PAISLEY PARK RECORDS: A RETROSPECTIVE

CD1
The Family - The Screams Of Passion (1985) *
Sheila E. - A Love Bizarre (1985) *
Mazarati - Player's Ball (1986)
Madhouse - Six (1987) *
Sheila E. - Koo Koo (1987) *
Jill Jones - Mia Bocca (1987) *
Taja Sevelle - Love Is Contagious (1987)
Madhouse - Thirteen (1987) *
Dale - Simon Simon (1988)
Three O' Clock - Neon Telephone (1988) *
Good Question - Got A New Love (1988)
Tony LeMans - Higher Than High (1989)

CD2
Mavis Staples - Time Waits For No One (1989) *
George Clinton - Tweakin' (1989)
Kahoru Kohiruimaki - Dreamer (1989)
The Time - Jerk Out (1990) *
Kahoru Kohiruimaki - Mind Bells (Live) (1990) *
Eric Leeds - The Dopamine Rush (1991) *
T.C. Ellis - Miss Thang (1991) *
Ingrid Chavez - Hippy Blood (1991)
Carmen Electra - Everybody get On Up (1993) *
Mavis Staples - The Voice (1993) *
George Clinton - Paint The White House Black (1993)
Eric Leeds - Woman In Chains (1993)

* = Prince written song
I took one song for each non-Prince PP album that was released, using the most popular/commercial single/song (Eric Leeds'albums and the KK live had no single so...), and put them in a rough release order.

I'll have to listen to it and see if it makes any sense (many different songs in many different styles) but i think that despite being considered a commercial failure, PP might end-up having a sufficient cult-following to justify such a release in maybe 5 or 10 years.

What do you think?
[Edited 4/11/10 17:49pm]

Sounds like a winner....i would buy it. What would be even better is if Warners re-released the Paisley albums in full.....We can but hope

Or a box set...it would be nice 2 have them all in the same collection, and it would be good 4 people 2 avoid paying high prices 4 some of the harder 2 find stuff.

Something like the Yen Box (http://artskool.biz/jem/yen.html) maybe?

databank said:

Yes (the link did not work but i looked it up) something like that would be great. I am sure a label like Warners could put something together.

Hi databank,

I've seen your several posts where you treat "Mind Bells" and "Bliss" as releases by Paisley Park label. I think you got that idea because you saw Paisley Park logo on the sleeve for Kohiruimaki's releases.

I personally differentiate those songs from generic Paisley Park releases. Kohiruimaki's albums were released by TDK Records at that time. All of the generic Paisley Park releases, that you are discussing here, would have to be issued by Warner Pioneer.

I don't remember correctly but was there other album with Paisley Park logo because of inclusion of Prince-penned & produced song?

MikeyB71 said:

At the very least,they should re-release The Family,Mazarati,Jill Jones and the two Madhouse CDs.

SoulAlive said:

I agree with that, those 5 would make a good start.

deepwater said:

Hi, i actually just learned a few weeks before that these had the Paisley Park logo at all, when i had already thought it was a TDK release-only. I asked here about it and Langebleu said "According to Uptown's The Vault, Prince was approached by Kahoru Kohiruimaki's manager, who had previously been responsible for Prince's tour promotion in Japan.".

I have no clue what the particularity of this deal was, nor what was TDK's relationship to Warner-Pioneer (if any), but Paisley Park's logo's inclusion cannot have anything to do with just Prince penning 2 songs: Paisley Park was a label and a label's logo appears on a record when the label is at least partially responsible for releasing the album (what it means exactly in terms of corporation-owned sublabels: i'm not sure. For exemple, "Pandemonium" was jointly released by Paisley Park and Reprise Records and i have no clue why it happened and what it implied for both labels since both were Warner sublabels).

And no: to my knowledge, Paisley Park's logo wasn't ever used on any non-Paisley Park record (and i used to have genuine copies of 95% of the records containing Prince compositions).

