For those of you who have heard Sheila E.'s band doing "Love Bizarre" live at the House of Blues in LA (it was a special show for when she got the musical director job for Magic Johnson's tv show).....you know it's the ultimate version of the song

There are so many interesting musical references in it, but I don't know all of them myself. I would love to discuss and find out what everyone else recognizes.

* In the "Intro" they do some African Type chanting.

* This leads into "Funky Good Time (JAmes Brown)

*Then the band does what I believe are some of the guitar riffs from Batdance. All this occurs before the call outs for "A, B, C, "etc.

* Later after some awesome bass and drum breaks, Sheila calls out "Strawberry" and a little bit later "Whipped Cream". To each of these cues, the band plays horn riffs which I believe are from "It's gonna be a Beautiful Night". But I think 1 or both of these IGBABN riffs might originate from a jazz song (A Train?)

* Another cue Sheila calls out is "Jazz" which leads the band to play a smooth, 2 or 4 bar riff. Not sure if it comes from another song or not.

* Towards the end of the song, they band is just jamming, and they're doing this really fast horn riff..... I don't recognize it but it sounds like something Tower of Power would probably do (and I know Sheila likes them).

* The "Turnaround" sounds like a descending chord progression that Prince used when he did the song with Sheila's band in Romance 1600 Live video. Don't think it's from another song.

What else is there? (OK so I like to overanalyze!)

ha! You love this version, don't you? I had never heard it before you told me about it. It's great!

madartista said:

Yes it is quite "rare."

It is basically a slightly slowed down, jazzier, and more complex version of the arrangement they did on Romance 1600 live. And more recent shows (Family Jamm, a show in 2003 in San Jose) did similar versions, though they weren't quite as amazing as this one.

I always wondered what those horn riffs were from IGBABN even before this....I know in other parts of SOTT Prince calls out "A Train" so I suspect those riffs might be from some jazz songs. Maybe someone with a better jazz knowledge can enlighten us.

Back to the original topic of LB, the ending part of this version is just too funky..... on the subway I can't stop moving around...those fast horn parts, the cymbals...it's too much!
[Edited 5/28/08 9:53am]

Fun thread. I need to listen to that version again and get back to you. But in the meantime: I love this show. I wish I had been there. She and the band sound incredibly tight throughout and the song choice was great. The way Sheila changed after she left Prince's camp is interesting--she became a much more confident band leader, her singing improved, and her stage presence shifted notably. It's sad she wasn't in the studio more in that decade, because she, on stage at least, seemed to have a creative energy that could have led to some great things. As it is, though, the shows from that time period are definitely amazing.

Twiki said:

Yes please do go back and listen and reply!

I WISH that show as on video. Everything you said above is spot on. I don't think she even did that many shows back then.... she didn't have an album out and I don't remember any tour. I used to watch the Magic Johnson show just to see her, and you coudl tell from the snippets going into and out of commercials how awesome the band was and Sheila's band leading skills. They should've just done a show of her and the band!

GaryMF said:

I love the things you caught, such as the Batdance guitar riff. I think you caught most of them, or at least I don't know how much I can add.

I can say that the riff right after she says "Jazz" is also from IGBABN. Actually, this version of A Love Bizarre is really a fun combination of the two songs. When Sheila says, "Are you ready for the new part? New part!" that is very similar to, during IGBABN, when Prince would sing, "People, people, I got a brand new dance, Housequake!" The jam the band goes into at her cue is the same one Prince's band went into as well.

The "Taxi!" portion kinda reminds me of the train approaching horn that kicks off IGBABN.

I love that this version includes one of my favorite elements from the full-length album version of A Love Bizarre. It's the horn riff (and the portion that follows) at 2:50 in. It's rarely included in live versions of the song.

Twiki said:

Actually someone else (probably on here) pointed that out to me... I don't think I got it my self



Really?? I'm playing the album version now to see if I hear it. Never caught that. Not hearing it yet. (Where is it?)



