Classic MPLS: The Family Self Titled Album

1985 was a great year for music The Family's self titled LP falls into that classic realm of albums. With 7 out of 8 tracks being written by Prince this is one of the best associate artist albums and all around great albums. Released August 19th 1985 this record is a mixture of super funk and great jazz to me, this album was the first Prince-related release to feature saxophone by Eric Leeds and string orchestration by Clare Fischer which makes it awesome. This record by far is one of the reason we as fans of Prince love him so much because with this album he proved he could go so far left and make it sound great. I remember the 1st time I heard this record I was blowed away by the different arrangement of music, strings, and vocals. My favorite tracks are High Fashion, Nothing Compares 2 U, And The Screams Of Passion, I'm always in debates about what version of Nothing Compares 2 U is better, The Family's Version Prince and Rosie's Live Version, or Sinéad O'Connor's. Time after time I have to say The Family's version is my favorite. Over all this is a great edition to your collection and great music so check it out if you haven't.

Classic MPLS: Jesse Johnson's Revue 1985

Who knew after the break up of The Time that one of the first artist out of the gate would be Jesse Johnson with the classic 1985 release Jesse Johnson's Revue. With the smashes "Be Your Man" and "I Want My Girl". This album IMHO is up there with the likes of Prince's 1999 or Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life (2 of my favorite albums).

It is classic MPLS sound not matched by a lot coming out of Minneapolis at the time including Morris Day's Color Of Success or I dare say Prince And The Revolution's Around The World In A Day.

Although those releases were great Jesse Johnson's Revue trump the game with great R&B and Funk which really feels like when you listen to it he's  going back to basics. There is great guitar work on this record, the rhythm guitar on "She Won't Let Go" is killer, there's a killer guitar solo on "She's A Doll". Overall this is one of the best all around records you can hear believe me those that has heard it already know and so should you.

Purple Rain 30th Anniversary Release What I Envision.

With this being 30 years since the release of Purple Rain the Soundtrack such a great landmark in pop culture, now we are here an anniversary album announced, new deal with Warners Bros., and New music. This is what I Envision for The Anniversary Release of Purple Rain, 1st how about all of the 12 inch versions and mixes being included like Let's Go Crazy (Special Dance Mix), the unreleased extended versions of The Beautiful Ones, Computer Blue, and Darling Nikki. B - sides 17 Days, Erotic City, Another Lonely Christmas, and God, check it in God (Instrumental) which wasn't released in the states. What about a version of When Doves Cry with a bass line sounds good so far.

What about unreleased material here's where it gets interesting because although it's been stated that there will be unreleased songs will they be original compositions or will Prince himself remake them? Hopefully we will get all originals from 1983-1984 or maybe an original and a remake that would be awesome. I think it's safe to say that Electric Intercourse will be on this release,  I only say that because he did perform it recently in England. Possessed is another unreleased track I would like to see come to light and the instrumental. 

Unreleased tracks like Wednesday and Father's Song should make an official appearance due to them being on earlier configurations of Purple Rain. Now associate artists like The Time songs like Jungle Love, The Bird along with Dez Dickerson Modrenaire and Apollonia 6 Sex Shooter deserves some love. One other thing how about an official Blu-Ray release of the 1985 Live In Syracuse show that would be hot. Overall I know everyone has there own feelings about this but this is just to get the blood jumping and pumping for this release.

Prince - An Entirely New Galaxy

This is 1 of my favorite Bootlegs An Entirely New Galaxy features great work from Prince in 2009 including The 3 nights he was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The 1st night he performed Ol’ Skool Company, the 2nd night he performed Dreamer and he totally wreck the stage, and the 3rd night he performed Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful. The 2 shows feature are from The Conga Room, Los Angeles 3\28\09, and Club Nokia, Los Angeles 3\29\09. The Conga Room show Prince remembers past band members like Sonny T., Micheal B., And touring with Tamar. All of the guitar work on this set was excellent my favorites were when he did I'm Yours from the For You Album and his version of The Beatles " With A Little Help From My Friends", I love this to death. This set also features Prince discussing AEG and Sweet Thing which he performed with Chaka Khan. This is 1 for the collection while the Leno Performances are of course Soundboard, The rest of the set is an Audience Recording but a pretty good one.

