Damn, I just wrote this whole reply and it got lost.

Anyway.... first....."Sheila's band" was not part of the expanded Revolution, except for Miko.

The "Counter-Revolution" which toured for Parade-era Hit N Run shows, included the PR Revolution plus Susannah on vocals (sometimes), Jerome, Wally and Brooks doing whatever it they do , Miko on 2nd Rhythm guitar (he's the only one that was a Sheila band member), and Eric and Matt on sax and trumpet.

Later, for the SOTT and Lovesexy touring bands, Sheila herself took ver on drums, and brought along Boni Boyer and Levi from her touring band (on keys/vocals and bass) that she used to support her 3rd self-titled album and toured with Lionel Richie (my avatar is from a solo date from that era).


Now that we got that straight.....

No I dont' think the Revolution are over rated. THey were not the most techcnially proficient band vs. some of the more recent NPG players, but they influenced his overall sound.

Hell, W&L and Fink are CREDITED on several songs on Purple Rain.... we'll never truly know how much more they contributed on an UNCREDITED Basis. If you watch the extras DVD on the PR DVD, you can hear Wendy expain how "no they didn't write the song Purple Rain, but they HELPED write it"... and explains how they changed the chords, added suspended notes etc.

And before all the W&L haters start accusing me of saying that W&L are responsible for everything.... NO I'm not saying that. But they clearly had a contribution.. the fact they got SOME official credit is proof enough.

Plus the music then wsa more interesting..... had more "colors" to use W&L terms.

Plus as a band, they had personaltiy. I went to 2 Musicology shows last year and yeah they were amazing, and probably better than almost any band out there today. But take away Prince, and ... YAWN! That was a PRINCE concert.... the other bandmembers really made no impression IMO.
Plus the music is pretty boring. I doubt any of hte Musicoogy tracks will be popular 20 years from now.

Rhondab said:

No... by "official" credit I mean at the Copyright office, not wha'ts pritned on the album. Of course he was fast loose with what he put on the albums (Jerome wrote Mutiny! )

What I meant was that since W&L & Fink are listed at the copyright office and they are getting PAID for some songs, that's proof that they at least contributed to some stuff



Someone asked a question... we're just answering it, that's all

Besides, it's pretty ironic for anyone on an unofficial fan site dedicated to an artist to tell others they "are too caught up" on anything! You do realize most people thing we are ALL freaks for spending our time posting messages on here and overanalyzing all the minutia of Prince's music, life etc

Not that there's anything wrong with it!

Oh lawd...now I'm an idiot and I don't understand what a fan site is...thanks Gary...

What I was saying is that at the end of the day, its about Prince.....we can all have our favorites but to act like prince is nothing without the Revolution....give me a break.

:: sticks a toe in the water ::

I think the question of overrated and underrated regarding W&L has to do with the period in question and who's doing the rating.

I'll throw you a bone here. In terms of Prince's overall output and career, I think that Wendy & Lisa are overrated in terms of that period. Equally, I think that in the Prince community that period of Wendy & Lisa's lives is overrated in terms of its impact to their overall career.

The Prince years were, without question, fundamental to Wendy & Lisa's careers. Would they have had musical careers without the Prince connection? I don't doubt it - certainly their musical brothers had the Prince connection as well, but that wasn't what they leveraged on their ways to work with later artists. The whole extended family had musical connections, and so while Wendy and Lisa would have radically different musical careers without the Revolution days, I have no doubt they'd still have worked in the industry as the respected sessionists and songwriters they are.

When I look at Wendy & Lisa, I see musicians' musicians. Last week's Largo show was proof of that: Eric Clapton, John Mayers, Seal, Alicia Keys, and many others in the crowd were industry types out to support a group of musicians that clearly spoke to them in their own language. And certainly this shows in the fact they're still in demand as songwriters and sessionists - both for new artists working to establish themselves (Van Hunt, OK Go, and The Like) as well as a very diverse group big names who see in their work something key to work with (Tricky, Gwen Stefani, Eric Clapton, etc, etc.)

