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Featuring the band that accompanied Prince on his 1987 Sign o' the Times tour, including dancer Cat Glover, drummer Sheila E. and former members of The Revolution, the film sees the group perform live on stage (although "U Got the Look" is represented by its promotional music video). The film was originally intended to consist of live material filmed in the Ahoy' in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on June 26, June 27 and June 28 and in the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium on June 29. However, the footage from these concerts was deemed unsatisfactory, partly due to the film being grainy and unusable, but also because some of the sound had been recorded on different channels and was virtually inaudible. Consequently, the live performance was reshot at Prince's Paisley Park Studios (where the between-song segues were also filmed). According to saxophonist Eric Leeds, around 80% of the final film was drawn from the Paisley Park reshoot. Most of the songs are linked by a themed narrative and many film critics were quick to praise Prince as being a better actor live than in the previous year's unsuccessful romantic comedy Under the Cherry Moon. In total, 13 songs appear on the video - 11 from Sign o' the Times and two others - a brief piano version of "Little Red Corvette" and a cover version of Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time" (performed without Prince and showcasing each member of the band). Initially, there had been plans to include the full concert which featured many other non-Sign o' the Times songs (including "Kiss", "1999", "Purple Rain", "When Doves Cry", "Girls & Boys" and "Let's Go Crazy") but these songs were eventually dropped. The film was eventually premiered in Detroit on October 29, 1987 and released nation-wide on the November 20 in 250 key locations. The film did not perform very well and quickly slipped out of theaters; the sales of the album were not really boosted by the film and it quickly slid out of view in the U.S.. Nonetheless, when the film was released on VHS the following year it became extremely popular and received positive reviews, particularly in the UK. Q magazine gave it four stars, whilst SKY Magazine suggested that it "was the greatest concert movie ever made". The film was released in early 2005 on DVD in Canada by Alliance Atlantis, although the cut songs still failed to appear with the rest of the footage. In the musical coda for "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man", the horn section lifts a section from "Rockhard In a Funky Place", a Camille track, also on the Crystal Ball track listing, but lost when the 3-LP set was trimmed down. It would later be heard on The Black Album. |
