Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Prince - Dream Factory (1986)



Following the Camille pots a few weeks ago, I have for you today a version of the
Dream Factory
album. The project started directly after the Parade (knowing Prince, they were writing and maybe even recording on the road). The album was to feature much more creative input from the Revolution than previous albums, something that injected a new energy into the group as is evident in the Rolling Stone interview with Lisa and Wendy. As Prince would have it however, he canned the band and the project, although some of the tracks survived to end up on what became Sign 'O' the Times.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again - were this album to have been released, it would have been Prince's magnum opus. The songwriting and general style take the best aspects of the Parade material to the next level.

I also have to say that this is not the final configuration of the album. This configuration is the second, dated June 3, 1986. I chose this because I feel it to be the most comprehensive and most impressive of the known configurations. Here, Dream Factory was to be a double LP. This configuration also includes one of my all time favorite Prince compositions, "Power Fantastic," which due to being unreleased until 1993's The Hits/The B-Sides was not given due credit. But that's Prince for you. Tracks come from various sources, so the sound is a little uneven, sorry.

Tracks:
Side 1
1. Visions
2. Dream Factory
3. It's a Wonderful Day
4. The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
5. It

Side 2
6. Strange Relationship
7. Teacher Teacher
8. Starfish and Coffee
9. Interlude
10. In a Large Room with No Light (aka Welcome 2 the Ratrace)
11. Nevaeh Ni EcalP A
12. Sexual Suicide

Side 3
13. Crystal Ball
14. prelude
15. Power Fantastic

Side 4
16. Last Heart
17. Witness 4 the Prosecution
18. Movie Star
19. A Place in Heaven
20. All My Dreams

Enjoy!

(link expired)

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow... thanks for sharin'
you even dropped a track i've never heard before: 'it's a wonderful day'

best, joe gumbo

Anonymous said...

Yahiiii! Thanks a lot for this jewel.

Steve Marine said...

YES! YES! YES!!! Thank you thank you thank you for this!!!

Steve Marine said...

I'm hoping, of course, that you do a post for the CRYSTAL BALL project as well. I'm not sure what the tracklisting was, or if all of tracks have appeared on other releases (like the 3-cd set he eventually released called Crystal Ball), but it would be great to have the rest of the story from this period of Prince's career. Thanks again for the two previous posts!!

Gonzo said...

Steve- I'll look into doing a CB post, although I think that the tracks are all available between this post, Camille, and officially releasead albums. The CB Prince released circa 1998 is not at all the album from 1986/7. Some of the tracks are there, but the official release is essentially a compilation of unreleased tracks from 1983-1997.

I'll have to look up the tracklists for CB and see if it's worth posting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Anonymous said...

Rebirth Of The Flesh/ Play in The Sunshine as originally appeared on the Crystal Ball album have recently surfaced.

I put a version of this album together and its great.

Anonymous said...

Hey - Thanks so much for both Camille and Dream Factory! Awesome to get a good copy of "Rebirth Of The Flesh" Track. Do you think you would ever put together Crystal Ball, as intended? Been looking for a version that has the original segue between "The Ball" and "Joy In Repetition" without a gap - like you'd find on "The Work" versions.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this!!

I love everything Prince, but I always wonder how his sound would've evolved differently if he had kept collaborating with W&L.

Maryna

Anonymous said...

I've had this for a while and listening to the Dream Factory -Power Fantastic and some boots of the Family album recordings with by Prince & the Revolution, I can still feel the energy and creativity of that period for Prince, the Revolution and the Protogees:Mazarati the Family & Sheila E. Awesome time, I'm still hoping for a once and for all reunion. Powerfantastic is haunting.

Anonymous said...

thanks so much for this and Camille - I've got most of the official releases but there are some gems here I've not heard before.

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donaldphelps said...

Can you repost this? I have been looking for this and the link is dead. Thank you

CHEESUS said...

Obviously this is not allowed to be posted here, so be it. Is there anyway you can reup it and simply send me a link privately? I have bee searching for this quite a long time and after seeing him yesterday I am jonsing to hear it and check it out. PLEASE?

johnny mao said...

please repost dream factory. I´m from Beo Horizonte, Brazil. do it man pleaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee; cause it is really really impossible to find

johnny mao said...

gonzo please if u can´t repost dream factory ; i beg beg beg u to send me annyway, by e-mail, please.
thks, johnny from belo horizonte, brazil.

Anonymous said...

What you have there is the Crystal Ball I think, or a mish-mash of DF/CB tracks.

For the dream factory you still need Databank - a full on Revolution recording - extreme Funk so if you dont understand or dig Funk, dont look for it.

Also Girl O My Dreams and Cant Stop This Feeling I got then into We Can Funk - thats the Dream Factory.

Gonzo said...

All of these tracklists come from Uptown/Per Nilsen's heavily researched compendium The Vault, and I have no doubts about its accuracy. However, I should reiterate that this was merely one configuration of several - you may simply have another configuration in mind.

Anonymous said...

Is there anyway you could repost this? I've been looking for these for a while.

Anonymous said...

Hello,Gonzo!
Can you please repost this,my copy
CD#2 Thunderball is corrupt from around track 7,So all the songs
are "pitchy" A bad Cd-r I suppose:(.

daniel john said...

I feel it to be the most comprehensive and most impressive of the known configurations.