"I Wonder" might be my favorite unreleased Prince. "Train" is really really good too.
Speaking of this kind of stuff, a couple of great comps of unreleased mp3s were floating the internet around awhile back, with tremendously detailed liner notes included.. OK here's the notes for Vol. 2 for instance:
1. Irresistible Bitch - Original Demo Version (1981)
I'm immediately cheating a bit, because Irresistible Bitch was released as the b-side of the single Let's Pretend We're Married, the fourth and final single from Prince's fifth album 1999. And in 1993, it was included as the eleventh track on The B-Sides compilation (included as the third and final disc on The Hits/The B-Sides). While specific recording dates for Irresistible Bitch are not known, it was initially recorded in sequence with Feel U Up in late 1981 at Prince's home studio at Kiowa Trail, Chanhassen. The song was later re-recorded in September 1983. However, the original demo version is more interesting in my book, because with its synths and drum computer, this version contains the first characteristics of what would become the Minneapolis Sound.
2. Baby, You're A Trip (1982)
Baby, You're A Trip is the eighth and final track on Jill Jones' same-titled 1987 album, released on Prince's label Paisley Park. Although Jill Jones was given official writing credits, the song was written solely by Prince. He even recorded his own complete version - this one. Initial tracking for Prince's original version took place in July 1982 and mixed the song further in January 1986 (on the same day as mixing other tracks for Jill Jones' album; With You, Mia Bocca and G-Spot).
3. Lust U Always (1982)
An unreleased song recorded in 1982 at Prince's Kiowa Trail home studio. The song paraphrases some lyrics from Joni Mitchell's song Twisted (later played once on the One Nite Alone... Tour), but thematically fits in well with much of his 1981/1982 material, concerning the narrator's uncontrollable lust for a woman. It is not known if the song was intended for Prince's next album 1999 or any other project. It was submitted for copyright five years after its recording and Prince offered it to the late Robert Palmer soon after, but he turned the song down.
4. Purple Music (1982)
Recorded at some point in 1982 at Prince's Kiowa Trail home studio. It is unknown if it was considered for inclusion on 1999 or any other project. The song is a monotonous uptempo track, sparsely instrumented by a bouncy drum machine beat provided by the Linn LM-1 and a synth bass line, a scratchy guitar riff reminiscent of Controversy and a simple synth-lead line, not too far removed from the lead line of 1999's All The Critics Love U In New York. It has an anti-drug message in which Prince says that "purple music" does the same to his brain as reefer or cocaine. Prince's voice sounds slightly manipulated (although not to the effect that he would later utilize for songs performed as Camille, like If I Was Your Girlfriend), to suggest he is indeed getting high on his music as he sings.
5. Computer Blue - Full Version (1983)
Again, I'm cheating a bit, because Computer Blue has of course been released as the fourth track on Purple Rain. But this version is the longest circulating, clocking in at 14.03 minutes, and has never been released as such. Here's why: before a studio recording was made, Prince and the Revolution recorded the song live during a benefit concert on August 3, 1983 at First Avenue, Minneapolis (during which I Would Die 4 U, Baby, I'm A Star and Purple Rain also were recorded). Later in August, 1983, a studio version was recorded at The St. Louis Park Warehouse, St. Louis Park, Minnesota, with the full Revolution, before at least three other versions were recorded mid-August 1983, with only Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman participating. These versions would be edited down for the album and are largely similar at the beginning and end of the song - differences are noticeable in the middle of the track. The version of Computer Blue I selected for this compilation was included as the third track on the November 1983 configuration of the Purple Rain album, but it was edited down for the final April 1984 album configuration to make room for the inclusion of Take Me With U. A pity, if you ask me ;)
6. Electric Intercourse - Live at First Avenue (1983)
At the benefit concert on August 3, 1983, Electric Intercourse was also played - and thus recorded. In my humble opinion, Electric Intercourse is one of the best songs Prince ever wrote, and judging the raving comments this song usually gets amongst Prince fans, I'm not alone. No studio version is known to exist; Prince used the live version when adding overdubs to the track in mid-September, 1983. It is likely the track was planned to be included on Purple Rain in the same overdubbed-live format as I Would Die 4 U, Baby I'm A Star and Purple Rain. A few days after recording overdubs, however, Prince recorded The Beautiful Ones, which replaced Electric Intercourse. Again, a pity in my opinion, because even though I love The Beautiful Ones, Electric Intercourse is a true gem.
