ive heard some many people on this site diss larry graham but i like his gcs2000 cd. i know prince is involved but isnt it obvious that his involvement is more than what is told. would anyone here care to share their thawts on this.

i have never heard it.


and this is not a diss,but i will never listen to it.

G.C.S.2000 is pretty poor to me. I like "Groove on" and "GCS2000", but a lot of it is filler. I think the reason that a lot of people dislike LG is that they feel he is a very controlling influence over Prince and seems like a bit of a zealot.

Also, any clips I have seen of him on stage with Prince, he seems to be dominating the show, as though Prince has a lot to learn from him. Now I know LG was (and still is) one of the all-timew great bass players, but he's hardly playing next to a novice, Prince has more than paid his dues and has completely surpassed LG as a musical legend. Its not as if P is 20 and coming out with his second album and trying to learn from the "master". The attempt to promote GCS2000 was also a bit much. I remember seeing LG on BET with Tavis and he was shamelessly trying to promote the album. I hope LG does'nt get a regular spot on the stage with P, I always feel that Prince seems a lot freer without LG's influence.

but the question is how much did prince contribute to the cd as in playing instruments.

*shudder*

no knowledgable peeps here i guess. just grudges.

dazedawhile said:

Don't get upset because you didn't get the answer you wanted. Personally, I could not tell you how much Prince played on Graham's cd. but if you're nice and patient, someone in the know may provide you all the information you need.

dazedawhile said:

or you could try housequake

Champagne said:

I totally agree.

It has nothing to do with the religious beliefs and Prince's newfound religion, Larry Graham is simply an annoying fucking man.

The way he childishly promoted his album on Tavis Smiley by waving it around feverishly at the end was ridiculous, and on stage he constantly dominates the show when Prince is clearly the main attraction.

Nobody comes close to Prince. That's all there is to it.

i dig prince more than larry fo sho. but i didnt see his promotion on tavis. i seen him on rave concert and i see prince giving him his props, thats it. i was looking at gcs2000 as another possible glamorous life or vanity/time cd. as in prince possibly contributing in a major way.

It doesn't indicate that Prince did much, but I would guess he produced it much like Chaka's album supplying beats & synth.

This is the worst of the three albums (Chaka's being the best). Some of it's okay--like the first song--but who really wants to hear Larry sing for the whole record. I don't hate him, I'm just saying...

It actually recycles the beat from Billy Jack Bitch. I mean how hard would it have been to record a new beat? The whole albums seems uneven and unfinished. New Power Soul isn't great, but it sounds polished & cohesive.

i raise my hand as one of the few who like the cd. and i do listen to lot of music in all genres. i had it once and sold it, only to come upon it again. i like that one joint that sounds so parlament.

Who is Larry Graham??

Larry Grahm has had control over Prince's life and Prince's career for much too long now. Prince needs a Larry Grahm intervention!!!


He has lost many friends, and fans as well because of Larry! Prince fams should unite and March to MPLS with the hopes of overturning the force that is Larry Grahm and set Prince free! Prince is still a SLAVE....to LARRY!!!!!

Xavier23 said:

Prince's slave owner. He is evil and should be stopped!!!

It's kind of a missed opportunity as an album. I do think it would have been better if the camraderie and group dynamic of the title track was retained. Its less of a Graham Central Station album and more of a pure Larry Graham album. I think the writing and quality of songs would have improved with more of a group input. And sonically alone it would be more layered, there's too much fuzz and computerised beats, as a matter of fact its hard to pick out the pure bass sound, which is a bit of a letdown when you're dealing with a guy whose main talent is with the bass.I sometimes felt that way with the early 90s stuff, particularly the symbol album, There was so much production that I found it difficult to hear Sonny T in the mix

i admit i know less about gcs than sly/family stone. the stone has some good music.

If Prince would add it to the download store, I'd buy it for $7.77 just to hear it.

"GCS2000- Say It!"

"GC...."

"GCS2000- Say It!"

Xavier23 said:

just an old schooler who thinks he's the bomb because he's old school. I believe he was bassist for Sly and the Family Stone as well as Grand Central Station(isn't that one of Prince's old bands?). I think he can also sing a bit.

i dont have a problem with this Larry - Prince control thing.Prince is a grown man he is old enough to make his own decisions.
Nor do i have a problem with his obvious exceptional talent with a bass.
I just cannot stand his singing voice.

muirdo said:

who's, Larry's?

When Larry was with Prince doin interviews and stuff i thought it was embaressing. All the preaching and bullshit talk just the sight of him made me wanna cringe he took P over and tried 2 mould him in2 a boring weirdo..he is a fucking amazing bass player tho!

Larry Graham is cool,

Cool...

COOL.


I remeba him playing on the NPS tour in London, I was blown away, dutty bass solos, stage presence, charisma, style. He is cool.
Cafe de Paris aftershow any1? HAVE MERCY!!! That was dope. One of the coolest aftershows ever.

Give it a rest on Larry and open ya minds.

GCS2004ever.

Poor lil Prince, being mnipulated like the weak soul he is... BROTHA PLEASE!!

doctamario said:

Larry Graham was the bassist of Sly & The Family Stone, and the lead of Graham Central Station, the band Larry set up when he left the Family Stone.

Grand Central/Champagne was Prince's band - obviously the name is a nod to GCS.

Larry Graham is also cited as one of the most important bass-players in Funk/Black music, since his thumb-slapping style was said to be original.

If you like Sly & The Family Stone, and they are one of Prince's biggest influences, then you should get a kick out of the GCS albums too, although I'd skip the Larry G. solo albums, his voice really grates on me after a while.
[Edited 5/3/05 4:23am]

'GCS 2000' is weak except for 'Groove On', which is one cool funk track! Also, 'Come 2 My House' is easily the best of the 3 NPS records, being the best Prince-related record from 1996 to 2001 (except for'The Truth'). It sounds to me like Prince is all over 'GCS 2000', and also 'Come 2 My House'. His unmistakeable rhythm guitar playing, arranging style and production sound of the period are all over these.

Fact - Larry Graham is one of the pioneers of funk and pop bass playing, along with several others. He apparently has a five octave vocal range (from falsetto to bass). When Larry left the Family Stone, Sly either played Larry-style bass on his records or got someone else to play like Larry (and not to mention utilising unreleased Larry bass parts on 'Fresh' (or so the rumour goes). He is also by far Prince's chief influence on bass guitar since his career began. You can hear Larry-style bass lines/ playing techniques all over P's records. He is also apparently one of P's closest friends.

As for all the Larry dissing, I'm no JW fan, but think about this - what was Prince's music like in 1996-99 (before Graham apparently assisted P's JW 'conversion', and then think about his music 2000 - today. Which is better? This improvement (IMO) is not down to Larry alone, but more to the mental and spiritual stability P's JW faith has given him.

To put it very simplistically - No Larry, no 'Rainbow Children'/ 'One Nite Alone' era, etc.

And all this coming from an avowed atheist!

amen miles!!

I love the slow jam "I Just Found Somebody To Love".

I'll just copy and paste what I put in another thread...

Larry conformed to what Prince was doing. Unfortunately it came at a time when Kirky J was still at the helm of co-production. Larry used to represent that serious electric Bay funk. That's why I can't help but cringe whenever I see the "Larry ruined Prince" threads because to those who know 'bout Bay Area Funk (i.e. TOP, GCS, Sly etc) they would see it the other way 'round.


Seriously, the negative comments against Larry say more about some of you than it does about the music.