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Possessed is a song that was cut and worked on in the studio by Prince on many different occasions. Basic tracking of the initial version took place on 15 May 1982 by Prince alone at his Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota and a mix-down of it was done nine days later. This version was then overdubbed somewhere in early-mid 1983, also at the at the Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
A new version, started from scratch, was cut with The Revolution in August 1983 at The Warehouse in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. It was a hot day and they kept running into power outage problems while attempting to record. In the end the session was stopped. But it is likely the song was committed to tape in the same setting at a later date. This version however also remains unreleased.
Yet another new version, recorded from scratch was tracked on 17 March 1984 at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California for use in Purple Rain. A short instrumental portion of this version plays in the movie in the background of a scene in which Morris Day tries to seduce Apollonia.
It was this 1984 studio version (incorrectly attributed as the 1983 version) that was released as the sixth track (and seventh song) on the From The Vault & Previously Unreleased disc of the Purple Rain Deluxe Edition and Deluxe Expanded Edition album in June 2017.
Until after Prince’s death the song was only released in a live version as the eighth track on the Prince And The Revolution: Live VHS in a double VHS case sometimes referred to as Double Live (later re-released as a single VHS). In the end credits of that release Possessed is dedicated to James Brown.
A studio version of the 1984 recording was released as the sixth track on the From The Vault & Previously Unreleased disc of the Purple Rain Deluxe Edition and Deluxe Expanded Edition album in June 2017. A studio version of the original 1982 recording (sans 1983 overdubs) was released in 2019 as the first track on the Vault Tracks part 2 disc of a Super Deluxe Edition edition of the 1999 album.
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Recording Information
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Recording Sessions
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| Date
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Studio
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Additional info
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| 15 May 1982
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Kiowa Trail Home Studio,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Tracking
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| 24 May 1982
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Kiowa Trail Home Studio,
Chanhassen, MN, USA (assumed)
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Mixdown
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| Early 1983 (estimate)
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Kiowa Trail Home Studio,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Overdubs
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| 21 June 1983
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The Warehouse,
St. Louis Park, MN, USA
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rehearsal recording
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| August 1983
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The Warehouse,
St. Louis Park, MN, USA
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Tracking, second version (aborted)
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| August 1983
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The Warehouse,
St. Louis Park, MN, USA
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New attempt at second version
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| 17 March 1984
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Sunset Sound,
Hollywood, CA, USA
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Tracking third version
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| 21 March 1984; 25 April 1984
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Sunset Sound,
Hollywood, CA, USA
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Editing (Instrumental) for use in Purple Rain
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Recording Personnel
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Initial solo version
- Prince – All vocals and instruments except where indicated
- Jill Jones – background vocals
1983 Warehouse version
1984 studio version
- Prince - all vocals and instruments
Prince and the Revolution: Live version version (1985)
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Versions
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Released Versions
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Video Versions
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Sampled, Referred to, Quoted in...
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| Title
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Length
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Released
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Version
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Additional info
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| Let’s Go Crazy (Special Dance Mix)
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7:35
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Let’s Go Crazy Maxi-single
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Studio
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A synth part from the 1984 version of Possessed is used on the Special Dance Mix of Let’s Go Crazy
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Unreleased Versions
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| Title
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Version
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Additional Info
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| Possessed
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Studio
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1983 overdubs version
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| Possessed
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Studio
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August 1983 band recording
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| Possessed
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Instrumental
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Instrumental version of March 1984 re-recording
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