Hi,
This question is to the older fans of Prince - those who have been there since the earlier days. I just wondered how u felt when u heard that the revolution were/had dis-banded? was it ever announced publically? what was your reaction to the news? how did u hear about it? I would be very keen to hear your recollections of this exciting period in princes career.

many thanks
3121

Our local R&B radio station announced it.They had just played "Girls and Boys".This was in late 1986.I remember this was a weird time for Prince.'Under The Cherry Moon' flopped big time,and 'Parade' didn't do very well (at least here in the States).There was a feeling that he needed to make some changes and come back strong in 1987.I wasn't the least bit surprised when I heard the news about the Revolution.I was really excited about the new band.

SoulAlive said:

cool. thanks for sharing. did u have any idea of who the new band would consist of? sheila etc..?

3121 said:

I knew Sheila would be in the new band.All throughout 1986,there were rumors that she was gonna give up her solo career and play for Prince.I was actually mad about this,I felt it would be a step backwards for her.But it turned out alright.

Since the revolution had already lost my favorite member at that time (Dez), it didn't really bother me all that much, plus I was 18 and had plenty going on in my own life that it didn't break my heart like it might have at 14-15.
But, as time goes on, my favorite memories of Prince include The Revolution so now I kind of wish they could have stayed a while longer...
and if Prince wants to bring em back 2gether..sure I'm all for it

I was 14 when the revolution was disbanded and to be fair I was gutted. However, come 1987 SOTT was so good, and I already was a fan of Sheila E that I got over it. Cat was an electric dancer and Eric Leeds was familiar, obviously. But, I missed (and still do) the presence of W & L but was able to get into there solo stuff.
[Edited 1/29/07 7:28am]

To me Prince's music did not CLICK until When Doves Cry, which was rock combined with soul and gospel. It drew me in and the album Purple Rain did not leave my record player for ages.

The consecutive albums were all steady ad-ons for his future stack of hits. To me, The Revolution was the instigator for his awesome expansion of colours that cemented Prince's place in music history. He will be remembered mostly for his string of hits with The Revolution, even though he had hits like 1999 and Little Red Corvette, but those were not global hits, like everything else up to something around 1989.

To me, the disbandment of The Revolution was like a slap in the face, like a family breaking up. Of course, back then I was still buying into the entire Paisley Park scala of emotion and hippy-shit, so I was way more emotionally attached to Prince's music than I am now.

But indeed, the magnificence of Sign The Times mended alot of wounds and with the release of Waterfall and W&L's first album I knew that the break up was not bad, but GOOD: it gave me new music I knew I would not have gotten if they had stayed together.

And indeed, when the outtakes of the late Revolution days began to drop, some of it was not up to par, like Teacher Teacher. Other stuff deserved it's way into Prince history. No matter what Prince states in the booklet of The Hits/The B-Sides; Power Fantastic is a Prince & The Revolution song, damnit.
[Edited 1/29/07 7:26am]

Since I was going through a career change and identity crisis of my own...I really couldn't muster up a whole lot of concern over it, frankly.

thanks to all for sharing.

I wish i could have been old enough to appreciate it all 1st hand. Im certain that many mus have been sad to see the revolution end but in the same breath it must have been exciting to see where he was gonna go next. i mean, he had evolved musically and with his band so much up until this point anyhow.

FOr me, it was just another News item in the world of Prince. I was aware of it, but didn't understand the consequences at the time. I liked him, but had not really gotten into him until SOTT.

In retrospect, it must have been sucky news.

3121 said:

Loved it. It was TIME 2 move on.

3121 said:

It was announced, but truthfully, I didn't give a damn then and I still don't give a damn.

Change is good. I liked the new changes...but I do miss the Revolution.

Well...I was there before "The Revolution" so I wasn't too upset! I was surprised though...then I heard Dr. Fink was still with him...and I was cool with it!

Change IS good.All of Prince's bands since the Revolution were better,IMO.

I heard about it on the radio and as previous ogers noted, he did need to shake it up a little bit.

I was really really upset when Wendy replaced Dez. So to see the girls go wasn't brutal. To see them grow into better musicians and good songwriters was a plus. Sorry, Bobby Z was just an average drummer.

One thing I remember is that band needed a lot of people to pull of a show. There were like 16 people on the stage.

I loved the 3 albums, but the next step 87 to 89 is my favorite period of music.

I heard it on MTV news and was pretty upset; though, not too surprised -- Andre & Dez had already left. MTV interviewed Wendy & Lisa soon afterward when they released their new CD. I felt better then. That was a good album. And hearing that Sheila E. would take over as drummer wasn't too bad, to say the least. I was kinda excited about seeing what new changes were coming our way.

This news wasn't too long after all kinds of other stories, like We Are the World, Chick's Enquirer interview, the Madonna/Prince affair (with Sean Penn trying to hunt Prince down!), and yes, the Under the Cherry Moon fiasco (which was a movie me and my friends loved, and thought that only our local paper didn't like until many years later). So the news wasn't so much a downer as it was a 'big story'. I was a little bummed, but at that point my reverence for Prince was such that he could've been doing t.v. spots for Dunkin' Donuts and I would've been behind him 100%.

It wasn't 'til Graffiti Bridge that I started to say, 'wait a second...'.