7. Possessed (1983)
Possessed was released in a live version on the Prince And The Revolution: Live VHS and is credited as a dedication to James Brown. No studio version of the track has been released. Initial tracking took place in May 1983 at Prince's home studio, two months after the song's first live appearance. He recorded a new version in March 1984 for use in the Purple Rain movie. A short instrumental portion plays in the movie in the background of a scene in which Morris Day tries to seduce Apollonia.
8. All Day, All Night (1984)
All Day, All Night is the fifth track on Jill Jones' self-titled album, released on the Paisley Park label. Although Jill Jones shared official writing credits, the song was written solely by Prince and is registered at the Library of Congress as having been written by Joey Coco, a pseudonym Prince used for a while. Initial tracking for Prince's original version took place during a concert on Prince's birthday, 7 June, 1984 at First Avenue, Minneapolis, during the same show where the basic tracks for Our Destiny and Roadhouse Garden were also recorded. Prince added further instrumentation and Jill Jones added vocals at a later date (likely in July, 1986, although this is unconfirmed).
9. Our Destiny (1984)
Also recorded during Prince and the Revolution's concert on 7 June, 1984 at First Avenue. The track segued directly into Roadhouse Garden. Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman worked on the track further for three days in late September 1984 (during the same sessions where they recorded string overdubs for Pop Life from the Around The World In A Day album). They added a string section to the track which Prince later reused for the opening of The Ladder, recorded a few months later. Our Destiny is not known to have been considered for inclusion on Around The World In A Day, or any other project at the time. It is likely that it was planned for inclusion on the Prince and the Revolution album Roadhouse Garden (worked on in 1998/1999), but the album, and the song, remain unreleased.
10. Go (1985)
Recorded in early August 1985, with only Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. Prince worked on the track further in late October 1985, when bandmembers arrived in France for the video shoot of the America single, although it was worked on in rehearsal, rather than in the studio. Engineer Susan Rogers noted that Prince put a lot of time and effort into the track, and must have been seriously considering it for release, although it was not included on any known configuration of the Parade album or any other project. It is likely that the song was considered for the announced Prince and the Revolution album Roadhouse Garden in 1998/1999, but this is speculative. The track remains unreleased.
11. Baby Go-Go (1986)
Released as the third track on the Nona Hendryx album Female Trouble, and, about two months later, Baby Go-Go was released as the album's second single. Initial tracking took place in June 1986. Nona Hendryx re-recorded the track with her own musicians in early 1987, with both Mavis Staples and George Clinton adding background vocals (both of whom Prince would come to work with directly in the following years). Prince's version remains unreleased. To compare both versions, listen to Nona's take of Baby Go-Go, lacking the funky guitar licks from Prince's version ;)
12. Data Bank (1986)
Written, produced AND recorded by Prince, but credited to The Time. Initial tracking took place on in June 1986, and was re-recorded with Morris Day on lead vocals in summer 1989 at Paisley Park Studios, when Prince and Morris Day worked on the projected fourth album by The Time, Corporate World, which later morphed into Pandemonium. Either way, Prince's own version is far more interesting (and superior) to The Time's version; it's a great example of how prolific Prince was in the mid-Eighties with not just writing many, many great songs, but even recording them.
13. Rebirth Of The Flesh (1986)
On some bootlegs wrongfully called Semi-A-Collia, Rebirth Of The Flesh was originally recorded in late October 1986 and planned to be included as the first track on the November 1986 configuration of the Camille album (credited to Prince's pseudonym Camille), which was later aborteer. A few weeks later, it was included as the first track on the first disc of the triple-album Crystal Ball on the late November 1986 configuration. The track was removed when the album was eventually trimmed down to become Sign O' The Times.
14. The Ball (1986)
Recorded in July 1986 and included as the fourth track on the second disc on the late November 1986 configuration of the Crystal Ball triple LP, which was created as the follow-up to Parade, segueing directly into Joy In Repetition. When Prince had to trim down the album (Warner Brothers refused to release a triple album, foreseeing a commercial flop and because they found Prince was releasing too much music within a short time, risking he would saturate the market) and it developed into Sign O' The Times, the track was removed (along with the 12-minute long title track from Crystal Ball. In December 1987, Prince re-recorded the track with new lyrics as Eye No (released as the opening track from his 1988 Lovesexy album), but kept the original segue ending the track (which was also used at the beginning of the released version of Joy In Repetition, later released on Graffiti Bridge in 1990).
15. Witness 4 The Prosecution (1986)
Witness 4 The Prosecution was initially recorded in March 1986, and further recording was done by Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Susannah Melvoin and Eric Leeds in April 1986, while Prince was en route returning from France shooting additional scenes for Under The Cherry Moon. While the track was not included on a late April 1986 configuration of the (never released) Dream Factory album, it was included as the 15th song on the June 1986 configuration, and as the 16th track on the July 1986 configuration. Prince re-recorded the track completely in October 1986, the day before disbanding The Revolution (the reason Dream Factory was never released). In late 1998/1999, the track was intended for inclusion on the Roadhouse Garden album of Prince and the Revolution-era tracks, but this album remains unreleased.
