Does anyone else have a fondness (or even know of) Prince's two jazz fusion records he recorded under the name of Madhouse, 8 and 16, released in 86/87? Essentially solo records (at least on the debut) where Prince performs all instruments except sax (supplied by Eric Leeds). 8 is the "jazzier" of the two, and even had a minor radio hit with the track "Six" (yes, all songs are named numerically in sequential order). 16 is much more aggressive, funkier, and musically cut from the same cloth as Sign o' the Times.

I hope any reissue campaign of Prince's work includes these forgotten gems!

Yeah, the Madhouse records are a lot of fun. See if I can find and post a couple of links to them here.

Good live version of She's Always In My Hair, one of my faves, tho I'm partial to the 12" release on the back of... Raspberry Beret I think. Been a while since I had those records out.

Classic March 1981 Ritz Theater at NYC show.

(Btw, Mick Jagger was at this show and it landed Prince opening for the Stones later in the year - notoriously.)

I really wish the estate considers releasing some of these shows on DVD/blu-ray.

Madhouse 8 Dude who put it up has the follow up as well.

Great article/background on the Prince/Eric Leeds Madhouse project on waxpoetics.com.

That was sensational, what bootleg is this off of?

Still waiting on the remastered albums that were supposed to start coming out two years ago.

Happy New Year! Peace & Blessings.

Good quality late night funk set from '98 in London.

Rumors going around his stuff will debut on Spotify soon

That's good news but probably too late in some ways. I feel that it's likely that his absence from streaming services after he died did real long-term damage to his legacy. There was all suddenly a surge in interest in his catalog but his music was hard to find in the way that people are now accustomed to finding it. And I worry that interest has faded somewhat and younger people especially have lost a chance to get to know his music the way they might have.

But, better late than never.

Looks like a universal streaming release. When anyone can easily download entire discographies from file sharing sites it is a bit of an anticlimax. Good news for casual fans, though.

Someone may have posted this interview with Larry King in which Prince talks about so called fans "getting off" on bootleg material by him. I've had to question myself about that and I think it's a bit unfair. I've always been so appreciative of any Prince music that either come my way or that I've sought out (including purchases!) that I never distinguished the material by acquisition. But he was right; most bootlegs are terrible sonically. Any good music lover is likely to dispense with them in any case.

from 2011.

America (21 minute version)

Hadn't heard this in a long time. Still bangs.

Nice Sign cover. The instrumentation makes it - as in the original. Not that Prince was a bad lyric writer but to me he was always wittier off the cuff.

Vanity (Denise Matthews)

I was hoping Spotify would have Prince's attendant music acts with the main Warner Brothers catalogue - the late, Vanity, in particular. Not the Vanity 6 stuff, though they weren't awful live, but the material just after Denise left that act. Course, the two albums she subsequently recorded are on Motown Records. Another bucket of worms...



Wild Animal (1984)



Skin On Skin (1986)

Spotify does have all 3 of the Prince backed The Time albums:



Trademark Prince funk hooks and background vocals are the clearest indicationof his presence.



The Family, which was a kind of reformed version of The Time and their self titled debut album ('85), is curiously not streaming here, though it is on the Warner Brothers (Paisley Park) label.

Turns out The Family is out of print (though there are certainly oop discs on Spotify). But I suppose the boon here is the Live at First Avenue gig they did following the album release.


expanded view

A new EP is being released for the anniversary of his death. I can't believe it's a year already.

Here is the track....
https://soundcloud.com/user-447104976/deliverance-1

Thanks. There are a couple of new books about him that may be worth perusing as well:

The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince, Mayte Garcia

Dig If You Will The Picture, Ben Greenman

Too bad.

There's always the vault. Pulling out the great funk version of Peach.



And a nice streaming Sign 'O The Times

EP's been leaked anyway, so it's kind of a moot point. FWIW, "Deliverance" is excellent, but I'm not digging the rest very much.

White Girls Jam Extended rehearsal jam (nearly half hour) with members of The Revolution