley Park 31 December 1987

 

As far as Prince bootlegs go, 1987 is a stellar year.  Starting with the Sign O The Times warm-up show at First Ave, through the tour itself, the excellent after shows of Le New Morning, Park café, and Fineline café, there is a good variety of shows available and some of them are of outstanding quality. The year 1987 is capped off with one more legendary boot, the New Year’s Paisley Park show, where the iconic Miles Davis joins Prince and the band onstage. Prince had experimented with jazz the previous two years, and one feels that having Miles on stage with him meant a lot to him and his art.  Miles doesn’t feature through the whole show, and the show itself isn’t as jazz-infused as some of the other shows that year, but it’s still great to see his interaction with Prince and the band onstage. The show is an interesting mix, there are some standard renditions as we had heard throughout the tour, but things get more interesting near the end as the band indulges in a long jam that incorporates all sorts of songs.  The recording is missing the first few songs which is unfortunate, but what we do get more than makes up for it.

31 December, 1987, Paisley Park.

   

I have been a little hard on Shelia E and her drum solos in previous posts, but this show jumps in just as she is beginning one of her solos, and to be fair it is very good. Maybe it’s because I can see her playing, and the passion and effort she puts into it.  We hear the very end of “Jack U Off” as the recording cuts in, and I assume it’s played very much as the Fineline Café gig I previously wrote about. The drum break starts slow, it almost has a soundcheck quality to it as she works her way around the kit. But then it does pick up pace as it goes along, and I especially love the sound the snare has on it. Just as the drum solo reaches its peak the sound of “Hot Thing” cuts in, but I think this is just an error, and it quickly stops as Shelia continues. There is a very passionate moment as she crashes away on the cymbals, forgoing sticks just to smash away with her hands. I love seeing that sort of thing, and it is the peak as the band rejoins for another quick refrain of “Jack U Off” led by Eric Leeds. The song concludes rather fittingly with the band gathered around the drum riser as Shelia drums the end.

 

Immediately after we do get “Hot Thing.” If you have seen the Sign O The Times movie then this one contains no surprises for you, as it is very faithful to what we have heard throughout the Sign O The Times tour. Prince engages in plenty of dancing and even rips off Cat’s dress as seen in the Sign O The Times movie. The band is sounding tight, there is not a loose moment in the whole song. I can’t get excited about it, it is much as I have heard before,  but the onstage fun with Cat and Prince is worthwhile and does brighten it up.

 

The bass line of “If I Was Your Girlfriend” sounds fantastic as it begins. This song is a masterpiece, and like all the best Prince performances he draws it out, milking every second. The intro with the drumbeat, hypnotic bass, and organ goes for a good few minutes, and I could listen to it all night long. Prince sings it looking very casual with one hand in the pocket, but his delivery is sublime. There is a nice sound to it, a little echo which lends it the lonely sound. Prince is full of character as he speaks the lines midsong about going to the movies etc, but he returns to his excellent singing voice without skipping a beat. Again, as per the Sign Of The Times movie, he picks out Cat midsong and lures her away. With the main focus removed I find myself enjoying Eric and Dr. Finks playing until it pulls back to the bare beat and the song finishes.

 

The organ refrain that begins “Let’s Go Crazy” is one that I always associate with this tour. As one keyboard holds a long sustained note, the other plays a sound that rocks back and forth. It's something I have heard between other songs about this time, and it's something I like. Prince then picks up his guitar and we get a traditional sounding “Let's Go Crazy.” The first half of it fails to connect with me, but Prince ditches the usual song about halfway and begins a long guitar break. This also starts leaving me cold, but the second part of the break is certainly a lot better and he plays some wild-sounding licks. I don’t enjoy the “go go go” chants with the crowd, its a little tired and the audience doesn’t seem to respond very well to them either. Perhaps Prince realizes this, because he shakes his head, and says “No no” before the band picks up again and Prince gives us the classic ending to “Let's Go Crazy,” head thrown back and guitar howling.

 

Another Purple Rain era song follows with “When Doves Cry.” This one I find very satisfying, there is plenty of horn early on, before the stripped back verses. The keyboard is a little quiet for my tastes, but this is compensated by another great vocal delivery by Prince. I wouldn’t have guessed that the horns could add much to this, but they do slot in nicely to the song. There is a lot of dancing by Prince and the others later in the song, it's an abridged version played here, we get a verse and a chorus, followed by a minute or so of dancing before it finishes up. Short and sweet as they say, but still very worthwhile.

