databank said:

SoulAlive said:

I gotta disagree Good Question had a very generic 80s pop/dance sound.There's no way that they could have lasted long.Taja Sevelle's album has some decent moments,but let's face it...she just didn't have the "it" factor.Tony LeMans was a talented guy,but I think his album is mediocre.

And that was one of the major problems with Paisley Park Records in the late 80s: there wasn't alot of outstanding music.The best music from that label was released earlier in the decade (1985-87).After that,there was alot of odd,quirky releases that didn't stand a chance.

Let's be honest: at the end of the day it's all about ur tastes and mine, and obviously they ain't the same but that doesn't say much about the quality of the music itself. I'm a big Scritti Politti fan and when u're that, Tony LeMans is an album u're gonna love. Once again my views are biased because I'm a huge synthpop fan and most of these PP records had a strong synthpop signature to them.

As for Taja and Good Question... For one thing I don't believe in the "it". I mean where was Whitney Houston's it? Gimme a break! It's all about marketing. But I'm 100% with you on that, Taja Sevelle and Good Question had a very generic sound and that's precisely why I believe these records could have known some fair success. I mean come on! Do u remember that boy band, Bros? Do you remember Eighth Wonder? Do you remember Toni Tony Toné's first 2 albums? Do you remember Whitney Houston's whole damn discography? Wanna talk about Kenny G? All these acts had the word "generic" tatooed on their forehead when it comes to their sound, and all of them enjoyed massive success in the late 80's. Generic SELLS. Always had, always will. If properly promoted, of course ^^

Oh come on...Whitney didn't need the "it" factor....she had something better: a powerful voice! Taja Sevelle didn't have either of those things.

Toni!Tone!Toni's first two albums are GREAT... there's nothing "generic" about their sound.You're not seriously comparing their music to crap like Good Question,are you?

A bit off topic, but Raphael Saadiq was part of the Lovesexy band during the Japanese leg of the tour, at least for a while.

KoolEaze said:

A bit off topic, but Raphael Saadiq was part of the Lovesexy band during the Japanese leg of the tour, at least for a while.

He was???????????????

SoulAlive said:

databank said:

Let's be honest: at the end of the day it's all about ur tastes and mine, and obviously they ain't the same but that doesn't say much about the quality of the music itself. I'm a big Scritti Politti fan and when u're that, Tony LeMans is an album u're gonna love. Once again my views are biased because I'm a huge synthpop fan and most of these PP records had a strong synthpop signature to them.

As for Taja and Good Question... For one thing I don't believe in the "it". I mean where was Whitney Houston's it? Gimme a break! It's all about marketing. But I'm 100% with you on that, Taja Sevelle and Good Question had a very generic sound and that's precisely why I believe these records could have known some fair success. I mean come on! Do u remember that boy band, Bros? Do you remember Eighth Wonder? Do you remember Toni Tony Toné's first 2 albums? Do you remember Whitney Houston's whole damn discography? Wanna talk about Kenny G? All these acts had the word "generic" tatooed on their forehead when it comes to their sound, and all of them enjoyed massive success in the late 80's. Generic SELLS. Always had, always will. If properly promoted, of course ^^

Oh come on...Whitney didn't need the "it" factor....she had something better: a powerful voice! Taja Sevelle didn't have either of those things.

Toni!Tone!Toni's first two albums are GREAT... there's nothing "generic" about their sound.You're not seriously comparing their music to crap like Good Question,are you?

I'll have to download them, I haven't listened to them in ages. I'm a HUGE fan of their 2 last albums and I just remember listening to the first 2 albums years ago and thinking WTF is that shit, it sounds like Good Question

SoulAlive said:

databank said:

Well, being a Frank Zappa alumni and having had some success with Missing Persons, Dale was actually, with Three O'Clock (Oh God! I forgot Three O'Clock in my review above, a very solid pop album Vermillion if u ask me!) one of the only PP artists to have had a career before being signed, so getting her aboard made sense in terms of business.

