Honeymoon Experience (Moonraker) 2CD

Honeymoon Experience 2CD

Moonraker
Catalog # 057/58
Release Year 1996
2CD Length 53:58 | 51:28
Date/Venue Hawaii 2/19/1996
Source Audience
Quality VG+ / EX-

Rating 3.0/5.0

Track Listing
Disc 1
19 February 1996 Neil S Blaisdell Arena Honolulu Hawaii
1. 1999 (intro) 2. Endorphinmachine 3. Shhh 4. Days Of Wild 5. Now 6. Race - Girls And Boys 7. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World 8. Pussy Control 9. Letitgo 10. Starfish And Coffee 11. Michael B. Drum Solo 12. Sometimes It Snows In April 13. The Ride

Disc 2
1. Sex Machine 2. Johnny 3. Sex Machine (Jam) 4. Take Me With U 5. Funky 6. The Jam 7. One Of Us 8. Do Me, Baby 9. Sexy MF 10. If I Was Your Girlfriend 11. Vicki Waiting 12. Purple Medley 13. Purple Rain 14. 7

Comments
Deane's Comments (rates this release 3.0/5.0)
A document of the honeymoon concerts in Hawaii. Good package and okay sound quality. Not up to the usual Moonraker quality, but better than most of what's out there. Nice live rendition of Vicki Waiting and the Sex Machine Jam.

Dale's Comments (rates this release 3.0/5.0)
The quality of this release is far below what we are used to from Moonraker. The sound quality is poor, and the packaging average. The show itself is pretty good however, actually it's the only saving grace of this release. Performances of Starfish & Coffee, and Sometimes It Snows In April are rare live treats from this time period.

Fink's Comments (rates this release 3.25/5.0)
By no means a classic concert, this is still a very enjoyable show from Prince's short 3 date mini-tour of Hawaii in 1996 a few days after his marriage to Mayte. The show is in a similar vein to the January 1996 Japanese leg of the Gold/Ultimate Live Experience with a few slight set list changes. ' Sometimes It Snows In April' has been added as has 'Take Me With U' and the Gold Experience tracks are played in much more abridged, shorter versions. The version of 'Purple Medley' performed is bizarre and flows directly in to 'Purple Rain' which is amongst the worst, least inspired I've heard played - no matter the rarity of the performance at this stage of Prince's "non-Prince" career. The show closes with '7', but doesn't include the usual oriental intro normally proceeding the song.

The show is noteworthy for the fact this was the last concert where Prince's band included the fantastic "Paisley Trio" of Michael Bland, Sonny Thompson and Tommy Barbarella - the end of an era. The quality of the recording is slightly thin and lacks much depth or substance. The crowd are audible throughout, but at no point do they distract from the concert and are not detrimental to the recording. There appears to be a little distortion towards the end of 'The Ride', but it is very minimal and hardly worthy of mention.

The accompanying packaging and artwork utilise the wedding program which was posted on-line days before the Hawaiian shows and is visually stunning, although lacking any real info. A decent release? Absolutely. An essential release? I'd say not.