I know you all go on about what a great band they were. But, as far as I can make out, they had very little input on Prince's recordings. Aside from a backing vocal or guitar solo here or there, Prince did everything on his albums up to and including '1999'. So, basically they are just miming in the videos.
Prince played all the instruments on 'When Doves Cry', 'Take me with you' and 'The Beautiful Ones'.
I doubt if the revolution had anything at all to do with masterpieces like 'Kiss', 'SOTT' or 'Paisley Park'
It is fairly obvious that Prince used a linn drum machine on most of his songs from this period. So what the hell did Bobby Z do?
The Oberheim synth-riffs are Prince's trademark, so that rules out Lisa's contribution
Prince played the guitar on song's like 'Purple Rain' and 'Let's go crazy'
So, does anyone have any eveidence of any contributions the revolution made to Prince's records?
And, please don't say "Well, wendy came up with intro to 'Purple Rain" because anyone with any musical knowledge can come up with an intro based on the chords of the chorus
All in all, I can't agree with Prince's claim that they were the greatest band in the world!

The revolution were the greatest, this is because of the input they gave behind the scenes. Wendy and Lisa were a big influence on the stle of music he cane up with during the whole of that period and, according to rumours played a big part in SOTT which they were not credited with.

To dispell any input by that Band on Prince's success at that time is silly. They were a big a part of Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade. Don't be fooled into thinking Prince did it all. He is the master but he once took input from others!

Can you give specific exapmles of their contributions?
Because you could easily say Susannah or whoever inspired the music, but that doesn't mean she contributed anything

gainsbourg is the anti - Anji. Anji likes to open up the discussion, gainsbourg likes to deconstruct. Keep it up guys!

Personally I can't be bothered to think about this topic. Maybe I could make the effort.

That's when Prince was most successful.
After he got rid of the revolution and kept trying to fix things, all he did was gradually go down hill with his public success.

Gonna be a long thread.

Maybe there is a connection between Prince's sucess and his relationship with the revolution as people. But he still ultimately made the music on his own. His most sucessful records were totally by him 'When Doves Cry', '1999', ;Kiss', 'SOTT', 'UGTL', 'Batdance, etc..

gainsbourg said:

ooo
[This message was edited Thu Mar 27 3:48:22 PST 2003 by FlyingCloudPassenger]

Computer Blue ?

These are small contributions.
'Computer Blue' was the worst song on 'Purple rain'
What did they have to do with 'We can funk'

Every singer has a band when they play live. Of course they can reproduce what is on record. So could a trained monkey.

Dr.Fink played what Prince told him to. The fact that he played the solo on 'Head' means nothing. It was Prince's song and chords that fink is playing around with.

Same for Lisa's arrangements on 'G&B' and 'Rasperry Beret'

They were Prince's live band.

And they were a fuck of alot better than the NPG.

ISNT THAT ENOUGH?!!!

The Revolution had charisma, they weren't just a back-up band.

So, Prince decided what the Revolution had to play? When he asked for some more guitar it was his music no matter what Wendy or Miko would play? I want to take it one step further. Prince didn't invent the concept music or musical instruments, so what the hell did Prince do anyway???

It really irritates me. Like, I saw Wendy & Lisa being interviewed recently. And, they were saying the reason they left, was because they were all about the music and Prince just wanted to entertain! That is rubbish! Prince's style and music went hand in hand. The fact that he is less flamboyant now has deprived the music of a lot of life.And, Who the hell do they think they are acting like they are serious musicians and Prince is just a clown.

gainsbourg - you don't play any instruments, do you?

Yes, I play with my flute.
Why do you ask?

I'm assuming you mean the skin-flute?!! Coz your posts suggest a complete lack of musicianship knowledge.

However, some of your other comments also lead me to believe that your Prince knowledge is also lacking - your intial statement of "Prince did everything on his albums up to and including '1999'" is blatantly un-true!! Even a little read of the liner notes for these albums will tell you that!

I'm actually a songwriter. Why do you think I am lacking knowledge about music.
I though it was fairly common that all of the early Prince albums were written, produced and performed by Prince. The only contributions were basically BVs on Little Red Corvette and Controversy and a Dez Dickerson guitar solo on 'LRC'
Can someone please verify this?
[This message was edited Thu Mar 27 6:13:58 PST 2003 by gainsbourg]

gainsbourg said:

Buy the music. Read the album notes. The come back and discuss.

I have the albums. I've read the liner notes. What's your point?

