the break up of the Time(protégé), Yes, Susannah's Pajamas, foreshadow of Madhouse(protégé) music, new sound, Flying Cloud Warehouse, Screams of Passion, Nothing Compares 2 U, Susannah Melvoin, Jerome Benton, Eric Leeds, Jellybeen, St Paul (Peterson) 1st Avenue performance, Mutiny, High Fashion, Gregory Safford, Wally, Mico Weaver, Desire, David Z., Wendy Melvoin, Jill Jones, Bobby Z Clare Fischer & Prince, Feline, River Run Dry, the Revolution rehearsals, Miss Understood, Silk Pajamas, St Pauls mutiny

This woman is all the way vogue
Lost in love like yesterday?
The curtains dance a minuet, autumn plays the music, baby
No love at the end of the rainbow
It's been 7 hours and 13 days
Isn't the expression on my complexion enough?

My hard on everlasting, her emotions never blue...

The Family as a band actually came to be in the summer of 1984, the album was completed by October of that year but was held back till after the PR tour and was released in August of 1985.

This and Mazarati are my 2 favorite Paisley LPs.

Silly question were these songs ever considered for The Time I wonder? Mutiny and High Fashion would have fit Morris perfect

TheDigitalGardener said:

The Family as a band actually came to be in the summer of 1984, the album was completed by October of that year but was held back till after the PR tour and was released in August of 1985.

By which time the band had played their one and only gig and St Paul Peterson had already left the Prince camp, IIRC.

BartVanHemelen said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

The Family as a band actually came to be in the summer of 1984, the album was completed by October of that year but was held back till after the PR tour and was released in August of 1985.

By which time the band had played their one and only gig and St Paul Peterson had already left the Prince camp, IIRC.

Indeed, but according to The Vault/Uptown it was early November when St Paul announced he was leaving.

TheDigitalGardener said:

BartVanHemelen said:

By which time the band had played their one and only gig and St Paul Peterson had already left the Prince camp, IIRC.

Indeed, but according to The Vault/Uptown it was early November when St Paul announced he was leaving.

This is one of those bad Prince moves. UTCM should have included the bands, promoting the music, if the Family was in Paris (with Jerome) they could have done more live shows and having a part in the movie would have kept them (St Paul) involved.

1.High Fashion
2.Mutiny
3.The Screams Of Passion
4.Yes
5.River Run Dry
6.Nothing Compares 2 U
7.Susannah's Pajanmas
8.Desire

http://www.soulandjazzand...owall=1%20

Rewind to 1985. Prince Rogers Nelson was on top of the world. The global success he had experienced as a result of his 1984 smash movie, 'Purple Rain,' and its platinum-selling, hit-packed soundtrack, led to the prolific Minneapolis genius spreading his creative wings – on the back of 'Purple Rain's' success he started his own Warner-distributed label, Paisley Park (located at his million dollar studio complex that boasted the same moniker), and when he wasn't making his records under his own name, he was busy providing the music for a welter of his musical protégés and various side projects.

One of the first signings to Paisley Park was The Family, a group that rose from the ashes of The Time (which had disbanded when lead singer Morris Day pursued a solo career). Comprising keyboardist Paul Peterson (aka St. Paul), drummer Jellybean Johnson and vocalist/dancer Jerome Benton from The Time, saxophonist Eric Leeds and Prince's then girlfriend Susannah Melvoin (the twin sister of Wendy Melvoin, who was the guitarist in Prince's band, The Revolution and went on to form the duo, Wendy & Lisa), The Family issued a couple of singles ('Screams Of Passion,' a Top 10 US R&B hit, and 'High Fashion') and a self-titled parent album, which was an alluring blend of pop, soul and funk that boasted dramatic orchestral charts by jazz pianist and Rufus arranger, Clare Fischer.

But just as they were about to take flight, St. Paul suddenly quit the group and The Family all but disintegrated. The remainder of the group went their separate ways but over the years, The Family's eponymous album gained a cult collectability (the original vinyl is almost impossible to find these days); a fact that is underscored by the album's failure to materialise on CD in the digital age.

I can honestly say that back in that time Paul and myself, Eric Leeds and Jellybean Johnson - even Jerome Benton for a part of it, even though he's not working with us right now - we were all characters that were part of a great novel that Prince was in the middle of writing. These characters had a life to them but the novel was never finished.