 

“Purple Rain” itself gets the full-on treatment at this show, there is plenty of Dr. Fink playing before Prince walks on stage with the cloud guitar, playing the melody of “Auld Lang Syne.” It is a great moment, and the sound of it played on Prince's guitar sits very well on the keyboards of Purple rain. Prince says “one more” and then plays it again on the guitar as the crowd waves their arms. Another call of “one more” and he gives it to us a third time, and every time is very good and worth hearing. Even as he plays it a fourth time I am not tired of it, he improvises a little, and it's the type of Prince playing that I like to see more off. The call of “Bring it down” and we strip back to the keyboards and drums softly playing. At this stage, a technician hands Prince a rope to release balloons over the crowd, but there is a malfunction and it doesn’t come off. For years I only had an audio recording of this, and I didn’t know what was going on, especially when Prince says “Matthew, come get your rope”. But after seeing it, I understand much better. Prince then attempts to sing Auld Lang Syne but its nowhere near as good as his guitar playing of it, mostly because it is apparent that he doesn’t know the words beyond the first couple of lines, fading to “la la la” after this. The crowd doesn’t save him, and when Prince sings again “Should old acquaintances be forgot” he ruefully smiles and says “(I) know that part”. There is then a few moments as the music progresses Prince goes to one side to release the balloons and there is a beautiful solo played by Miko. I always associate Miko with a slippery dirty funky sound, but this guitar break was a revelation to me, it's just great. It is not a fast rock solo, just a sharp-sounding crisp break. Prince takes command soon after this and we finally get the verses and choruses of “Purple Rain,” complete with Prince's crunching guitar. The rest of his guitar solo is standard for “Purple Rain,” but it is very enjoyable indeed, even for someone like myself who has heard “Purple Rain” hundreds of times.

“1999” seems strangely out of place. It sounds clean, but there isn’t any fire in it. Prince keeps it very short, there is the opening verse, a chorus and then have the ‘party” chanting outro. The horns riff keeps it sharp, but apart from that, there isn’t much for me.

 

We return to the rocking back and forth sound of the keyboards as the stage goes dark. This is played out for a minute, and as I said before I like it as it sets the tone for what comes next. The beat of “U Got The Look” and the rhythm guitar sound as Prince takes a minute to ham it up with the crowd. He has his guitar but as he sings he doesn’t initially play it, so we just have a less strong rhythm guitar which negates some of the rockiness that I sometimes tire of in this song. After a couple of verse-chorus, he does begin to play in a loud crunching way as he climbs atop the piano. It is a very showman moment as the dancers go through their routines as Prince plays rock god over them all. And so the song ends in this manner, with Prince waving over the band, and a “thank you, good night”

 

There is a break about now, as the band leaves the stage. It is a good few minutes they are gone, and knowing what is coming I can understand why.  What comes next is extraordinary, and I am not sure that writing about it can ever do it justice. They return to the stage for a 30-minute rendition of “Its Gonna Be A Beautiful Night,” with Miles Davis, and incorporating everything except the kitchen sink. Anyway, I shall do my best to give a brief outline. The song begins as we heard on the Sign O The Times tour, and after the first part, there is some fun dancing with Prince, before he takes to the drum stool as Shelia E delivers her rap. Her delivery is fast and accurate and I love watching the band dancing as she sings. Prince too is sounding good, and it's fantastic to see him on the drums for an extended period. Soon after Cat dances, everyone to the ground Prince steps down from the drums, and it's time for the keys to have a solo. The whole performance has a lot of joy to it, Prince sings to the crowd about his brand new dance, and Eric Leeds plays a little of “Six” before it quietens as Miles Davis enters and begins to play. How to describe this moment? To see Miles stalking across the stage and playing next to Miko is fantastic and I am a total fanboy throughout the whole time he is playing. It is not what he is playing, it's just the sound of his horn and seeing him play with that band. Prince scats against his playing for a little, but I preferred just to hear Miles play alone for some more. As Miles continues Prince throws some cues to the band and they play around him. Miles steps back into the shadows as the snare comes down hard and Prince cues the band into the next section. He directs the band through several different dances and refrains before he speaks to the crowd  “someone tell me I ain’t got the funkiest band in show business, we will take on all comers” Finally we hear Boni and she blows her way through “Chain Of Fools,” and sounding powerful all the way.  The band is seamless and I have to agree with Prince's sentiments about his band.  Boni gives way to an excellent solo by Eric Leeds before Prince indulges in some grooves on the organ. The band hit their stride at this point, Eric is killing it on sax while the band keeps the groove going. Prince stops the band to tell the crowd “we the best” before he cues them in again and they hit a faster groove. Prince does very little playing at this stage, he is in total control as a bandleader and runs the band through their paces and dancing around the stage. There are several stops and starts, and the band moves effortlessly through several different grooves. My mouth is open the whole time, it is mind-blowing to watch, this band is unstoppable. Prince has me laughing when he tells the audience they are going to be jamming 20 more minutes “..on the same song!” He then proceeds to be true to his word as the band continues on and on. Prince has me laughing again when he says “you’ll expect an awful lot for $200.” Perhaps my favorite part of the jam is what comes next, Prince takes a couple of minutes playing at the piano. Just the sharp sound of the piano over the heavy groove, it is the contrast that makes it all sound so good. In the last five minutes, Prince throws in everything you could imagine, there are lyrics and horn lines from all sorts thrown into the mix, and it all works until we return to the Beautiful night riff that started all of this. With a final call of “Confusion” Prince brings the show and this brilliant jam to an end.

 

What a great way to end the year 1987. This recording is a favorite among prince fans, and I have to go with the consensus on this one, it’s very much a must-have. The band is on top of their game, coming off a fantastic year, and this show is the icing on the cake. The fact that Miles is there gives it just a little more shine, and I feel it means a lot to Prince to have him there. This is one that I will come back to again and again. If anyone ever doubted Prince's genius just check this one out.