Prince - Box Of Chocolates

Starting today, for the next two and a half months, every week I will share at least one Prince-related release in FLAC lossless format. Vanity 6, Appolonia 6, Jill Jones, Madhouse, The Family, all of their albums and a few other Prince-related gems will be available for download. The focus is on things that are out of print and have not been reissued although there will be plenty of unreleased goodies for anyone interested. Which brings me to today's post...

This rather amazing bootleg was brought to my attention the other day and I knew I had to share it. A group called Free Boot Generation is attempting to collect the best quality copies of unreleased Prince songs and release them for free in lossless form. This release, Box Of Chocolates (The "Of" is printed like a peace sign on the album's cover, just like Sign "O" The Times) collects the best quality versions of almost every song that appeared on the bootleg LP Chocolate Box as well as two more cuts, both of which have never sounded better. A few tracks here are redundant and I don't know why they're included (Movie Star, Dorothy Parker and Starfish & Coffee have all been officially released, and the versions here don't contain any noticeable differences to my ears), but everything else is rather incredible.

I'm going to have to do some research on these Free Boot Generation folks because I love what they're doing and would like to help them in any way I can. The least I can do today is spread the word about their work and give it to you the way they have presented it. So, prepare for the best sounding copies of these Prince bootleg classics you've ever heard. Seriously, I'm hearing things in these recordings I've NEVER heard before!


Prince - Box Of Chocolates

FLAC Part 1

FLAC Part 2

V0 MP3


01 Witness 4 The Prosecution
This is the version that appeared on the Crucial bootleg. I never thought it sounded incomplete until I heard it here. If you've only heard the version on Dream Factory, this strips away Wendy & Lisa and the horns leaving Prince, the drums and his guitar. Rockin'!

02 Movie Star
This is basically the same version that was released officially on the Crystal Ball compilation. After the conversation at the end of the track it would bridge into A Place In Heaven, which is where this version stops.

03 A Place In Heaven
This starts with the conversation from the end of Movie Star, making it seem a little redundant, although this version has water sounds reflecting Prince's speech about the record he's playing, the one "that's supposed to make you horny, just makes me wanna go to the bathroom." Unlike the version on Dream Factory, this one is features Prince on vocals. Clearest version I've ever heard.

04 The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
05 Starfish and Coffee
Both of these wonderful songs were officially released on Sign "O" The Times and neither of these versions are really any different. The sole difference anyone might notice is the school bell doesn't appear at the beginning of Starfish and Coffee.

06 Girl O' My Dreams
07 Can't Stop This Feeling I Got
08 We Can Funk
These three songs are all connected and were made for Dream Factory. These are, without question, the best versions of these songs I've heard, but they've never sounded incredible to begin with, so if you're wondering why they're a little less impressive, it has to be something Prince did with them.

09 Data Bank
This would later be given to The Time for their Pandemonium album, but this original version destroys the Time version. Some people describe this as a jam but it is clearly far too worked out. Again, this is the clearest and cleanest version I've ever heard of this song. I love it when Prince tells Susan, better known as Susan Rogers, then his engineer, to "fade this shit out".

10 Wonderful Ass
This and the next track are probably the most impressive finds here. This is the version of Wonderful Ass most likely intended for Dream Factory, putting it around six minutes in length. Sounds I've never heard in any other version of this song, like the clicking percussion of the drum machine and the clarity of Wendy & Lisa's vocals, simply astound me here. If you need a reason to grab this collection, especially in FLAC, this is it!

11 All Day, All Night
And if you need another reason, here you go! Not only does this version sound incredible, showing how much room there is in this song's sonic foliage, it features the most complete version of the ending of the song as well as Prince's complete speech from before the take begins. I've wondered for years what he was saying other than "maybe she will". Turns out he's saying "Wendy wants to live forever. Maybe she will." No one else may be blown away by that find, but I've always been dying to hear a complete and proper version of this song, AND HERE IT IS!