Yeah. Everybody was in rehearsals for the 'Purple Rain' tour and I'd been working with Prince as his background vocalist, so I was already in the fold, as was Paul Peterson and all the other guys that were with The Time. The Time dissolved right before 'Purple Rain' was released and Prince said "I want to keep everybody working," and I think that he felt bad that The Time dissolved because there was so much great talent in it. He really believed at the time in Paul (Peterson), who was this young kid - both of us were babies. We were 18/19 years old and Paul was really incredible: he had this great voice and Morris (Day) and him used to do sing-offs. You could always hear Paul doing his thing and he was just fantastic and a great keyboard player and he's also one of the best bass players there is. So Prince got the band together – he also brought in (saxophonist) Eric Leeds. His first gig was with us. Eric is Alan Leeds' brother, who was Prince's road manager. Prince was given a tape of Eric's stuff. So Prince said, "I'd love to be able to put a band together and I'd like you, Paul, to be lead singer in this. How do you feel about that?" He said "yeah man, that would be great." It was the right thing and we all came together and Prince designed the record. He didn't give us songs he had in the vault: these were fresh songs designed for us.

What was it like them working with Prince during that period?

He wasn't working with us at all through that. He just went in and recorded songs and then just handed them over to me and Paul and David Z, who was producing it. And then he stepped out of the way.

What are your memories of the recording sessions?

I had a great time because a lot of the time I was here in Los Angeles and Paul was in Minneapolis. Paul and I were never together in the studio very often. I won't say never but not very often. So Paul would do his vocals with David Z and I would do my vocals with David and then David would do his thing. He pre-produced that record; he made those sounds on the album. It was great because his brother Bobby Z had written 'River Run Dry' (which appeared on the first album). We had an outside track on that record, which was again something that was an indication that Prince was letting it be what it was going to be on another kind of level for him. He relinquished a lot of the control. He wrote the tracks, designed them for us and then we took them. When we had the string date and went in with Clare Fischer, Prince wasn't actually there - it was all of us as a band and David. It was pretty nutritious. It felt really great and we knew that we were doing something really special. But then again we were also really young. I'd done sessions for other people but it was like 'here we are, doing our own record' and it was pretty great but no one really knew what was going to happen with it. Eric (Leeds) said that Prince wanted to write a hit record, that was his intention period. But Paul and I were not aware of any of that. We were just doing it.

Did you play any gigs together at all?

We played one big gig in Minneapolis (at the club First Avenue) when we'd released the record, We'd rehearsed for a year until our eyes were bloodshot. We knew how to do that stuff like the back of our hand.

What happened after that, because the band had a very short lifespan, didn't it?

It was very, very short. We'd come out and done a video and we were about to do some more shows but there was a like a three-week break after 'Purple Rain' just before 'Under The Cherry Moon' (Prince's second movie) came out. During that break I guess Paul had gotten a phone call from John McLean who was running A&R over at A&M Records at the time and called Paul and said "hey, we're thinking that it would be great to fly you out here and meet with Janet Jackson. We want you to produce a couple of tracks for her; we're going to play some of her stuff." He was like "yeah, okay, I'll come out, I have the time, let's do it." When he got out there, it wasn't for that reason. They wanted to sign him. They got him out there and said: "here's the deal: we have a lot of money to give you and we'll make you a giant star." When you're 20 years old you go "okay, yeah. Okay let's do it." So nobody was totally surprised by that. He was the one who was getting the solo deal with tons of money up front. None of us were working for a lot of money. We were all getting paid a pay cheque and those paycheques were tiny. I kid you not: teeny. It was enough to sustain us as single people living in tiny little apartments but not, God forbid, should there be a family involved. So Paul went and did what was right for him and his family. There were some of us who were like "well, that's a big fucking drag" but we all were musicians and just accepted it and moved on. It's not like we were pulled off the street to get this opportunity and then never to see it again; that's not who we'd ever been - we've all been players and singers and writers and producers so we just were like okay, on to the next.

It was Prince's concept to put us together. The reason (the band) was (previously) called The Family was, because, we had all been working within the Prince organization: I was the staff singer; (Peterson) was the keyboard player for The Time; (Johnson) was the drummer for The Time and (Leeds) was a horn player for Prince.

With regards to the soulandjazzandfunk article, I'm not sure where they are getting their info from, but they mention that vinyl copies of the album are impossible to find and that the album failed to materialise on cd.

They have that wrong. Vinyl copies are ten a penny, christ there is a copy on ebay right now for £5. I think I paid no more than £10 for my vinyl copy, and it was unplayed. Of course we know that the album was issued on cd, and it's the cd version that is difficult to find, at least genuine copies are.

TheDigitalGardener said:

With regards to the soulandjazzandfunk article, I'm not sure where they are getting their info from, but they mention that vinyl copies of the album are impossible to find and that the album failed to materialise on cd.

