Madhouse – 8

This Is My Favourite Jazz Album And One Of The Greatest Things Prince Ever Did In His Whole Career. Incredible And Dynamic Sounding Recording And Hella Funky.

the last track on the album, "Eight," is one of the most beautiful songs ever(!!!) and fun as well...a perfect closer and one of my favorite Prince/Prince-related/adjacent pieces ever...the result of masters at work...

I Have A Copy Of This And It Sounds Utterly Impeccable. One Of The Very Best Sounding Records That I Own. A Must Have For Fans Of Funky Jazz And Of Course Any Prince Fan. This Album Really Is A Showcase For The Instrumental Ingenuity Prince Had And His Beautiful Sense Of Melody, Composition And Arrangements.

Just a quick note: The European and USA CD's were not released until circa (Jan) 1989 and were never released the same year as the vinyl LP's. 1987 copyrights year was used as the release date for the cd's which is technically (if not factually) incorrect. Far easier to confirm the 1990 release date for the Japan CD as it was printed on the OBI.

Come for the cover art and stay for the funk!!!

The Madhouse pseudonym of the late great purple funk master, was basically a two man studio project, with PRINCE playing all instruments except for the sax and flute parts which were covered by Eric Leeds, who is the real treat here as he blows some serious sax on the bopping "Five"-a brief but bouncy little tune. But that aside, there's nothing less than good here, and the best numbers (literally) - "Two", "Five", "Six", "Eight" - are wonderfully enjoyable.

Although it's a PRINCE dominated album, Madhouse performed as a band in a live setting, actually opening for PRINCE himself, donning godfather type costumes that added a gansta imagery to their persona.

Madhouse is one of PRINCE's greatest, possibly most overlooked side project (given it wasn't pop-funk orientated). It's a pity it never lasted more than two albums.

This album is great and really set Prince apart from his peers yet again. Not many pop artists of his time were churning out jazz funk fusion albums at the same time writing hits for others, making movies and putting out his own 2LP set in the same year without blinking or taking any drugs. Madhouse 8 is a sophisticated jazz fusion recording between Sheila, Levi, Eric Leeds and Prince and deserves a much needed reissue and re-release. The next release 16 goes in even harder on the funk and is not to be missed.

Amazed this record has not been reviewed yet. I really like this album, cool instrumental jazz funk, Eric Leeds plays some killer saxophone, funky bass and a solid album! Sure Prince had something to do with this! Recommended!