I think the Apollonia 6 album kick major ass over the Vanity 6 album. It seemed like Prince took his time this album 2 create some better tunes.

My favorite jams are, Some Kind of Lover, I love you (a million miles) and Blue Limousine, but The reason why I love A million miles, is cuz of Prince ad libs in the background and how Sheila tears it up on the percussion, but the synths are crazy hott on Blue Limousine and it's just a funky tune 2 dance 2. Anyways I was kind of wondering what the Prince fans thought, which one do y'all prefer 2 jam ?

A million miles edit
[This message was edited Thu Jan 15 3:13:54 PST 2004 by DigitalLisa]

wrong forum

AaronAlmighty said:

you know what I don't have to take this, I'm demanding my money back

Lisa,you know I love you,but I gotta disagree with you on this

The Apollonia 6 album is a mess.Many of the songs sound rushed,and it's obvious that Prince didn't spend alot of time on this project.The songwriting is embarassing at times ("Oo She She Wa Wa"),Apollonia's vocals are really bad and the spoken interludes are just plain silly.The only bright spot on the album is "Blue Limousine",which features Brenda singing like never before.Her strong vocals,the great lyrics, and that addictive synthesizer hook make this track a winner.Why wasn't it released as a single??


The Vanity 6 album,on the other hand,is the real deal.Songs like "Nasty Girl" and the hilarious "If A Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up") are bold,funky and outrageous.New Wave-styled tracks like "Drive Me Wild","He's So Dull" and "Bite The Beat" are equally impressive.Also,Vanity had much more personality and attitude than Apollonia,who actually comes across as dumb and naive during the A6 project ("Why,that's not a pencil---shame!" she utters on the absurd opening track "Happy Birthday Mr Christian").Her ad libs at the end of the otherwise enjoyable "Sex Shooter" are absolutley cringeworthy..."Everybody sing it...I can't hear YOOOUUU...all the nasty people sing it".


but to answer your question..."Blue Limousine" is my choice.Love that song!

DavidEye said:

It's okay David, you can disagree with me, I'll let you get away with it this time , but like I said I do love both albums, it's just I always favored 2 Apollonia cuz I didn't remember Vanity being much when I was a little girl.
[This message was edited Thu Jan 15 4:00:57 PST 2004 by DigitalLisa]

"It's 7:32,where can my baby be?
I must be a fool to let somebody do this to me
I can't stop him,wherever he parks his car is alright
But he'll be parking with a dent in the side if he stands me up tonight"

you tell em,Brenda!

DavidEye said:

i love those INTERLUDES...

"Apples put on some clothes, Susan take some off..."

dawntreader said:

"I just so happen 2 like my teddybear, well if there's one thing he's bigger then you !"

edit
[This message was edited Thu Jan 15 4:59:16 PST 2004 by DigitalLisa]

actually, she's right... in a sense. Prince DID set out to make a great Apollonia 6 album. and it would have kicked the shit out of the Vanity 6 album. with songs like 17 Days, Take Me With U, Glamorous Life, Manic Monday, etc... it would have been a masterpiece.


fortunately, he took all of those songs back or gave them to other, more deserving artists, leaving APP6 a boring piece of crap.

AaronAlmighty said:

Good point.It seems that Prince took out the strong tracks that were originally intended for this project...

"Manic Monday"
"The Glamorous Life"
"17 Days"
"Take Me With U"


Clearly,Prince didn't think that the A6 girls could pull it off,so instead he gave them less inspired songs like "Happy Birthday Mr. Christian" and "Oo She She Wa Wa" (two songs that really should have stayed in the vaults).Don't get me wrong,the Apollonia 6 album does has a certain cheesy,mid-80s charm to it (if that makes any sense...lol),but it's not a great album by any means.

DigitalLisa said:

i love it when Susan finds out the girls are joking her and she says: 'haha, you guys...', because she still sounds a bit sad from her break up.

another good one is when Brenda says: 'put in the bank, i am trying to talk'.

DavidEye said:

come on , sex shooter is a classic, every time people come over my house they're like play sex shooter. Me & Cousin tried 2 act like they fake Apollonia 6, it's all on video tape, it's so embarrasing 2 watch

DigitalLisa said:

one, marginally above-average song does not a great album make

DigitalLisa said:

I agree,"Sex Shooter" is alot of fun.Did you ever hear ther 12" version? It's GREAT! I love when Apollonia says "blow me away" and then Brenda spells out her name.

i..i...i...i...i...iii Got nothin'

this could be another thread,but...