16. The Line - Later Version (1987)
The Line was initially recorded late December 1987, during a stretch of sessions focused on the Lovesexy album. It was written in response to a poem by Ingrid Chavez which Prince had recorded with her earlier in the month, entitled Cross The Line. However, that is not the version on this compilation; the initial version was sparsely arranged. Prince added horns, percussion and several chants in January 1988; this version was included on an early version of the album, compiled on 21 January, 1988, but was removed for a February configuration, replaced by I Wish U Heaven. The song includes a chanted portion used in live shows since early 1987, "People, people. I've got a brand new dance", which mentions Housequake (from the Sign O' The Times album). The track ends with vocalist Boni Boyer singing lyrics from Take My Hand, Precious Lord. A scream by Boni Boyer from this track was later used in the opening seconds of Acknowledge Me from the 1994 Come album (credited incorrectly to "Bonni Boyer"), with the liner notes stating that The Line was "2 b released at a later date". The song remains unreleased, though.
17. Fuchsia Light (1988)
Fuchsia Light was recorded in April 1988 for possible use on Tony LeMans' Paisley Park Records 1989 album Tony LeMans. At some point between mid-1988 and early 1989, Tony LeMans recorded lead vocal overdubs, but the song was not included on the release; it is believed Prince pulled the song after returning from the Lovesexy Tour upon discovering that LeMans was having an affair with Ingrid Chavez. The song's theme of a colored light being used during the act of lovemaking was later used in Blue Light (from the 1992 'Symbol' album, but the tracks are otherwise unrelated. Prince also reused a phrase from the track, "monogamy and trust", in Sex (the B-side from Scandalous from 1989), but this should not be considered a quote or reference to this song.
18. The Max (1988)
This version of The Max was recorded in February 1988, but is entirely different from the 'Symbol' album track of the same name, except from the line 'This is The Max'. It is not known if the track was intended for any specific project. A saxophone riff from this track was later reused in Carmen On Top, released on her 1991 album.
19. Dance With The Devil (1989)
Recorded in February 1989 during initial sessions for the Batman movie and accompanying Batman soundtrack album. The song is based around the phrase "You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?", used in the movie by The Joker (played by Jack Nicholson), which is sampled during the track (this was later sampled in Batdance, but is not considered a sample of this track as it originates from the movie). The track also samples a Gregorian chant, initially used in Madhouse's 21-24 (The Dopamine Rush Suite). The track is long and suite-like, containing several separate sections, including a classical synth run similar to the ending of When Doves Cry. It was included as the ninth and final track on a March 1989, configuration of the Batman album. Prince felt the track was too dark, however, and replaced it with Batdance, which was recorded in mid-to-late March. The track remains unreleased, unfortunately.
20. Come - Original Version (1993)
OK, this is a complicated one. Come is released in an entirely different version on Prince's album Come from 1994. In 1993, an earlier recording of Come was included in the Glam Slam Ulysses stage-show, during the segment titled "The Trojan Horse" (credited, as was the whole project, to O(+>) In 1994, four months before the album's release, the studio promotional video of Come (using yet another recording of the track, the one included in this compilation) was included in The Beautiful Experience TV movie (again credited, as was the whole project, to O(+>) It is not clear when the version used in The Beautiful Experience was recorded, but it is likely this was recorded in late 1993 or early 1994 at Paisley Park Studios. At this point Prince, pardon, O(+> was working on The Dawn, and Come was planned for inclusion. It was also planned for inclusion on an early version of The Beautiful Experience EP (before the EP was turned into a simple maxi-single for The Most Beautiful Girl In The World). Strangely, when O(+> abandoned The Dawn, the track was not included on the configuration of the March 1994 configuration of Come, but when Warner Bros. asked for Prince to include the title track, he recorded yet another version, in mid-April, 1994. A configuration of Come from April-May, 1994 includes two versions of Come (although the versions are unknown). A planned "live" single from 1994 also included Come as the opening track, segueing (as the track often did in live settings) into Endorphinmachine. In the summer of 1994, O(+> worked on various remixes of the track for a planned Come EP, details of which are not known, but this EP was known to include 18 & Over (released in 1998 on the Crystal Ball cd set). While 18 & Over clearly derives from Come, it is an entirely different track. Get it? ;)
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 23 February 2012 11:32 (twelve years ago) link