So it's possible that Warner doesn't own Kahoru Kohiruimaki's CD's master-tapes, in which case they'd need to make a deak with TDK te be able to rerelease this material, but neverthless "Time The Motion" and "Time The Motion Live" were the subject of a contractual deal with Paisley Park Records (as a label) and therefore should count as an official, though unusual, release.

Now i'd still be really happy to learn more about this deal (because i can't understand what was the common interest of both Paisley Park and TDK in it). I guess Kahoru must have a japanese fan-base that might know about it, but we'd need a Japanese-speaker to ask them on some J-pop forum

this would be cool 2 buy, I created a compilation like this years ago and it's great 2 listen 2. Actually, I've created 2 versions of the compilation.

sms130 said:

Tracklist?

I posted this up long ago. This was just a rough draft. I also wanted 2 include the pre-Paisley Park Records related artist and tracks as well (Vanity/Apollonia 6, The Time, Sheila E.) because if it wasn't 4 projects like those and the success of Purple Rain album, I don't think Paisley Parks Records would have existed. Who knows, if Vanity/Apollonia 6 would have never broken up; they would have appeared courtesy of Paisley Park/Warner Bros Records. Look at the case of The Time and Sheila E.

Disc 1
Mia Bocca - Jill Jones
6 - Madhouse
Nasty Girl - Vanity 6
The Screams Of Passion - The Family
Player's Ball - Mazarati
Jerk Out - The Time
Simon, Simon - Dale
G-Spot - Jill Jones
A Love Bizarre - Sheila E
13 - Madhouse
Heaven Must Be Near - Ingrid Chavez
I am - Elisa Fiorillo
Sex Shooter - Apollonia 6
Everybody Get On Up - Carmen Electra
The Undertaker - Mavis Staples
Love Is Contagious - Taja Sevelle
The Glamorous Life - Sheila E
Cool - The Time

Disc 2
Sister Fate - Sheila E
He's So Dull - Vanity 6
Tweakin' - George Clinton
Jaguar - Mavis Staples
Jungle Love - The Time
Blue Limosime - Apollonia 6
Nothing Compares 2 U - The Family
Wouldn't You Love To Love Me - Taja Sevelle
10 - Madhouse
100 MPH - Mazarati
Neon Telephone - Three O'Clock
Koo Koo - Sheila E
Blood Is Thicker Than Time - Mavis Staples
The Walk - The Time
Baby You're A Trip - Jill Jones

sms130 said:

I agree with you on the Jaimie Starr albums, which i just excluded because well, they were not technically Paisley Park.

If i'm to be picky Elisa Fiorillo wasn't Paisley Park or even Warner Bros. On the other hand it was kinda clever to add "Nothing Comparse 2 U" considering its historical impact
[Edited 4/12/10 12:28pm]

databank said:

I 've checked my copies and found new things.

1) Time The Motion CD was actually manufactured and released by TDK Records but the owner of distribution was Warner Pioneer. It's described unremarkably in Japanese. (I didn't notice before.)

2) The reissue of the album was done by different company (Tokuma Japan Records) in 1995. In this release, the design of disc label was newly created and it didn't have Paisley Park logo on it.
I don't know about the booklet. I could not check it for this release since my copy is still sealed. This reissue was out with slimline jewelcase and that's why I could check the disc label.

I don't think those findings give us the answer but I thought you might want to know.

databank said:

As it's mentioned above, Warner Pioneer was responsible just for distribution (I mean top of distribution tree in a wholistic veiw, not just about logistics). Then, I think Warner Pioneer doesn't owm master. I believe it must have belonged to TDK Records when it was released first in 1989.

Regardless of how TDK Records and Warner Pioneer worked together, there might have been contractual obligation for TDK Records to put the Paisley Park logo. It's quite agreeable.

However, I still hesitate to count those Kohiruimaki's songs as Paisley Park releases It's just my feeling and it comes from the fact that other songs on Time The Motion and the configuration of the album reside far away from Prince's control. Basically, generic Paisley Park releases seemed to be materialized with full/final autorization by Prince with their contents, package ... etc. This looks to be a big difference for me.




