I am right now listening to Sly and the Family Stones song "You can make it if you try", and i hear clearly that Prince had this song in mind when he recorded "Alphabet Street".

Both songs start as a regular song (you know: verse, chorsus, verse chorus etc) and have a long instrumental part after that.

The first part of Alphabet Street sounds Sly-influenced in general, but the second, instrumental part seems like a straight copy (hommage?) of the closing instrumental part of You can make it if you try.... Alltough the instruments and production are more 'modern' sounding on Alphabet street, the chord progression, the key in which things are played, the way the those progressing chords climax is almost exactly the same as on You can make it if you try...

By the way, i definetely dont object to Prince using his influences in this way (I mean Sexy MF and Musicology are pure James Brown-pastiches, On songs like Animal Kingdom and Dance on, he sings melodies / lines John Lennon could have sung). For me the joy of Princes music is that he uses this influences, but at the same puts something of himselve in, giving music from the great artists of the past..I mean, for me Prince is no copycat...

Giving those influences a personal, and thoroughly enjoyable twist, i meant

there was no music before prince....Prince did it all himself without any outside influences...he is just crazy genius that way.....

Yes, and your mother was the maid Mary

Alphabet St. is a standard I,IV,V progression. You could find about 17 million songs that sound like it.

"Dorothy Parker" is Sly influence too.....

Prince wrote "Make Your Mama Happy" after listening to Sly's "Fresh" album!

funkpill said:

Yeah, its a remake of Family Affair

Forever in my Life and Everyday People

Larry, AKA, Next Best Thing.....

If You Want Me To Stay and If I Was Your Girlfriend sound similar.

But 95% of the time I seriously don't think Prince "steals directly" from anyone

seanski said:

That's the most Sly-ish song he's made.

namepeace said:

2 of my most favourite songs ever!

"dance on" is like john lennon?????


like what song?

bkw said:

Mine too!

sosgemini said:

Oh yeah, Sly is up there with prince's greatest influences. I think he may even be above hendrix and james brown. Here are songs that I think are reminiscent of sly, some with specific comparisons

Slow Love-Hot Fun In the Summertime
Forever in my life-Everyday People
If I was your girlfriend-bassline from Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin
Ballad of Dorothy Parker-sounds a lot like an outtake from either There's A Riot Going On or Fresh
Dear Mr. Man-same as above
Pop Life-Something out of "Life"
Raspberry Beret-ditto
Play in the sunshine, starfish and coffee-Runnin Away

Riverpoet31 said:

Great observation.....When I first that guitar riff from "Alphabet Street",
I said the same thing..."That's Sly"...

sosgemini said:

I've just ordered "The Anxiety of Influence" by Harold Bloom, on Amazon. I can't wait to see how it applies to Prince.

Riverpoet31 said:

"Stealing?" - No. Influenced - sure. In the same key, but it is not the same. But I would not be surprised if he had been listening to Sly a lot at the time. He is an admitted Sly freak. That shit just gets right into ya pores. Lol.

I don't see what you are saying about Dance On though. Care to elaborate?

I always thought of "Alphabet St." as some kind of tribute to Sly and The Family Stone.

Ufoclub, the SONG Dance on musically doesnt sound beatlesque at all, but the melodylines he uses in the verses definitely are (granade launcher roars in a sattelite skyyyyyuuuuuhhhhh, tell me how many people must diiiiieeeee). John Lennon did use that kind of melodylines very often during the 'psychedelic' era of Beatles.

Other songs that are sounding more beatlesque in ways of MUSIC are:
- DMSR, the echo-effect on Princes vocals is sound very Lennosque
- Paisley Park is a modernday version of a psychedelic beatles-song
- Pop Life, again the echo-effect on the vocals, making him sound like John Lennon
- Starfish and coffee, the same thing
- Animal Kingdom, the most obviously Lennon-like song Prince ever released (by the way, why does everything seems to hate this song, i mean, i am dutch, so i am not that distracted by the lyrics i guess, but i love the effect used on his vocals, and love the animal sounds weaved into this song.. I mean, i am a sucker for songs like Strawberry Fields Forever and I am the Wallrus, and this is a song in the same style)

These are the most obvious one to me, you know any other songs with beatles-influences in his catalogue?

To come back to the song Alphabet Street, one musicjournalist said he heard some reggae-influence in the rhythem.....and indeed, when you listen to this rhythem, especially during the 'song' part it sounds like he is mixing up a reggaerhytem, with a funk beat, and some pop thrown in as the icing on the cake....

Thats one i like from the Lovesexy record there are always new things to discover in those songs, because he did pay so much attention to the arrangements on these song, i mean:
- He mixes funk, with gospel and jazzy touches on I know
- I expressed my thoughts on alphabet street before
- Glam Slam mixes worldmusic with psychedelic pop, and ends in a 'classical' way
- Anne Stesia builds up from a rockballad to gospel (God is love, Love is God...)
- Dance On, an ultra-original rock-funk songs, with beatlesque verses, great sound effects, great drumming by Sheila, and even incorporating a heavymetal riff near the end of the song
- Lovesexy: one of my all time favorite Prince tracks, using the main elements of the song 1999 as a skeleton, but throwing in a hardrockish solo, gospel chants, synth strings building up to a climax and crazy soundeffects.. One mind blowing piece of music, i always play VERY loud on my stereo
- When 2 R in love: a ballad mixing soul with heavenly pop like the forgotten Andy Pratt used to deliver, throwing in a synth sounding like a japanese Koto, and ending with some simple, but effecting hornlines
- I wish u heaven, the most mediocre track on this record, filler almost, but the rhythem starts as that from some FM-rock song, and gradually the guitar moves out of the soundmix, exposing a bare beat.....I only noticed this after lots of repeated listenings....but its a masterstroke, making this track enjoyable for me
- Positivity mixes a beat that combines funk with world music, undercooled Prince singing (i love the way he uses the low register of his voice, he should do that more), Cats background vocals sounding gospellish, greating a nice contrast with Prince vocals, the psychedelic sounding guitarwork with lots of feedback, the lyrics at the ending of this song sound a bit too easy / obvious for me (we need love, honesty, peace and harmony), but in general, this is great example of Princes ability to mix influences and different musicstyles.

As you might expect i like Lovesexy a lot, i consider it his last real masterpiece.

One tip for the ones who might not get 'into' this album, because they think it sounds to busy and eglectic: focus yourselve on the basslines from the songs, those seem to be the thing that hold the music together

Had U was described as abbey ROadish by a friend of mine on first listen.

Riverpoet31 said:

ufoclub said:

Where is Lennon when you need him ?

here, here, I am obssessed with the beatles and collect their (much fewer) studio bootlegs too.

DiminutiveRocker said:

ufoclub said:

Really? PM me about that.... please

Prince acknowledged one resemblance between one of his songs and one of Sly's. I think it was at one of those Paisley Park parties, and he said it in front of Larry Graham. The song he mentionned was Just Like a Baby, from There's a Riot Going On. And the Prince song? The Question of U! He meant the bassline.
[Edited 4/11/05 16:56pm]

Obviously, P has stolen some bass riffs, vocal arrangements from Sly songs throughout the years. Certain songs you can clearly hear Sly's influence on like the following: Anotherloverholeinyourhead,Mountains,Pop Life,Dear Mr. Man, Ballad Of Dorthy Parker, If I Was Your Girlfriend and Alphabet Street.

Dont forget Love or Money. Just slow the single down to 33rpm so the voice loses that Cammille effect.

The vocal is pure Sly Stone!

I kid you not, just give it a listen.