I've got nothing against them, but I actually prefer the Prince without their strong influence.

Some of those more psychadelic songs on Around the World.. and Parade are the weakest of his 80's run imo. A little too experimental.

Also, isn't the strong psychadelic influence what drove away Prince's most enormous following anyway?

I think he's been much better off as an artist without it.

w & l-lovers strike back in 5...4...3...2...

I see your point but on the other hand his body of work as a whole benefited from their influence making him a much more interesting artist in the larger scheme of things.

I can understand it if you didn't like the sound in that period, or that you prefered where 1999 had been going, but without Prince's massive flip in sound types, sparked from 84 onwards, he would not be the enigma is is today.

If he carried on churning out Purple Rains, at the frequency he released records, the record buying public would have buried him in 5 years.

Some people don't like the the Srg. Pepper album. But without it, the Beatles would never have made Abbey Road and The White album. It turned the tide of how they viewed their music making.

Without the influence of W & L, then SOTT would have been far less adventurous, and probably have never happened.

It's not that I just wanted the trademark PR sound in all his future albums. That's not it at all.

It's just, on Around the World... and Parade, he let their influence take over his music too much.

It made too many songs sound incomprehensible.

And the winner of the most dumbfuck thread of all time goes too...

Wow, is that really necessary? I didn't say they're dumb bitches who should burn in hell. It's just an opinion.
[This message was edited Fri Aug 20 6:48:56 2004 by PurpleKnight]

PurpleKnight said:

...okay, now you've stumped me. incomprehensible? how??

PurpleKnight said:

There are a lot of people here who think Wendy and Lisa didn't have that much influence, and that most of those songs are still produced, composed and performed by Prince on his own.

As for driving away a lot of the fans, I personally think thats a good thing.

But I do hear what you are saying. Back in the day, I used to cringe at some of it. Now I love every note.

PurpleKnight said:

every artist does somethin experimental--if they were to do the same thing over and over again, then what would be their point in creating stuff?

I have no problem at all with artists trying to grow with different styles, but I don't think the psychadelic experimentation suited Prince at all. I think he took it too far with the W&L sound, let it become too big a part of his new music on those albums. Like I said, I personally think he was better off as an artist without them afterwards.
[This message was edited Fri Aug 20 6:58:35 2004 by PurpleKnight]

SpudMonkey said:

that's like asking who feels Ringo Starr ruined the songs of Prince..he didn't ruin any of them cause he didn't play on any of them. Prince has grown as an artist, and has changed his band accordingly. Rhonda is a much better bass player then Mark Brown, Mike Hamilton a much better guitar player the Andre Cymone, Dez Dickerson, or Wendy Melvoin....

SquirrelMeat said:

Don't let the credits on the albums fool you though. Prince credits himself for composing Power Fantastic when all he added was the lyrics to music composed by Wendy and Lisa for a song called Carousel.

i like the wendy and lisa influence...i dunno maybe the whole psychodelic experimental vibe is my thing (hence me like the beatles a band who i NEVER thought i could get into) but i think around the world and parade r some of the finest pieces of work he's ever done that i've heard. i'll even be as bold to say that along with lovesexy and controversy they're two of his better albums that i've heard.
.

damn thats because of them? damn u 2! grr..hahahha

PurpleKnight said:

Crack smoker. You want to continue working here? Lay off the drugs.

As much respect as i have for Wendy and Lisa, i do not believe they influenced P's sound. He may have given them some credit on the PR-Parade albums but remember HE ALSO GAVE CREDIT TO VANITY, APPOLLONIA, SHEILA E. AND THE TIME ON THEIR ALBUMS AND IT WAS P WOULD WROTE ALL THE SONGS AND EVEN PLAYED MOST IF NOT ALL OF THE INSTRUMENTS. P did not need W&L's influence at all.

Well...I'll say this...

From what I can remember, the Crystal Ball album that was supposed to come out did feature Wendy and Lisa's influence noticeably on it, at least from what I've heard and read and from the songs I've listened to...

But...um, Prince sacked The Revolution, and ended up churning out SOTT, an album that really didn't figure in Wendy and Lisa to any great extent. Now, between the two albums (or at least what I've heard of Crystal Ball), I think SOTT is the FAR FAR superior album...in fact, the review in L.A. Times for SOTT was titled "Prince: Back To His Senses", and I kinda understood at the time what that meant...that it meant he returned to his strengths, improved on them, honed them, and turned out a ferocious album...so for the longest time, I looked at Crystal Ball as being Prince traveling further down the "Wendy & Lisa Influence" road...stopping...then making a U-turn and coming back to where he used to be.

Don't get me wrong, I like the work he did that Wendy and Lisa obviously inspired (except for that HORRID "In All My Dreams"...good god)...but SOTT is brilliance, and possibly brilliance he would(could?) have only achieved by stepping off the Wendy & Lisa train.

Byron said:

start running.

PurpleKnight said:

On which songs do you particularly think that the psychedelic experimentation didn't suit Prince with him allowing Wendy and Lisa's sound to be taken too far?

I'm trying to understand where you think Wendy and Lisa's contribution specifically 'hurt' Prince's output.
.

TheDeacon said:

That's odd, I wonder why their solo albums still had that SOUND. I understand that some people just don't get it but WOW.

TheDeacon said:

In almost all of those cases, however, the songwriting credit attributed to another artist was contradicted behind the scenes with publishing monies going solely to Prince.

On the other hand, where Wendy and Lisa's songwriting contribution was alleged or acknowledged, it was substantiated both at the Library of Congress and ASCAP, with them receiving royalties e.g. '17 Days', 'America', Computer Blue', 'Mountains', 'Power Fantastic', 'Sometimes It Snows In April' - and in these cases Wendy and Lisa were involved in the recording of the music.
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[This message was edited Fri Aug 20 8:58:17 2004 by langebleu]

PurpleRein said:

Mike Hamilton???
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TheDeacon said:

You are joking, right?

Whether someone likes it or not, they DEFINITELY influenced his sound.

Byron said:

Byron... say it ain't so.

If W&L's solo album had that SOUND, its because they got it from P. Take, for example, "Are You My Baby". It sounded like P wrote that song when actually they took HIS style and used it as their own. He didn't need them, THEY NEED HIM; BADLY.

TheDeacon said:

I don't think either NEEDS the other. I like what Prince does without them, and I like what they do without Prince. I just REALLY like what they all do together. The argument of who is using who's sound is endless. Only Prince, Wendy & Lisa can answer that definitely. The rest of us can let our ears take us wherever it takes us.

TheDeacon said:

Well somebody should have been using the sound of the Revolution he wasn't, and it sounds like to me that somebody just likes to argue because no one could be that slow.