re: Lisa


first let me say im not speaking on anyone's behalf..all of this is pure speculation on my part. in the past its always been wendy who has talked about prince and working together...lisa seemed to have an "i dont give a f*ck" attitude....actually, she seemed to have that kinda of attitude towards her entire "pop" career. she is a true "artist" in the sense that she seems happy to create art but doesnt give a rats arse about selling it. ive heard from folks who have seen her artwork and they are all blown away at its beauty yet she rarely ever exhibits it.

at anyrate, ive noticed a real change in lisa's personality these past few years. she is more talkative..more comfortable in her own skin. and that confidence has translated in her music. her organ playing in betty lavette's "ive got my own hell to raise" has a sexy attitude i've never heard from her. she even talked about "finding herself" during the shows. she said the death of david was very hard on her and it made her search within to find herself.

at anyrate, i just sense this jazzed attitude from her now....i sense it in her new songs...i sense it in the way she works the crowd after their shows..like she understands and accepts her talents and the audience that appreciates it. and just something gets me to think she could and might just talk prince into being musical pranksters/challengers once again.

not saying that they will reform Revolution or create Purple Rain 2. But from their comments during the shows i could see they were instigating prince to challenge himself musically...i'd love for them to release albums individually yet still try to outdue each other..thats how prince created some of his greatest work of his career...IMHO.

once again, notice i never once said the sound would be a purple rain 2..or that i think wendy and lisa's music actually makes prince better...its the challenge that makes each of them better.

Ill get slated 4 this BUT i hope not. Yawn that would b boring..now if u wanna bring back some peeps lets see Mike B and Sonny T on the stage.. at least that would b FUNKY..HELL YEAHHHHH

organgrinder said:

I have to agree. I have nothing against Wendy & Lisa, but I would rather have Sonny and Mike's bombastic rhythm section pounding away than Wendy & Lisa noodling classically in the background.

Wendy & Lisa were so much more to Prince than just bandmembers. It really shows ignorance when people try to reduce W&L's role to that of "Dez" or any of the NPG.

W&L, wrote, produced, and played music w/ Prince. Their input and impact on his music was so much more than what most of the people who post here even realize.

He should reunite with them and make more great new music.

Wendy & Lisa were so much more to Prince than just bandmembers. It really shows ignorance when people try to reduce W&L's role to that of "Dez" or any of the NPG.

W&L, wrote, produced, and played music w/ Prince. Their input and impact on his music was so much more than what most of the people who post here even realize.

He should reunite with them and make more great new music.

some of y'all need to quit frontin'
how many W&L albums have you listened to?
what about what they've been doing lately?
don't you dare reduce them to the work they did with Prince
their songwriting abilities outclass most anything else out there

Wendy & Lisa were so much more to Prince than just bandmembers. It really shows ignorance when people try to reduce W&L's role to that of "Dez" or any of the NPG.

W&L, wrote, produced, and played music w/ Prince. Their input and impact on his music was so much more than what most of the people who post here even realize.

He should reunite with them and make more great new music.

it's gotten to the point where i don't give a fuck who'll be on board or not, i'm just waiting for whatever's gonna happen.

does he really need anyone to challenge him?
no.

uh...can you say the "Batman Soundtrack" ? (basically a one-man-show there)

avatarfunk said:

Um, that would be yes. His work has suffered in the time since he's had people to challenge him musically. W&L did a lot of the songwriting with him and especially helped with the arrangements.

Once he got lazy and surrounded himself with musicians that didn't challenge him, his songwriting became stale and pedestrian (ala Musicology, etc.)

avatarfunk said:

Yes I can say Batman Soundtrack. You just made my argument.

alexandernevermind said:

ill say this before this thread turns into another (all you haters seem to only like w&l) i always got the impression that sony t and tommy b (and to a lesser extent rosie gaines) challenged prince the same way that wendy and lisa (and to a lesser extent dr. fink) challenged prince.

sosgemini said:

Maybe in terms of chops, but not in terms of songwriting influences, which is where it's at IMHO.

agreed...but others might not. plus, for me personally, i was never bored with the sounds that came from that era (npg)..everything sounded fresh and excited..prince's vocals were engergized...the tempos had vitality. so while i dont enjoy the npg era as much as the revolution i still have madd respect for it.

i think there is a valid arguement to be made that prince was always energized by the talent around him from morris, dez and andre to sonny, tommy and rosie.

is it a coincidence that his music (from a fan perspective and from a critical perspective and from a public perspective) has more to be desired since he has become a one man music making machine?

(moment of clarification: prince has always made music solo..but he was still surrounded by dynamic personalities...via his personal life, touring, assiociated production or protege acts). now he has a yes man best friend (larry graham), a yes man wife (mani) and yes men band members (rhonda, ronata).)

...and yes men band members (rhonda, ronata).)

thoughts?

alexandernevermind said:

Give me a break

I can't speak for Larry and Mani, but I don't believe Rhonda and Renato are "yes men". Prince said many times last year that he himself felt priveliged to be playing with such talented musicians. Renato inparticular definately brought a new sound to the ONA and Musicology tours.

Prince likes to change directions musically. So he hires musicians who he believes can help take it to the next level. The Revolution, The SOTT/Lovesexy band, the 93-95 NPG and the 02-04 NPG were all great for different reasons. The whole of each of these bands were greater than the sum of their parts...

Yes, I do. Why Was MANI hanging with Susannah and Why has Prince been seeing them LATELY? He DEFINITELY has SOMETHING in the WORKS.

Zelaira said:

To be accurate, Wendy and Lisa STRUGGLED to get in to see Prince at the club Black aftershow, though Mani did go over and say hi, then the next day Prince invited Wendy to play with him on the Tavis Smiley show, then later he went to ONE gig to see them play.

and it was susannah and wendy who struggled to get in. lisa didnt bother to go. she hasnt bothered to see prince at any of the aftershows..thats why its always just been wendy who jammed with prince at the aftershows. it was three shows that she performed with him at?

and if rhonda or ronata had any artistic creed they would have told prince, "dude..you wanna release what as your first single from 3121?"

but one of two things happened:

1) prince hasnt empowered them to make that type of decision

or

2) they are yes men.

either option is doing a deserve to prince's legacy. IMHO.

sosgemini said:

OR, (3) Prince takes input from others, thinks it over, and still ends up doing whatever the hell he wants.

sosgemini said:

....can we xpect some collaborations on the new 3121 Prince Album??

I think the argument about Wendy & Lisa's influence on Prince is going to run and run forever.

The main point to this discussion is, as I see it, that the general consensus believes Prince needs SOMEONE to influence him again in the same positive way that Wendy & Lisa did, if not they themselves.

I think it is true that he has surrounded himself with fantastic musicians who are fantastically gifted live, but who have very little impact, if any, on Prince in the studio when he is constructing the songs.

He has lived in an exclusive celebrity bubble for a long time now and perhaps that is the reason why some of his songs are beginning to sound like songs he has done already - he needs some fresh input from people who actually live in the real world, maybe.