Which version of "Sex Shooter" is superior,the Apollonia 6 version or the unreleased Vanity 6 version?

I love the end of the V6 version,when Vanity demands...

"New York...I want you to count to eight...as soon as I get undressed...y'all clap your hands,okay?"

Finess,I bet you loved that part...lol

just found out that BLUE LIMOUSINE was a single, at least according to sellers at www.gemm.com.

dawntreader said:

yes it was. and they look fine as hell on the cover at that.

DavidEye said:

I second that. The only song worth mentioning is "Sex Shooter." And I love you, too, Lisa.

AaronAlmighty said:

I didn't know this song was intended for Apollonia 6.

okaypimpn said:

you people have no taste

the taste edit
[This message was edited Thu Jan 15 10:21:29 PST 2004 by DigitalLisa]

okaypimpn said:

Yep,"The Glamorous Life" was intended for Apollonia 6.The song was written about Apollonia,or the way Prince perceived her to be.When Prince took this song and gave it to Sheila instead,the girls reportedly "let him have it"...lol...they were NOT happy.

I too think the V6 album is better than the A6 album;

I decided to take this a step further & rank all the songs on the album, from best to worst:


1. Blue Limousine
Brenda's singing is alright, the lyrics too; I like the music mostly, especially the bassline & the synth line, even if that is a bit repetitive. this track is very representative of Prince's sound circa 1983-84


2. Some Kinda Lover
again Brenda's vocals & the lyrics are alright, again the music is what's best about this song.. & yet again- the bassline stands out to me on this track


3. Sex Shooter
peculiar track in that it's not the best on the album, but not the worst either. obviously it's the best known because part of it was in the movie "Purple Rain". I like the "hissing" percussion (drum machine?) the most, & the, um, hardest part of the song to listen to is Apollonia's "woo hoo-oo-oo" after the "pillar of stone" line. I put this song 3rd- barely ahead of A Million Miles because I defintely prefer the 12" version of this track..


4. A Million Miles (I Love You)
this uptempo number is rather infectuous, I think this is the best song lyrically on the album (well, at least, I like & can relate to these lyrics most). the singing during the verses is better than the singing of the refrain/chorus. the instrumental part after the lyrics is nice, the piano playing (Lisa?) hints at jazz, & indeed, Sheila's percussion adds something nice to the overall feel of the song


5. Happy Birthday, Mr Christian
the lyrics are rather weak- if not predictable; even at the end where it's revealed that this "upright" principal knocks up the song's protagonist. the music has a quirky, "spacy" feel to it


5. Ooo She She Wa Wa
supposedly this album's verison of Drive Me Wild from the V6 album. Susan's singing ability-
or, lack thereof-
is "showcased" on this track.
the 1 interesting thing about this track is how it changes tempo, from faster to "Slower!", as Susan yells about midway through. lyrically:
"my name is Susan
& I'm-a oozin'
with desire, desire for you!"
'nuf said.


7. In A Spanish Villa
good to fall asleep by


since I'm suddenly in such a generous mood, I will post "Sex Shooters - The Story of Apollonia 6", for those of you who may be unfamiliar with it. This was written by Per Nilsson, who's written a lot of good, detailed articles about prince et al for Uptown magazine & related materials. this article demonstrates prince's typical "short attention span" in terms of the music "side projects" he had at the time, & this article hints at as prince's typical lack of "people skills".



"Sex Shooters - The Story of Apollonia 6"

After the release of Vanity 6's self-titled debut album in 1982, followed by a support slot on Prince's 1999 tour, and the impending acting debut of Vanity as female lead opposite Prince in Purple Rain, things looked very bright for Vanity 6 in 1983. But when Vanity suddenly quit the Purple Rain film, the brief career of Vanity 6 was over. In this article, Per Nilsen takes a closer look at Apollonia 6, which rose out of the ashes of Vanity 6.

Following the 1999 tour, Prince had started recording songs, including "Promise To Be True," "Vibrator," and "Sex Shooter," for an intended second Vanity 6 album. There were also numerous songs left over from sessions for their first album to choose from, including "I Need A Man," "Jealous Girl," "Moral Majority," "Pizza," and "Too Much." Prince had also recorded "No Call U" (known as "U Call Me" amongst fans) and "Extra Lovable" with Vanity singing lead. However, after participating in acting and singing sessions in preparation for Purple Rain, Vanity suddenly quit and left Prince's camp.

