Unreleased (1983) / Jill Jones (1987)
In 1982 a new word entered the common lexicon with widespread publication of a book called The G Spot and Other Recent Discoveries About Human Sexuality. Predictably it was only a matter of months before it became the title of a Prince song. G-spot is cold, robotic funk in the 1999 mould. The lyrics describe the singer searching for this newly-popularised erogenous zone as the exploration dispassionately spells out the word F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. The song was on Purple Rain before Darling Nikki replaced it (which should give a clue to its high quality) and was considered but ultimately rejected for Apollonia 6 (which should not). Eventually, Jill Jones released a reworked version but the hypnotic, mechanical vibe had been lost. It’s certainly not the greatest track on her self-titled album – Mia Bocca wins that accolade – but if her lp was to be made up of all the original demos instead, G-Spot would rule them all.
Tag: Jill Jones
254: All Day, All Night
Unreleased (1986) / Jill Jones (1987)
I’ll happily listen to the Jill Jones version but my heart will always be with the unreleased original, with Prince on vocals and The Revolution on fire. Initial tracking of this vault A-lister was recorded at the same 1984 birthday concert that gave us Our Destiny and Roadhouse Garden, plus the finest version of Noon Rendezvous ever committed to tape. Overdubs were added two years later and I can only hope we see a cleaned-up posthumous release when the inevitable remaster of Parade emerges in the future. All Day, All Night begins with Wendy doing her best Nina Hagen impression, then, with a nod to Oklahoma!, Prince delivers possibly his greatest opening line: “oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful ass.” Even Rodgers and Hammerstein must have doffed their caps at that couplet. The music that follows is prime Revolution hotsauce and when the toms go into overdrive four minutes in, you’re already planning your ‘SHOCKALAKA!’ tattoo.
265: Mia Bocca
Jill Jones (1987)
Jill Jones was always the most gifted singer in Prince’s harem, and Mia Bocca, sung partly in the language of her father, is her career high point. In this song she tells us she “could never be unfaithful” but for somebody purportedly knocking back an admirer’s advances, she does seem to mention her mouth a lot. Does she think because it’s in Italian we won’t notice her evoking the Bill Clinton defence of sexual relations? Call me a Puritan but I think that would still count as cheating. Mia Bocca was initially recorded on the same day as Little Red Corvette and then put into storage for five years before being wrapped in elegance by the Clare Fischer Orchestra. Although the original benefits from having His Royal Purpleness on backing vocals it feels empty without the strings – when you’ve experienced the finer things in life it’s hard to go back – which makes the 1987 album track the one to head for, with the Arthur Baker extended mix a close second. The single never charted (except for in Italy where it reached #4) but I put that down to Joe Public’s general distaste for anything foreign sounding than a commentary on its pure pop appeal. I’m sure Te Amo Corazón will agree.
391: Baby, You’re a Trip
Unreleased (1982) / Jill Jones (1987)
Written in another moment, in another mindset, these thoughts on the closing track from Jill Jones’ self-titled album would be a jaunt through hyperbolic praise, musing on the 1999 callbacks, orchestral flair and lyrics which conceivably describe a chronic celebrity crush. But today my mosquito net is torn by the dark winds outside and my utensils are unsterilised. A pestilent cloud infests my critical faculties like black smoke from a burning, hurting world and this pop ode to unrequited love becomes a duvet exoskeleton. An upholstered tortoiseshell in which to retreat from the circling hawks of radicalised ignorance and co-opted fear, turning and turning in Yeats’ widening gyre. Music can be escapism or heightened revelry in the now. Today Baby, You’re a Trip is the former. Solace in the Apollonian. Tomorrow the mosquito net will be repaired and further posts will again be coloured only by the climate of temperament, instead of the weather of emotion.