Well the "new part" wasn't really new by this time, since Prince called out "New part" in Romance 1600 live and they played the same jam. . . I think ! is what you're referring to is in the SOTT movie version.....? I have to look for my VHS tape.




Hmm.. 2:50? My version might be different. Cuz at 2:50 Eddie is still in the middle of doing his sax solo ("Eddie blow your horn") but at about 3:20 it changes into a new riff with organ in the back. Maybe you meant 3:50?? that's when it gets funkier, just before the "Turnaround".

I finally listened to IGBABN and this together and figured out that

1) "Strawberry" cues the "Chicken Grease" riff at 5:00 in IGBABN (plus "One More" time per Jill!), and

2)"Whipped Cream" cues the riff towards the end of IGBABN, the 2nd section after "Miko, hit me in the back" at about 7:25.

But do either of these horn parts come from some other jazz songs?

And the really awesome funky part that makes me lose it, is after after the "Say yeah!" and you hear Lynn Mabry (?) going off ..... starting at 6:55 and then it just won't stop! that is what i'm guessing is Tower of Power or something because it is SLAMMING!

Edited to add: Just caught 1 more cue.... at about 7:25 Sheila says something like "Hold on" and they go back into that fast Tower of Power'ish jam just before the last turnaround into the ending.


DAMN if i could get my band to play this(and we could learn these parts!) I'd go insane!
[Edited 5/28/08 17:48pm]

GaryMF said:

I have always thought that Prince yells out "New power!" not "New part!" I believe it's the first reference he ever makes to "new power." But I could be completely wrong on that.

The part I'm talking about isn't in the album version or the SOTT movie (off the top of my head, at least; I don't remember them being in those). It's in several bootleg versions of the song, though, including the one that's on the "87 Laments" boot. (By the way, you should order the Canadian DVD of SOTT instead of still using your VHS tape. )




The part I'm talking about is in Eddie's solo. It's his sax and the background. Sorry I'm not describing it better, but if you want to hear what I'm talking about, go 6:55 into the regular album version. It seems like our versions of the song are about 30 seconds off from each other, so the part you're talking about at 3:20 is probably it.



You're right about these. I rarely listen to the album version of IGBABN because the other live versions I have of it are so much better (it's odd that it was already a live version to begin with and he vastly improved upon it). Anyway, my references to the song come more from the other versions.



Other than "Take the A Train," I don't know the references. Sorry.



Definitely slamming, and this helped me realize how the timing is different on my version. On mine, Sheila says "Say yeah!" at about 6:20, which explains the difference in the Eddie M. part I'm talking about above.



Where does your band play?

There are you 2 "say yeah parts" so just to clarify the timing on my version, Sheila says "Eddie Blow Your Horn" at 2:30.


I just went to the album version (which I hate now because it doesn't have most of these other things ) and I didn't realize how much of Eddie's solo on the album is also in the House of Blues version (like the part you mention).

The "slamming" part at the end though is pure Sheila to me In a way it's like how she ended Erotic City on the Romance 1600 video.

My band used to play at a club in Harlem but we've been on hiatus since last year. We're trying to get it together again and we may have a promotional gig in June.

We have done Glamorous Life a couple times (with no sax!) and we jam into Jungle Love.

I wonder who arranges all these parts for Sheila's shows? Lik does she tell them what snippets to play? I thought I read somewhere her bass player from the Family Jamm (forget his name) is her musical director.

I was at this show! Someone bought me a drink and slipped a roofie into it, so everything after the second song is a total blur. Worst concert experience EVER.

Jude418 said:

No way!!! Wow you are lucky to have been there.....but that sucks about the drink.

I WISH this show existed on video. Was Sheila upfront with the timbales most of the time? do you have any pictures?

GaryMF said:

No pics... I do remember HOB being hardcore about "no cameras."... And I kinda recall this being the first time I saw Sheila share the front of the stage with Peter Michael, Lynn, and back-up vocalists -- timbales were there but not the main focus as before... But like I said, the night was FADED.

They showed a snippet of this show on one of those Where Are They Now things on Sheila, so at least part of it was taped. Would love to see it too.