Anyone seen the video on youtube of a Mazarati after hours party with Sheila E. They do a killer version of "America"

I wonder why Mazarati didn't take off. I thought their first album was pretty damn good.

johnnyreeferseed said:

I agree,their first album is excellent.I liked it even more than Prince's 'Parade'.

SoulAlive said:

I wouldn't go that far, but it is a very good record.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...XBvQlawN08
http://www.youtube.com/wa...re=related

johnnyreeferseed said:

I would. It stomped all over Parade in my opinion. It was probably one of the best albums of 1986. Prince's output was artsy-fartsy CRAP and BrownMark had the Maz stomping a mudhole in his ass that year (musically). Vocally, they were never "great" but rather good. The songs were strong, though. MN Funk at its finest.
[Edited 1/3/08 0:58am]

I saw them at The Bowery on Nicollet Ave, just north of downtown a couple times.You're right about them kickin ass live. Nothing like some serious Jheri Curl rock.

BlaqueKnight said:

Agreed.I appreciate the artistic qualities of 'Parade' but in 1986,it was Mazarati who were giving me the hardcore Minneapolis funk that I really craved.In fact,the funkiest song on 'Parade' ("Kiss") was originally intended for the Mazarati album.

THAT LP WAS DOPE AS HELL!!!!! NOT A WEAK TRACK ON IT!!!!!

johnnyreeferseed said:

The album cover did them in. You see, by the time they came out so many acts had tried to use the androgynous thing, and the public was over it. Run-DMC, LL Cool J were big influences in black music, and the "stage costume" thing was regularly lampooned in hip-hop as being fake. I remember that Mazarati got a lot of airplay back then, and people were checkin for the album. But when these guys came out, and you got a look at them, it was like WTF? Anyway the album was good, especially the baselines on "I Guess It's All OVer" and "100 MPH".

SoulAlive said:

Maybe when it came out when I was a teen I liked Mazarati's album more than Parade, but I've grown since then and can appreciate all the artsy-fartsy stuff on Parade more now. I mean "Mountains" alone sounds more amazing to me now than anything by Mazarati. But I was in a different frame of mind in high school where I preferred straight-up funk like Mazarati and Jesse Johnson to the new ground that Prince was breaking at the time.

funksterr said:

I agree,their outfits were outrageous,to say the least even after Prince and his amazing Purple Rain success,I'm not sure that America was truly ready for a black and white funk band wearing feminine clothes,pearls,make-up and lots of eyeliner (ironically,the "big hair" rock bands at the time were doing exactly that,with much more success).Browmark claims that he was held responsible for their lack of success."I got blamed for alot of things",he said,noting that their appearance was strictly Prince's idea,"He dressed them like that.He made them wear those clothes".

Still,their album wasn't a total flop.In my area,three songs got alot of airplay: the two singles "Player's Ball" and "100 MPH",plus "Stroke".There were videos for the first two singles.The Mazarati project received much more promotion and attention than the Family album.In R&B/funk circles,the album was well-received.

sextonseven said:

I hear what you're saying.I do like 'Parade' and I appreciate the artistic qualities of it,but I find the album (as a whole) to be wildly uneven,lacking focus.The first four or five songs sound rushed and unfinished."Life Can Be So Nice" is chaotic.The album sounds like Prince was trying to do too many things,all at once.Prince later admitted that he wasn't totally proud of it ("I recorded it too soon after 'Around The World In A Day' and I didn't have enough good material ready").The album does sound like it was written and recorded too fast.

SoulAlive said:

My belief is Prince only said that stuff because Wendy and Lisa contributed A LOT to Parade and Prince wasn't the control freak for those sessions that he is used to being. The end product was a spectacular album, but because it wasn't totally his album, he has negative things to say about it.

The first four or five songs only sound as rushed and unfinished to me as the medley at the end of Abbey Road. More artists should make "unfinished" songs like those.

Okay, sorry this is a bit OT, but does anyone know whether there is a version of the first Mazarati album, on vinyl, that has 10 songs? I only have the one with 8 songs, but this thread mentions one with ten tracks...

Exactly! The "Parade" album was some weak Lawrence Welk bullshit and Mazarati's album was so hard in comparison it was like a prison rape. It fucked "Parade" up the ass, slapped it upside it's head, and pissed on it afterwards.
.
.
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[Edited 1/4/08 13:19pm]

DevotedPuppy said:

there's a version of their album with 10 tracks?? Never heard that one.What are the two additional songs?

vainandy said:

the funny thing is....I dig songs like "Do U Lie",but I think of these as lightweight novelty songs.It's cute and fun,but not very substantial.That pretty much describes how I feel about the entire 'Parade' album.

SoulAlive said:

It doesn't exist. I'm guessing the two additional songs would have been the b-sides "Don't Leave Me Baby" and "Champagne Saturday".

Indeed, there was no 10 track issue of it. For what's it worth, I love "Parade" and "Mazarati". Mazarati's first album is more straight up Minneapolis funk, and it still really stands up today. I'm also in the minority that liked the second album...I had a vinyl copy but sold it about 3 years ago.
[Edited 1/5/08 10:44am]

jjam said:

So then what were the two extra songs on the first album?

Mazarati was bangin'. I can't compare their debut to P's Parade, mainly cuz Mazarati's album was basically what P was ALREADY doing in 82, 83 and 84. MANY of P's material from 82 & 83, especially his demos, sounds a lot like Mazarati's album. Hell, two of the songs, "100 M.P.H." and "Strawberry Lover", (yes, P wrote that too} came from 83. The basic tracks anyway. P's playing everything on those two cuts except for the bassline on Strawberry. Which was redone by Mark mainly so it could tie in more, soundwise, with Mark's other basslines on the album. Parade was a big leap, musically, and I've always respected P for this. He felt he had to distance himself from other cats (Ready For The World) that were starting to get hot with a style of funk that P had been doing a good 3 to 4 years earlier. He had to move foward, musically. As a musician, I understand that. Did I like Parade MORE than Mazarati's album? Fuck no. I played the shit out of MZ's album that year and I still play some of the cuts in my ride till this day.

I've got a vinyl copy of both
Mazarati & Parade...

which one gets played more?
Parade does...
j'adore that album!!!
(don't get me wrong
it took me a while to grasp...
I think I got into the album more
AFTER I saw UTCM for the first time)

Mazarati is not "bad"
but I could do without 70% of the album
"I Guess It's All Over"
and "Strawberry Love" are the only 2
songs I play when I put that record on

I think I will spin the full thing
today while I clean up

SoulAlive said:

I'd always kind of assumed this
with P being the control freak he is
and this quote definitely shines more light
on what Alexander O'Neal said in an interview
for VIBE magazine about his split with the Prince camp
he said "Prince was into controlling people
and I wasn't easily controlled"
[Edited 1/6/08 11:55am]

I think "She's Just That Kinda Lady" should have been a single.I bet that song would have been huge,with a cool video and a slammin 12" version.