Her voice IS odd and... dude! That's the whole damn charm of it! Dale isn't a very talented songwrtier of whatever so I ain't trying to compare but Kate Bush and Björk have odd voices too and that's partof the genius of their signature. Dale's voice is one of her trongest assets as a performer!

hey,,if you like her voice,more power to you to me,she sounds like a wounded cat

Well, she sounds like a wounded cat to me too, and that's precisely what I dig

databank said:

KoolEaze said:

A bit off topic, but Raphael Saadiq was part of the Lovesexy band during the Japanese leg of the tour, at least for a while.

He was???????????????

There's no mention of such a thing on Princevault

databank said:

databank said:

He was???????????????

There's no mention of such a thing on Princevault

We´ve had threads about it here on the org and there´s also a brief mention here in this article:

http://www.metroactive.co...-0223.html

I´m in a hurry right now but maybe I´ll come back later and provide more info.

Warner opts out of Paisley Park

FEBRUARY 1, 1994 | 11:00PM PT

Warner Bros. Records has terminated its joint venture with Prince’s Paisley Park Records, leaving many of the label’s acts and execs in limbo.

A tersely worded joint release called the termination mutual, but sources point to disappointing returns from the imprint as a prime factor behind Warner’s decision.

“Our relationship with Paisley Park Enterprises has been an exciting and creatively rewarding one,” said Mo Ostin, chairman of Warner Bros. Records, in a statement. “We look forward to working with them and the artist formerly known as Prince, who continues to be one of our most important artists and producers.”

The severing of ties will not affect Warner’s mega-deal with the former Prince, who recently changed his name to an unpronouncable symbol, and Warner Bros. still has the option of picking up any of the acts on the artist’s label.

Insiders note that while a formula exists to address talent and exec issues in the event of a termination of the joint venture, the issues have not been resolved.

Currently signed to the imprint are George Clinton, Mavis Staples, Belize, Rosie Gaines and Tyler Collins. The latter three artists have yet to release albums, and it is unclear how the pact termination will affect release dates.

The fate of Paisley’s execs and artists is expected to be decided by the end of this week.

Reps for Paisley and Warner declined comment.

^^ I knew that Tyler Collins was recording an album when the label shut down,but who is Belize? does anyone have any info about them?

SoulAlive said:

KoolEaze said:

I fully agree with what Alan Leeds said but I actually liked the Jill Jones album, I think the problem with it was just the bad timing, it came out two years later than it should have. If that had been released during the Purple Rain era it could´ve been a commercial success.

I agree! Unlike many of the others,she wasn't able to benefit from the Purple Rain hype.Her album should have been completed and released in late 1984 or early '85.

by then Jill should have have a PR-84 release and a Parade-86 release

OldFriends4Sale said:

SoulAlive said:

I agree! Unlike many of the others,she wasn't able to benefit from the Purple Rain hype.Her album should have been completed and released in late 1984 or early '85.

by then Jill should have have a PR-84 release and a Parade-86 release

There were so many great songs recorded in 1983/94,that were not used.It would have easy to create an album for her during that time period...

"Sugar Walls" could have been her debut single.

Although "G-Spot" was later used for her debut album,imagine how much cooler it would have sounded in 1984.

The Family outtake "Miss Understood" is another good song that could have been recorded by Jill.

If The Family and Mazarati had stayed together,Paisley Park would have really thrived as the 80s wore on.

Things were fine when the only artists signed to the label were Sheila E,The Family,Mazarati,Madhouse and Jill Jones.Maybe Prince should have kept the roster simple and small...at least throughout the remainder of the 80s.All of these acts (with the exception of Jill Jones) had hit singles.The potential was there.

KoolEaze said:

Aaron6 said:

KoolEaze said:

A bit off topic, but Raphael Saadiq was part of the Lovesexy band during the Japanese leg of the tour, at least for a while.

