Comments Mike's Comments(rates this release 4.5/5.0) (Review Courtesy of Mike
Antonich @ Blog: Now It's
On) Free Boot Generation has been responsible for some of
the finest Prince releases of the last few years, from stunning soundboard
concert and rehearsal recordings to perfect quality studio outtakes. Not every
release can be as exciting as "Box O' Chocolates" or "From The Soundboard: 1984
Birthday Show" and this one certainly falls in that category.
"Days Of Soundboard Volume 3: The Facebook Edition" captures all the tracks
posted on NPG member Andy Allo's Facebook page of various performances from
Prince and the NPG's 2011 tour. They were often posted the day after the show,
so Prince must have obviously approved of the practice. So for completists, this
is a nice collection of all of the tracks on one CD. And yes, they're all
soundboard and in fine quality. Once again, it's not the quality of the release
that is in question, Free Boot Generation do a great job as always bringing you
the best sound quality possible. Material-wise, there simply isn't much here
I'll re-visit.
There is a killer version of "Little Red Corvette" worth your time, taken from a
show in Rotterdam. I love the way Prince has re-worked this song, with sexy,
slowed down bluesy guitar, and this is a near eight minute version that is by
far the best thing on the CD. An over 12 minute jam on "Alphabet St." recorded
in Oslo, Norway is worthwhile and "Stratus" is always cool to hear Prince
perform, but this is just a snippet that cuts off after a couple minutes.
A near ten minute jam on The Beatles "Come Together" is torturous having to
endure the shouting and yapping of the always insufferable Shelby J., as is the
NPG Girls cover of Sarah McLachlan's "Angel". It's easy to enjoy the performance
of "Hot Thing" here as it comes from Prince's 'sampler set'. Essentially he is
just singing over the pre-recorded backing track which he manipulates during
this segment of the show. Hilariously, he has the gall to ask the crowd in
Sweden where this was recorded, 'Do you like REAL music??' as he plays the music
from "Hot Thing" on tape. Only Prince.
I've never been a big fan of these compilation discs, they serve their purpose,
but I grab them for completists sake only. That is my recommendation here, if
you simply have to have everything, you can do a lot worse than a collection of
live soundboard clips and tracks from one of the best labels out there right
now.