The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale - Prince (CD 1999)

THE VAULT . . . OLD FRIENDS 4 SALE was the last album of Prince material Warner Bros. released to clear out his contract. Using music originally recorded between 1/23/85 and 6/18/94, Warners gave us 39:21 of some of the best tunes in years, and a whole new way of looking at Prince.

While "The Rest of My Life", the 1:41 opener is about the most "common" Prince song on here, the second song, "It's About that Walk" is a perfect glimpse of what the rest of the record holds. It's got the jazzy horns and swinging tempo prevelant on these 10 short songs, along with the lyrics we love him for. "A** like a fine-cut diamond / Mounted on 2 legs of stone / The prison I'd do some time in / If I ever got that a** alone".

"She Spoke to Me", the third song is another swing/jazz hybrid, continuing the pleasant trend set up so far, until about 4 minutes into it when we lose the vocals and are treated to the first real bit of over-indulgence on the record, a full-scale jazz instrumental complete with walking bass, rapid guitar picking and the NPG Hornz. When an 8-minute song is only 40% vocals, someone's got too much time on their hands. For those familiar with the SIGN "O" THE TIMES video concert, the solo here sounds an awful lot like the one there.

"5 Women" was the song I most wanted to hear. I knew Joe Cocker'd recorded a version of it in the early 90s, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy a Joe Cocker album just to hear his version of 1 Prince song. I can see why he chose it, though, it's a straight blues number, and Cocker's got that blues voice. Still, I doubt his version even compares to Prince's.

Another bit of over-indulgence comes in the first 3 minutes of "When the Lights Go Down", a seductive piano, bass, and drum-driven song that I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find out was written on the spot. It's got that improvised feel with its instrumental opening--2 minutes in, you wonder if there are any vocals at all (not minding, of course, it's a good tune even without them), and then when they finally do some in at 2:36, it almost throws you off balance. Great song, though. "Another Friday night / Another tired line / Baby you sure look good / Hey baby, what's your sign? / How many ask for your number / Before they even known your name? / How many out there tired of playin' this silly ol' worn out game?"

Song 6, "My Little Pill" is something I imagine Prince wrote with Yoko sitting next to him telling him what a genius he was and tying to break up the Revolution. Sorry, wrong band. But I'll be damned if this song doesn't make me think of some of The Beatles' more experimental stuff. If homage was his intention, he pulled it off nicely in 1:09. If it wasn't, then this is just a strange little song to include.

The prevailing sound on THE VAULT is simple blues and jazz, two musical forms we knew Prince could do, but he'd never really shone at either until now. Sure CRYSTAL BALL's "The Ride" was blues magic, but that was only one song. "There Is Lonely" is a quiet, melancholoy tune that doesn't need the flashy guitar work and raspy vocals to prove itself. "There is lonely, and there is lonely, and then there's how I feel right now". Who here hasn't been able to relate to that a time or two?

And "Old Friends 4 Sale" continues that feel nicely. "The sun set on my heart this evening." Sing it, brother-man. I feel ya.

Now with all this loneliness and blue mood music, "Sarah" almost seems out of place, but no, this 2:53 upbeat song is a welcome change in tempo, but not in sound. The genius of song choice here (don't know if it was Prince or Warners that picked them), even picking songs as far apart as 9 years, is that they all sound like they could have come from one intentional record, there's a timeless sound, something that doesn't make you think How old is THIS song, like a lot of the B-sides from the box set did. In fact, if not for the comment in the liner notes, I'd never have guessed these songs weren't all from the same period. And "Sarah" is even funny, as well as upbeat. "I'd never raise my hand to you / No tellin' what my foot'll do / Aw, I'm kidding baby, that's a joke".

Finally, we close with the beautiful ballad "Extraordinary", a show-stopper in any show, I'm sure. That's the beautiful thing about Prince ballads, they rarely suck (sure, some do, but he can't be great all the time), and they aways end a record on a high note.

That's all just a rundown of the songs. For music, it's mostly blues and jazz and even if you don't necessarily dig those types of music, Prince is always able to make any style of music his own.

He may not claim it as something he WANTED to release, but, seriously, in 1999, he just needed to stop whining and be glad SOMEONE was releasing good Prince music still. And as good Prince music goes, this is some of his best.