??

Then why are you asking others to comfirm the information in the liner notes of the albums you alledgedly have?
[This message was edited Thu Mar 27 7:00:21 PST 2003 by MKevon]

Because I seem to be imagining things..
You seem to be under the impression that I haven't read them

the skin-flute!!! i gotta use that...

really though, as technically superior as one may argue this NPG band is, i'll take the suckiest revolution recording over them anyday.


computer blue is the worst song on PRain? when has NPG even come close to anything remotely as good as computer blue? NPG wouldn't even know how to handle that groove.


maybe a fair assesment is to say that NPG is a grown up's band... and the revolution just brought the funk...

in reading alot of people's responses concerning this topic what seems to be the general consensus is that he doesn't bring the funk like he used to with the revolution

Well, re-read them, because it quite clearly states that Prince did not do everything himself. Sure, its mostly Prince, but that doesn't detract from other people's contributions to the song.

Why do I think you lack in musical knowledge? Well, I said musicianship. Here's just one comment you made that lead me to this "Dr.Fink played what Prince told him to. The fact that he played the solo on 'Head' means nothing. It was Prince's song and chords that fink is playing around with." - that's just not right! First off, Prince did not write that solo lead on Head for Dr Fink - that is Dr Fink himself and the solo he produces comes straight from the soul. It is an awesome lead and there would be no point in Prince getting Fink to play something he could have done himself - there would have been something about Fink's playing and touch that Prince wanted to hear in that solo. So, yeah, it's played over Prince's chords and beats, but that does not diminish the creativity given by Fink in lending such a wonderful solo to the tune. It certainly does not "mean nothing" and that comment is offensive to any musician! Hence, I don't feel you have experience of such things.

So, you play the flute? (must be kinda hard being a fully-fledged songwriter writing songs on that instrument). If you were asked to play with a band and they turned to you and said "In these 32-bars, we want you to come up with a flute solo - just do what you want". Would you then be happy to hear your fellow band members talking about their music and someone says "Love the flute solo" and they reply "Well, its ours, we wrote the song, they're our notes"? - you'd be pretty pissed! Your creative input has just been passed off as either irrelevant or not being your own work - do you see what I'm getting at? But then, credit for who contributed what to a song or album is huge bone of contention in a lot of bands!

gainsbourg said:

I play skin clarinet...
[This message was edited Thu Mar 27 8:24:31 PST 2003 by pejman]

The flute thing was a joke

It's something that we're just going to have to disagree on
Take 'I Feel for you' by Chaka Khan. Because the song was so good and the people playing on it had so much respect for Prince; it brought out (imo) one of the best harmonica solos Stevie Wonder ever played and the most amazing production of Arif Mardin's career.
In a lot of good bands, all musicians associated with it, were brought up to new heights. Of course it is construcitve and nurturing to be exposed to other great musicians. Was Ringo Starr a great drummer before the beatles? Would Robbie Krieger have written 'Light my fire' without meeting Jim Morrison. Even in football, at the end of last season you would have seen all of Arsenal's players being inspired to their full potential.
There are certain songs that you just can't go wrong with.
you could ask almost any half-decent guitar player to put a solo on 'Little Red Corvette' and he would do a good job. It doesn't mean Dez Dickerson was a good guitar player.

Wendy&Lisa did more than they will ever Be given Credit for.Dr.Fink had a Hand on some things as well.Prince was very Serious with His thing,but Wendy&Lisa also had a hand in His thing as well.I Don't Believe none of the Credits during that time period because nobody ever gives a Straight answer.

Chill chiiild.

Here's one: It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night.

Eric Leeds, Matt Fink, Atlanta Bliss co-writers.


Ha!

let's not 4get that alot of the early albums had dr. fink on them and he was not credited but was was credited for playing everything even programming which he did not do.
also alot of the drumming was morris day.
regardless of what happened in the studio with the revolution they still had to go and gig and put on a show and that's what eveyone will remember about them they were a great band still the best when u talk about the raw musicianship and presence, just like james browns band.
if you look at what the current NPG is doing in the studio vs, what they do on stage it's no different than the revolution.
and it's 20yrs later all the musicians are different now than they were when they were in the revolution
just like the NPG wern't the musicians they are now 20 yrs ago

gainsbourg said:

COMPUTER BLUE WAS THE BEST SONG ON PURPLE RAIN or least close to it!!!

And Lisa is a fantastic piano/keyboard player!!