Free Boot
Generation Catalog # FBG 17 Release Year 2008
2CD Length 41:26 / 45:46 Date/Venue
Rehearsal For First Avenue Benefit Concert July
1983 Source
Soundboard Recording Quality
EX
Rating
5.0/5.0
Track Listing Disc 1
Rehearsal For First Avenue Benefit Concert July 1983
1. Let's Go Crazy 2. When You Were Mine 3. A Case Of You 4. Computer Blue 5.
Delirious 6. Electric Intercourse 7. Automatic 8. I Would Die 4 U 9. Baby I'm A
Star 10. Little Red Corvette
Disc 2
1. Purple Rain 2. D.M.S.R. 3. Band Tuning 4. Africa Talks To You 5. Band
Improvisations 6. Let's Go Crazy
Comments Fink's Comments(rates this release 5.0/5.0) One of, if
not the finest rehearsals of the man's career, and thankfully a stellar quality
soundboard recording to match the content. This rehearsal has been circulating
in various degrees of quality for years with Sabotage's 'Purple Rush Volume 2'
perhaps being the most popular thus far. Sabotage's was good, great in parts,
but the audible hiss throughout 'Purple Rain' and a number of small edits during
the rehearsal were a source of frustration for me. Thankfully this release has
zero hiss, a running order which appears to be a true reflection of the
rehearsal (Sabotage placed both versions of 'Let's Go Crazy' back-to-back which
always seemed strange) and the overall clarity of the soundboard recording is
head-and-shoulders above any other.
There's no comparison when it comes to the two as this is far superior, but of
the 3 major glitches in the recording (which affects both), it should be pointed
out that everything is left "as is" on here, so we get the original intro to the
first version of 'Let's Go Crazy' (Sabotage edited in a different recording)
complete with the "when you call up that nigger in Beverley Hills" spoken intro,
we get a little distortion and/or tape-chew on 'Baby I'm A Star' here with the
original "turn around, 1..2..3" intro which Sabotage removed, and finally the
tape fluctuation and distortion on 'D.M.S.R.' is left on here untouched and
unedited. Those are the three main flaws with the recording, but they account
for 1 minute in total and are minimal when considering the overall quality. The
originality of the recording aside, it's also simply a clearer, cleaner
recording which allows you to hear things not audible on other versions - such
as background comments by Prince during the band improvisation section.
Excellent soundboard, excellent rehearsal and an excellent improvement over any
other version - I really do enjoy this release immensely.
The content is the real icing on the cake with a nasty-as-you-like (and we like)
'Computer Blue' to rival any other version, a stunning 'Electric Intercourse, a
frenetic 'D.M.S.R.' which simply goes on and on and on...and on, and a 24 minute
segment of the band fooling around with numerous genuinely funny moments and
snippets from a vast array of songs from the James Bond theme through to 'Catch
A Falling Star'. This isn't perfect, and outside the 3 flaws on the recording
mentioned above, Prince's vocals on 'I Would Die 4 U' are raspy and hazy, but
that also affects all other versions of the rehearsal, so no fault lies with
FBG.
If you only ever grab one version of this rehearsal, make it this one. If you
already have this rehearsal, get this version, grab a set of earphones, turn it
up loud and enjoy.