I started this thread a few years back. I thought it would be fun to rerun it and see if orgers' votes would be the same.

Who comes out on top?

ROUND 1:
The Time vs. The Stone City Band - P & Rick's premier funk groups

ROUND 2:
Vanity 6/Apollonia 6 vs. Mary Jane Girls - The lingerie-clad girl-groups

ROUND 3:
Sheila E vs. Teena Marie - Talented solo artists

ROUND 4:
The Family vs. Process And The Doo Rags - Short-lived novelties

ROUND 5:
Jill Jones vs. Val Young - P's background singer vs. one of the Brides of Funkenstien

ROUND 6:
George Clinton vs. The Temptations - Veterans whose careers were revived by P & Rick

ROUND 7:
Sheena Easton vs. Eddie Murphy - Already well-known names before their collaborations with P & Rick

Post your winners (musically, not physically) for each round. I would like to think orgers are objective enough to not choose the Prince acts every time. THANKS!

sextonseven said:

I dig the Stone City Band. BUT, they couldn't fuck with the o.g. lineup of The Time. Songs (by P), musicianship from the members or showmanship from the members. The Time.

Mary Jane had cool songs and were better vocalists BUT I dig Vanity and Vanity6 album to death. And as much as I can't stand Patty's no singing ass, I still dig Apple6's music better. Vanity6/Apples6

This one is easy. Teena Marie hands down. P never had ANY female that could fuck with Teena.

The Family.

Val's cool but I gotta go with my girl J.J. Don't know what the hell Rick was smoking to have not scooped Jill up when she was with Teena.

This next one is the best one out of all of them. As much as I love George, his stuff on Paisley was WHACK! Rick with The Tempts were killin'! The Temptations

Easy...Sheena Easton

blackguitaristz said:

I agree with every one of your picks.

sextonseven said:

Great minds think alike!

sextonseven said:



The Time



Vanity 6/Apollonia 6 The Mary Jane Girls definately had better voices and were more talented, but Vanity 6/Apollonia 6 had better music behind them and had less slow stuff.



Teena Marie Teena Marie had definately done her best stuff in the early 1980s before Sheila E. even came on the scene. Sheila had a great first album but, by the time her second and third album came out, Prince had already changed his style to artsy/fartsy and it bled over into Sheila's albums. However, Sheila's albums were much better than Teena's mid to late 1980s albums because Teena was no longer with Rick James by then and she wanted to do all that "meaningful" slow shit.

Overall, I would say Teena Marie over Sheila E. because she had much more funky jams than Sheila from her early years with Rick James such as "Square Biz", "Behind The Groove", "I'm Just A Sucker For Your Love", "Don't Look Back", "It Must Be Magic", "First Class Love", "Chains", "I Need Your Lovin'", etc. Teena's jams were more funky and less artsy/fartsy. Had Sheila continued with more stuff like her first album, she could have given Teena a run for her money but Sheila let Prince give her that artsy/fartsy retro stuff.




I honestly can't say because I have only heard one song from Process and the Doo Rags and it is a slow one. I have heard that they have some jams though and even the weakest stuff from the Rick James camp is still better than the dorky artsy/fartsy classical orchestra shit of The Family.



Another one I can't say because I have only heard one song from Val Young and it wasn't that hot. I like Jill Jones stuff better than the one song I heard from Val Young though even though Prince had given her an artsy/fartsy type album. Prince should have given Jill an album back when he was still in his right mind in either the "1999" or "Purple Rain" era.

As I said earlier though, I would vote for Jill Jones on this one but I can't because I haven't heard all of Val Young's album. It could possibly have some jams on it and I would never give a vote to something artsy/fartsy if the other party might have some actual jams that I don't know about.



The Temptations George Clinton was good on his own before Prince, but with Prince, his stuff was horrible. However, The Temptations were great on their own and with Rick James, they were even better.



