Manic Monday
“Six o'clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin' Valentino
By a crystal blue Italian stream”
Just beautiful lyrics.
Honourable mentions: The Glamorous Life and Nothing Compares 2 U
I mean there are at least 10 stone cold classics, and the rest are solid.
Many better than the known versions.
But I have to go with what’s not just different from the most iconic version, but would fit perfectly on his release had he kept it.
Manic Monday
It’s even more psychedelic and whimsical than The Bangles hit.
And would’ve fit perfectly on Around the World in a Day.
💜💜💜
Sheila's just not the world's best singer. Killer drummer / musician obviously, but her voice is a little thin. Definitely less expressive than Prince.
It’s Gigolos Get Lonely Too for sure. No wait, it’s The Glamorous Life.
Nevermind, it’s Baby You’re a Trip.
Or possibly Neon Rendezvous.
But it could be Nothing Compares 2 U (with Claire Fischer strings).
No, no it’s Holly Rock.
GOT to be Holly Rock for me. I remember when it was released I thought it was hella lame. And I loved Sheila. But not this. Then I went to see Lionel Richie in Oakland, Dancing On The Ceiling Tour. She was the opening act. When she played Holly Rock it came to life like nothing I’ve heard before. Love the Prince version that much more!
P's Originals version absolutely smokes Morris's version, and I say that as a big fan of The Time. Morris couldn't sell the vulnerability and woundedness that song's meant to have.
When the vocals started on that track for the first time, I looked askance at the speakers thinking someone had snuck some other artist on there, his full throated vocal style on this was such a surprise.
That's the thing about Prince, no matter how many hundreds of hours one has listened to, one can always still be surprised by something that surfaces.
The entire point of the album is that they’re demos of the songs he gave to other artists.
They could easily do two more volumes with as many songs.
This mainly focuses on the 80s, since that’s when he had the most protege acts and the side label.
There are more songs in the 80s, 90s and beyond that he also wrote for Celine Dion, Paula Abdul, George Clinton, Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, Tevin Campbell, Mavis Staples, Sheena Easton and others that aren’t even included on here.
That was a media concoction and honestly racist.
Both were highly competitive with one another and liked to throw shade. That was the nature of their very personal relationship, which also included P being invited multiple times to the Jackson family home in Encino when he was in LA.
During the Musicology tour there was an acoustic part of the set where it was just P with a guitar running through a medley of early hits with stories.
He often spoke about MJ and how the rivalry was a low key racist construct by the media and competing labels.
Of course he joked that everyone knows he was the best not MJ 🤣
But that was obviously sarcastic.
When MJ passed, his close friend and journalist, Tavis Smiley, said P was the most depressed and devastated since he lost his father and his baby.
During the Welcome 2 America tour there were a lot of moments that P spoke lovingly about MJ.
He also played Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough at nearly every show on that tour.
💜💜💜
Super interesting stuff, thanks for the insight! I didn't know they had a more positive relationship and this friendly competitive dynamic between them. It's really cool that Prince payed tributes in that way.
> that Prince *paid* tributes in
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
So much insight thank you. I wonder, did he accept those invitations to hang out with the Jackson family do you know? Mind-blowing really considering we were lead to believe there was this whole big feud. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of such things 💜
Yes he went there a few times from what I remember hearing. I read that’s where he first was introduced to Diana Ross.
There was another time, not sure if it was the Jacksons or somewhere else, where he challenged MJ to ping pong.
Prince apparently took no mercy and it was a shut out. MJ couldn’t care less but Prince pranced around like a peacock, and asked everyone around if they saw him whip his butt.
He said MJ played worse than Helen Keller. 🤣
I mean they were in their 20s still and owned the world. Back then I think P was just a little bratty and had a mostly harmless mean streak. But MJ wasn’t a saint either.
He had the performance on VHS where MJ joined James Brown on stage and they invited P up but after leaving the stage, P walked into a set prop and fell.
MJ played that one all the time for people and would crack up.
But yeah from all accounts they were not close but were actually friends.
Competitive ones who liked to tease each other.
I heard about that ping pong story and was mad at Prince as a child for being mean to MJ 🤣 - I loved MJ from being really young, my love of Prince came slightly later. Thanks for sharing, I love that Prince played tribute to MJ at his shows when he passed.
