Listening to the album, I am struck by how poor the female vocals are. THe only manage to sound like young white girls - which I am sure is be design since that is the key demogrpahic for selling music. Part of Prince's longevity is his strategic approach to the business. I can remember reading something about him saying that The Family - with St Paul as the lead - was intended to get some of that Duran Duran money. They were styled for what was selling to young white girls the most in the mid 80s: pretty New Romantic white boys.

Those of us how are old enough to know are well acquaited with the magic spells that Prince casted on non-singing neophytes to conjure something between a slightly entertaining girlfriend project to what is now referred to as old school classics. Vanity, Sheila E, Apollonia, even Mayte didnt lean on Prince's vocals behind the mix to prop them up like what we hear on Whitecaps. But hey, they can play and you cant take that from them (though the playing lacks personality and distinct sound - like a good backup band playing a festival). Being pretty young white girls does not take away from this fact. It just confirms that Prince still knows how to stay "relevant" (AKA "in the media") while embracing his role as the venerable sage of real music.

come on ... its not that bad. and it works on the record in my ears

Actually on both of Shelia E's big singles, Prince's voice is behind the mix throughout, and not very subtle.

Hannah is not a good singer, but her voice fits an alternative all girl band outfit imo. I did say 'alternative'. I got used to her voice after a few spins of PE. (Haven't seen 3rdeyegirl in concert yet.)

JoshuaWho said:

Listening to the album, I am struck by how poor the female vocals are. THe only manage to sound like young white girls - which I am sure is be design since that is the key demogrpahic for selling music. Part of Prince's longevity is his strategic approach to the business. I can remember reading something about him saying that The Family - with St Paul as the lead - was intended to get some of that Duran Duran money. They were styled for what was selling to young white girls the most in the mid 80s: pretty New Romantic white boys.

Those of us how are old enough to know are well acquaited with the magic spells that Prince casted on non-singing neophytes to conjure something between a slightly entertaining girlfriend project to what is now referred to as old school classics. Vanity, Sheila E, Apollonia, even Mayte didnt lean on Prince's vocals behind the mix to prop them up like what we hear on Whitecaps. But hey, they can play and you cant take that from them (though the playing lacks personality and distinct sound - like a good backup band playing a festival). Being pretty young white girls does not take away from this fact. It just confirms that Prince still knows how to stay "relevant" (AKA "in the media") while embracing his role as the venerable sage of real music.

Although I might argue with whether the bolded is in fact true--it seems important to me that unlike those projects, this one isn't an unbilled protege album. Prince is officially there--it's "Prince" and 3rd Eye Girl. So he's not propping up, he's providing legitimate band member vocals, or if you want to think of it, co-lead.

trickster said:

come on ... its not that bad. and it works on the record in my ears

Not the greatest vocals I've ever heard but it works for me.

trickster said:

come on ... its not that bad. and it works on the record in my ears

How did this get posted twice when I hit "enter" once?

[Edited 10/12/14 9:26am]

JoshuaWho said:

Listening to the album, I am struck by how poor the female vocals are.

I have access to some recordings of ms Allo's background vocals during one of her Ahoy Rotterdam shows with mr Prince and those are very awful.

Yes, it's contrasting to hear when compared to her studio output.

u should hear the cat screaming of wendy lisa and fink on the purple rain tour...yikes,,,best backgorund i ever heard was skipper doing do me baby during controversy tour...Dez VOCALS ON POINT

JoshuaWho said:

Another great nonsensikal thread

I couldn't agree more - Hannah's vocals are so bad that I can't listen to the songs that feature her. Just dreadful. And every non-Prince fan I've played them for has laughed, and laughed, and laughed...

As for Andy's vocals live - I haven't heard them, because new Prince live bootlegs bore me to tears (interestingly, aside from the 3rdeyegirl ones, which are just not good enough quality for me to listen to), but I can definitely say that her voice on record is quite beautiful (and at the very least, not cringe-worthy like Hannah's).

Can you imagine how awful Hannah's vocals would be live, if the studio songs represent the best she could do with multiple takes and her husband's trickery? UGH.

Give the gal a break , she ain't the worst singer in the world or ever in a Prince band. The worst female singer in the world is still going

Their vocals aren't very good,but come on,this is Prince we're talking about when it comes to females,he doesn't always look for the best "singers",lol.It has always been this way (with a few exceptions).

Bull$hit thread.. every time any of his entourage sings people act like they're the second coming of the antichrist.. Today its Hannah, yesterday it was Andy Allo, the day before that it was Shelby, the day before that it was Bria, the day before that it was Tamar (who in fact has an AMAZING voice), before that it was the twins, Nona, Mayte, and Carmen, Sheila etc etc Appolonia, Jill, Vanity.. blah blah blah.. wash rinse repeat..

.

Considering she's a drummer and not a singer, she's pretty damn good. Just as no one would expect miracles from Sheila's voice or Wendy & Lisa's (considering they're musicians first singers second), neither should you expect them from Hannahs.

scorp84 said:

Jill Jones was hidden behind a lot of the lead vocals on some Vanity, Sheia E. and Apollonia 6 tracks.

I think it's hilarious that,on the 1999 tour,Jill Jones sang vocals for Vanity 6 while hiding behind a curtain.She was needed to "pump up" their weak vocals.

Crap album, that is where the problem is,

Only 2 strong songs Wow & Anotherlove.

thedance said:

Let me introduce you to Dale Bozzio, young padawan :

http://youtu.be/Kvl2V1HlIbU

thedance said:

SuperFurryAnimal said:

3rdEG recorded everything in one take together find me another group with that amount of talent that can record an album as good. Her voice works for alt rock not everyone needs pipes like Rosie Gaines! As a matter of fact Rosie as amazing as she is would sound out of place on the majority here. Hannah sounds just fine.

I'm sure they only cut the basic tracks live. The vocals here have clearly been tinkered with, edited and treated as they would be on any modern day pop record. There's lots of stuff on PE that's clearly not "live in one take."

It's a decent album. The female vocal songs drag it down several notches...and the mastering is so horrible, it sounds louder on volume 15 in my car than other cds do on volume 25. And no matter what volume, the distorted brickwalled sound is always there. AOA sounds bad too, but not as bad as PE.

another thread about the same bitching and moaning. it's not THAT bad. of course the album would be much better had Prince sung all songs but we knew months ago it was a 3rdeyegirl project so i'm not sure why people are surprised and the vocals are not that bad at all. apollonia was much worse.

lezama said:

Bull$hit thread.. every time any of his entourage sings people act like they're the second coming of the antichrist.. Today its Hannah, yesterday it was Andy Allo, the day before that it was Shelby, the day before that it was Bria, the day before that it was Tamar (who in fact has an AMAZING voice), before that it was the twins, Nona, Mayte, and Carmen, Sheila etc etc Appolonia, Jill, Vanity.. blah blah blah.. wash rinse repeat..

.

Considering she's a drummer and not a singer, she's pretty damn good. Just as no one would expect miracles from Sheila's voice or Wendy & Lisa's (considering they're musicians first singers second), neither should you expect them from Hannahs.

jesus when will u stop making excuses for garbage music .. the music should be damn good and that's it .. there should be no "considering" .. there should be no "she's not a singer" .. if she is not a singer what the hell is she doing singing on a huge wb prince release? ..

i wanna hear this shit live .. i wanna hear that girl huffing and puffing on the drums while trying to sing .. 3eg might be the biggest joke of the p career .. at least p still keeps us loyal fans entertained .. not with his music but none the less .. entertained

TrevorAyer said: