All of the writing on my blog, unless noted otherwise, is done by myself. I genuinely enjoy writing my own content and consider it important that I don't use other people's writings without making it clear who did the work. That said, most of today's post is taken from wikipedia's Madhouse reference. Now, I am very familiar with the Madhouse story and know all the details to put in such a post, but after reading the wikipedia page, apart from a minor detail or two, whomever wrote that article hit the nail on the head as good, if not better, than I believe I could have written such a post. So, I have to give respect to the original contributors to that wikipedia page and I'm going to link it here for all to see. As I noted, there is a minor correction or two that I've added to the original text and I'm also including links for all the albums, making my post more complete, but the original writers have done a fantastic job and I want to give them the credit they are due.
Prince had considered the idea of an instrumental jazz-funk album ever since he recorded his first tracks with Eric Leeds for his 1985 side-project, The Family. In late 1985-early 1986, he recorded hours of instrumental music with Leeds and other musicians from his band, Sheila E. and musicians from her own band, as well as members from Wendy & Lisa's families. From these sessions, Prince compiled an album called The Flesh, supposed to be released by an eponymous pseudo-band, but the project was abandoned and its concept lightly modified to become Madhouse.
All instruments on "8", the first Madhouse album, were performed by Prince except for the saxophone and flute parts which were performed by Eric Leeds. The album consists of instrumental jazz-fusion tracks. A remix of the track "Six" was released alongside with the b-side "Six & 1/2", composed by Leeds and featuring Atlanta Bliss on trumpet.
"16", the second Madhouse album, featured contributions by Eric Leeds on saxophone and flute, Sheila E. on drums and Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass guitar (the three of them co-composed a few tracks besides playing on the album.) "Doctor" Matt Fink (keyboards) and John Lewis (drums) are also credited in the album's booklet but their participation to the recording is more than uncertain (though both were part of the short-lived live-version of the band.) "16" features more aggressive and minimalist jazz funk tracks than its predecessor. Two singles were released, "Ten" and "Thirteen", with the title tracks remixed and two b-sides.
The most unusual thing about each of the albums is that the title of each song is also its numerical designation on the record (e.g., the third song on the first album is titled, “Three”). Cover art for both albums featured a voluptuous Maneca Lightner playing with a small dog, reminiscent of a 1940s pinup photograph. The videos from "16" were 1940s gangster-themed. The cover of "16" features the subtitle "new directions in garage music", which is an homage to Miles Davis' Directions In music series (in 2002-2003, Prince would dub a jazz album series of his own "New Directions In Music") The only vocals on either album consisted mainly of choice snippets of audio lifted from the first two Godfather films, clips of sped up phone conversations which would be used later on The Black Album and samples of Vanity simulating an orgasm (from the Vanity 6 outtake "Vibrator", later used on Prince's own song "Orgasm" from Come.) There is also a short unreleased movie, featuring Madhouse, named "Hard Life", also from 1987.
In 1987, Madhouse served as an opening act for Prince’s headlining tours, with each of the musicians heavily disguised in baggy cloaks and sunglasses, to be removed for the final set. Prince himself often guested with Madhouse, incognito.
At least two other Madhouse albums were later recorded and remain unreleased to this day, both being named "24". The first was recorded in 1988, mostly by Prince and Eric Leeds. Only one track eventually emerged, severely edited, on Eric Leeds' 1991 solo-album, Times Squared, and only bootlegged copies of the whole album are available. This album was more "electronic" than the first two, with a lot of drum programming, samples and keyboards.
The second album was recorded in 1993 with a line-up consisting of Prince (keyboards), Eric Leeds (saxophone), Levi Seacer, Jr. (guitar), Sonny T. (bass) and Michael B. (drums). Only two tracks were officially released, "17 (Penetration)" as "17" on the "1-800 New-Funk" 1994 compilation and on the cd-single "Standing At The Altar", the other one "Asswoop" (or "Asswhuppin' in a trunk") in 2001, via Prince's website. There was also a confidential release on a promo cassette named The "NPG Sampler Experience", which contains excerpts from 3 tracks from this album: "Asswoop", "Ethereal Seque" and "Parlour Games". The "NPG Sampler Experience" was handed out during "The Gold Experience" tour in 1995. The whole album has been circulating on bootlegs too and it features more sophisticated arrangements than the first three albums.
Pretty good article, eh? I want to add that Miles was very much the inspiration for these works and rumors abound about his involvement. For instance, it has long been rumored that Miles performs on the B-Side, 6 and 1/2, although this is most likely Atlanta Bliss. Prince also, offered the 1988 version of 17 to Miles. He did record it, but it remains unreleased and is not circulating between collectors.
The film mentioned in the above article, Hard Life, never gained an official release, yet it did somehow end up online. Prince directed it and you can view it here. It's not great, hell, it's not really that good, but it is kinda funny and enjoyable.
The only other thing that came of the Madhouse project was that the 1988 version of 19 was considered for use in the 1989 Batman movie. An early trailer for the film features it playing in the background as well as another unreleased Prince song, We Got The Power. I've even seen it listed online as The Batman Theme, but that's kind of ridiculous.
So, for your listening enjoyment, here are links to all the available Madhouse studio recordings. This includes their first two albums, 8 and 16, both versions of 24, and all the remixes and B-Sides that were released. In my opinion, this is some of Prince's best work outside of his regular persona. It's also the best jazz oriented music he's ever done, far better than any of his other attempts at jazz, like the NEWS album. Be forewarned though, as much as I love 8, 16, the 1988 version of 24 and the B-Sides, they 1993 version of 24 is a completely different beast. It's basically Prince with The NPG and Eric Leeds making generic jazz funk, and, at least to me, it's totally forgettable. The 1988 version of 24 was a masterpiece, so I have no idea why he would record schlock like the 1993 version, but it happened, so while it's worth listening to, apart from it being named a Madhouse record, I wouldn't consider it one.
Madhouse - 8
Madhouse - 16
Madhouse - 24 (1988 Version)
Madhouse - 24 (1993 Version)
Madhouse - Non-Album Tracks
NOTE: Updated Madhouse 8 and the 1993 version of 24 for anyone having problems with the files. Also, here is Rootie Kazootie from the 93 version of 24 if you don't want to re-download the album again. Enjoy!
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