Although her romantic falling-out with Prince has often been attributed as the main reason for her sudden departure, more important was the fact that she was asking for more money than the producers were willing to pay her. She was fielding other offers, including a role in Martin Scorsese's planned The Last Temptation Of Christ, and she felt her role in Purple Rain was worth more than the producers seemed to think it was. "The movie was Prince's dream. He was bringing in everybody for very little money. You've got to pay people. You've got to be fair," said Vanity. "They wouldn't pay me enough money to go through with the crap I would have to go through. I don't do things like this free of charge. I didn't want to be stuck in the snow at 6 in the morning in some camper with no place to change clothes. Who needs that?"


Vanity 6 becomes Apollonia 6
The film was too far along in development to be substantially re-written. The problem was finding a substitute to fill the void left by Vanity's departure. After auditioning some 700 women in New York and Los Angeles, a 22-year-old model named Patricia Kotero was chosen for the female lead role. (---) She got the part and Prince suggested the name Apollonia, after a character in The Godfather. And so, Apollonia 6 rose from the ashes of the defunct Vanity 6.

"Sex Shooter" was the starting point of the Apollonia 6 album. Having previously cut the song with Vanity on lead vocals, Prince re-recorded the song with Apollonia in his home studio on a day off from filming Purple Rain. Work on the album continued after shooting in Minneapolis had been completed. Prince re-located to Los Angeles for recording sessions at Sunset Sound and to shoot some complimentary footage for the film.

Some of the first songs Prince recorded for the album in late December 1983 and early 1984 included "The Glamorous Life," "In A Spanish Villa," "Next Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar," "Oliver's House," and a song called "Blue Love." He also revamped the Vanity 6 outtake "Moral Majority" and recorded "17 Days" for possible use by Apollonia 6, to be sung by Brenda, the group's smoker (hence the lyric, "All I've got is two cigarettes and this broken heart of mine"). Work on their album continued throughout January and February 1984 alongside sessions for The Time's Ice Cream Castle and other recordings.

The first configuration of the album had the following track listing: "Take Me With U" / "Sex Shooter" / "Manic Monday" / "A Million Miles (I Love You)" / "Ooo She She Wa Wa" / "Some Kind Of Lover" / "In A Spanish Villa." By this time, in late February 1984, Prince had decided to withhold some of the songs he had initially intended for the group, instead planning them for an album with Sheila E. He also decided to keep "17 Days" for a single B-side ("When Doves Cry"). "The Glamorous Life" was written by Prince about Apollonia. "He used to make all these stupid jokes, 'You're the kind of chick who would wear a mink coat in the summertime.' To this day I don't have my own mink coat! When Sheila came into the scene, Prince took away the song from us and gave it to her. At that point it was like, 'Man, this is just not fair.' Since I was a newcomer, I kinda bit my tongue, but Susan and Brenda really let him have it."

Prince's duet with Apollonia, "Take Me With U," was planned as the album's lead-off single, and with "Manic Monday" and "Sex Shooter" as two other strong pop tunes and potential hits, the album was shaping up to become one of Prince's most commercial, pop-oriented side projects thus far. A month later, however, Prince changed his mind and reclaimed "Take Me With U" to use it on his Purple Rain album instead. It was the last track added to Purple Rain, and "Computer Blue," which had already been shortened a number of times, had to be edited one last time to accommodate for the song. Towards the end of the Sunset Sound sessions, Prince recorded "Blue Limousine" for Apollonia 6 as a replacement for "Take Me With U."

Back in Minneapolis after this nearly four-month long stay in Los Angeles, Prince cut "Happy Birthday, Mr. Christian" at the Eden Prairie (Flying Cloud Drive) warehouse he was using for rehearsals and recording sessions up until the Purple Rain tour. "Manic Monday" was still included on a Warner Bros. pre-release cassette tape of the Apollonia 6 album, but Prince pulled the song at last minute, replacing it with "Happy Birthday, Mr. Christian." He later gave "Manic Monday" to The Bangles, who scored a huge international hit with their own version of the song in 1986.


Lacking conviction
After Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life and The Time's Ice Cream Castle, Apollonia 6 became the third Starr Company production in 1984 when it was released on October 1st. Though Prince's name doesn't appear anywhere on the record, it was clearly another sample of his undercover work, as he wrote, played and produced most of it. The songs on the album are attributed to Sheila E., members of Apollonia 6, and The Revolution. In reality, Prince was responsible for all of the songs, but he gave Lisa Coleman a co-writing credit on "A Million Miles (I Love You)," while Brenda Bennett received a co-credit on "Some Kind Of Lover."


