On 7 July
1993, O(+> recorded six instrumental tracks during a five-hour session.
Where he had just played guitar for the The Undertaker session with Michael
Bland on drums and Sonny Thompson on bass, he now played keyboards along with
Michael on drums and Sonny on bass and had Levi Seacer Jr. join them on guitar
and Eric Leeds on saxophone. The idea was to make a second attempt at a third
Madhouse album of which the first attempt from 1988 remained unreleased. The first
Madhouse albums, 8 and 16 from 1987 and the unreleased 24, had consisted of
instrumental tracks mostly performed by just Prince and Eric Leeds. Now, there
was more of a band-sound to the music.
With the
new band line-up, O(+> recorded an instrumental take on the song Space from
his then unreleased Come album, as well as a cover of the Marvin Gaye song Got
To Give It Up from 1977. The other four tracks recorded were Carnac, Rootie
Kazootie, Edward and Parlor Games. Post-production work on the tracks was done
in late August and September 1993 by Ricky Peterson.
When
O(+> started dating Nona Gaye, the daughter of Marvin Gaye, in 1993, he
added her vocals to Got To Give It Up, and The Steeles added background vocals
for Space. Eric Leeds also added additional saxophone to the recordings. When
the 24 album was completed by mid-1994, O(+> also added a few new segues featuring
the musicians from the 7 July 1993 session. The track Carnac was retitled 17
and Edward was retitled Asswoop.
Madhouse: 24 (mid-1994)
1. 17
(5:22)
2. Rootie
Kazootie (7:05)
3. Space
(4:47)
4. Guitar
Segue (1:05)
5. Asswoop
(7:09)
6. Ethereal
(0:32)
7. Parlor
Games (4:02)
8. Michael
B. (0:40)
9. (Got 2)
Give It Up (7:18)
10. Sonny
T. (1:44)
Warner Bros.
had no interest in releasing the new Madhouse album, but eventually it got
bootlegged in its entirety. However, the opening track 17 got officially released
on the 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation of songs by various artists signed to Paisley
Park and NPG Records released in August 1994. 17 was also the B-side to the hit
single from the 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation, Standing At The Altar performed by
Margie Cox.
Recording a ballet
In March 1994, O(+> also started work on an instrumental project entitled
Kamasutra. The title was inspired by the Indian erotic book Kama Sutra by
Vätsyäyana. O(+> performed all of the non-orchestral instruments, Eric Leeds
added saxophone, The NPG Hornz added horns and in December 1994 Clare Fischer
had his orchestra add the rest.
O(+>
considered Kamasutra to be a ballet and sent a copy of the work-in-progress to
his ex-fiancée from eight years back Susannah Melvoin with a card that read:
"This is my 1st ballet. A few passages are still missing but Eye'm almost
done. Eye love U. Please write."
When
O(+>'s television movie The Beautiful Experience was released in early April
1994, it included a brief instrumental that sounded like it might have been
from the Kamasutra sessions. It lasted about 1 minute and 20 seconds and was
played in continuation of a live performance of the song Shhh that had Nona
Gaye get all hot for O(+> only to have her heart broken by watching him
handcuff and kiss his dancer Mayte.
Combining the experiences
On 5
January 1995, O(+> sequenced an NPG Records Sampler Experience that included
a snippet of Asswoop entitled Asswhuppin' In A Trunk, Ethereal Segue and a snippet
of Parlor Games. An 0:42 excerpt of Kamasutra credited to The NPG Orchestra was
also included. The experience was handed out on cassette to some fans at the 3
March 1995 opening of O(+>’s European Gold Experience tour in London.
Also in December 1994, O(+> resumed work on the Madhouse: 24 project by recording a mostly instrumental take on his 18 And Over version of the song Come. Madhouse versions of the Kamasutra tracks Kamasutra/Overture #8 and Promise/Broken were also recorded with overdubs by Eric Leeds done in January 1995. They got included as Overture #5 and Overture #6 on a new configuration of the 24 album in May 1995. (Got 2) Give It Up was edited for length and Parlor Games was now spelled differently.
Also in December 1994, O(+> resumed work on the Madhouse: 24 project by recording a mostly instrumental take on his 18 And Over version of the song Come. Madhouse versions of the Kamasutra tracks Kamasutra/Overture #8 and Promise/Broken were also recorded with overdubs by Eric Leeds done in January 1995. They got included as Overture #5 and Overture #6 on a new configuration of the 24 album in May 1995. (Got 2) Give It Up was edited for length and Parlor Games was now spelled differently.
Madhouse: 24 (May 1995)
1. 17
(5:22)
2. Rootie
Kazootie (7:05)
3. Space
(4:47)
4. Guitar
Segue (1:05)
5. Asswoop
(7:09)
6. Ethereal Segue (0:32)
7. Parlour
Games (4:02)
8. Drum Segue (0:40)
9. Overture
#5
10.
Overture #6
11. 18 And
Over (5:53)
12. (Got 2)
Give It Up
13. Sonny Segue (1:44)
By 8 July
1995, O(+> had also sequenced a “soundtrack” to a Versace fashion show
during Paris Fashion Days 8-10 July 1995, previewing some of the music he was
hoping to get released around that time. The Versace Experience included a 0:28
edit of Sonny T. Segue and a 2:37 edit of Rootie Kazootie from the Madhouse: 24
album, as well as Kamasutra Overture #5 by The NPG Orchestra.
