Unreleased Prince Projects - The Flesh

The Flesh was a project of live jam sessions recorded in late 1985 to early 1986. The project was abandoned when Prince began work on Parade although a small instrumental portion of a track called "Junk Music" made it into the film Under the Cherry Moon. A circulating outtake from these sessions is titled "U Got 2 Shake Something".

Track listing

• "Junk Music"

• "Up from Below"
• "Y'All Want Some More?"
• "A Couple of Miles"

The Flesh was a kind of precursor to Madhouse. All the tracks were jazz-funk instrumentals. The songs were recorded in 3 sessions soon after Christmas 1985 at Sunset Sound.

The first session was on December 28th '85. Prince, Eric Leeds, Sheila E. & Levi Seacer Jr. recorded 8 tracks: Slaughterhouse U Just Can't Stop Run Amok Mobile Madrid Breathless High Calonic 12 Keys

Prince was so pleased with the results that they all returned to the studio 2 days later to record another 3 tracks: U Gotta Shake Something Voodoo Who Finest Whiskey

On January 5th '86, Prince, Eric, Sheila & Levi returned to the studio once more, this time with Wendy & Lisa, and Wendy's brother, Jonathan Melvoin. They recorded another 6 tracks: Groove In C Minor Slow Groove In G Major Groove In G Flat Minor Junk Music Up From Below Y'all Want Some More On January 22nd '86 Prince assembled an album by "The Flesh" entitled "Junk Music" which consisted of the following tracks:

side one; Junk Music side two; Up From Below Y'all Want Some More A Couple Of Miles Junk Music was originally about 45 minutes long, but was edited down to 20 minutes for the album. A Couple Of Miles was an instrumental that Prince recorded on December 26th '85 (he also recorded Can I Play With U in the same session), Eric Leeds added some Saxophone to it on December 30th. The album was shelved due to the fact that Prince's time was taken up with other projects (Under The Cherry Moon, Parade & The Family). Prince liked the idea of releasing an instrumental jazz-funk album under a pseudonym. He finally got round to it in '87, but renamed the project Madhouse & ditched the old Flesh tracks in favor of fresh new recordings.

• • Voodoo Who

Finest Whisky Tibet Up From Belo Y'all Want Some More? A Couple Of Miles Groove in C Minor Slow Groove in G Major Groove in G Flat Minor Junk Music Up From Below Y'all Want Some More? Slaughterhouse U Just Can't Stop Run Amok Mobile Madrid Breathless High Colonic 12 Keys