That is soooooo not true, the 3T's released their debut in 88" and was on tour with MC Hammer, Guy, and Today in early 89"...

I was going to reply to your post much earlier but for some reason looking up old Prince.org threads on Google makes my computer freeze and crash.

I did look it up again and there are conflicting articles regarding his stint with Prince during either the Lovesexy or the Parade tour. I remember when Toni Toné Tony first came out because I loved the single "Feels Good" and how often we´d play it that summer. You are right, my info regarding Raphael being on tour with Prince in Japan does collide with the TTT release, so I looked it up again and found an old thread that contains some info which says that Raphael was in Sheila´s group at the time, not Prince´s band, and that he was on tour with him (and Sheila) in Japan during the Parade tour, so I probably got the year wrong. It also says that he would sometimes play in Prince´s band during the aftershows (I didn´t even know there were any aftershows during the Japanese Parade tour).

Still, there is also info out there that says that Raphael was on tour with Prince during the Lovesexy days, see my post above and the link I provided (http://www.metroactive.co...-0223.html or try and google "Raphael Saadiq Lovesexy" but beware, googling old threads always freezes my laptop.

I guess Metro just got the year wrong but, as far as I recall, other magazines have written about Raphael being on tour during Lovesexy, too.

So, either Parade or Lovesexy, but Raphael DID tour with Prince. Since we both know when TTT came out, it was probably during the Parade tour and the Lovesexy info is just incorrect, regardless of how often it was repeated.

KoolEaze said:

databank said:

Well, being a Frank Zappa alumni and having had some success with Missing Persons, Dale was actually, with Three O'Clock (Oh God! I forgot Three O'Clock in my review above, a very solid pop album Vermillion if u ask me!) one of the only PP artists to have had a career before being signed, so getting her aboard made sense in terms of business.

Her voice IS odd and... dude! That's the whole damn charm of it! Dale isn't a very talented songwrtier of whatever so I ain't trying to compare but Kate Bush and Björk have odd voices too and that's partof the genius of their signature. Dale's voice is one of her trongest assets as a performer!

Agree with that. Both Three O'Clock and Missing Persons were successful before their turn with Paisley Park - the record label was just a trainwreck, or is that a ghost town?!

KoolEaze said:

Aaron6 said:

KoolEaze said: That is soooooo not true, the 3T's released their debut in 88" and was on tour with MC Hammer, Guy, and Today in early 89"...

(I didn´t even know there were any aftershows during the Japanese Parade tour).

There wasn't.

Prince is NOT Berry Gordy. Right there is what went wrong.

NouveauDance said:

databank said:

Well, being a Frank Zappa alumni and having had some success with Missing Persons, Dale was actually, with Three O'Clock (Oh God! I forgot Three O'Clock in my review above, a very solid pop album Vermillion if u ask me!) one of the only PP artists to have had a career before being signed, so getting her aboard made sense in terms of business.

Her voice IS odd and... dude! That's the whole damn charm of it! Dale isn't a very talented songwrtier of whatever so I ain't trying to compare but Kate Bush and Björk have odd voices too and that's partof the genius of their signature. Dale's voice is one of her trongest assets as a performer!

Agree with that. Both Three O'Clock and Missing Persons were successful before their turn with Paisley Park - the record label was just a trainwreck, or is that a ghost town?!

They enjoyed moderate success, they were not that big. Dale's work with Missing Persons is very different from what she did solo so not sure all the MP fans followed. TOC had a limited audience and maybe being on a R&B label wasn't the best choice for them. And of course both suffered as every one else on PP from a lack of production. Besides hipsters and P fans, who knew these records were out back then?

Aaron6 said:

KoolEaze said:

I was going to reply to your post much earlier but for some reason looking up old Prince.org threads on Google makes my computer freeze and crash.

