One of the standout tracks on Andre's 'AC' album...

I dunno... I think it is rather uneventful.

scififilmnerd said:

I like it

best song he ever did was Satisfaction

It's weird about Andre, because people have always said he could have been as big as Prince, and he's a great bass player, etc. But his three albums don't have THAT many great songs on them. I can't quite figure out if he's just naturally using the MPLS sound, or if he's moreso channeling Prince influence. He didn't stick around that long to really have a huge influence FROM Prince per se; and both were so young, the influence was probably equal to that point. Yet what do we remember Andre for FIRST when we hear his name? "The Dance Electric". Not the A.C. as a whole, or Surviving In The 80's or whatever it was called. We sorta know he's produced and helped write songs for Jody Watley. We sort of remember something done w/ Adam Ant or Jermaine Stewarts, but all of his "potential" as an artist really never flowered.

It makes one question, did he ever have that potential to be a great artist? Maybe not on the level of Prince, but could he have had a very noticeable career and people known who he was as a solo artist, not because of who he played bass for, or who he produced/married/fathered a child with later on? Not so sure.

ernestsewell said:

I think he could be more versitile then the Prince biting solo albums he did. Unfortunately, we only hear gilmpes of it. Take these 2 poppy AOR cuts he produced and wrote/co-wrote



(wrote and produced it)



(Co-wrote and produced it)

Both great, and convincing slices of AOR, and a shame he didn't do an album like those 2 cuts. Potential? Definately. And those 2 cuts are as good as anyone else who was hot doing AOR at the time. Still, at least we saw glimpses of what he could of done more of.

Also, he still had abit of funk in him on this cut for Gardner Cole



(produced by Cole with Andre)

Sounds like Sonic music (hey its early 90's LOL), but it stands up quite well i think.

So he got around here and there in the late 80's/early 90's outside of Jody Watley, I just think he had it in him to be more versitile then just his solo albums and work with Jody, which is all he is known for.
[Edited 6/17/09 18:47pm]

Rhastus said:

"Satisfaction" is a good song.It was released as the third single.I like it but if it were up to me,these should have been the singles:

"The Dance Electric"---obvious choice for the first single
"Pretty Wild Girl"---the best Minneapolis slow jam that Prince never recorded.
"Book Of Love"

"Lipstick Lover" was a weak second single choice and by the time "Satisfaction" was released as the third single,the album's momentum was gone.

Another potential single is "Neon Pussycat" which combines a hip-hop sound with the Minneapolis Sound.In 1985,this might have caught on with urban listeners:

ernestsewell said:

As a solo artist,Andre sounded so much like Prince,which I think is one reason why radio didn't give him a chance.They dismissed him as a Prince clone.It was unfair.But at least he was able to find success as a producer.His work on the Jody Watley albums is amazing.Prince should have offered him a job at Paisley Park Records,as a producer/songwriter.A hot song like "Still A Thrill" might have gone to Jill Jones,who really needed a hit single.

SoulAlive said:

Not sure if that theory holds up because EVERYONE was sounding like Prince after the fact. Sheila E. did even if they knew Prince was involved somewhere. Read For The World did. Endless groups and artists were snagging that Minneapolis sound.

I just don't think Andre's song writing was that great overall. Time has proven that.

weird. i was thinking of this song yesterday, i forget what triggered it, but weird.

Rhastus said:

Best song he ever did was Dance Electric - and Prince did that for him. Yet another reason you cant f with Prince.

Other than that, What Are We Doing Here is far and away his best - it is the one tune that captures that new wave vibe he was trying to get for all of his solo career.
[Edited 6/18/09 11:02am]

ernestsewell said:

So you're saying that Andre's work was ignored because of his "not so great" songwriting? Ready For The World were weak songwriters and their material was played "Oh Sheila" is hardly a work of art.Jesse Johnson's album had some great grooves but he's not an exceptional songwriter either.I think 'A/C' is just as good as any other Minneapolis-sounding album that came out in 1985 .

SoulAlive said:

Don't even trip, Soul....Anyway, you KNOW the track that SHOULD have been a single and it wasn't even on the A.C. album? "Red Light"... That song is the BOMB! And it's an old song compared to when Andre got around for A.C. It was written and demoed in early 82. Somehow P's ass heard it and WANTED it for the 1999 album but Andre was like "Excuse me? But have WE forgot about "Do Me, Baby?". Andre wasn't letting that shit out of his sight. WHY it wasn't on the A.C. album is beyond me because to me, it's Andre's best ballad. That is of course if u don't count "Do Me, Baby".