Thank you for your knoeledge. I almost forget about it since I have not put my hands on them for years.

databank said:

I don't think her fans have had interest on this topic. Then, this is about contract. Can generic fan have interest on it? She is not the target of such a research that Prince fans do.
However, I'll keep in mind and will try if I have a chance

deepwater said:

Thanks for this new insights, which are already quite useful. The reissue seems to prove that WB doesn't own the masters of these indeed. I didn't realize that u were Japanese before I'm writing this while listening to a Miharu Koshi album

I'm sure Kahoru was asked about the deal and/or Prince/Paisley Park's involvement in interviews at the time but it's been 20 years so i guess it'd be hard to find

Actually Prince had very little (if any) involvement on a few Paisley Park releases such as Good Question or Tony LeMans, which were signed by Prince's/Paisley Park's management, though he might have approved cover art, etc. (for exemple it is known that he rejected Pedro Bell's cover art on The Cinderella Theory even though he wasn't musically involved in the album).

Any more info you might find would be appreciated and as far as including these 2 releases in a PP retrospective or not, it's kind of a question of subjectivity so no one will blame you if you won't
[Edited 4/13/10 2:13am]

databank said:

Wow, Miharu Koshi! It's been a while to hear her name for me Japanese
Do you also like Yellow Magic Orchestra?



Have you ever heard of how those artists got contract with Paisley Park? It's been a sort of mystery for me. I see Prince had interest on promoting new artists but the fact looks contrary. They were hardly promoted.

I've never heard of Pedro Bell's cover art before. It's funny but I think Prince made a right decision. I personally like Pedro's art but don't think it's suitable for Paisley Park releases. It must have reminded me of Westbound Records. It's also funny that I can agree for NPG releases. I think it's because of sleeve design for Exodus and Newpower Soul.

Sorry for being off-topic. I like the agenda you brought here but it's a tough question for me. I still need a time to think about it.


BTW, your blog is very informative. I think I have some inputs for it. Is there any contact information for the blog? I looked for it but couldn't.


typo corrected
[Edited 4/13/10 4:11am]

deepwater said:

I'm actually a huge YMO fan as well as Sakamoto's, Takahashi's and particularly Haruomi Hosono's solo works. I'm a lot into Japanese pop and synth-pop, actually, and Akiko Yano might be my second favorite artist ever after Prince: her music is just a never-ending source of enjoyment for me!!!
Other faves of mine include Taeko Onuki, Kahimi Karie, Chara, Logic System, Pizzicato Five, Tetsu Inoue (this last one is more into ambiant) and i've downloaded a lot of jap stuff lately that i still have to listen to. I guess you don't really need this since you're from Japan but i discovered a lot of things thru this wonderful site: http://artcontext.com/art...index.html
Miharu Koshi is still recording on Hosono's Daisy World label and her work is still totally insane but worth being discovered
Another japanese band called After Dinner was actually totally visionary, doing in the early 80's what Björk would be doing 10 years later!!!
I wonder if there are Japanese forums where people discuss the YMO tribe's recordings as precisely and with as much research as we do here with Prince's?

The strangest thing is that i actually can't speak/understand Japanese, but even without understanding the lyrics i still enjoy it all!

Getting back to Paisley Park, I read a long time ago that Good Question had been signed by someone (maybe Fargnoli or something) from Prince's management without Prince even listening to their stuff or actually caring about what was becoming of his own label. Probably the same happened with LeMans. Here's an interesting insight by LeMans's ex-manager: http://www145.pair.com/zo...tory.shtml

No problem being off-topic (actually you are not since this is a thread about Paisley Park).

Thanks for your comment on my discography. There's an email address written on it actually (in the "how can you help/contribute" section), but it's not the one i use daily (i don't want this one online because of spamming): i'm sending you my main address by orgnote Any contribution/correction will be much welcome

Maybe when Prince passes we will start getting the music we want. Its the only chance we got of getting this great music. Why does he have to be such an ass!! He could have really been a monster in music even to this day if he wasnt such a dick