We all know the story about Dez Dickerson leaving Prince's band in 1983,right after the 1999 tour.He still remained on good terms with Prince and was even allowed to appear in Purple Rain,performing the song "Modernaire".Does anyone know if there were ever plans for a Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires album? We all know how,in those days,Prince loved to create proteges and bands that he could write and produce for.I wonder if there's a complete 'Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires' album,collecting dust in the vaults?!

SoulAlive said:

We all know the story about Dez Dickerson leaving Prince's band in 1983,right after the 1999 tour.He still remained on good terms with Prince and was even allowed to appear in Purple Rain,performing the song "Modernaire".Does anyone know if there were ever plans for a Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires album? We all know how,in those days,Prince loved to create proteges and bands that he could write and produce for.I wonder if there's a complete 'Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires' album,collecting dust in the vaults?!

While not always a definitve answer, Wikipedia says:

In 2005, Dickerson released a double CD retrospective collection of his work from 1982 to 1987. It marked the long-awaited official release of the complete version of the classic "Modernaire". Taken from the film Purple Rain and featuring Prince on guitars, keyboards and backing vocals, this track was released on vinyl in 2008 by the UK label, Citinite.

Maybe the collection contains what might have been the sessions from "Modernaire." (???)

I have it...its a good 2 cd set set! Modernaire is a classic too

I like the music to "Modernaire"...not crazy about the lyrics,though it's a killer groove though....sounds like much of Prince's music from that era (1983/84).

I thought originally Prince wanted the Purple Rain soundtrack to include all the music from the movie, not, seperate albums??

OldFriends4Sale said:

I thought originally Prince wanted the Purple Rain soundtrack to include all the music from the movie, not, seperate albums??

really? That might have been interesting

SoulAlive said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I thought originally Prince wanted the Purple Rain soundtrack to include all the music from the movie, not, seperate albums??

really? That might have been interesting

yep.

.

We might have received album cuts of Possessed, God the Love theme (non B side) Fathers Song, maybe even some of the background band soundtrack pieces

and maybe the long version of "Computer Blue"?

I love this song. It has been included on my Purple Rain playlist since it was available a few years ago. I am still surprised it was never released back in the day. The performance in the movie was so cool with the crowd all in sync.

Some of the material on the 2CD Retrospective is very commercial and certainly could've been released, shame it wasn't.

Fits in with the pop-rock sound of Billy Idol, Pat Benatar that kind of thing.

SoulAlive said:

and maybe the long version of "Computer Blue"?

OH definately, he seriously wanted a longer version of that song in the movie

.

I must say I could easily see & hear a piece of Jill Jones singing Wednesday on piano before Prince came in...

.

The movie moves so fast that piece's could have easily been extended or added.

he opened for Billy Idol in 1983---if anyone has a set list???

OldFriends4Sale said:

I must say I could easily see & hear a piece of Jill Jones singing Wednesday on piano before Prince came in...

I wish that scene had been included.Jill's character had a major crush on The Kid and that would have been a cool sub-plot that they could have explored a little more.In addition,the song "Wednesday" could have been included on a Jill Jones debut album released that year.Yeah,I will forever insist that her debut album should have been recorded and released in 1984.

OldFriends4Sale said:

SoulAlive said:

and maybe the long version of "Computer Blue"?

OH definately, he seriously wanted a longer version of that song in the movie

.

That would have interesting,but I think it worked better as a shorter track.The "hallway speech" segment might have confused alot of people...especially as a sequence in the movie.

SoulAlive said:

We all know the story about Dez Dickerson leaving Prince's band in 1983,right after the 1999 tour.He still remained on good terms with Prince and was even allowed to appear in Purple Rain,performing the song "Modernaire".Does anyone know if there were ever plans for a Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires album? We all know how,in those days,Prince loved to create proteges and bands that he could write and produce for.I wonder if there's a complete 'Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires' album,collecting dust in the vaults?!

Dez wanted to release an album on his own but no label was interested in releasing it. I guess the Retrospective CD mentioned above contains everything that was recorded for it. To my knowledge, Prince wasn't involved in any of this beyond his contributions to Modernaire and his management trying to help Dez find a record company.

NouveauDance said:

Some of the material on the 2CD Retrospective is very commercial and certainly could've been released, shame it wasn't.