I don't think these musicians are choosing to work with Wendy & Lisa as musicians, songwriters and producers because of some over-rated hype. Clearly folks Eric Clapton can take their pick of musicians and songwriters. When we get into the current period of Wendy & Lisa's career, I would have to say that their music is held in high esteem by their peers and fairly underrated outside the industry.

So let's get back to that bone I'm ready to throw you.

When I listen to the old Prince music, I hear some very young women who were still growing into themselves, and had yet to become the incredibly competent and strong musicians they are today. Given their youth, I'm very impressed - things like Lisa's piano solos on "Anotherloverholenyohead," stopping on a dime in a key whispered in her head only a few minutes before? Impressive, but . . . not where she is now in terms of her scoring work. Wendy's ability to hold the energy of a massive stadium crowd and lead the band during the Parade tour? Good stuff - unquestionably - but compared to her jam with Eric Clapton and Doyle Bramhall II at Largo last week, it was really only prep work.

So here's what I'll say. Over the last 20 years Wendy & Lisa have just begun to hit their full stride in perhaps the last 8 (since Girl Bros, and hence after most of their albums were released). Compared to what they are doing now in their session, songwriting and scoring work, the Revolution work is indeed highly overrated.

Here's my question for you. Do you also believe that Prince has grown, challenged and extended his work over the last 20 years? Can you say of him that he his work now, compared to the Revolution days, is better, worse, or about the same? And if he's not continuing to challenge himself to get better over time, why not?

(I can't answer that question for anyone but me, so I'm really asking you.)
http://www.prince.org/msg...sg_2900279

In my opinion, the revolution was put together with more image than talent in mind. Prince was trying to establish himself to a crossover audience and also was obviously influenced by sly's integrated band. Bobby Z was not a great drummer by most accounts but was given the job because he was white, wendy and lisa brought a feminine touch, and if accounts are to be believed, exposed prince to a greater variety of music. They were capable musicians, maybe Brown Mark and Fink were the only ones to be able to keep up with Prince musically though. it is pop music though and musicianship is never really that important in this field. Prince himself was not anywhere near the musician or singer that he has developed into. he was good enough but if you listen to live performances, only his guitar playing was really up to par, his piano playing was sloppy and his singing was weak and off key much of the time. In most areas he has become more polished even though he's lost some creativity over the years.

mozfonky said:

i agree 100%...

interesting comparison time..i think prince has florished live while his albums have become less stellar...but the girls are the opposite..as much as i love their shows they tend to perform songs without much improving..they can do it, which is evident when they make lil booboos from time to time but they dont take their live shows to the level of prince..

see folks..i can be critical of the girls. without bashing the p man.

They were far from Prince's most technically competent band, but they sure as hell were his most creative and personally fitting. as far as I'm concerned. They were like a family, as someone else once said, a feeling that I just can't pick up from subsequent bands of his. Here's hoping that perhaps he'll come around one of these days and record some new stuff with Wendy and Lisa. As far as I know, he's been talking and visiting with them already, correct?

Prince without the revolution... kinda like John Lennon without the Beatles... still great always great but never quite the same

meltwithyou said:

I love this statement.

SynthiaRose said:

I think the statement is shit. Comparing The Revolution to The Beatles is an insult to both The Beatles and to Prince. Face it. Prince is Prince and The Revolution on more than half of the studio stuff. Asfar as The Revolution as a live band, well, it's highly debatable as to where they rank with Prince's other bands. Without a doubt they are #1 in terms of nostalgia.

skywalker said:

like a sci fi geek would have any idea !!, anyone who cant hear a beatles influence in SOME of Princes music must be deaf !!, he has even stated he got some influence from them... but its not about the similarities in thier music its about how they were both ground breaking song writters who took music in another direction, they both revolutionised music in thier day which very few artist can be credited for !! they also used thier music to put forword a deeper message about politics and god and religion and life...
like where do these people come from... honestly...

They were far from Prince's most technically competent band, but they sure as hell were his most creative and personally fitting. as far as I'm concerned. They were like a family, as someone else once said, a feeling that I just can't pick up from subsequent bands of his. Here's hoping that perhaps he'll come around one of these days and record some new stuff with Wendy and Lisa. As far as I know, he's been talking and visiting with them already, correct?