Archive for the ‘Prince’ Category

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SURPRISE I FOUND MORE MADONNA SINGLES

Saturday, September 13th, 2014

I KNOW! What were the odds?

Madonna
Why’s It So Hard [Live]
Secret (Junior’s Luscious Single Mix)
Bedtime Story (Orbital Mix)
Fever (Hot Sweat 12″ Mix)
Human Nature (Love Is The Nature Mix)
Express Yourself (Shep’s Remix)
Friday was the first really nice day in Tokyo since the beginning of August (when it gets to the mid-90s Fahrenheit with a humidity of approximately 100000%). High 70s temperature, nice wind, survivable humidity. Just all around beautiful.

So I went for a nice three and a half hour walk, give or take.

The compulsive collector’s guide to losing weight. That’s what I call my exercise plan. If I want to go shopping for records or CDs that I have absolutely no need for, that’s great – but I gotta walk there. Before the summer heat hit I managed to lose over 50 pounds in five months, and I’m hoping that I can pick up where I left off now that the weather isn’t being an asshole anymore.

And while the main winner in this situation is my heart, you all make out too! Because I pass the records onto you.

These Madonna tracks are all CD rips, taken from a series of single that I snagged at a Disk Union. Most of these have never been posted on my site before, save for “Bedtime Story (Orbital Mix)” and the remix of “Express Yourself.” I originally posted vinyl rips of them several months/years ago, but these rips sound much better.

Additionally, the “Human Nature” remix is the first version of that song I’ve actually liked. It’s a synthgasm.

Prince
New Power Generation (N.P.G.) [Funky Weapon Remix]
New Power Generation [T.C.’s Rap]
Brother With A Purpose
Get Off
Lubricated Lady
Loveleft, Loveright
These are all from the CD single for “New Power Generation.” Remixes of “Thieves In The Temple” are also on the single, but I posted those mixes not too long ago, and I think my vinyl rips sounded fine so I’m not going to replace them tonight.

“Get Off’ is NOT “Gett Off.” Actually, it, along with “Lubricated Lady” are really two additional remixes of “New Power Generation.” They also segue together quite well. “Loveleft, Loveright” also shares some elements with the main single, but it varies it up a lot more.

Also, yes, there is a song called “Lubricated Lady.” A song title like that would easily rank as the most offensively stupid in any artist’s back catalog. But isn’t just any other artist, and with song titles like “Pussy Control,” “Scarlet Pussy” and “Soft And Wet” I don’t even know if it ranks in the top ten.

Prince is a classy motherfucker.

Posted in Madonna, Prince, remixes | 1 Comment »

Prince Was (Not Was) Madonna

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013

You know how moving is super stressful? Well, take that stress, multiply it by a billion, and you know how it feels to plan a move to an entirely different country. I have so much to do I fel like my head is going to explode and implode at the same time. But nothing makes me calm down like silly remixes to 80s pop music.

And while you’re listening to these awesome remixes of awesome 80s music, be sure to head over to Mostly-Retro, where I check out the new Donna Summer remix album and an amazing release featuring rarely heard tracks by Patrick Cowely.

Hopefully this week I’ll also be able to get up a review of the new edition of Bowie’s The Next Day as well as another edition in my oddly popular Collection Recollection series. We’ll see.

Madonna
Vogue (Club St. John Mix)
I plan on re-recording several (dozen) of my singles before I box them all up and ship them into storage. Among these will probably be an insane amount of Madonna singles. So if you were a fan of my favorite post ever on this site, My Tongue Hurts Here re 32 Madonna Remixes, then you should probably keep an eye for that.

In the meantime, here’s a bootleg mix of “Vogue” that I grabbed off of a DJ-only mix LP. It’s a pretty good edit, and seven+ minutes of motherfucking “Vogue” is never a bad thing in my book.

Prince
Thieves In The Temple (Thieves In The House Mix)
Thieves In The Temple (Temple House Dub)
Sign ‘o’ The Time/The Prince Classic Mega Medley
The original version of “Thieves In The Temple” is from the soundtrack to Graffiti Bridge. I do not own the soundtrack to Graffiti Bridge because I am not a crazy person. Isn’t Tevin Campbell on that album? Yeah he is. See? That’s why I don’t own it. Also, I don’t own Parade, Sign ‘o’ The Times, Lovesexy or many other amazing Prince records. So I feel like I should really get them before I move on to the soundtrack to Prince’s worst movie (which is really saying something if you’ve seen Under A Cherry Moon).

The last track is actually two tracks according to the bootleg DJ record I ripped it from, but they segue together so seamlessly that it felt pointless to split them up. “Sign” takes up about the first four and a half minutes of the track, and then its nothing but classic Prince mixed together for 12 minutes straight. It’s a bit manic at times, almost someone is switching between an endless number of radio stations that are all playing Prince at the same time (oh man, how awesome would that shit be?) but it’s a fun listen. I can’t image any DJ ever played this in a club though, it’s entirely undanceable.

Was (Not Was)
Walk The Dinosaur (The New York Dangerous Version)
Walk The Dinosaur (Bruce’s Prehistoric Dub)
Walk The Dinosaur (The Debunking Of Uri Geller Mix)
Walk The Dinosaur (7″ Version)
Okay, I have to get this out of the way before I talk the song proper: “The Debunking Of  Uri Geller Mix” easily has to be the best name of a remix I have ever seen. It dethrones Erasure’s “Chains Of Love (Truly In Love With The Marx Bros. Mix).” I love it. It makes no sense at all. Brilliant.

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, this stupid fucking song. Y’know what? No. Strike that. This song is not stupid. I love this song. Did you know it’s about nuclear war? Yeah! Damn straight. Was (Not Was) was (not was) (sorry) dropping some deep social commentary on your ass, it just happened to be disguised as a silly dance craze.

That being said, the world probably didn’t need a seven-minute mix of the tune. which is what the first mix is. One can only take so many “Boom Boom Acka-lacka-lack-booms.” The awesomely-named Uri Geller mix does mix things up a bit though (no pun intended) and succeeds in justifying its existence just by its sheer weirdness – of course one could probably say the same thing about Was (Not Was) and their entire career.

If these mixes interest you then I suggest you check out either their 2010 compilation Hey King Kong! or the expanded edition of their debut album Out Come The Freaks. Both feature some pretty insane material that might blow your mind. Their really early stuff was all amazing.

Posted in Madonna, Prince, remixes, Was (Not Was) | 2 Comments »

Prince’s Madhouse is full of Bunnymen

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

I finally got all the records from Japan and China cleaned and I’m intent on plowing through them as fast as possible. If I listen to as many as possible for seven days a week, I think I might be done by 2014.

Did I mention I bought a lot of records in Japan?

Ironically, none of tonight’s music is from those records.

Madhouse
6
6 (End Of The World Mix)
6 and 1/2
I’ve written about Prince “associate” acts before. A while ago I did a quick post about The Family, a band that was pretty much just Prince save for a different vocalist (and even that’s debatable). Then a few months ago I posted a tune by Mazarati, a band that was more independent than other Prince associates, but was still heavily guided and controlled by The Purple One.

Madhouse is another Prince associate act, albeit not as well known as those groups or others like The Time. That’s probably because while those acts were just extensions of Prince’s already successful funk/pop sound, Madhouse was an entirely instrumental jazz act with some funk influences. That’s not the kind of act that sells records.

Madhouse released just two albums, both of which came out in 1987. The first, called 8, was pretty much nothing but Prince, with longtime Prince collaborator Eric Leeds contributing some sax and flute parts. The second album, called 16, was more of a group effort, and featured Shelia E on drums and another longtime Prince associate, Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass.

Apparently there were at least two other Madhouse albums recorded, both called 24, but neither have ever seen the light of day (a common story when discussing Prince). Bootlegs are out there though, for those who are interested.