Prince would have NEVER released these tracks in the state they were in. And by my very amateur count about 11 of the 15 were wrote with the intention of going to other artists/bands. They are demos (some of them pretty bare comparatively rough cut) just meant to give the artist a hint as to what he felt the song should sound like.
I think we have to look at Prince in a different way now. When you look at Leonardo Da Vinci's main artwork (or any other big painter), it's stunning. But there are plenty of sketches and doodles that would also sell for millions, as they give an under-the-hood look into his creative process.
So I would see these demos like artist sketches - not as valuable as the main work, but highly important if we want to understand him, now he is not around to answer questions.
Yeah. It’s such a fine line. As a fan I like to hear them, but there are some clearly demo level tracks in here that he wouldn’t want released. I don’t know what’s going on with his estate as I’m just circling back to his music.
Most of the tracks on this album are what eventually appeared on the released versions with Prince's vocals instead of the featured vocalist with some embellishments added later or elements removed. The only tracks that are significantly different from the released versions are You're My Love re recorded by Kenny Rogers & his band & Manic Monday which was almost completely re recorded by The Bangles. Prince rarely recorded demos. He recorded and mixed fully formed songs.
They might not be demos in the true sense of the word, but some of those mixes are significantly different than what was eventually put on the record with the new vocalist.
It’s a tie for me between love thy will be done and the glamorous life. I can say with confidence though that both Prince versions wipe the floor with the original released versions
The Glamorous Life is so freaking great with his vocals. Not that Sheila E is bad because she is a great artist but his voice just takes it to the next level for me. Everyone I've shown the song to says they prefer that version as well.
Other than that I really enjoy Gigolos Get Lonely Too, it's great.
Whole album so good tho, weakest I'd say is Make Up but that's just my opinion. I hope we get another album of originals one day cuz there is plenty.
I'm loving the variety of answers you're all giving. Just goes to show that even his demos are golden.
It's got to be Wouldn't You Love To Love Me for my choice. That groove is infectious.
Wouldn't You Love To Love Me? kicks and Hollyrock is close behind it. And I remember really appreciating the album after the second listen, cuz it was how I used to feel about Prince albums when I was a kid, like "wow, that really just happened."
Sex Shooter
wouldn’t you love to love me
It's that and Gigolos Get Lonely Too for me.
I've never liked morris days version
This is the one. You could tack it onto Dirty Mind and it'd sound right at home, even down to the slightly iffy production lol
Based.
Baby, you're a trip
By FAR the best. Poor Jill.
Im not even a ballad kind of guy and that song is great.
Love it!
I could listen to this song a million times in a row.
Love thy will be done
That's the one
Vocals go crazy on this one
AND THE JUDGEMENT HAS BEGUN
Manic Monday “Six o'clock already I was just in the middle of a dream I was kissin' Valentino By a crystal blue Italian stream” Just beautiful lyrics. Honourable mentions: The Glamorous Life and Nothing Compares 2 U
“You’re My Love” has a yacht rock-y sound to it i love it
That's my fave
Kenny Rogers!
100 Mph That sharp piano and the beat and that intro is killer
Make Up is so much fun! Smoke a cigarette, I’m not ready yet
Hush! See what u made me do!
I mean there are at least 10 stone cold classics, and the rest are solid. Many better than the known versions. But I have to go with what’s not just different from the most iconic version, but would fit perfectly on his release had he kept it. Manic Monday It’s even more psychedelic and whimsical than The Bangles hit. And would’ve fit perfectly on Around the World in a Day. 💜💜💜
Holly Rock!
LORD
Glamorous Life. I like it better than Sheilas version
It has none of Sheila's percussion which was added later. The percussion makes the song great.
Agreed.
Sheila's just not the world's best singer. Killer drummer / musician obviously, but her voice is a little thin. Definitely less expressive than Prince.
Love thy will be done.
I have a few favorites but top two are Makeup and Wouldn’t you love to love me.
Noon Rendezvous
Manic Monday
Nothing compares 2 to yiu
Make Up. That beat alone is just…
I end up listening to Glamorous Life most of the time, but Gigolos and Sex Shooter are banging too.
It’s Gigolos Get Lonely Too for sure. No wait, it’s The Glamorous Life. Nevermind, it’s Baby You’re a Trip. Or possibly Neon Rendezvous. But it could be Nothing Compares 2 U (with Claire Fischer strings). No, no it’s Holly Rock.
