Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Prince #SAB 030-031 Late Night Shows Part 1





Late Night Shows Part 1

2 CD
Label : Sabotage Records
Catalogue : #SAB 030-031
Disc Length : 65:45 / 70:07
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX-
Year Of Release : 1999

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Disc 1

Jam Of The Year Tour Aftershow - Cafe Hollywood, San Antonio : 9th August 1887 (am)

1. Instrumental Jam   2. Funk Jam   3. Johnny - La Di Da Di   4. Face Down   5. Skin Tight   6. The Sexiest Zodiac Sign   7. 6 Minutes - The Show   8. (Eye Like) Funky Music   9. The Gambler   10. Turn This Mutha Out - Face Down   11. Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Nothing   12. I'll Take You There   13. I Got The Feeling

Love 4 One Another Charities Tour Aftershow - DNA Lounge, San Francisco : 21st April 1997 (am)

14. The Ride

Disc 2

Jam Of The Year Tour Aftershow - Mirage, Dallas : 10th August 1997 (am)

1. Days Of Wild (played over PA)   2. Days Of Wild   3. Bootzilla   4. 18 & Over   5. Piano Solo   6. Doug E Fresh Beat Box   7. Doug E Fresh   8. Play That Funky Music   9. Johnny   10. Somebody's Somebody   11. Girls And Boys   12. Boogie Oogie Oogie   13. La Di Da Di

Love 4 One Another Charities Tour Aftershow - Electric Ballroom, Tempe : 29th April 1997 (am)

14. Speech   15. Santana Medley   16. The Ride

Unidentified Aftershow : 1997

17. Come On (played over PA)

COMMENT

Part 1 of Sabotage's Late Night Shows series, and the main focus is on two successive Jam Of The Year aftershows. The first San Antonio is very frustrating in the respect that it is 45 minutes into the show before P decides to take the mic. Prior to this he drops a few crowd chants, but is is pretty much silent. Doug E Fresh is the main performer and raps, does beat-box, and single-handedly ruins a decent show. It pains me to comment on him as I find little positive to say regarding his musical style. The closing 20 minutes of the San Antonio show are Doug E Fresh-free and certainly contain the only real interesting content. Prior to P taking over there is a quick rendition of Kenny Rogers 'The Gambler', however it is sung by the audience members with no P vocal (unfortunately). First up is a great lazy version of 'Face Down' performed over a slowed down groove with P adding some very funny occasional background vocals. The Jam Of The Year tour favourite 'Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing' is slightly different to the normal concert performance and is missing many of the effects heard at the main shows. P's short set closes with him name-checking the band members before moving on to himself, "My name? I'm your mamma's favourite freek". The quality of this recording is excellent, and whilst the crowd are very audible throughout, it's benefits the show because there are so many crowd chants and so much audience participation. The main bulk of Disc 2 features a Jam Of The Year aftershow from the following morning and is a vast improvement. The recording begins with the officially released Crystal Ball version of 'Days Of Wild' played over the PA before the band join in and continue the track live. P announces "We have a special treat for you tonight....Doug E Fresh" and the show takes a dip in the quality stakes whilst Mr. Fresh takes center stage for the next few numbers. P returns for a short version of 'Somebody's Somebody' which flows into another abridged version of 'Girls & Boys'. Rhonda takes the mic for a great performance of 'Boogie Ooogie Oogie' before Doug E Fresh is back again for an admittedly pretty cool performance of 'La Di Da Di' during which the crowd take over the majority over vocals. Disc 2 also includes 2 tracks from the Tempe aftershow, and whilst the sound quality is no match for the previous shows on this set (I'd class it as a VG+ audience recording), the content is fantastic and better than anything from either the San Antonio show or the Dallas show. 'Santana Medley' is a lengthy 9 minutes long and is followed by 'The Ride' which includes what appears to be a harmonica solo by Sugar Blue  - although the whooping crowd are rather overpowering during this track it is one of the highlights of the release. The final track on Disc 2 is not listed on the packaging or in the accompanying booklet. It has been recorded at an afterparty and is an extended unreleased version of 'Come On' which features a lengthy instrumental part and added guitar work which has been played over the PA. The recording of 'Come On' is incomplete and there is a slight cut during the song, however it clocks in at around 6:30 and is the saving grace of this release. My main criticism of these shows is that P is merely a band member and is too happy to let Doug E Fresh take over. The show from San Antonio is a prime example of this and in reality what could have been a pretty decent, funky show is ruined by his performance. There are a few nice moments featured here, but unfortunately you have to sit through a load of shit to reach them. Decent packaging with nice reviews from each show featured, however the tracklisting on the reverse cover doesn't correspond to the content of the discs.

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