(By the way, all of this is “alleged” I have found no proof documenting any of this, and all the articles I can find online about Madhouse are completely without credible citation.)

I’m going to be honest, I bought this 12″ single just because I knew it was Prince. I really have no interest in jazz fusion, and while I like these tracks, especially the remix, nothing on here really changed my mind. It’s a catchy tune, with an obvious Prince/funk edge, but I’d be lying if I found it especially memorable. Still, I think this kind of thing, a top-secret song by a super-famous artist, is fascinating, and it’s worth hearing once if for that reason alone.

Echo And The Bunnymen
Lips Like Sugar (12″ Mix)
Lips Like Sugar (Dub Version)
I think that “Lips Like Sugar” is Echo And The Bunnymen’s best song. A lot of people disagree with me, but a lot of people can go to hell. I could dance to this song till my feet fell off, and I’m a sucker for a good new wave love ballad. So you all can take your “The Cutter” and “The Killing Moon” suggestions and cram it. Yes, they’re great songs, but they’ll never hold a candle to this one for me.

The 12″ Mix is nearly seven-minutes long, and since we’ve already established that I could listen to this song all day and all night, I’m a fan of this extended mix. Shit, I wish it was even longer. The dub mix is a dub mix, and I’m including it for the sake of being a completionist.

The 12″ single from which I took these songs had two additional tracks. One was the single mix of the song, and the other was the b-side “Rollercoaster.” Both of these are available on the still in-print Echo box set Crystal Days, and I highly recommend you pick that up. Not only for those tracks (“Rollercoaster” is the secret best Echo And The Bunnymen track!) but for additional great rarities, including a haunting nine-minute version of “The Killing Moon” (woot!) and an awesome live cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Heroin.”

Posted in B-sides, Echo and the Bunnymen, Prince, remixes | 2 Comments »

Prince! And Prince Related Material!

Friday, December 7th, 2012

Prince!

Prince
Somebody’s Somebody (Ultrafantasy Edit)
Somebody’s Somebody (Live Studio Mix)
“Somebody’s Somebody” is a lesser Prince work, released in 1996 as a single for the 3CD epic Emancipation. I think I listened to that album in its entirety at some point in my life, I’ll have to re-visit it sometimes. At three hours in length and with 36 tracks, I’m sure that there has to be a few winners hidden in there.

While I’m having a hard time hearing any major differences between the single version and the “Ultrafantasy Edit,” I am loving the “Live Studio Mix” of the song. It sounds way more organic and funky than the final version, no doubt due to it’s live nature. It also tones down the ridiculous overpowering bassline of the original. That shit is just too much, I prefer when a song lets you find its funk, instead of thrusting its funk upon you.

Did that make any sense? I’m tired.

Mazarati
Player’s Ball (Extended Version)
Mazarati was another in a long line of Prince “associate” acts, and they were a lesser one at that, at least in terms of popularity and critical acclaim. Mazarati’s self-titled debut album came out in 1986 to little fanfare or sales, despite Prince’s involvement as a producer and songwriter on a few tracks. The group soldiered on without Prince, releasing the follow-up Mazarati 2 in 1989, but it apparently had even less of an impact than their debut, and the group hasn’t released anything since (although apparently a new album remains in the works).

If the wiki for the band is to be believed, then probably the most interesting thing about Mazarati is the two songs they recorded but weren’t released as Mazarati songs. One was “Jerk Out,” which was re-recorded and turned into a top 10 hit by The Time. The other was “Kiss,” which Prince literally took, added his own vocal track and guitar solo, and put on his own album Parade (although they received credit on the release). Damn. I guess you run that risk when working with the Purple One.

I took this version of “Player’s Ball” from the 12″ single for the song. It’s out-of-print, of course, as is everything else by the group. I dig the tune though, so if anyone out there has a digital copy of the band’s first album that they are willing to share, let me know please. I’ll do you a solid in return.

Posted in Mazarati, Prince, remixes | 6 Comments »

Boy George And Family (Not His Family)

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

 

Look at Boy George. Would you really want to hurt him?

The Family
The Screams Of Passion (Extended Version)
Nothing Compares 2 U
The Family sure sounded a lot like Prince. That’s probably because Prince created the group, wrote nearly all the songs for their sole album (which he also produced) and performed most of the instruments on it as well. Rumor has it that he even recorded vocal tracks that vocalist St. Paul used as a guide for his own vocal performance. Since St.Paul sounds just like Prince throughout the entire album, I think that rumor has some credence.

The Family’s only album failed to chart, and they’ve pretty much vanished into obscurity since the 80s, save for the fact that their album was the birthplace of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the song that Sinead O’Connor made crazy famous just a few years later (although if you ask me, that’s only her second best cover. This would be her first).

A major bummer about The Family is that, since they were such a commercial failure, almost none of their work was given the 12″ single treatment. “The Screams Of Passion” was the only track from their album that got an extended version, and it’s only about a minute and twenty seconds longer than the original version. Still, it’s a good version of a great song.

The B-side of the 12″ single was the album cut “Yes.” But whatever, I’m sharing “Nothing Compares 2 U’ instead. Because duh.

Culture Club
White Boy (Long Version)
I’m Afraid Of Me (Long Version)
Am I high or does “White Boy” sound a little like a Duran Duran song?

That’s all I got tonight. I’m sure there is something interesting to be said about Culture Club. I’m equally sure that at 12am on a Monday night that I am not the person to do it. Enjoy these mixes that I got off of a crazy looking Japanese 12″ single.

Posted in Culture Club, Prince, remixes | 1 Comment »

Random 80s Night and AWESOME NEW TURNTABLE

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Let’s take a flashback to the far away time of four days ago, when I posited this question to my readers:

“Anyone care to recommend a good direct-drive turntable? I’m finding more and more problems with my Audio Techinca. Any advice would be appreciated.”

The sole comment in reply said:

“Search far and wide for used Technics turntables. There’s really no substitute.”

I already knew that, of course, but it’s nice to get independent verification.

What’s even better to get, however, is a used Technics SL-1210 MK2 for $200.

 

Woot!

I saw the post on Craigslist and agreed to buy it on sight. I didn’t even need to see if it worked. Thankfully, it does work. It works wonderfully in fact.

My old turntable was an Audio-Technica ATLP-120. It was decent enough, but had some substantial problems. The most noteworthy being that its anti-skate was literally worthless, leaving the turntable prone to skips. This doesn’t have that problem. It has no problems. It’s an amazing, epic piece of hardware that I highly doubt I will ever replace.

I also bought this on Amazon the same day:

That is a an ART V2 USB Phono Plus DJ Preamp. It’s an all in one USB soundcard and phono preamp. It delivers amazing sound, especially considering that you can currently get it at Amazon for about $80. If you plan on hooking up a turntable to a computer, this is THE way to go.

Between the two I have noticed a sharp increase in quality in my recordings. No more hum and no more radio interference. The stereo seperation is much finally even, and many of the minor distortion problems I was battling in the past have been nearly eliminated. It’s happy times in Lost Turntable land.

That being said, I already had a hefty backlog of recordings from on old turntable, and they sound perfectly serviceable. So it might be a few days or weeks before you all get to reap the rewards of my new equipment. I’ll let you know.

Also, when I do start posting stuff recorded with this new set-up, don’t expect perfection. Most of the record I record from are used 12″ singles, many are not gently used, and even the best-quality 12″ single from the 80s isn’t a very well-made record.

Until then, here’s some random 80s wackiness to start your week.

Dan Hartman
I Can Dream About You (Extended Mix)
This classic piece of light-rock 80s glory is from the Streets of Fire soundtrack. I’ve never seen Streets of Fire, which makes me a bad 80s fanboy.  I heard it has a fight that involves giant railroad hammers – I really have to Netflix that puppy.