SoulAlive said:

U know, except for the A.C. album, I never thought Andre sounded like Prince. What Andre sounded like to me was someone who had many of the same influences but was trying his best to NOT sound like Prince. To the point that Andre was doing tracks that seemed "unnatural". If he was able to come up with a groove that he dug and it was funky but on an odd count, then he was good to go. Cuz I think he felt that would distance himself from P. Just the little bit that he told me was that he felt he was in a hard position. Everybody, his label, Owen Husney, his manager and P's former manager, everybody expected him to have the Prince sound. Dez went through the same shit. So did Jesse. In Dre's case it was different. Because he and P grew up together, they formulated a lot of the same type of ideas. That's hard for Andre to just sweep that under the rug. BUT that's exactly what he wanted to do. It didn't help that he genuinely resembled Prince. Naturally, he always looked like a taller Prince. So that combined with the fact that he played in P's band and having many of the same influences,...he tried to distance himself from P as a solo artist. Then he had P fucking with him on The Time's second album. On the phrase "We Don't Like New Wave!". Which was an obvious dig on Andre's song and album title "Livin In The New Wave". Then P started doing some of Dre's science fiction type tracks like "Something In The Water".... Dre couldn't scream like P so once P did his thing with his vocals, it was all over. Really, it wasn't untill Dre agreed to release the track "The Dance Electric" (one that I wish P had kept for himself and released THAT after Purple Rain instead of ATWIAD!) that Dre seemed at peace and more at ease with his natural influences. The whole "A.C" album was like that. And to me, because of that, it ended up sounding the most like Prince. But in a natural way like a lot of that shit was HIS too, u know?
[Edited 6/23/09 1:31am]

Once a friend came to me and asked me if I knew the way
He said his woman stepped out and he really thinks he's turning gay
So I took him by his hand and looked him right in his eyes
I said falling in love with a man ain't no surprise

Awwwww SING IT you hot fucker you!

I thought the same exact thing. When I first bought "Living In The New Wave" back in 1982, I bought it strictly because I remembered seeing him on the inside sleeve of the "Dirty Mind" album and knew he was a Prince associate. I was actually disappointed when I first bought it because I was expecting his album to sound like either Prince or The Time. Instead, Andre's album had much more rock on it where Prince and The Time had more funk on their's. Over the years, "Living In The New Wave" became my favorite Andre Cymone album but it wasn't back in those days because I had not acquired a taste for too much rock yet.

I remember Andre telling "Right On" magazine back in 1982, that someone came up to him and said...."My girlfriend and I really enjoy your album". Then after talking to him for about a minute or two, he realized that the guy thought he was talking to Prince and you could tell by Andre's tone that it got on his nerves. He also said in that same interview that if he played bluegrass, people would still compare him to Prince.
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[Edited 6/23/09 1:45am]

vainandy said:

Yes, exacly. I remember that interview in Right On! magazine as well. THAT kind of shit bothered him a lot. Because in some ways, he felt that he had something to do with P becoming successful. Not that he "showed" or "taught" P everything that he knew but that he and his family really supported Prince when no one else would. So it was kinda bitter tasting lemonade for him. That and then motherfuckers thinking that he was ACTUALLY Prince was the cherry on the icing. It's like "Damn...What's a brutha got to do?"
[Edited 6/23/09 2:01am]

I think Andre finally started getting recognized by people after the "AC" album. I think I remember reading around that time that he could barely visit his mother anymore because of people trying to jump him in the front yard. I don't know if "trying to jump him" was supposed to be a good or a bad thing. I hope I'm not mistaken about that interview because it's been a lot of years since I read it.
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[Edited 6/23/09 2:10am]

vainandy said:

Was that the same article where Dre also mentioned about going to his mother's house and her wanting him to "do the lawn"? And that when people asked his mother about him out there mowing it, she told them "Better him than me!"?

I don't remember that part. I sure as hell don't blame her about the "better him than me" part.

I would hope that Andre would have payed someone to mow her grass rather than do it himself. I'm not even a star or have much money but I'd spend my last dime to pay someone because I think I'd rather have my ass beat than be out there in that hot ass sun mowing a yard.

blackguitaristz said:

Hmmm, never made the connection before, but I guess I see it now.

When we account for Prince's influence, looking at Andre's own albums I can see how Andre might've brought that influence to Prince at the turn of the 80s - stuff like Gary Numan and Soft Cell I'm sure influenced 1999, and I think Andre probably dug that stuff too.

blackguitaristz said: