Hello... just wanted to let you know that I've written an article on Andre Cymone over at my blog.

It includes an interview with Cymone's drummer, John 'Bam Bam' Morgan who has also generously contributed rare photos and an unreleased track.

Check it out here and feel free to leave a comment:
http://citinite.wordpress...re-cymone/

M.O.T.F.

Man thanks for the article. It's a great read.

The Girls track is HOT! "If I have to I'll play with myself!" LOL!

GREAT Andre article! That unreleased track by the Girls is slammin'!!!

Love the article and the exclusive music.....SO FUNKY!
Andre Cymone can FUNK.....PROUD 2 B in the NEW WAVE!
The Gyrlz track is so funky love the bass and the vocals SLAMMING!

mansep said:

I got your orgnote hipping me to the article. When was that? Earlier this week?....Very cool. I called Dre about 2 hours ago and I left him a voice message telling him about your article and that it is on this forum. Dre knows all about this site and checks it out sometimes. The only time when I specifically told him about something on here regarding him was VainAndy! Cuz Vain is always jocking Andre, I told him to check out a thread that Vain had posted on. Don't trip...I checked with Vain first to see if it was cool, so Vain knows.

blackguitaristz said:

oh cool!.. that's great... man, i hope he likes it!

I've yet to read the article, but visually it appears to be quite the treat mansep! I caught a glimpse of 'The Girls', so that alone tells me you've done your research.

Information on Andre is so scarce, so anything of this magnitude is greatly appreciated. I have the urge to pop in Survivin' In The 80's now!

Call me crazy, but Andre totally got back at The Time for their; "We don't like New Wave", comment at the end of his live performance of What Are We Doing Here?" -- being that they were apart of the live audience from my understanding.

"We can't live the way they did 40 years ago and try and update a lil bit, know what I'm saying...and come out with baggy pants and shit!"

"Ain't nobody in here too cool to clap they hands, I know that!"

Get 'em Dre!

GoActive said:

There u go....that's it in a nutshell. Very few people were hip to P going through The Time to make fun of Andre's music and his latest album at that time. Yeah, I know the "We Don't Like New Wave" was intended to slam Andre's "Livin In The New Wave". But the waaay more hellish creepy backward mask of that which says "Here We Come For U",....I don't know WHO Prince intended THAT for!

blackguitaristz said:

I've never picked up on that -- now I gotta go and re-listen!

Unless we get word from P himself, the possibilities of the masks true intention are virtually endless.

GoActive said:

Dig Glow, and I know there are others on here who can testify to me running a few threads specifically about this backward mask in the past. On the What Time Is It? album, "We Don't Like New Wave" is shouted two different times through out the album. The one with the reversal though is at the end of the last song on Side Two. It's at the end of "onedayi'mgonnabesomebody". When Morris, Prince and a few others shout "We Don't Like New Wave" and then there is much laughter and hootin' and hollerin'. Play that in reverse and then u first hear the laughter in reverse, which no longer sounds anything like laughter. And then U clearly hear Prince's voice ALONE multi- tracked saying "Here We Come For U". Whatever u do, don't play this shit alone at night. That's all I'm going to say.

what are we doing here is a great cut.

thats a cool article, I hope someone finds that miadiri holmes person. i would love to see that concert footage of them at the met

blackguitaristz said:

That is seriously some of the most freakiest shit ever! I flipped the track over as specified, and it's distinctly audible.

The laughter reversed sounds like a bunch of howling ghouls and goblins -- or better yet, minions of hell. I'd like to think the "Here We Come For You" message wasn't intended for Dre, but who knows what was running through Prince's mind.

Flipping the script back over to Andre, his performance of Stay is a fucking killer! Talk about underrated (as with the rest of his solo efforts excluding Dance Electric) -- I didn't think much of the song before until I saw the linked performances over on Myspace not long ago. It's quickly supplementing Kelly's Eyes as my favorite tune of his.

Kelly's Eyes... awesome song

i remember when i was a kid that song got lots of radio play in minneapolis.

lately i cant get the catchy hooks out of my head from what are we doing here.

blackguitaristz said:

Played forward that section sounds like multitracks of Prince laughing and coughing and maybe Prince trying to sound like Morris doing the jungle love style "ooh-ohh-ooh ah ah ah". Jill or Lisa can clearly be heard shouting in monotone "We Don't Like New Wave".

If I'd played the record backward on a turntable I would think it was a case of backward masking, but reversing the section in digital form it's hard to say that "Here We Come For U" is there ( Though I have to admit it sort of sounds like it). Isn't that just what "We Don't Like New Wave" sounds like backward?
I'm split on this one, but thanks for pointing it out to the rest of us.

blackguitaristz said:

I think phonetic reversal can make sounds seem like they are saying something else. It's not necessarily a case of being clever with backmasking. It's easy for the brain to link sounds to kinda seem like other words are being said...(it's like the audio equivalent of being able "see" Mother Teresa's face on a potato)... but i think it's unintentional most of the time.

When recording vocals, if you play all the vocals backwards there are bound to be sections where a few of the sounds sound like words... so you just select those bits and draw attention to them in the final mix, because they sound interesting. But doing this intentionally is VERY difficult.

Even that classic Beatles one which started that whole Paul Is Dead rumour... if you listen to the vocals repeating "Number 9" it's (supposedly) meant to say "turn me on dead man".. but in truth it only slightly sounds like that.

Afterall, people mis-hear normal lyrics all the time... "excuse me whilst i kiss this guy" anyone?

mansep said:

Good post...Very true. I've stated myself several times on here in the past that backmasking is very hard to do. I've down it myself intentionally and had it happen on accident. That said, I'm well versed on all things backmasked and the process of this form. That said, I DO believe that this reversal WAS intentional. Giving P's history at that time of having hidden messages in his work, audible and visual, this to me, is dead on intentional. I think P discovered it by experimenting with backmasks, like Zepp and The Beatles used to do. I think P wanted a dig directed at Andre regarding Dre's new album, so he just started trying out different phrases in the studio with the phrase "new wave" in it. And I think he found it just out of pure experiementation. Also the laughter part after the phrase is also designed. That's evident when it's reversed. It sounds too "organized" sounding. Not accidental at all. Like I stated, I wrote a lyric and sung it that went "She has no soul because she buried her heart in a hole." Played backwards, u CLEARLY hear me say "Sad Izzabella, you should know the sound of my voice." Now that was unintentional, but in P's case,...nah...

funksterr said:

Your welcome...thanx for checking it out. It's all fun in the spirit of things...I've loved backwards recordings ever since I was a kid. Used to spin many of records on my turntable backwards listening to Hendrix' backwards guitar solo's (check out his backwards solo in the song "Are You Experienced" and the beautiful "Castles Made Of Sand" & "Drifting") and Zeppelin's "Stairway", The Eagles "Hotel California" and many from The Beatles. So by the time P got busy with it in 81, early 82, I was already hip to the "sound" of reversals. I could detect something in a track just from the way it sounded. Sometimes I would be wrong...Other times,... I wouldn't. Gotta say funksterr, I never noticed my girl Lisa or Jill being on the track...I just always keyed in on Prince and who I do believe is actually Morris and not P imitating Morris's voice and it sounds like Jesse is laughing as well. I would say it sounds more like Lisa instead of Jill. Good ear.

blackguitaristz said:

I ran the song through Soundforge using the inverted phase technique people use to remove lead vocals off commercial recordings. After doing that the female vocal jumps out a lot more. I do this with a lot of Prince songs. It's like looking behind the curtain.

wow that version of "don't waste my time"is slammin! i love the Girls and Andre rocks. i wish he was still making music.

Nice. Thanks 4 sharing.

nice read, thanks.

funksterr said:

I downloaded sound forge about a week ago, and still haven't figured out how to remove vocals. Maybe you can orgnote me the process, or maybe post here.

Thanks.....

That track is fucking bad ass.

Hey black, thanks for hipping me to that backmask at the end of onedayimgonnabesomebody. I'm also a fan of backmasking and I wasnt aware of this one before.

In my opinion, P definately did it on purpose. Like you said, we know of him doing it on many other tracks. That's the first sign. The second sign is in the way that he says the phrase "We Dont Like New Wave" when it's running normally. It's not said how it would normally be said, it's in a lower tone plus the emphasis is on and off on different syllables, which is a dead giveaway.

For example, the word "Wave". It isnt really said "Wave", it sounds more like "Wayyyyy", because if P had put emphasised the "Ve", it would have thrown off the backmask.

Taurus said:

Split the track into left/right.
Invert the right side of the track.

this good work to have andre,s work put up like that i found the website very good. he should have his ureleased music released because the new wave movement is starting up all over again. Andre if youre reading this plz consider releasing your ureleased material out so you can along with the new wave movement shoveit down the haters throats and brings stabillity in a musical world filled with chaos.

Militant said:

Exactly..I'm glad I'm not the only cat on here that truly "understands" the process of backmasking. It's waaay more than saying the words. It's all about HOW it's said or sung, as well. That's a spooky ass mask, huh? Prince was crazy as a muthafucker back then.

blackguitaristz said:

Now, this is profound. So, there was more to that phrase than meets the eye. Too slick.

Taurus said:

1. highlight the left side of the track
2. copy to clipboard (ctrl+c)
3. paste to new file (ctrl+e)
4. go back to original file
5. highlight and copy (ctrl+c) the right side of the track
6. switch back to new file
7. paste mix (ctrl+m) the data (make sure the 'invert data' box is checked in either 'source' or 'destination', but not both).
8. the original stereo file is now mixed to a new mono file.
9. listen to the song


My favorite songs for this technique:

F.U.N.K. - you can hear Prince's guitar MUCH more clearly. (it's sloppy, he probably did throw the track together in a day .

Kiss - the entire rhythm guitar part is much more prominent.

MJ "Wanne Be Startin' Somethin' - the backgrounds are much more audible, including a Camille-type vocal that I didn't notice much before.

The Dance - piano part is more clear.

If anyone uses this technique, let us know if you discover anything cool.
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[Edited 4/2/08 12:27pm]