The Complete Hawaii Tapes Volume 1

Released in 2004 by Sabotage Records this outstanding show Prince and the NPG performed is one of my favorites. December 16th 2003 the venue Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Band Lineup included Prince, John Blackwell, Rhonda Smith, Renato Neto, Rad, Chance Howard, Greg Boyer, Maceo Parker, and Candy Dulfer. By far one of the best NPG configurations yet. The music performed on this show to me seems like a Musicology Tour warm up with a high level of energy that only the man himself can give, from the Let's Go Crazy and Baby I'm A Star workout to the great Drum work by John Blackwell and the Sensual SHHH! DMSR the classic funk jam, hearing this live really gets the party started while Rhonda Smith plucking the Bass and he gets the crowd into the funk with a I like funky music chant. Controvery is great, this jam was released with the Prince in Hawaii: An Intmiate Portrait of an Artist Book. Slowing it down with 3 claasics The Beautiful Ones, Nothing Compares 2 U, and Insatiable I must say I felt like the vocals were on point. I can go on and on about this 3 CD set from Sabotage let me just say it is EXCELLENT, it also includes the aftershow which was great if you haven't heard copp it if you can you will love it.

Glam Slam South Beach June 7th 1994

Tracklisting: 01. Endorphinmachine 02. Space 03. Interactive 04. Days Of Wild\Incl. Hair 05. Now\Incl. Babies Makin Babies 06. Mustang Mix 07. The Ride 08. Get Wild 09. Acknowledge Me 10. Race 11. The Jam 12. SHHH

June 7th 1994 Prince or TAFKAP performed in South Beach at his Glam Slam Club, the show was also broadcasted Live via satellite to Glam Slam in Los Angeles and Minneapolis. This is an amazing show Prince and Band rip the stage with a mixture of everything. Some great highlights of this show for me are Space and the great Guitar solo it is to die for. Interactive always sounds great and funky but feels really fresh during this performance, Mayte breaking it down on Now. Days Of Wild, The Ride, and Get Wild are great,and Race is another funky favorite. With TAFKAP chanting thoughout the show this is an NPG Party or His 1st birthday you cannot deny the funktastic rock show you get here.

N.P.G. Resistance: Prince, Privacy, & Piracy. Part 1

Prince is 1 of the most prolific Musical Artist ever, with a catalog as vast as what he has it always keeps us craving for more. We have all been told that he is always working on new music, which brings me to my topic. Unreleased Songs and projects some announed not to see the light of day others just pirated among Prince fans and supporters. Back in the day I remember Mom And Pop Record Stores where you could find rare or what is known as bootleg recordings, Live, Outtakes, Audio, and Video at crazy prices that I know today I would not pay. Example I purchased a bootleg entitled ONLY 4 U with an 80 dollar price tag almost makes me sick to my stomach lol. At the time when I got it I felt great because when it came to the RUDE BOY you had to have more.

I will say this to there are better means to get bootlegs instead of paying outrages prices nowadays, and there are those who work hard against Bootleg companys charging high ass prices to keep these releases free so you can enjoy the music, but in the case of Prince this is wrong I'm not here to dispute it either he made the music it is his he can do what he wants with it right. Over the years I have heard stories about how he would just give away copies of some of his outtakes and things of that nature to friends, music insiders, so on and so forth then they would end up in record stores under Bootleg titles like The Jewel Box.

I know there are different types of Prince fans to, some don't get involved in the exploration of Prince bootlegging for whatever reason and that's cool but then you have a diehard fan who wasn't old enough to see the Triple Threat Tour (1999 Tour)because he or she was either to young or wasn't born. You can't go to Youtube because Prince has taken everything down, but you can relive that through Audio or Video Bootlegs to each it's own.

Then you have Prince bloggers, websites, facebook groups, etc.....which report Prince news old and upcoming some with really great Pictures and great topics to discuss and the killer is sometimes it's not always about Prince but other artists or other creative entertainment. To me this is a complete circle of harmony, the music, the visuals, the discussions, the blogs, the facebook groups, and Prince websites. Just like with the Death of Housequake.com every so many years the even flow of things are disrupted, the bad part about this is that you don't who's doing it is it Prince? Maybe it is but with social media being so so popular the people we need to watch out for are in facebook groups, on your twitter, etc....Crazy isn't it and if this is so what they have to realize is Prince created this fanzy whether he wanted it or not and a lot of people put in hard work to bring some of the things they do in the name of Prince with money out of there own pocket not to be recognized by Prince himself but because they love his MUSIC. Again I'm not gonna debate that either because whatever someone has to offer it's up to me whether I want it or not, if you don't NPG Deputies please give us our space just like we give you yours. Written By: FTP For N.P.G. Resistance