Apollonia 6 fade away
In view of how many first-rate songs Prince decided not to use on the Apollonia 6 album, including "Take Me With U," "Manic Monday," "The Glamorous Life," and "17 Days," it is obvious that Prince lost interest in the project somewhere along the line, instead turning his attention to Sheila E. and his next side project, The Family. Vanity was clearly a crucial inspiring force behind Prince's concept of a raunchy, sexy girl trio. For Apollonia, it was much more a case of playing a role, and she made it quite clear that her career goals did not necessarily include a future as one part of Apollonia 6. She never committed herself to anything beyond the Purple Rain film and an album with Apollonia 6. Consequently, the project lacked conviction and it is fairly evident that Prince's heart was not in the project.

There was talk of making videos for all the tracks on the album, and Apollonia claimed at the time, "Warners requested - no demanded - that we make a video for every song on the album." Apart from a video for "Sex Shooter," which was released as a single (also available in an extended version on maxi-single), nothing happened to the grandiose plans. With no second single, the project slowly faded away, perhaps not missed by too many.

With hindsight, Apollonia said in 1989, "Purple Rain was a success and Apollonia was a device for that concept, but there's no way that any woman could attain respectability travelling around the world in her undergarments."


By PER NILSEN with help from DAVID MAGDZIARZ

A Million Miles by far.

Prince rushed Appolonia 6's album BUT IT IS STILL BETTER than the new wave 1999 sound that Vanity 6 album...just had a lil 2 much of. Musically Appolonia's album was better, but Vanity had sum nice spark, but broke off after Make Up went off, 3X2 = 6 is boring, Drive Me Wild and Bite The Beat lack majorly..they sound the same, and vocally was terrible, not 2 say Apples was any better but Susan Moonsie..no.


Appolonia album is dope. Rushed but still dope

DavidEye said:

where'd you hear a Vanity 6 version of this??has anyone heard or is ther a boot of the assembled app 6 versions of manic monday an,17 days,and the others that were pulled?

I think after vanity left the picture Prince just lost all faith in the group...I mean, do you know how many credited and uncredited "guest vocalists" there are?

The only reason why I like "Blue Limousine" is because of Brenda and Susannah being the only audible voices...lol.

A6 is a fun album, mainly for the music, but Vanity6 is better.

More effort and time was put into it. Prince was stuck with A6 because of the "Purple Rain" thing and rushed to put together an album.
Apollonia has absolutely NO skills in the singing department, most of her songs are srongly backed up by "guest vocalists".

Hell, in "Take Me With U" Jill's backing her up

mltijchr said:

"who needs that?" well, nobody. but then again, she wasn't yet a proven commodity in Hollywood, outside of Prince's lingerie-clad side project and girlfriend.

she was probably getting paid more than anyone else who played the part would've gotten.

did she think for her first outing, she was going to command a star paycheck? that's the problem with folks these days (and those days, i guess). they don't want to start at the bottom and work to get the money later. they want the money now, sight unseen, just because they THINK they're hot shit.

guess it came around to bite her in the ass in the end. no career, and on kidney dialisis and nothing to do with herself but to show up on TV evangelists' talk shows.

rockwilder said:

The Vanity 6 version of "Sex Shooter" was recorded in spring 1983,before Vanity left the Prince camp.It's been circulating for years.The Apollonia 6 version of "Manic Monday" is also circulating (it's basically just Apollonia and Prince).As for the other rejected A6 songs you mentioned ("17 Days","The Glamorous Life",etc),they might be out there somewhere too,but I've never heard them.

lovebizzare said:

Very good point about Apollonia's vocals.She can't sing to save her life,and that's why she really only gets two songs on lead vocals.The majority of the songs feature Brenda,Jill Jones (the unofficial member of this group..lol),Susannah and others.Even Prince can be heard on certain songs,offering some uncredited "vocal assistance".

Mind you,Vanity wasn't really a great vocalist either.But she put alot of attitude and personality into her vocals.She came across as a genuine "nasty girl".With Apollonia,it was really just a case of trying on a costume and acting out a role.

DavidEye said:

Thanks for that info, David! But seems to me that if the song was about how Prince perceived Apollonia (which is kind of an insult saying that she's petty), she wouldn't have been upset about him giving it away. Just a thought.