They have that wrong. Vinyl copies are ten a penny, christ there is a copy on ebay right now for £5. I think I paid no more than £10 for my vinyl copy, and it was unplayed. Of course we know that the album was issued on cd, and it's the cd version that is difficult to find, at least genuine copies are.

lol I know what you mean, they are almost everywhere

High Fashion

I know a sexy little girl
She's never in the low class world
This woman is all the way vogue
High Fashion is where her money goes
She dines at Le Dome up on the strip
Cheap liquor never touches her lips
Her brandy's imported every week
No problem, 7,000 easy

High Fashion is where her money goes
High Fashion - This girl is all the way vogue
She's never in the low class world
High Fashion - Stuck up little rich girl

High Fashion

High Fashion, yeah

I met her dancin' at Le Dome
I offered dinner at my home
She said no, all of her friends laughed
Funny how the laughin' stopped when I flashed all the cash I had
(I'm talkin') $1900 is 2 much cash 2 hold
One of my boys had 2 carry half, now honey U know that's bold
Wait a minute!
She had the nerve 2 ask what kinda car I had
"Honey, I'm ridin' in back of a Rolls Royce limo custom-painted plaid!"

High Fashion is where my money goes
High Fashion - Honey, I'm all the way vogue
I'm never in the low class world
High Fashion - And I just love little rich girls

Hot Station - I took the child 2 my crib
Donation - Do U take or do U give?
She took one look at the swimmin' pool
I said "I'll donate" - We were 2 swimmin' fools

High Fashion is where our money goes
High Fashion - All the way vogue
We're never in the low class world
High Fashion - Don't be a little stuck up rich girl

All the way vogue
I'm all the way vogue

© 1985 Parisongs Music - ASCAP

initial tracking (as Hi Fashion) took place in late June, 1984 at the Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse, Eden Prairie, MN, USA (during the same set of sessions that produced Mutiny, River Run Dry, Mazarati (later renamed Susannah's Pajamas), and Desire). St. Paul Peterson overdubbed vocals onto the track in late 1984 - early 1985. The full-length version, which was edited for use on the album, was intended for a 12" release of High Fashion, but this release was aborted when promotion for the album ended.-PrinceVault

Prince took the photographs of the Family on the outside

This album was better than ATWIAD [as a whole], imo. ATWIAD would have been a classic if you replace songs off this album, & include a couple of b-side released from ATWIAD.



I'd take off:
Title Track
Paisley Park
Tamborine
The Ladder [I absolutely hate this song]


Replace [in another order] with:
Mutiny
Desire
She's Always in My Hair
Hello [yup, I said it ]




& no, I didn't choose "Nothing Compares 2 U" to go on the album.

Tittypants said:

& no, I didn't choose "Nothing Compares 2 U" to go on the album.

Nothing Compares 2 U:what do U think of the Prince & Revolution version, I believe with St Paul on vocals. It has the Purple Rain feel, almost like Another Lonely Christmas

OldFriends4Sale said:

bigd74 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Nothing Compares 2 U:what do U think of the Prince & Revolution version, I believe with St Paul on vocals. It has the Purple Rain feel, almost like Another Lonely Christmas

I love the other version

me too, Desire I love both, but the studio version with the Revolution and Princes guitar solo...mmmm

Pictures were taken by photographer named Horst (Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann) in Prince house......

Here is a touch of his photographs outside of the Family project

Prince definately stepped it up during the 1985-1986 period as far as videos, imagery etc

All the way Vogue

yes! the 2 first songs, High Fashion + Mutiny makes this album worth to own..

This song was written about? Jesse? Morris?

Mutiny is the second track on The Family's first and only album The Family. The song was written by Prince, but credited to Jerome .

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While specific recording dates are not known, initial tracking took place in late June, 1984 at the Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse, Eden Prairie, MN, USA (during the same set of sessions that produced High Fashion, River Run Dry, Mazarati (later renamed Susannah's Pajamas), and Desire). St. Paul Peterson overdubbed vocals onto the track in late 1984 - early 1985.-PrinceVault

OldFriends4Sale said:

Prince took the photographs of the Family on the outside

Hi, is it possible to get a close up for each pic (as you did for some)? Thanks!! DR

Ramzoo said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Prince took the photographs of the Family on the outside

Hi, is it possible to get a close up for each pic (as you did for some)? Thanks!! DR

I have a bunch already, I'll work on getting the others

3 already posted

MikeyB71: 1984

The formation of The Family in 1984 was Prince's reaction to the disbanding of The Time. Morris Day was no longer interested in being a band member and moved to Los Angeles, severing ties with the other band members, Prince and The Times management team. With Morris Day in L.A it was basically Jesse Johnson who ran The Time. Prince originally wanted to continue work with The Time by adding Paul Peterson as singer, an idea that was rejected by Jesse Johnson. After failing to convince Morris Day to return, Prince finally decided that The Time was indeed over. Jesse Johnson had also decided to attempt a solo career and took Time members Jerry Hubbard and Mark Cardenas with him.

