Moonraker
Catalog # 044/45/46 Release Year 1995 3CD Length 45:42 | 48:06 | 78:51 Date/Venue Paisley Park October 23 and November 11, 1995 Source Audience Recordings Quality VG+ / EX- |
Disc #1
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Disc
#2
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Disc
#3
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Comments
Deane's Comments (rates this release 4.0/5.0)
Another great
release for Moonraker. Great package and booklet and a wonderful show. Starfish
and Coffee is mistitled as The Ballad of Dorothy Parker on the sleeve, but the
bonus of the 1987 rehearsal makes up for it and it is not listed on the sleeve.
Mike's Comments (rates this release 4.0/5.0)
The October
show here is one of the best from the series of Paisley Park concerts played
sporadically throughout the latter half of 1995. He begins the show by
laughing and joking before launching into 'Glam Slam boogie', and his good
mood ensures a great show. There are many highlights, including an unhurried
'18 & over', an excellent 'P. control', plus some fine jamming during the
last 3 songs. The November concert has some great moments too (most notably a
rousing 'Hide the bone' opener and a nice rendition of 'I hate U') but too
often seems to drift. The overall impression is that Prince's heart wasn't in
it - maybe he'd just seen early sales figures for The Gold Experience!.
Fink's Comments (rates this release 4.25/5.0)
Discs 1
and 2 contains a Paisley Park show from 23rd October 1995, and whilst one look
at the set-list may indicate that this is a great show, the performance really
isn't on a par with most others from the same era. There are a number of
technical problems throughout and constant shouts for various levels to be
turned up - not really creating the best atmosphere, The show starts off rather
typically with a long instrumental groove on 'Glam Slam Boogie' before a brief
snippet of 'The Ride'. Sonny T is up next for vocals on 'Count The Days' before
a very lengthy version of '18 & Over' which includes a number of crowd chants
(the obligatory "18 & Over, I wants to bone ya"). Immediately after 'Hide The
Bone' the show takes a rather strange downward spiral, and I have to say the
remainder of Disc 1 is really uninteresting. The band launch in to various
tracks only to stop during the first verse, or as Prince himself declares as he
stops mid-way through the beginning of 'Zannalee', "I ain't in a rock and roll
mood". The second half of the show is far superior and begins with a full length
version of 'Pussy Control' followed by 'Letitgo' and the revised 'Starfish &
Coffee'. 'Days Of Wild' is unfortunately incomplete, yet even with a large
portion of the opening of the performance missing it still clocks in at a
lengthy 14 minutes and includes an appearance from Jellybean. 'Girls & Boys' is
played on the Goldaxxe as in intro to an instrumental version of 'Race' which is
followed by 'Johnny' (which is missing from the tracklisting on the accompanying
booklet and artwork) again is mostly instrumental and features Jellybean on
stage. The sound quality throughout the 23rd October recording is of very high
quality, however as with most audience recordings from the time the audience can
be a little distracting at times. They are not detrimental to the show, but are
certainly audible throughout. Bizarrely Disc 2 closes with 'The Ballad Of
Dorothy Parker' from the Sign O' The Times tour rehearsal at Paisley Park on
21st February 1987. Again (as with track #6) this is not listed anywhere on the
accompanying artwork or sleeve. Disc 3 contains a show from Paisley held on
Mayte's birthday and there are various references to her throughout with the
crowd singing her "Happy Birthday" at least three times. The show is extremely
good, and I'd say better than the show which spans Disc 1 & 2.
Prince is in a great mood and there is some phenomenal guitar work. The version
of 'Papa' listed here can't really be classed as such as it is purely
instrumental and bears very little similarity to the actual track. 'Zannalee' is
a straightforward performance of the song with some of the best guitar work from
the entire show and leads in to an equally great 'The Cross'. 'Gold' is listed
as being performed, however it is merely the NPG Operator voice which leads in
to the track, "Welcome 2 the dawn, you have just accessed the Gold Experience.
Press Gold to begin." the track itself is not played. Similarly 'Glam Slam
Boogie' is listed, however it is merely used as an instrumental outro to the
show and lasts barely 1 minute. The sound quality of the 3rd Disc, whilst being
excellent is not without it's problems. There is a fair amount of distortion on
Prince's mic during 'Zannalee' and the bass is very overpowering on a few
numbers. The volume has a slightly annoying tendency to fluctuate during the
mid-section of the show - most obviously during 'Love...Thy Will Be Done'. That
said, these are minor complaints due to the overall excellence of the recording
and the quality of the actual show.
Whilst this is not the best volume of The Park series, it is of very high
quality and contains 2 extremely enjoyable shows. The packaging is (as with the
other volumes) stunning and certainly one of Moonraker's best efforts. There are
a few tracks not listed on the packaging, but again it's a minor complaint
considering the quality.