Prince 1984-06-00 First Ave Minneapolis, MN(FBG18)

 

Free Boot Generation
Catalog # FBG 18
Release Year  2008
CD Length 76:33
Date/Venue 1984 Rehearsal First Ave
Source Soundboard
Quality EX

Track Listing
Rehearsal for First Avenue 1984 Birthday Show
May / June 1984
1. Gotta Shake This Feelin' 2. Noon Rendezvous 3. Free 4. Erotic City 5. Something In The Water (Does Not Compute) 6. When Doves Cry 7. Irresistible Bitch

Comments
Fink's Comments (rates this release 5.0/5.0)
This rehearsal for the upcoming 1984 birthday show at First Avenue has previously been circulating on numerous releases, the most obvious being 'Neon Rendezvous' and Sabotage's 'Purple Rush Volume 1'. Sourced from an age-old tape, this particular release runs over 6 minutes longer than any other version of the rehearsal, which is obviously a major bonus.

The most obvious, more complete part of the rehearsal is 'Noon Rendezvous' which lasts 18:27 (as opposed to the aforementioned releases which fade the song out at 14:30), however there is also some transitional chatting and Prince instructing the band between songs which doesn't appear on other releases - all in all quite an interesting new version of a much-loved rehearsal. Unfortunately to my ears the quality of the soundboard recording is slightly lacking in comparison to the Sabotage release with some audible hiss throughout the opening 'Gotta Shake This Feelin', along with a few other minor niggles throughout. The recording is slightly muddy in parts, and whilst I'd still happily rate this as an EX soundboard, it's just missing the clarity which the Sabotage release has overall. Still, that doesn't detract in any way from what is one of the best releases of 2008 so far. The rehearsal itself is one of the better from the era with some phenomenal guitar-work throughout. The opening 'Gotta Shake This Feelin' features a line from 'Another Lonely Christmas', although it's shortness really can't be classed as a performance of the song, and is basically the extended First Avenue 83 instrumental performance (complete with guitar work dropped on the released recording) with a repeated phrase of "Gotta shake this feeling, baby" maxed out to 12:40. This is followed by Prince's version of Sheila E's 'Noon Rendezvous' which appears to go into '17 Days', however the recording ends abruptly. A pretty straightforward 'Free' is followed by an excellent extended 'Erotic City', this time incorporating 'All The Critics Love U In New York', however on Prince's "All The Critics" cue, the recording ends momentarily, so we only get a few bars of the song - again, I've left it off the tracklisting as only a few seconds are audible. The highlight of the rehearsal are the following 'Something In The Water' and 'When Doves Cry' - 'Something In The Water' for being an astonishing near-14 minute jam with ferocious guitar, and 'When Doves Cry' for containing some inspired screaming (check it out at 8:47 into the song).

Any time an old rehearsal is given a new lease of life is worthy of applause, however when that rehearsal is released in more it's complete form, it really is something to be very, very thankful for. Excellent rehearsal, excellent content, excellent performance and excellent quality recording. A release which should be vying for the title of "Best Of 2008".


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