Change of plans
In mid-July
1995, Mayte told Uptown magazine about the Kamasutra ballet: "It has three
characters in it. It is done with elegance and beauty. It is a romance that
ends up in, well not a tragedy, but it ends up with you thinking about
everything."
The plan
was for the Kamasutra ballet to open in Puerto Rico in December 1995.
"Because I know of a really good company that I worked with before and
they asked for it," Mayte told Uptown. "They'll be starting out in
Puerto Rico," she added. "We are talking about going to New York to
film it. And if it does well, we'll tour."
Those plans
ended up not happening, though.
Meanwhile, Nona
Gaye left O(+> on 3 December 1995 and O(+> removed the song (Got 2) Give
It Up featuring her vocals from the Madhouse: 24 album. The cover picture of
the Madhouse band featured O(+>'s keyboard player Tommy Barbarella instead
of Levi Seacer Jr. who had left O(+>'s employ in 1994. O(+> was pictured
in his Tora Tora disguise that had also been used for his NPG: Exodus album
project. Michael Segue was renamed Drum Segue and Sonny Segue was now called
Bass Segue.
The release of Kamasutra
An early
1996 configuration of O(+>'s triple album Emancipation included the
Kamasutra track Coincidence Or Fate? as the fourth track on the second disc
which featured love songs for his wife Mayte. Toward the end of the 1996
sessions for the Emancipation album, O(+> recorded the brand-new track The
Plan of which a 1:46 edit was included instead of Coincidence Or Fate? on the album
which was released in November 1996. The cover said it was an "xcerpt from
full length ballet Kamasutra available on NPG."
The NPG
Orchestra: Kamasutra became available on cassette from O(+>'s 1-800 NEW FUNK
mail-order store in February 1997 and was also sold at concerts. The slightly
longer full version of The Plan was now the opening track on Kamasutra and Kamasutra
Overture #5 from the Versace Experience had been renamed Serotonin.
The NPG Orchestra: Kamasutra (February 1997)
1. The Plan
(2:03)
2. Kamasutra
(11:49)
3. At
Last... "The Lost Is Found" (3:37)
4. The Ever
Changing Light (2:59)
5. Cutz
(3:03)
6.
Serotonin (0:47)
7.
Promise/Broken (3:46)
8.
Barcelona (2:16)
9.
Kamasutra/Overture #8 (3:11)
10.
Coincidence Or Fate? (3:24)
11.
Kamasutra/Eternal Embrace (4:02)
In her 2017
book, My Life With Prince, Mayte revealed that she believed that Kamasutra had
been composed for her wedding with O(+> in 1996. "On our first
anniversary, February 14 1997, he released Kamasutra, the music he'd composed
for our wedding," she wrote.
O(+> promoted the release by telling Harper’s Bazaar that it was “perfect music to make love to.”
O(+> promoted the release by telling Harper’s Bazaar that it was “perfect music to make love to.”
The short-lived Kamasutra dance performance
In late 1997, Mayte's NPG Dance Company danced to the full Kamasutra album during the second act of their three-act Around The World In A Day performance in Detroit. The choreography was by herself and Dwight Rhoden, formerly of of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. "For a long time I'd wanted to do a major project of my own," she recalled in her 2017 book. "Ever since I saw the Joffrey Ballet interpret some of his music, I'd been thinking I'd like to form a dance company and take that idea to the next level."
In late 1997, Mayte's NPG Dance Company danced to the full Kamasutra album during the second act of their three-act Around The World In A Day performance in Detroit. The choreography was by herself and Dwight Rhoden, formerly of of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. "For a long time I'd wanted to do a major project of my own," she recalled in her 2017 book. "Ever since I saw the Joffrey Ballet interpret some of his music, I'd been thinking I'd like to form a dance company and take that idea to the next level."
"He'd
created the NPG orchestra to do the music for our wedding," she claimed.
"I looked at the image of myself dancing on the cover. My shadow was the
symbol that was now his name. This music was moving and told a story about a
love affair between a rock star and a ballerina."
"I developed
a script with a three-act structure," she continued. "The first act
was the hits, because Mama gotta pay them bills. The second act was Kamasutra,
because - wow. It was classical instrumental, and with a darkness and a
sexiness that a dancer would drool to move to. The third act was all new
music."
A pregnancy
got in the way of Mayte herself appearing in the show, but on opening night in Detroit on 19 November 1997, she sat in the audience with a headset giving
lighting cues. O(+> attended the performance sitting next to her. "I
did him proud," she recalled, but: "We went home and after some
heart-to-heart discussion, we disbanded the company."
In 1998, Kamasutra
was released on CD as part of a 5 CD limited edition of O(+>'s Crystal Ball
collection that was only available from 1-800 NEW FUNK.
In 2000,
O(+> made a promotional cassette entitled Man 'O' War (Remix) NPG Records
Sampler that included snippets of the two unreleased Madhouse tracks Overture
#5 and Overture #6 now renamed Seventeen and Eighteen.
UPDATED 9 October 2023: Mayte actually remembers wrongly in her book that her Around The World In A Day show opened in Chicago. It was in Detroit. Also, she forgot to mention her collaborator on that show, Dwight Rhoden - making it sound like she made everything herself.
SvarSlet