Sheena Easton Prince took a little goodie two shoes that was making weak stuff like "Morning Train" and "For Your Eyes Only", turned her into a slut, and gave her jams like "Sugar Walls". Turning a weak goodie two shoes into a strong jamming slut gets my vote alone. She was also doing whorish things like "Strut". She had turned into a bad bitch, a slut, a tramp, and the top of all compliments...a whore. Prince should have gotten his hands on Shitney Houston and turned her around.
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[Edited 4/15/08 9:35am]

Round 1: The Time vs. The Stone City Band:

I Give the Time the edge on this battle based on that stage show they had with the original lineup, it was fire!!!

Round 2: Vanity/Apollonia 6 vs. Mary Jane Girls:

The Mary Jane Girls win this one easy for me. There's not one weak cut on either MJG'S album IMO, while some of the Vanity/Apollonia stuff is average (3x2 = 6) (Bite The Beat) at best.

Round 3: Sheila E. vs. Teena Marie

Teena takes this one, she has too many albums, songs that I love not to!!!

Round 4: The Family vs. Process & Doo Rags

I like both but I give a slight edge to Proces over The Family, Stomp And Shout is better then any of the Family's cuts IMO

Round 5: Jill Jones vs. Val Young

These two are even in my book only because I don't feel we got to truly see Jill's talent fully. Had Prince done a Jill album say 1984-1985 I think we would of seen just how good she could've been. Val's album is good BTW, it has that 1985 PUNK FUNK sound for those that haven't heard it.

Round 6: George Clinton vs. The Temptations

GC'S work with Prince wasn't all that great while the Temps one song with RJ is great, so I gotta go the Temps on this one. I wish Rick would've done a whole album with the Temps back in 82 when they reunited instead of that one song.


Round 7; Sheena Easton vs. Eddie Murphy

Not even close SHEENA!!!

vainandy said:

I love reading your posts.

vainandy said:

We know how you feel about strings ..... but I can't believe you would call High Fashion and Mutiny artsy/fartsy shit etc.

Also, re the Mary Jane Girls..... I remember when I lived in Chicago this DJ on the black station said that basically most of the vocals on their albums are done by the Waters sisters.

They are credited on some of the songs.... you can hear their characteristic sound on the slow jams, and also on some of Teena Marie's cuts (e.g. Where is California).

I think MJG was basically Jo-Jo doing lead (if that) with the Waters family doing the heavy lifting. As much as I love the MJG (including my homegirl and original member Cherie), they ain't the ones doing all that harmonizing!
[Edited 4/15/08 15:15pm]

GaryMF said:

All of the above was stated by Teena Marie herself on an episode of TVOne's I Married A Baller.

GaryMF said:

Did anyone see the Mary Jane Girls live back in the day? How did they pull it off?

Kind of tough of the Rick side because the Prince side is just so strong, Some of Rick's stuff is SO formulaic, more on par with Jesse Johnson and his productions in that respect.

Prince probably wins them all except for Teena - but I have to say I love Sheila's stuff (Romance 1600 especially) and Process & The Doo Rags are also a favourite of mine, so pitting them against the Family was not fair!

GoActive said:

Really?? Cool!!! I wish i got TVone.

sextonseven said:

[Edited 4/15/08 19:47pm]

GoActive said:[quote]

GaryMF said:

Who are the "Water sisters"?

prodigalfan said:[quote]

GoActive said:

The Waters sisters are basically a family of singers who did back up on a lot of 80s albums. I think there wsa a brother too. Read the ablum credits on Teena's albums with slow jams, Klymaxx's second album etc.

Some of the women got married and used hyphenated names .... one is named Maxine, I think another is Julia.....

GaryMF said:

Oh, I will have to Google them. So was the MJ girls like a Milli Vanilli thing?

Don't forget these guys: http://www.youtube.com/wa...g-kS6aWrT8

Cause you know I'm gonna talk some shit and not hold nothing back.

[quote]

GaryMF said:

Those two songs are OK, but considering that this is the group that came along after The Time's breakup, a lot of people were thinking it was going to be kind of a new version of The Time since it included some of it's members. It was a definate disappointment to a lot of people that had grown up listening to hard Minneapolis style jams like "Cool", "Get It Up", "777-9311", "Wild and Loose", etc. which were the funky synthy 1980s style of funk, to stuff like "Mutiny" or "High Fashion" with horns and things going backwards to a 1970s type of funk, not to mention adding jazz also which was the last thing a lot of people wanted to hear since The Time had gotten rid of all traditional type stuff and was straight up 1980s style.