This extended mix is not the version from the soundtrack and not the version from Dan Hartman’s album, it’s exclusive to the 12″ single. It belongs on your 7th grade mixtape.

Prince
La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Highly Explosive)
This is a song about a dog and a cat getting it on. No metaphor. It’s literally about a dog and a cat engaging in some cross-species freaky-deaky.

Prince is weird.

There are actually two versions of this song. The shorter three-minute version is on Prince’s Hits/B-sides collection. This crazy-long (over 10 minutes!) version is exclusive to the 12″ single and I’m fairly certain that it has never been released on any legal CD in America or Europe.

Aztec Camera
All I Need Is Everything (Remix)
I am not anything close to an authority on Aztec Camera (unlike my friend and hardcore Aztec Camera fan Anna Hegedus, for whom I share this track) but I’m going to venture to say that this is my favorite track by them that I’ve heard that doesn’t feature Mick Jones or a remix by Fatboy Slim. This is from a 12″ single.

Hohokam
King (Long Version)
The American Way
King (Short Version)
Bought this in a flea market for a buck. With it I know own everything Hohokam ever released, an easy feat considering that they only put out three singles and nothing else. They were on Gary Numan’s extremely short-lived Numa label. Not suprisingly, they are somewhat derivative of Numan’s work at the time. Still, they’re not bad, pity that these dudes never got the chance to release a proper album. It could have been interesting.

 

Posted in Aztec Camera, B-sides, Dan Hartman, Prince, remixes | 6 Comments »

Merry Vodka!

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

Update: Okay, so the next time I realize something I’m doing is a horrible idea, perhaps I should listen to my inner self and not do it. That way I don’t get corrected by two rightfully pissed off people.

The idea of posting “Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa” as a joke Christmas song was a really stupid idea, not to mention offensive and in pretty bad taste. Joking about topics like that isn’t cool, and help to perpetuate a culture that accepts it. I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided it would be a good idea, actually I probably wasn’t thinking at all. I’m sorry, it wasn’t funny, it wasn’t smart and it wasn’t witty. It was stupid.

I’m not changing what I wrote, I feel that part of owning up to mistakes is to leave them for everyone to see, but I wanted to include this apology with the post so everyone knows that it was something I should not have done.

OMG I’m in Toledo! Oh, the horror, the horror of it all. I’m away from my home, my friends, my fish and my turntable (sob!). Worst of all, I’m away from Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. Where, the last I checked, I was ranked as the 16th best player in the world! I need my Pac-Man fix, for reals. I’m gonna start hallucinating little yellow pellets and ghosts soon. Or maybe that’s just the vodka. Mmm…vodka.

Wait, what was I complaining about again?

De La Soul
Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa (Full Mix)
Keepin’ The Faith (7” UK Version)
Keepin’ The Faith (No Bass Mix)
Keepin’ The Faith (Straight Pass)
Yup, here’s my big Christmas song, a track about a topic so dark and disturbing that I’m not going to mention it because I don’t want to trigger anyone. Y’know, the idea of making it my blog’s Christmas song seemed a lot funnier in my head. Oh well, I’ve never been one to back away from a horrible idea! “Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa” is a great track, even if it is a little bit of a downer for the holidays. After you listen to it and get depressed, listen to “Keepin’ the Faith” to cheer yourself up. It’s a happy tune! And if you still need some good seasonal music go listen to “Fairytale In New York.”

Prince
Purple Medley (Edit)
Purple Medley
And shit, if “Keepin’ The Faith” can’t get you in an upbeat mood, then the full length “Purple Medley” which features about 80 bagillion different Prince songs, should get you out of any holiday funk. Ironic since it, in itself, is nothing but funk. These are from a 12” single. To my knowledge neither version of the “Purple Medley” have ever been released on any album.

Posted in De La Soul, Prince, remixes | 8 Comments »

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