London 15 November 1999

 With the recent reissue of Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic and all the subsequent talk of the era, the time has come for me to dip my toe back into the waters of bootlegs from this period. Prince did not honor Rave with a full-scale tour, instead, promotional duties fell heavily on a round of TV appearances and a handful of one-off shows. All of these are of course well documented, and for today’s bootleg, I have elected to listen to the show from London on November 15th. This is his first concert post-release of Rave, although the show contains very little material from that album. However, it is a good audience recording and I do have a natural affinity for a lot of the music that we hear through the course of this one-off show. While I am often mystified but Prince’s choices and his stance on which music he will promote, I always enjoy the live performance, no matter what he plays -and so it is in this case. 

15th November 1999, Mermaid Theatre, London 

Out of the silence comes a guitar-drenched “Let’s Go Crazy,” which immediately appeals to my inner rocker. There is no breakdown or audience participation, it comes to us frayed at the edges and ragged with its bare electric sound tearing the song down and building it again from the ground up. The fact that it comes to us in a rush adds to this impulsive and hurly-burly feeling, Prince plunging us into the future with this blistering two-minute rendition. 

The fiery start is tempered by a smoldering “She’s Always In My Hair,” the grit of Prince’s guitar still colors the recording but here it becomes a scalpel in his hand, his notes crisp and clean and cutting sharply across the recording, drawing appreciative cheers from the audience. The concert still hasn’t become an immersive experience, the quality just isn’t quite good enough to suck me into the moment, but the first two songs of the bootleg are certainly of a high standard and with an intensity, I hadn’t expected from this era. 

 

This trio of guitar-based songs is rounded out by “U Got The Look,” a song that doesn’t quite have the same driving intensity as the previous songs, although it too comes with an inflamed guitar break that does its best to unleash the song from the pop genre to which it is consigned. It never quite achieves what I hope for though, it is too firmly rooted in the pop magnificence of Sign O The Times, and despite Prince’s furious playing it remains rooted in the ’80s and never becomes the timeless classic we all want it to be. 

The next song comes as a pure groove, over a loop Prince delivers lines of several songs, although it remains rather directionless and never quite settles on one or another. It could have been a back catalog clearing medley, but remains uninteresting in its pure blandness and failure to commit. This meander does finally find a focus as Prince swings it into a short rendition of “Kiss.” It slips and slides as required in the first minute, but it gains a beating heart with other people coming to the microphone during the breakdown. It is only a small section of the song but captures the live experience better than anything heard in the preceding few minutes and makes it all worthwhile. 

I am overjoyed to hear Prince’s guitar howl and shriek in the opening minute of “Gett Off.” Its almighty sound stands proud as it rises out of the groove, and it soon becomes apparent that this will be the song, five minutes of Prince playing loud and proud, no storm or flurry of notes, instead, his striking bold sound that soars and swoops, yet remain granite-like in its heavy intent. Prince is playing with purpose, this is no flight of fancy, his guitar solo crafted rather than driven by pure inspiration. 

 

“Gett Off (Housestyle)” cannot be compared to the previous rendition, there is again plenty of guitar work but this time it is Mike Scott playing in all his finery, his guitar work lacy and intricate as opposed to Prince’s previously architectural-like structure. The appearance of the horn section signals a new direction for the concert, we are coming to a fuller sound as Prince draws from his wider palette of funk-infused jams. 

These jams are best exemplified with his take on “Talkin’ Loud And Sayin’ Nothing,” a horn-driven groove that sweeps up elements of “Sex Machine,” and “It’s Alright,” as it sprawls across the next ten minutes. There are several treasures unearthed through this jam, the piano is early to draw my attention, along with a dedicated flurry of horns, before Larry Graham’s bass appears front and center and continues to dominate the scene. It is typically Larry Graham, there is no mistaking his style and it lifts the song again as the band turns their full attention on “It’s Alright.” While it is not as vital as some of the other songs of the night, it perhaps best represents Prince and the band at this stage of his career as they take on these familiar tunes and spruce them up with their unique sound. 

