Paisley Park 13 February 1994

 I have been badgered into writing today’s entry by long-time Prince fan Jony. He has long maintained that this is one of Prince's greatest recordings, and I should check it out. For the longest time, I was adamant that I didn’t actually have this one, and I hadn’t heard it. Then last week I was cleaning the spare room, and voila, there was the CD. The recording itself is from early 1994, and believe it is Prince's first performance as Symbol. Some of these songs are now firm favorites in my house, but at the time they were all new to me and quite a departure from what had come previously. A quality recording of one of his most creative eras? Yeah, I’ll give that a listen! 

13 February 1994, Paisley Park 

I love the start of this one. The first thing we hear is Prince saying “alright, let's get it started” before the sound of a computer keyboard and a voice-over telling us there are over 500 experiences to choose from, the same as we hear on the Gold Experience album. A nice scream from the back of Prince's throat brings the band and the music into focus with a fine-sounding performance of “Interactive.” This is a soundboard, but my copy sounds a little muted, it does seem to be missing some of the top end, and a little bass. Perhaps because I only have it as MP3s. A bit of tweaking and it would sound much fuller. The band pauses after a minute, while the voice-over returns, then we kick back in. The drums sound good here, with some excellent sounding tom-toms, before Prince's guitar solo brings things nicely into focus, and energizes the song again. About now I can hear the keyboards underneath, and I realize that this one will give me something more with every listen. It’s a short sharp song, and nicely sets the scene for what is coming next. 

 

And what is coming next is something extraordinary- the first-ever live performance of “Days of Wild.” Hold onto your wigs indeed! It sounds great here, I really dig the nice deep groove to it, and it’s got a slightly dark sound to it. A lot is happening with first listening, the juicy bass line, the moaning and groaning keyboard, the sharp keys dancing overtop, and to top it all off we have Prince's vocal delivery. Not just the lyrics he is singing, but also the passionate way he spits it out, it commands my attention throughout the song. The ‘hold on to your wigs’ refrain balances it nicely and gives me a chance to wave my wild sign high as I write this. Oh, by the way, he plays guitar- it's a thin-sounding guitar solo we get here, it doesn’t stand up again the dark deep grooves, but it's not bad. The song is already very strong and a stronger guitar break would have been overwhelming. I could quite happily turn off my computer now and just groove to this, but it does end and I find myself writing about the next song. 

 

“Now” has a happy sing-a-long beginning. Again it is another first performance of a new song. On a good day, I really enjoy “Now,” and on an average day, I find it a bit ho-hum. It is at a great disadvantage coming straight after “Days of Wild.” Another groove song, it doesn’t have the dark strength of “Days of Wild,” nor does it compare to Prince's vocal delivery. For all that though, it does draw me in, and by midsong, I am hanging on Prince's words, even if I do find the chorus too much. Putting down the laptop and dancing around the room would be a much better experience, but sat as I am writing about it, it’s not that great. I cannot fault Prince's passion, nor the performance of the band, it’s a solid B+. 

The bluesy “The Ride” follows next, and Prince pitches it to the over 35’s in the crowd, great – something for my demographic. It’s a good clean version we get here, I have heard it much slower and bluesier. The recording is great in that I can hear Princes singing so well, something I usually miss on live recordings of this where I mostly concentrate on the guitar work. Prince’s voice is full and he’s in complete control after the fury and fun of the first couple of songs. No sooner had I commented on Prince's vocals than the guitar work begins. It’s not long, but it is one of the better ones I have heard in this song. Very joyful to my ears, and something I will be coming back to again. It pulls back to softer guitar before Prince ends it with “If you got the time baby, I got the ride” and a call for “Vegas in E’. Now I have listened to this song plenty of times over the years, but this was the first time I realized the lewdness of the ‘the ride’. Let’s just say I was a little naive. 