I did look it up again and there are conflicting articles regarding his stint with Prince during either the Lovesexy or the Parade tour. I remember when Toni Toné Tony first came out because I loved the single "Feels Good" and how often we´d play it that summer. You are right, my info regarding Raphael being on tour with Prince in Japan does collide with the TTT release, so I looked it up again and found an old thread that contains some info which says that Raphael was in Sheila´s group at the time, not Prince´s band, and that he was on tour with him (and Sheila) in Japan during the Parade tour, so I probably got the year wrong. It also says that he would sometimes play in Prince´s band during the aftershows (I didn´t even know there were any aftershows during the Japanese Parade tour).

Still, there is also info out there that says that Raphael was on tour with Prince during the Lovesexy days, see my post above and the link I provided (http://www.metroactive.co...-0223.html or try and google "Raphael Saadiq Lovesexy" but beware, googling old threads always freezes my laptop.

I guess Metro just got the year wrong but, as far as I recall, other magazines have written about Raphael being on tour during Lovesexy, too.

So, either Parade or Lovesexy, but Raphael DID tour with Prince. Since we both know when TTT came out, it was probably during the Parade tour and the Lovesexy info is just incorrect, regardless of how often it was repeated.

Not to split hairs here, but "Feels Good", was from 3T's second album "The Revival", also Ray and crew were apart of Sheila E.'s band the latter part of 86" during the time period she was on tour with Lionel Ritchie. And on a final note, Tony, Toni, Tone, was approached by Prince to sign with PP, but they declined. On their 88" debut "Who", the song "Born not to know" they mentioned this in the lyric, "Things are getting crazy, I ain't wearing Paisley..."

Not consistent with what's been said above. You guys need to decide who turned who down.

databank said:

Aaron6 said:

KoolEaze said: Not to split hairs here, but "Feels Good", was from 3T's second album "The Revival", also Ray and crew were apart of Sheila E.'s band the latter part of 86" during the time period she was on tour with Lionel Ritchie. And on a final note, Tony, Toni, Tone, was approached by Prince to sign with PP, but they declined. On their 88" debut "Who", the song "Born not to know" they mentioned this in the lyric, "Things are getting crazy, I ain't wearing Paisley..."

Not consistent with what's been said above. You guys need to decide who turned who down.

let's be honest.....if the Tonys had signed with Paisley Park,they would have one under-promoted album and then faded away very quickly.That's pretty much the case with most of the artists who were on that label.

TonyVanDam said:

Prince is NOT Berry Gordy. Right there is what went wrong.

That's true.

databank said:

NouveauDance said:

Agree with that. Both Three O'Clock and Missing Persons were successful before their turn with Paisley Park - the record label was just a trainwreck, or is that a ghost town?!

They enjoyed moderate success, they were not that big. Dale's work with Missing Persons is very different from what she did solo so not sure all the MP fans followed. TOC had a limited audience and maybe being on a R&B label wasn't the best choice for them. And of course both suffered as every one else on PP from a lack of promotion. Besides hipsters and P fans, who knew these records were out back then?

It's interesting that most of the records released on Paisley Park received very little promotion.I remember seeing Jill Jones' album in the record store and I was shocked.I didn't even know it had been released! There was no single being played on the radio,no video,no nothing.Oddly enough,the Taja Sevelle album actually received some promotion.There were three singles and a video for each one.She appeared on 'Video Soul' with Donnie Simpson for a lengthy sit-down interview.Her "Love Is Contagious" video was shown frequently on BET.It's puzzling that Jill (who was obviously closer to Prince) didn't receive nearly as much promotion,even though her album is much better than the Taja Sevelle album.

SoulAlive said:

databank said:

They enjoyed moderate success, they were not that big. Dale's work with Missing Persons is very different from what she did solo so not sure all the MP fans followed. TOC had a limited audience and maybe being on a R&B label wasn't the best choice for them. And of course both suffered as every one else on PP from a lack of promotion. Besides hipsters and P fans, who knew these records were out back then?