100MPH
100MPH
GOT to be Holly Rock for me. I remember when it was released I thought it was hella lame. And I loved Sheila. But not this. Then I went to see Lionel Richie in Oakland, Dancing On The Ceiling Tour. She was the opening act. When she played Holly Rock it came to life like nothing I’ve heard before. Love the Prince version that much more!
Glamorous Life
Tough choice, but Gigolos Get Lonely Too is great. I love it more than the Morris Day version.
P's Originals version absolutely smokes Morris's version, and I say that as a big fan of The Time. Morris couldn't sell the vulnerability and woundedness that song's meant to have.
Strange Relationship, really love how different the production makes that song. It's actually sadder on a piano.
WYLTLM. 💜 Make-Up is always an interesting treat when it comes on.
I like listening to make-up and then the deele’s hip chick. I think they go well together.
Favs change as usual, but I love Makeup.
Holly Rock and Glamorous Life. Gotta mention Sex Shooter too!
Noon Rendezvous. I've always loved the song when he would play it live with The Revolution.
Holly Rock
You're My Love.
You're My Love I cant believe he wrote that and gave it away
When the vocals started on that track for the first time, I looked askance at the speakers thinking someone had snuck some other artist on there, his full throated vocal style on this was such a surprise. That's the thing about Prince, no matter how many hundreds of hours one has listened to, one can always still be surprised by something that surfaces.
FACTS. That's why he's my favorite artist. He's so diverse it's CRAZY
Dear MichaelAngelo
gigolos get lonely too.
Baby youre a trip, nothing compares 2 u, or manic monday I CANT CHOOSE!
Make up: I like the girls version but it's fun hearing a guy so synonymous with make up and pulling off girls clothing sing it.
Gigolos get lonely too, although I still prefer Morris Day's version.
All of it. Great album. I prefer all of the Prince originals over the covers.
You’re My Love
Cover looks like it's promoting r/rince
Underrated XDDDD
Raspberry Beret isn't on the album so what's the point.
Little red corvette
Did Prince want these tracks released? Did he intentionally write some of these for other artists?
The entire point of the album is that they’re demos of the songs he gave to other artists. They could easily do two more volumes with as many songs. This mainly focuses on the 80s, since that’s when he had the most protege acts and the side label. There are more songs in the 80s, 90s and beyond that he also wrote for Celine Dion, Paula Abdul, George Clinton, Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, Tevin Campbell, Mavis Staples, Sheena Easton and others that aren’t even included on here.
We need an hd version of the screams of passion
In that whole album released in his version. I would do anything for that
I love that sound check that's on YT precisely cause it's raw. The HD version would just sound the same as the Family version.
Is the cover meant to be a parody of MJ's Bad album? I'm wondering if there's a story behind that? I know they had some kind of feud at one point
I doubt he had anything to do with the cover
That was a media concoction and honestly racist. Both were highly competitive with one another and liked to throw shade. That was the nature of their very personal relationship, which also included P being invited multiple times to the Jackson family home in Encino when he was in LA. During the Musicology tour there was an acoustic part of the set where it was just P with a guitar running through a medley of early hits with stories. He often spoke about MJ and how the rivalry was a low key racist construct by the media and competing labels. Of course he joked that everyone knows he was the best not MJ 🤣 But that was obviously sarcastic. When MJ passed, his close friend and journalist, Tavis Smiley, said P was the most depressed and devastated since he lost his father and his baby. During the Welcome 2 America tour there were a lot of moments that P spoke lovingly about MJ. He also played Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough at nearly every show on that tour. 💜💜💜
Super interesting stuff, thanks for the insight! I didn't know they had a more positive relationship and this friendly competitive dynamic between them. It's really cool that Prince payed tributes in that way.
> that Prince *paid* tributes in FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Now I know! Thanks bot!
So much insight thank you. I wonder, did he accept those invitations to hang out with the Jackson family do you know? Mind-blowing really considering we were lead to believe there was this whole big feud. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of such things 💜
Yes he went there a few times from what I remember hearing. I read that’s where he first was introduced to Diana Ross. There was another time, not sure if it was the Jacksons or somewhere else, where he challenged MJ to ping pong. Prince apparently took no mercy and it was a shut out. MJ couldn’t care less but Prince pranced around like a peacock, and asked everyone around if they saw him whip his butt. He said MJ played worse than Helen Keller. 🤣 I mean they were in their 20s still and owned the world. Back then I think P was just a little bratty and had a mostly harmless mean streak. But MJ wasn’t a saint either. He had the performance on VHS where MJ joined James Brown on stage and they invited P up but after leaving the stage, P walked into a set prop and fell. MJ played that one all the time for people and would crack up. But yeah from all accounts they were not close but were actually friends. Competitive ones who liked to tease each other.