.

Late June 1984.

Prince invites Alan Leeds and the remaining Time sidemen Paul Peterson, Jellybean Johnson and Jerome Benton to a meeting at his house. Prince's idea was for a new band and wanted Paul Peterson to be the lead vocalist. This came as something of a surprise to Peterson. Prince had become aware of Paul Peterson's vocal ability during the filming for the Purple Rain movie, they had adjoining dressing rooms, Prince overheard Peterson singing and must have liked what he had heard. The new band were named The Family and were also joined by Susannah Melvoin as a second singer.

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While The Time's music had been rooted in R&B, Prince wanted The Family to be more musically versatile. Jellybean Johnson said “Prince wanted The Family to be more like a classy, jazzy type of band that would show more different sides, he wanted to do jazzy instrumentals and feature great pop and funk tunes.”

.

Work began on the debut album for The Family in late June 1984 at the Flying Cloud Warehouse in Eden Prairie. Prince very quickly recorded a number of songs for the project.

Prince was also coming up for a look for the band, he was looking through a lot of film and glamour magazines, he wanted Paul Peterson to be a very dash Rudolph Valentino type of character.

.

Susan Rogers, Prince's sound engineer remembers Prince chatting with Paul Peterson and saying “Paul, 20,000 woman! That's how many woman Valentino had at his funeral, 20,000 woman!”

Working alone, Prince recorded High Fashion and Mutiny, recording them in sequence, he followed them with Desire and River Run Dry. Susan Rogers remembers, “once he had High Fashion and Mutiny, the rest of the album just flowed.” River Run Dry was a song that Bobby Z had written, but Prince recorded his own version after asking Bobby Z if he could use it for The Family's album.

During the initial sessions for The Family, Prince recorded an instrumental titled Mazarati, which was originally intended for Mazarati's debut album. Prince decided that the music suited The Family better and renamed the track Susannah's Pajamas.

.

Prince wanted to try and incorporate the saxophone into The Family project. He had heard a tape that Alan Leeds' brother Eric had made when he had auditioned for the band that Sheila E had put together in spring 1984. However, Sheila had already hired Eddie Minnifield on sax so the tape sat around for a while. A while later Prince came up with the concept for The Family, and having decided that he wanted saxophone in the music told Alan “if your brother wants a gig, tell him he's got it.”

14^th July 1984.

Prince records the song Feline at the Flying Cloud Warehouse for use in The Family project. The song did not make the album. Feline was one of Eric Leeds' favourite tracks recorded for the album, Eric remembered “It was a manic track, I love it, I remember being there when he was doing most of his work on it, he was like a man possessed, the track was the odd man out from the album, it stuck out like a sore thumb.” The song is sexually explicit and featuring a rap by Paul, who says “St. Paul's my name, makin' love's my game.” The rap was later altered and used in Sheila E's Holly Rock. Also in July, Prince recorded Nothing Compares 2 U. Prince now had nearly all the songs available to put together an album. The following sessions were to have Paul Peterson and Susannah Melvoin replace Prince's “scratch” vocals. David Rivkin was brought in to produce the vocal sessions. This was a slow painstaking process as Prince wanted exact reproductions of his vocal tracks.

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19^th August-October 1984.

Prince records The Screams Of passion for The Family project. Between August and October two other songs were recorded for the project, they were Yes, and Miss Understood. A track from 1980 called Rough was also taken out and considered for the album but in the end it was not deemed appropriate. Miss Understood was also left off the album. The instrumental track Yes was originally close to eight minutes long and was edited to fit the album.

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In addition to having saxophone in the music of The Family, Prince also wanted to add strings, for a more lush sound. David Rivkin contacted Clare Fischer on his behalf. Fischer was sent a tape of the song River Run Dry to see what the outcome might be. Prince was delighted with the results and further songs were sent to Clare for additional work. David Rivkin, Susannah and Jerome Benton went to L.A to oversee the recording sessions with Fischer. Prince could not attend the first session for some reason, and afterwards he got superstitious and did not want to see his face. Prince even averted his eyes when he received a record that contained Clare's face on the cover. To this day Prince has still not met Clare Fischer face to face.

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The recording of the album was now complete but the album was put on hold till after the Purple Rain tour.