Another reason people didn't like this group, is because Prince himself had already pissed them off with his style change in 1985 and it was apparent that his style change had bled over into his protegee groups also. During this time, a lot of fans were praising the ex-Prince camp members such as Andre Cymone, Morris Day, and Jesse Johnson for keeping the style going and laughing at Prince and his new protegees.




Those ain't the kind of songs I listen to when I listen to The Mary Jane Girls or Teena Marie. With the Mary Jane Girls, I was into stuff like "Boys" and "Candy Man". I never saw what the huge attraction was to "All Night Long".

Same with Teena Marie. A lot of folks act like she was one of those artists that made slow jams only. Hell, my favorite Teena Marie is stuff like "Behind The Groove", "Square Biz", etc. I like the jams. Unless those harmonizing ladies are playing those funky instruments, I could care less.

vainandy said:

I hear you. Although the style change truly hit the proteges first.... at lesat in terms of Clare Fischer's strings and Eric's sax....they make their 1st appearance on The Family (and I think even Jill's album) before Parade comes out.

Which explains why you don't dont' like the Fmaily. Thing is. I'm with you on the Time jams like Cool, The walk etc..... i can ALWAYS listen to those. I have to be in the right mood to listen to the Family.... but it is one of my favorite protege records of all.

I like BOTH the jams and the funk/jazz fusion he created with the Family. I don't see them as mutually exclusive. And if you ever saw them do Mutiny live you'd know it was a JAM!

I agree about MJG All Niht Long...I mean i like it, but In My House and Boys etc. are much funkier! Though people go nuts for All night Long. We strated rehearsing it in my band but haven't played it yet in a gig. it is fun to play! And In My House needs too many keyboard players!

GaryMF said:

"All Night Long" is a funky ballad! I love that bassline. And it got played in clubs too so it wasn't that slow.

That's why I didn't care for it too much. It was too slow to be fast and too fast to be slow. In other words, midtempo, and you know how I feel about most midtempo music. If it's too slow for the dance floor and too fast for the bedroom, it serves no purpose other than just to bob a head to. And if someone is going to bob their head down on me, I want it to be at a much slower pace so the feeling will be more intense.
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[Edited 4/16/08 13:55pm]

vainandy said:

Now that I think about it, the last time I heard "All Night Long" in a club (The Tunnel), it was mixed with a hip hop song.

JesseDezz said:

That's the only Process and The Doo Rags song I know, lol. I remember seeing that video back in the day on NY Hot Tracks. I forgot that they were only a vocal group--like a cross between The Time and The Tempatations.

its all abot musical growt ,prince isn't status quo to play same song all over.

sextonseven said:

I mwon all these acts' music on Cds and consider a couple of them firnds.

But when it comes down to the music it's like this:

The Time ... SCB have some great cuts but there's only one Time.

Mary Jane Girl by a mile. These girls could sing. Their worst tracks were as good as V/A6's best, and that's coming from someone who digs the albums!

Sheila/Teena ... hard to slpit but Teena has more albums and a few more classics so she wins.

The Family gets my nod, just. The 2 Process & Doo Rags albums are awesome, particularly the first.

Jill & Val ... it's a draw folks.

George V Temps ... gimme the temps - standing on the top was hot.

Sheena v Eddie.
Sheena ... her Lover In me Cd was hot but mainly for the la & babyface tracks, not Prince's. Sugar Walls for an earlier album was cool. I no Eddie ain't the best singer but I liked his How Could It be CD ... in a teenaged sort of way as you do.

Great posts. I'm thinking many orgers aren't that familiar with Rick's artists or this thread would have gotten more responses.

sextonseven said:

the time , vanity 6 , sheila e. , the family , jill jones , the temptations , sheena easton .
[Edited 5/5/08 14:35pm]