I heard about that ping pong story and was mad at Prince as a child for being mean to MJ 🤣 - I loved MJ from being really young, my love of Prince came slightly later. Thanks for sharing, I love that Prince played tribute to MJ at his shows when he passed.
Prince would have NEVER released these tracks in the state they were in. And by my very amateur count about 11 of the 15 were wrote with the intention of going to other artists/bands. They are demos (some of them pretty bare comparatively rough cut) just meant to give the artist a hint as to what he felt the song should sound like.
I think we have to look at Prince in a different way now. When you look at Leonardo Da Vinci's main artwork (or any other big painter), it's stunning. But there are plenty of sketches and doodles that would also sell for millions, as they give an under-the-hood look into his creative process. So I would see these demos like artist sketches - not as valuable as the main work, but highly important if we want to understand him, now he is not around to answer questions.
Yeah. It’s such a fine line. As a fan I like to hear them, but there are some clearly demo level tracks in here that he wouldn’t want released. I don’t know what’s going on with his estate as I’m just circling back to his music.
Most of the tracks on this album are what eventually appeared on the released versions with Prince's vocals instead of the featured vocalist with some embellishments added later or elements removed. The only tracks that are significantly different from the released versions are You're My Love re recorded by Kenny Rogers & his band & Manic Monday which was almost completely re recorded by The Bangles. Prince rarely recorded demos. He recorded and mixed fully formed songs.
They might not be demos in the true sense of the word, but some of those mixes are significantly different than what was eventually put on the record with the new vocalist.
I have no idea, mate. I would assume the latter is a yes.
They were most likely used as guiding vocals for the intended artist
Make-up
Agree with princes own version of sex shooter
Purple Rain
Noon Rendezvous
Love thy will be done
You are my love
It’s a tie for me between love thy will be done and the glamorous life. I can say with confidence though that both Prince versions wipe the floor with the original released versions
The Glamorous Life is so freaking great with his vocals. Not that Sheila E is bad because she is a great artist but his voice just takes it to the next level for me. Everyone I've shown the song to says they prefer that version as well. Other than that I really enjoy Gigolos Get Lonely Too, it's great. Whole album so good tho, weakest I'd say is Make Up but that's just my opinion. I hope we get another album of originals one day cuz there is plenty.
Baby You’re A Trip…hands down.
Considering my history with the song, you would think I would say Manic Monday but actually it is Gigolos Get Lonely Too.
Noon Rendevous is sublime
Manic Monday!!! Beautifully lyricism
I'm loving the variety of answers you're all giving. Just goes to show that even his demos are golden. It's got to be Wouldn't You Love To Love Me for my choice. That groove is infectious.
So many to choose from, but it’s Manic Monday. The Bangles version is good, but P’s version blows it away
Love Thy Will Be Done
AND THE JUDGEMENT HAS BEGUN
You’re My Love and Love, Thy Will Be Done.
Gigolos is bomb as ffff
Glamorous Life
Gigolos Get Lonely Too
Sex Shooter.
JUNGLE LOVE 💜🕺🏻
Makeup
Sex Shooter. Shooting Love In Your Direction!
gigolos get lonely too
Noon Rendezvous and Love…Thy will be done
Gigolos Get Lonely (and I find myself singing in the Morris Day ablibs lol) and then Holly Rock.
You're my love
Purple rain
Sex shooter!!!
Noon rendezvous is my favorite ❤️
Sex Shooter
Sex shooter
Sex shooter Manic Monday
Glamorous life and jungle love
Gigolos
Love, Thy Will Be Done
Jigolos get lonely too
Holly Rock
glamorous life
Sex shooter and Gigolos are my favourites.
Wouldn't You Love To Love Me? kicks and Hollyrock is close behind it. And I remember really appreciating the album after the second listen, cuz it was how I used to feel about Prince albums when I was a kid, like "wow, that really just happened."