Fits in with the pop-rock sound of Billy Idol, Pat Benatar that kind of thing.

Ykno, I never heard this set!

While we're on a Jill Jones kick, is that her voice reversed, saying those lines from Romeo & Juliet?

SoulAlive said:

I wonder if there's a complete 'Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires' album,collecting dust in the vaults?!

Classic song. Yknow an "album" would only have to be four more songs and a dumb skit. (referring to Ice Cream Castles and Apollonia 6)

Cinny said:

NouveauDance said:

Some of the material on the 2CD Retrospective is very commercial and certainly could've been released, shame it wasn't.

Fits in with the pop-rock sound of Billy Idol, Pat Benatar that kind of thing.

Ykno, I never heard this set!

I haven't either...is it still available anywhere?

Poplife88 said:

Cinny said:

Ykno, I never heard this set!

I haven't either...is it still available anywhere?

It is offered on Dez's site, but I read too many horror stories from fans either waiting for months or never receiving their CDs by ordering directly from: http://www.dezdickerson.c...ndise.html

I would love to know if there is anyone filling the orders on the other end, especially at such a steep price.

databank said:

SoulAlive said:

We all know the story about Dez Dickerson leaving Prince's band in 1983,right after the 1999 tour.He still remained on good terms with Prince and was even allowed to appear in Purple Rain,performing the song "Modernaire".Does anyone know if there were ever plans for a Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires album? We all know how,in those days,Prince loved to create proteges and bands that he could write and produce for.I wonder if there's a complete 'Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires' album,collecting dust in the vaults?!

Dez wanted to release an album on his own but no label was interested in releasing it. I guess the Retrospective CD mentioned above contains everything that was recorded for it. To my knowledge, Prince wasn't involved in any of this beyond his contributions to Modernaire and his management trying to help Dez find a record company.

thanks for the info.I think the problem for Dez was,record companies wanted him to sound just like Prince,and he wasn't interested in duplicating the Minneapolis sound.He was clearly more interested in playing rock.Notice that other proteges like Andre Cymone, Jesse Johnson and Morris Day had no problems getting record deals.That's because they mostly stuck with an R&B-based sound.

SoulAlive said:

databank said:

Dez wanted to release an album on his own but no label was interested in releasing it. I guess the Retrospective CD mentioned above contains everything that was recorded for it. To my knowledge, Prince wasn't involved in any of this beyond his contributions to Modernaire and his management trying to help Dez find a record company.

thanks for the info.I think the problem for Dez was,record companies wanted him to sound just like Prince,and he wasn't interested in duplicating the Minneapolis sound.He was clearly more interested in playing rock.Notice that other proteges like Andre Cymone, Jesse Johnson and Morris Day had no problems getting record deals.That's because they mostly stuck with an R&B-based sound.

Correct.

Cinny said:

SoulAlive said:

thanks for the info.I think the problem for Dez was,record companies wanted him to sound just like Prince,and he wasn't interested in duplicating the Minneapolis sound.He was clearly more interested in playing rock.Notice that other proteges like Andre Cymone, Jesse Johnson and Morris Day had no problems getting record deals.That's because they mostly stuck with an R&B-based sound.

Correct.

IDK Dez' demos from the retrospective are full of synth, more pop-rock than R&B it's true, but Minneapolis sounding all over the place. Then again ANdré was totally new wave post-punk, more than R&B.

Frederick96 said:

I have it...its a good 2 cd set set! Modernaire is a classic too

Really?

The only joint I dig on the whole set is Modernaire and High School.

Graycap23 said:

Frederick96 said:

I have it...its a good 2 cd set set! Modernaire is a classic too

Really?

The only joint I dig on the whole set is Modernaire and High School.

Do you mean Dez's recording of the song he wrote for The Time "After Hi School"?

Cinny said:

I would love to know if there is anyone filling the orders on the other end, especially at such a steep price.

That's where I bought my copy from I didn't have any problems, although this was years ago now when it was first made available.

NouveauDance said:

Cinny said:

I would love to know if there is anyone filling the orders on the other end, especially at such a steep price.

That's where I bought my copy from I didn't have any problems, although this was years ago now when it was first made available.

Thanks for that