and explain why.

i only have romance 1600, the glamorous life, sex cymbal and heaven.

well, heaven pretty much totally sucks, sex cymbal is passable in parts if you don't mind pseudo janet/paula abdul kinda stuff.

so the only two i really like are the glamorous life and romance 1600, and i like them equally.

so what's your view?

1. The Glamorous Life - self evident (this is 1 of the top 3 protege albums ever!) This album is in my desert island set... no question!

2. Sheila E. Self Titled - You HAVE to get this if you are a Sheila fan. nice combination of Sheila doing her own thing and the Prince thing (1/2 the songs are written with P; the other half with her musicians). Worth it for the opening "Someday I'm Gonna Make You Mine" and the closer "Love On A Blue Train" alone! Plus the under rated "Koo Koo", kind of like Sheila's version of "Kiss".

3. Sex Cymbal - Mainly for the title song (amazing video) and Lady Marmelade (Sheila puts her own spin on Miss Patti's classic, a pretty amazing feat) and Funky Attitude (orig. on Ford Fairlane soundtrack)

4. Romance 1600 - I almost put this as #3... but it's probably the most dated. It was trying to be a concept album. I prefer the 12" version of Sister Fate, and as I've posted several times on here, the LIVE Versions of Love Bizarre. After hearing Sheila do LB live, I almost can't listen to the studio version without the horn parts. Toy Box is Sheila doing her Morris impersonation, and very cute... and I really like Bedtime Story.

5. Heaven - I'm embarassed to admit I only listened to it once when I bought it and then put it away.

?? Writes of Passage - I was kind of out of following Prince and Sheila for a few years when this came out and never bought it. I hear it's pretty good though.
[b][Edited 3/13/05 21:06pm]

'Sheila E.'(1987)---this is her strongest,most consistent album EVER.Songs like "Faded Photographs"(which really should have been a single),"The Pride And The Passion" and "Love On a Blue Train" are superb songs...catchy and inviting.This album also contains her best slow jam---the sultry "Hold Me"---and there are also some fun dance tracks with amusing lyrics ("Boy's Club"..."Hon E Man").Sadly,by the time this album was released,Sheila had already put her solo career on hold to become Prince's drummer.Thus,she wasn't really able to promote her own album,and it bombed.

'Romance 1600'(1985)---although there are no songs as powerful as her debut single "The Glamorous Life",this is a better album than the debut."Toy Boy" is fun and outrageous...ditto for "Yellow".The closing ballad "Bedtime Story" is beautiful.The album's centerpiece is the funky "A Love Bizarre",which should actually be billed as 'Prince featuring Sheila E'...lol...he totally dominates the proceedings.

'The Glamorous Life'(1984)---the relentless title track is the highlight here.The other songs are good,but not great."The Belle Of St.Mark" is pretty good....a nice slice of catchy mid-80s pop.And although she's not a top-notch vocalist,Sheila sounds great on the smooth ballad "Noon Rendezvous".But let's not kid ourselves...this album is worth it only for the hit title track.

'Sex Cymbal'(1991)---I love the songs "Whatcha Gonna Do"(which sounds like a Santana song) and the slow jam "Cry Baby".A few other songs are interesting...."Loverboy" and "Bad Attitude" are fiery funk jams that sizzle.So,it's a decent,well-produced album,but somehow you get the feeling that Sheila is holding back.

'Writes Of Passage'---sorry to say this,but this album is a snoozefest

DavidEye said:

LOL, I totally disagreed with your Time album rankings, but these Sheila E ones are on the money. I bought 'Heaven' and 'Writes Of Passage' for my dad who is a big jazz fan and he said he liked them, but I never actually listened to them myself.

DavidEye said:

Co-sign. I'm actually annoyed that Sheila E. wasn't promoted more actively. It was an incredible album, and by far her best.

The Glamorous Life: This one's my favorite for having the Minneapolis Sound alone. There's some great jams on this album like the title track, "Shortberry Strawcake", "The Belle Of St. Mark" (especially the 12 Inch), and "Oliver's House". I love that drum machine at the front of "Noon Rendezvous", it reminds me of the backwards song that Apollonia was listening to of Prince's in his basement. The B-Side "Too Sexy" was great too. I wish there would have been more Sheila E. albums in the Minneapolis Sound style.

Sheila E.: This one's a great album. There's some great funk on this album like "The Pride And The Passion", "Boy's Club", "Koo Koo", and "Love On A Blue Train" as well as rock like "Faded Photographs". I didn't care for "Hold Me" though. It sounded too much like the weak R&B that everyone else was doing at the time.

Romance 1600: There's some good tracks like "Sister Fate" and "A Love Bizarre" but this album's got too much of a jazz style for my taste.

Sex Cymbal: The only track I like on this album is the title track. The remake of "Lady Marmalade" was horrible. I love the B-Side of the "Sex Cymbal" 12 Inch called "Bass Base". This should have been on the album, it might have made it a little bit stronger.
[Edited 3/20/05 15:18pm]

todd305 said:

I totally agree.That album is spectacular.

Totally agree. The David Eye list is also my list. The self-titled Sheila E. album is in my forever top-3 Paisley Park associates album collection.

Hate to say it but her latest albums "Heaven" and "Writes of Passage" really suck ! Boring, uninspired, senseless ... That doesn't mean that I dislike a Prince associates album just because Prince is not involved any longer. For instance St.Paul has released some beautiful albums since he left the Prince camp. But Sheila's music just does not do it for me.

funkystuff said:

I totally agree,and it pains me to say this,because I really love Sheila.But those albums---'Writes Of Passage' and 'Heaven'---are really weak.On the latter,she even does a lame remake of Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting"!

I'm hoping that she will someday do another vibrant,funky pop album again.She has always been my favorite Prince protege.

Difficult because I love the whole Sheila cannon, but I'm gonna go with:

in Romance 1600
Sheila E
in The Glamorous Life
Sex Cymbal
Writes Of Passage
Heaven

Not really fare to compare the pop albums with the soft-jazz albums, but I prefer Writes of Passage to Heaven.

R1600 is one of my favourite P. albums any way, and Sheila E could have been such a big hit had it been promoted well with the right singles

MetroArea said:

In my opinion,these should have been the four singles,in this order...

"Hold Me"---a perfect choice for first single and it did extremely well on the R&B charts.Too bad there wasn't a sensual video to go with it.

"Faded Photographs"---Warners and Paisley Park should have prmoted the hell out of this song!! It's a powerful,vibrant rock/pop song that should have been all over MTV in the summer of '87.What a missed opportunity!

"The Pride And The Passion"---another strong,uptempo track with a wonderful chorus.Lyrically,it is very similiar to "The Glamorous Life".

"Love On A Blue Train"---the funkiest jam on the album,and a surefire dance/R&B smash.



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[Edited 3/22/05 3:00am]