It's interesting that most of the records released on Paisley Park received very little promotion.I remember seeing Jill Jones' album in the record store and I was shocked.I didn't even know it had been released! There was no single being played on the radio,no video,no nothing.Oddly enough,the Taja Sevelle album actually received some promotion.There were three singles and a video for each one.She appeared on 'Video Soul' with Donnie Simpson for a lengthy sit-down interview.Her "Love Is Contagious" video was shown frequently on BET.It's puzzling that Jill (who was obviously closer to Prince) didn't receive nearly as much promotion,even though her album is much better than the Taja Sevelle album.

Taja was signed on both PP and Reprise Records, a label created by Frank Sinatra that WB had decided to revive in 1987, so all the effort that was put in promoting her album was actually part of an effort to make Reprise a dynamic label again. Pandemonium, which also received a decent promotional treatment was also co-released by Reprise. Strangely enough, IIRC Tony LeMans was also co-released by Reprise but received virtually no promotion, I don't really understand why.

databank said:

SoulAlive said:

the Mazarati album is excellent.What I love about it is,it features the cold,electronic 1983/84 "Minneapolis Sound" that Prince had abandoned (on his own albums) at that point.BrownMark did a superb job with the production,which is why Prince should have turned him into an in-house producer.Saleswise,the Mazarati album didn't do too bad,either.The second single "100 MPH" was a Top 10 R&B hit.

I think P usually only allowed people who he didn't feel "threaten" him or his authority to do stuff for PP. David Z. and Eric Leeds are the sweetest guys ever. Levi never had any interest in being a solo act. Michael was only an engineer. Ricky Peterson was established as an elevator jazz artist and had nothing to prove besides doing the job preperly... Now Mico and Mark and Prince's bandmembers in general were kept at bay from producing anything save Mazarati for Mark, and that may have something to do with the fact that Prince was trying to keep his staff under control and calm down their desires to go solo. He'd fired Jam & Lewis for that. He'd lost Morris, Jesse, André, Dez, St. Paul and Vanity TO that. Back then the fact that virtually every one in the band dreamt of being the next Prince was probably a problem for him. Mazarati is a funk masterpiece without a doubt, it embodies everything that was great about the MPLS sound.

I always had a fantasy/what if scenario that PP had been a sort of Motown for the 80s covering the whole Minneapolis sound. To do so Prince needed to have not fallen out with the likes of Jam & Lewis, Jesse Johnson, Andre Cymone - all of which would have been "house producers" for the label.

That would/could have meant having a lot of the artists who ended up on A&M or Tabu being on Paisley Park such as; Alexander O'Neal, Jody Whatley, Karyn White, Jesse Johnson (and his protoge acts), Morris Day and even (very doubtful I know) Janet Jackson. Also loved the possibility that Lenny Kravtiz could have been on the label through the Romeo Blue/Tony Le Mans connection.

Prince could have still had his own side projects/protoge acts but this would have been supported by some very commercially successful acts too!

PP would have been a huge label.

jaypotton said:

I always had a fantasy/what if scenario that PP had been a sort of Motown for the 80s covering the whole Minneapolis sound. To do so Prince needed to have not fallen out with the likes of Jam & Lewis, Jesse Johnson, Andre Cymone - all of which would have been "house producers" for the label.

That would/could have meant having a lot of the artists who ended up on A&M or Tabu being on Paisley Park such as; Alexander O'Neal, Jody Whatley, Karyn White, Jesse Johnson (and his protoge acts), Morris Day and even (very doubtful I know) Janet Jackson. Also loved the possibility that Lenny Kravtiz could have been on the label through the Romeo Blue/Tony Le Mans connection.

Prince could have still had his own side projects/protoge acts but this would have been supported by some very commercially successful acts too!

PP would have been a huge label.

I totally agree! I've always felt that Paisley Park could have been the Motown of the 80s if Prince had done things differently.As you pointed out,there was ALOT of talented people in the Prince camp....amazing songwriters and producers whom Prince should have utlilized.The label needed some excellent in-house producers.Jam and Lewis,Andre Cymone,Jesse Johnson....can you imagine if these guys had been hired as in-house producers for the label?! PP would have been having hit songs and successful albums on a regular basis! Jill Jones might have gotten the hit-filled debut album that she deserved.Let's face it,the main reason why the label ultimately failed is because there were no hits.The records weren't selling.

^ I thought we'd all agreed to ban the expression "let's face it" from the org

It would have been a dream scenario but with such HUGE egos in the game (not just Prince) it was impossible. because of the fact that those who were from the original Twin Cities crew all started as equals. I mean all these guys knew each other BEFORE Prince signed with WB in 78. Before that there was NO reason for them to think that he was better than them or that he had to be more successful than they could be. Then all of a sudden he gets a contract. Everybody then kind jumped on his boat until they'd get their own contract, or skipped that step (O'Neal, Carwell) and got their contract directly. In a way, until the end of the 80's each and every one of these guys had legitimate hopes to see themselves equals to Prince in terms of critical and commercial success. In the end only Jam & Lewis achieved that, and not quite so actually because they'll never get the iconic status Prince has in the world of popular music. But my point is that even if P had been cooler with them and had given them more space there would have been rivalries anyway, it was unavoidable. Even if P had been the nicest guy he'd still have been the boss and the big star, and that would have created tensions no matter what.

databank said:

^ I thought we'd all agreed to ban the expression "let's face it" from the org

It would have been a dream scenario but with such HUGE egos in the game (not just Prince) it was impossible. because of the fact that those who were from the original Twin Cities crew all started as equals. I mean all these guys knew each other BEFORE Prince signed with WB in 78. Before that there was NO reason for them to think that he was better than them or that he had to be more successful than they could be. Then all of a sudden he gets a contract. Everybody then kind jumped on his boat until they'd get their own contract, or skipped that step (O'Neal, Carwell) and got their contract directly. In a way, until the end of the 80's each and every one of these guys had legitimate hopes to see themselves equals to Prince in terms of critical and commercial success. In the end only Jam & Lewis achieved that, and not quite so actually because they'll never get the iconic status Prince has in the world of popular music. But my point is that even if P had been cooler with them and had given them more space there would have been rivalries anyway, it was unavoidable. Even if P had been the nicest guy he'd still have been the boss and the big star, and that would have created tensions no matter what.

I never agreed to anything

You are correct...EGO is one of the main reasons why Prince would not have asked those guys to accept a position at Paisley Park Records.It's a shame that Prince didn't realize that those people could have really hepled to make Paisley Park a legitimate,successful label.Think of all those hit songs that Jam and Lewis gave away to others.A hit song like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" might have gone to Jill Jones,turning her into a superstar.Prince needed the help.After Purple Rain,he was too busy with his own career...with movies,touring,etc.He was spreading himself too thin.He simply didn't have enough time to devote to Paisley Park Records.That's why St Paul Peterson left The Family.He was dissatisfied with the lack of promotion and lack of attention that the Family received.

Let's look at a hugely successful label like Philadelphia International Records,a label that stole some of Motown's thunder in the 70s.Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff were the top guys in charge.It was their label,they were the bosses and they controlled everything.But they didn't write and produce everything.They had a talented team of songwriters and producers working for their label....McFadden and Whitehead,Bunny Sigler,and sometimes Thom Bell.Thanks to all of this talent,Philadelphia International was able to dominate 70s soul,with hit-filled albums by the likes of the O'Jays,Harold Melvin and the BlueNotes,Lou Rawls,Teddy Pendergrass,etc.This music was known as "the Philly sound" and alot of people contributed to it.Prince had his own thing going with "the Minneapolis sound",but he didn't utilize many of the talented people who could have helped him take that sound to new heights.

SoulAlive said:

databank said:

^ I thought we'd all agreed to ban the expression "let's face it" from the org

It would have been a dream scenario but with such HUGE egos in the game (not just Prince) it was impossible. because of the fact that those who were from the original Twin Cities crew all started as equals. I mean all these guys knew each other BEFORE Prince signed with WB in 78. Before that there was NO reason for them to think that he was better than them or that he had to be more successful than they could be. Then all of a sudden he gets a contract. Everybody then kind jumped on his boat until they'd get their own contract, or skipped that step (O'Neal, Carwell) and got their contract directly. In a way, until the end of the 80's each and every one of these guys had legitimate hopes to see themselves equals to Prince in terms of critical and commercial success. In the end only Jam & Lewis achieved that, and not quite so actually because they'll never get the iconic status Prince has in the world of popular music. But my point is that even if P had been cooler with them and had given them more space there would have been rivalries anyway, it was unavoidable. Even if P had been the nicest guy he'd still have been the boss and the big star, and that would have created tensions no matter what.

I never agreed to anything

You are correct...EGO is one of the main reasons why Prince would not have asked those guys to accept a position at Paisley Park Records.It's a shame that Prince didn't realize that those people could have really hepled to make Paisley Park a legitimate,successful label.Think of all those hit songs that Jam and Lewis gave away to others.A hit song like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" might have gone to Jill Jones,turning her into a superstar.Prince needed the help.After Purple Rain,he was too busy with his own career...with movies,touring,etc.He was spreading himself too thin.He simply didn't have enough time to devote to Paisley Park Records.That's why St Paul Peterson left The Family.He was dissatisfied with the lack of promotion and lack of attention that the Family received.

Let's look at a hugely successful label like Philadelphia International Records,a label that stole some of Motown's thunder in the 70s.Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff were the top guys in charge.It was their label,they were the bosses and they controlled everything.But they didn't write and produce everything.They had a talented team of songwriters and producers working for their label....McFadden and Whitehead,Bunny Sigler,and sometimes Thom Bell.Thanks to all of this talent,Philadelphia International was able to dominate 70s soul,with hit-filled albums by the likes of the O'Jays,Harold Melvin and the BlueNotes,Lou Rawls,Teddy Pendergrass,etc.This music was known as "the Philly sound" and alot of people contributed to it.Prince had his own thing going with "the Minneapolis sound",but he didn't utilize many of the talented people who could have helped him take that sound to new heights.

Well then I beg u: please renounce the use of "let's face it" on the org.

The only reason Paul left The Family, he said it numerous time, was a check with many zeros offered by a record company while he had a cheap salary working for P. It had nothing to do with the lack of attention The Family received (anyway even if it'd been a top-seller he still wouldn't have made much dough outta it since the music was P's).

Also, while P had a huge responsibility in making his old pals run away from him, let's not put all the blame on him. I read numerous times that André, Mark, Morris and Jesse at least were very much in need to distance themselves from anything Prince-related to show they could "make it" without him, his help or anybody associated with him's help.

Contrarly to a popular belief, Prince was far from being behind everything that was released on Paisley Park. Besides his own side-projects (who were more Prince albums in disguise than anything else), he would usually only give a song or 2 and stay away from it, or even sometimes not give songs or have anything t do with it.

Number of albums released on PP: 24.

Side-projects and albums with heavy Prince involvement: Romance 1600, The Family, Jill Jones, Sheila E. 8, 16, Time Waits For No One, Pandemonium, Times Squared, May 19 1992, Carmen Electra, The Voice -> 12 albums

Albums with very little or no Prince involvement at all: Mazarati, Taja Sevelle, Riot In English, Vermillion, Good Question, Time The Motion, Tony LeMans, The Cinderella Theory, Time The Motion Live, True Confessions, Hey Man... Smell My Finger, Things Left Unsaid -> 12

That's 50/50.