"Wally." After fiancée Susannah Melvoin moved out of Prince's Chanhassen mansion, engineer Susan Rogers expected him to pour his heart into a song. He did, in this tune inspired by a conversation with bodyguard Wally Safford, about trying on Wally's cool spectacles (Prince wore eyeglasses as a fashion statement in this era) and imagining going to a party looking for a new woman. Rogers said it was the superstar's most honest vocal ever, but he insisted she erase it — or he would. A newer, less vulnerable recording is the result.
"Can I Play With You?" The Minneapolis icon throws down some sped-up funk with a sassy vocal and lots of attitude — and some teasing trumpet passages from Miles Davis.
"A Place in Heaven." There are three versions of this tune here — one with Lisa Coleman on lead vocals, another featuring Prince, and a third played backward.
"Forever in My Life" (early version). Prince expresses his love for fiancée Melvoin in this straightforward pop song with a soulful vocal. Someone should cut a country treatment of this tune.
"Cosmic Day." This trippy nugget of paisley psychedelia finds the adventurous music-maker soaring on guitar à la Journey's Neal Schon.
"Blanche." Prince is lost in a funky groove, looking for lyrics, with lots of rhymes.
"Walkin' in the Glory." In response to his shelved "Black Album," His Royal Badness offers this sanctified funk with ecstatic guitar and screams.
"I Need a Man." With its nifty R&B groove and jazzy Tower of Power-like horns, Prince pitched this Vanity 6 leftover to Bonnie Raitt.
"In a Large Room With No Light." Latin jazz meets psychedelic pop, with Sheila E. singing the "la-la's."
"Power Fantastic." Recording live in the studio with the Revolution, the boss instructs the musicians on the jazzy arrangement of this graceful seven-minute epic ballad.
"Everybody Want What They Don't Got." The Minneapolis maestro cooks up a kitchen sink of sounds, embracing Beatlesque pop and a jazzy Tijuana Brass stroll.
"The Cocoa Boys." Backed by a good groove, the Purple One introduces characters and some scenes for a potential new movie — and a new dance, "the Kangaroo."
JON BREAM
