Prince 1988-10-05 Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON(FBG15)

 

 

Toronto, Put It In!
 2 CDR
 

Label : Free Boot Generation

Catalogue : #FBG15

Disc Length : 63:41 / 56:49

Source : Audience Recording

Sound Quality : EX-

Year Of Release : 2008
 

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Lovesexy Tour

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

5th October 1988

Disc 1

1. Erotic City   2. Housequake (including Take The A-Train)   3. Slow Love   4. Adore   5. Delirious   6. Jack U Off   7. Sister   8. Adore   9. I Wanna Be Your Lover   10. Head   11. A Love Bizarre   12. When You Were Mine   13. Blues In C (If I Had A Harem)   14. When You Were Mine   15. Little Red Corvette   16. Controversy   17. U Got The Look   18. Superfunkycalifragisexy   19. Controversy   20. Bob George   21. Anna Stesia

Disc 2

1. Cross The Line   2. Eye No   3. Lovesexy   4. Glam Slam   5. The Cross   6. I Wish U Heaven - Take This Beat   7. Kiss   8. Dance On (including Sheila E Drum Solo - Transmississippirap)   9. Let's Go Crazy   10. When Doves Cry   11. Purple Rain   12. 1999   13. Alphabet St.

COMMENT

Sourced from the 'Cross The Line In Toronto' release, this is a nice reworking of a sorely underrated Lovesexy release. The recording really is impressive considering it predates the digital age, and there are no serious flaws, problems or glitches which are worth picking up on outside of the recording being marginally incomplete and fading in/out a few times ('When You Were Mine' fades out and rejoins at the beginning of 'Little Red Corvette', a portion of the 'Intermission' interlude is missing, and Sheila's solo fades out after the 'Transmississippirap') however these are not that big a deal and are easily overlooked by the recordings sheer quality. The audience level for the majority of the first 90 minutes is at an absolute minimum and the crowd only really become more audible from 'Kiss' onwards. Minimum crowd noise may be a good thing, but they are painfully silent during Prince's speech in 'Anna Stesia' and it's cringeworthy hearing him plead with the audience to take his "Lovesexy" message onboard when met by a wall of silence. One last thing worth pointing out with regards to the recording itself is a slight change during 'Let's Go Crazy' where it becomes hollow, gritty and (sounds) concealed - thankfully it lasts 2 or 3 minutes max before returning to the normal excellence.....which brings me to FBG's handywork. Considering the recording was so excellent, FBG really haven't had to do anything major to this release - the tracking has (thankfully) been corrected on this release, and the recording is definitely more powerful with improved body, depth and a mean bass improvement. The only shame is the fade between 'When You Were Mine / 'Little Red Corvette' hasn't been smoothed out or corrected. Great show, spirited, passionate performance, but alas a very basic show in terms of song choices with no piano medley. As always the first half of the show is a fast-paced run-through with 'Blues In C' being the undoubted highlight stretched out to 8 minutes with some funny interaction between Prince and the crowd. Closing out Disc 1 is an excellent 'Anna Stesia' with a few spoken lines from 'God Is Alive' added to Prince's speech towards the end - all in all stretching it out to over 12 minutes long. Disc 2 is again a great performance, but pretty unsurprising with the 'Take This Beat' portion of 'I Wish U Heaven' being the only slight change from the norm. To sum up ; an excellent release of an already excellent release. Certainly the audio has been kicked up a notch and improved over the original release. There may be more interesting shows circulating in terms of set-lists, but the recording itself is up there with the best audience recordings of the entire US Lovesexy tour. The show is also circulating (slightly incomplete) on video, with Fullasoul's 'Toronto 88' being the best of the bunch.

 

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