“The Jam” is next, and it is very much like all the other jams we have heard from this era, with lots of Prince calling “oh he’s a funky man” as he moves around the band and gives them all a moment in the sun. Nobody gets too long to do too much, but most parts are enjoyable enough. I do like the guitar parts, it’s different from what you might expect and has a light rhythmic touch. Sonny gives us something in complete contrast with a short heavy moment, and the band begins to swing. This is reined in much too soon but is none the less is very enjoyable. 

 

“I Believe In U” is a cool little cover and plays to the strengths of this band. The keyboards in particular are very strong throughout. Asides from that there is not too much that can be said about it, it does come across as smooth and light in comparison to Prince's original material. I find myself nodding along, but at the same time looking at the setlist and looking forward to what is still to come. 

This show is also the first time that Prince played “Shhh” live and reclaimed one of his most beloved songs (in my house at least) Week after week I heap praise upon this song, and this week is no different. For a first live performance of a song, it’s outstanding. This version here is one of my favorite live versions- the fact it’s a nice soundboard, Prince's band is as sharp as ever, and Prince clearly makes a statement in the way he sings this, it is most definitely his song. He does go too over the top, and as the guitar break starts it’s very nicely restrained and sounds very tight. It’s excellent in every way. The backing singers are right into the mix, and close behind Prince's voice, adding a lot of depth and strength. There is the second drum that rolls and crashes midsong, and then Prince lets fly with his guitar. The sound here is beyond words, it’s something you have to hear. At this point I want to say thanks to Jony for pointing me towards this show, the show is great and this song is outstanding. Most excellent, although I find it is lacking a little ambiance from the crowd. 

 

“What’d I Say” had been covered by Prince for some years before this performance, so I don’t find it overly excellent in this performance. Prince does have Tattoo on stage to play some guitar, but it’s somewhat shambolic and doesn’t add anything of value to the show. It does pick up later in the song, and there is a decent solo, playing on a guitar with a very interesting tone. It doesn’t sound like his usual setup at all. I can’t decide quite how I feel about this song, I didn’t have the urge to skip it, but I could have quite happily gone without it. 

The next song in the set is very interesting. “Peak The Technique” is improvised and has all sorts of things thrown in the mix. There are plenty of samples and some very cool bass and guitar work. Prince can be heard laughing early on, and it’s obvious the band is having fun. There is not too much vocally to the song, mostly samples of Eric B and Rakim's “Don’t Sweat The Technique”. In the second portion of the song things speed up and there is some excellent bass work that is funky and gets things swinging. It’s about here that I become very interested and my ears prick up. The song ends after five minutes, but plenty was going on there, and I could have easily listened to much more of this. 

 

I sneaked a peek at the setlist and this was the song I was looking forward to hearing most. “Martial Law” is a George Clinton song that I never get tired of. The version here isn’t what I expected at all, it’s more a jam and groove, but it’s great. This band I have always thought sounded most like a Parliament/funkadelic band and their sound is very well suited to this song. That thought is further emphasized as Prince puts on a series of distorted and strange voices. The song pulls back to just a bare kick drum sound and more strange vocals from Prince have me slightly disorientated. The only parts left from the original song is where at one point we hear the backing singers singing “ow ow ow”. It’s the drum and piano sound that play all over this one, and some kinetic bass lines. The whole thing has certain strangeness to it, and I would have loved to see Prince do something like this more often. Weird but wonderful. 

A Salt and Pepper song to finish? Why not, it’s that sort of show where nothing surprises me anymore. Prince sounds very relaxed, and the piano playing also has a nice easy sound to it. It’s an instrumental for the main part, mostly piano playing over a groove, but there are a couple of DJ scratches thrown in for good measure. The organ too is well in the mix and the song sounds fat and full. There’s not much more to it than that, and it ends before I know it. A very smooth and listenable way to end the recording. 

Thanks again to Jony for recommending this recording, it was excellent. Old Prince very much was dead by this stage, and the new songs he is unveiling here sound much funkier and are coming from a different place altogether. The start of the recording was sounding uptight, but by the end, it was nice and loose, and somewhat strange. This is a keystone recording from a very important part of his career. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is still essential listening.