Friday, April 22, 2016




It began as a project for everyone. For the first time, Prince would allow song contributions and performances from The Revolution. It could have been the brilliant follow-up to "Purple Rain" the world was waiting for. Of course, as sure as the day is long, inter-band disagreements changed the course of "The Dream Factory." More Prince solo tracks were added to replace Wendy & Lisa tracks. New stuff was written and a 3 LP set, "Crystal Ball" was delivered to Warner Brothers. They said no way. Reconfigured, remixed and retitled, "Sign O'The Times" was released and the rest is history.

This is the masterpiece, believed to be the final configuration of "The Dream Factory.

Visions
Dream Factory
Train
The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
It
Strange Relationship
Slow Love
Starfish & Coffee
Interlude
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Sign O'The Times
Crystal Ball
A Place In Heaven
Last Heart
Witness 4 The Prosecution
Movie Star
The Cross
All My Dreams


 zip


18 comments:

wardo said...

Thanks. I need to check this out.

buzzbabyjesus said...

Now that's what I call a Weekend Mix.

Dr Wu said...

A fitting tribute Sal. Thank you!

JAYESSEMM said...

I'm amazed (and yet not) by how much his death has struck me.

Thecurrent.org (Minnesota public radio) is streaming all Prince all the time and I'm in full wallow.

When things calm down I'll jump into this Dream Factory -- Thanks Sal!

Anonymous said...

I've seen different sequencing of the tracks on Dream Factory, but this one makes more sense.

Troy said...

I don't have a lot of Prince in my collection, especially not the unreleased stuff. I do have (and like) The Dawn and a couple of live boots from the Musicology tour. I had not heard this before, but Sign o The Times is my favorite Prince album. So I am very much looking forward to hearing this incarnation of some of those songs. Thanks, Sal.

Chris Collins said...

This is great! thanks, Sal!

David said...

Excellent stuff. Thank you Sal! I appreciate you and all your work to make your site one of the best music blogs. Thanks for Prince - love this period. RIP Prince

dogbreath said...

I know/possess only a handful of Prince tunes - "Peach" is a favourite - so I'm not a fan by any means, but I can empathize with the loss felt by those who are, especially after the recent deaths of Bowie, Lemmy, Frey et al. Thanks for the dl to which I'll give a spin this weekend.

whattawino said...

This is a beautiful thing. Thanks, Sal.

Peter Ames Carlin said...

Bless your heart, Sal. This is fantastic.

vanwoert said...

Thank you for this, Sal.

Gene Oberto said...

Sal,

You know I am always appreciative and thankful for you sharing your music collection with me and your readers. I don't remember how I found you, but I'm glad I did.

Last Friday, in respect to the late Prince Rogers Nelson, you gave us the unreleased album called, "The Dream Factory." What a revelation or, maybe, a revolution.

You can understand why Warner's said no to releasing it. If it was released last week it would be hailed as a masterpiece. However, let's face it. In the expectation of the next "Purple Rain," this explosion of youthful exuberance would be misunderstood and, probably, unlistenable in that era's context.

In the old blues song it says, "You don't miss your water 'til the well runs dry..."
Prince, Lonnie Mack, Merle, Phife Dawg, Lee Andrews, Keith Emerson, George Martin, Dan Hicks, Maurice White, Paul Kantner, Signe Anderson, Jimmy Bain, Glenn Frey, Dale Giffen, Clarence Reed, Bowie.

The water is running out right before our eyes.

cmealha said...

Awesome.

cmealha said...

Disc 1? Is there a Disc2?

Sal Nunziato said...

Disc Two has alternates and purported outtakes

Mookel said...

Thank you so much!! Been wanting to hear this for years now. Any chance of posting that second disc of the out-takes? Few other sought after gems on that one. Thanks!

stax920 said...

Nice, I've heard myths about this album for years. Happy to finally have a chance to hear it.
D-Train