The steady hand of Prince guides the band into a sunset groove that on the back of guitar work reveals itself to be “Purple House.” I am a fan of the concept more than the realization of the song, Prince’s guitar not burning with the intensity I desire, while his surrounding players detract from the song rather than add to it. That’s not to say there is anything bad in the performance, but it doesn’t measure up to Prince’s material earlier in the set, nor does he lift the song beyond its well-known roots. There are the prerequisite wail and shrieks from Prince’s instrument, but it is apropos of nothing as it flounders in its sound rather than taking the song to new horizons. 

 

There is very little to distinguish “The Jam,” from the earlier “Talkin’ Loud And Sayin’ Nothing,” they both spring from the same fertile ground and provide the band a chance to stretch out with the heavy bass of Larry Graham underpinning proceedings. As such it adds little to the concert, indeed it is almost unnecessary given what we have already heard. On a positive note, I always enjoy the contribution of Morris Hayes, no matter how many times I hear him, and again he is a highlight of “The Jam” for me. Mike Scott on guitar is also noteworthy, but the rest of the song I could take or leave. Mostly leave. 

We finally get a Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic song in the form of “The Greatest Romance That’s Every Been Sold,” although by now we are approaching the end of the concert. It is a classy performance and one can hear that it is of the modern era in comparison to all that has come before. It is mature and fits well with the late 90’s R’n’B, Prince seemingly drawing inspiration from the current music scene of the time. What I enjoy most is his vocal performance, the band plays in the shadows of his performance and I find myself cocooned in his vocals as the song flows easily through the speakers. As the lead single of the album, it was promoted through a series of TV performances, which makes it all the more disappointing that it disappeared from live concerts within eighteen months of its first appearance. Hearing it at this show only strengthens this feeling, and as I sit back and enjoy the performance I only wish there were more of this kind in circulation. 

 

The instrumental version that follows is exquisite, especially as the clarinet weaves its way in and out of the music, making for a hypnotic few minutes. I am snapped out of this dream-like trance by a thoughtful trombone solo that surprises and delights in equal measure. I had previously thought the song leaned heavily on the vocals, yet this instrumental version makes me realize just how important and intricate the music is behind Prince. 

From the other end of the Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic scale we next have an impertinent rendition of “Baby Knows,” a song that is enhanced by a snotty upstart of a solo provided by Prince, it may only be a few seconds of guitar work but it ignites the song and briefly steals it from the hands of the horn section who otherwise have their fingerprints all over it. 

A guitar-driven groove propels the concert towards the ultimate number, Prince’s instrument grunting and choking in his hands, a wild dog pulling to be free. Prince never unleashes this guitar fury, the guitar snarls and threatens, but never breaks into the untamed wildness as I expect, wish, and pray. 

There is finally a release, in name and nature, with the final “Release Yourself,” a song pulled directly from Larry Graham’s back catalog. After a quick turnaround, the full band, horns included, leap upon the jam, led by the good Larry Graham. The mix is a little uneven, the bootleg remaining very good but showing its limitations at this stage as the vocals come to us at different levels. The energy and enthusiasm are undeniable, a circus of sound cascading around my headphones as all the band members via for attention seemingly all at once. It is Prince that I strain to hear the most, but he is too clever and too well embedded in the band to stand out. He may well have been a superstar of supernova proportions, but he knew his place in the band, and even as he contributes his solo he stays well within the confines of what else is heard on the tape. 

 

The is one final twist in the tale of this bootleg, as the music ends and the room reverts to chatter, one of the audience can be heard asking “was that Beck on the right of the stage?” It may or may not be, one certainly can’t distinguish him on the recording, and there is equally confusion among the audience as to whether or not it was him. The matter is never resolved, and it is a curious end to what has been an uneven concert. It was a concert I wanted to like a lot, especially in light of the recent reissues, but the show was too uneven for me to get a proper handle on. The audience recording was good, at times very good, but I found overall Prince resting too much on past glories and other people’s songs. Equally disappointing was the lack of songs from the Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic, the opportunity to get some of this music out into the light of day and road-test it to a critical audience. As such, this remains a good listen, but never reaches the heights of many of the other bootlegs in circulation, a curio that I am unlikely to revisit.