I was waaay more upset when Dez was replaced by Wendy. By 86, I wasn't really digging the Parade vibe in general. UTCM was o.k but I wasn't flipped over the album. I saw P on the Hit and Run tour at The Wiltern in L.A., and the show was bangin'. I couldn't connect with the band members like I used to with the 81-83 lineup. So, it didn't have any effect on me at all when he broke up this lineup. I favored his 87-89 lineup much better with Cat and Sheila. I was never a fan of Wendy's although I always adored Lisa.

Interstingly,I don't think there was a definitive moment it hit me that they had split. I just kept on loving Prince--in whatever current form he held. I did LOVE the Revolution though, everything about it.Man, I still do. And I also agree that with the disbandment of each of his bands (the loss of Dez D., and other musicians along the way.) it was the end of that specific, magical era--each of them amazingly beuatiful and powerful and great. But, that is the nature of Prince. He isn't afraid to change. To let others change, too. All and all, I think its fine that they broke up. The story had to continue for each of them.

Snap said:

That was a good album. And, I mean, who could be disappointed in Shelia? She rocks.

3121 said:

I was never a huge fan of the revolution in those days, i always viewed Prince as a solo artist and still do. His sidepeople are mainly hired hands. Wendy and Lisa were building up quite a following of their own but i didn't ever believe they brought a lot to Prince's sound. Years later I've read different. Maybe they did steer him in different directions and maybe they did contribute some to his sound but so did Brown Mark, Dez Dickerson, The Time and all the people he worked with. Anyway, at the time, I didn't really care too much.

mozfonky said:

I like that breakdown of the situation. Of course Prince is a solo artist, but he has never been afraid to pick up something good when it came his way. It is just that Prince made his most border-crossing, most exciting ,most revered music when these people were around. But often people go way too far in giving props to peeps as Wendy & Lisa.

Sure, their relationship with Prince was special, as they were close, but thatwould not have been so if Prince had not jammed with those other cats for years.

Prince's musical career has been one of progression and leaving The Revolution behind was one of those steps. I personally still think Prince is still a bit pissed off at the fact he was not able to match the amount of success he had in those days on his own. Both his supposedly come-back albums (Rave & Musicology) kinda took elements form The Revolution days. It is also one of the the reasons (I think) that Prince mixed out their contributions on songs like Dream Factory.

The thing I miss most about Wendy & Lisa is their background vocals. This ties in with that other thread ( http://www.prince.org/msg/7/215861 ) on here; I miss their vocalisations. Their vocals added so much more to Prince's sound than just Prince overdubbing his own vocals. I cannot imagine a Raspberry Beret without their vocals.

I suspect that Prince will not ever work with them full time again, but I would love him to get them into the studio to do backing vocals for him. I want him to mix that refound roots with their vocals...
[Edited 1/30/07 3:04am]

I too liked that special, sorta flat way they delivered their vocals, it matched the music of the band at the time. Different sources say he took different amounts from other people around him. Looking back on it, I'm sure his sound would have been less oh....Prince sounding without Matts great synth work, Dez' leads, Wendy and Lisa's contributions. I just kinda wonder how much they actually contributed. Possibly the biggest contribution some of these people made was being at least good enough to hold up their ends of the music and just stay out of his way. I don't believe wendy or Lisa were particularly great musicians, artistically they brought something. Of course Bobby Z was no great drummer. Mark Brown was a capable bassist. My reading of the situation was that Wendy and Lisa started getting on Prince's nerves either by getting bigheaded or by getting too much credit for their input. This led to the documented screaming matches and finally the sacking of nearly the whole band. Only Matt Fink was kept on for several more years. But as to the question, I didn't care at the time and I didn't think that wendy and lisa gave that much to him. I was wrong according to some Prince historians but that is how I, a Prince fanatic, felt at the time. That the people around him were incidental.

mozfonky said:

hehehe.

That one one had irks me and on the other hand makes me laugh cuz for some vocals they did, it is spot-on. I mean, Lisa on Head; lol!

But if I want to point out the brilliance of their vocalisations, of Prince's voice blending PERFECTLY with W&L's; check out Do U Lie? on Parade.

Pure bliss.

HamsterHuey said:

Yeah i figured it would rub you wrong but that sort of emotionless way they sang was perfect for prince's music. I miss it, it was distinctive. As good as Boni or Rosie was, they were not distinctive.

The thing is, how much of a W&L adept I am, I am not one for them to reunite. I rather have W&L doing their thing, even though I would love them to be more prolific when it came to real albums instead of tv soundtracks.

I also am very irritated by people that insinuate Prince's music is going to be all glam if only he would start working with W&L again. That is such a load of BS.

My best friend swore up and down that their music was great, I finally bought a copy of their first album but I just couldn't get into it at all. I'm sure vanity on their and Prince's part had a lot to do with the breakup. I mean, I always thought it was wrong for Wendy to get so much credit, she was not their for the dues paying strugglin years that the band went through and then she becomes the biggest star in the band aside from P. She wasn't a virtuoso musician either. I think Prince was more concerned with the image of the band at that time, he wanted a Sly type of integrated male, female, black and white band, for this he paid when he went on tour against the time.

mozfonky said:

He formed the band much more to the likes of Graham Central Station than Sly & The Family Stone, I think.

could be, I never followed Larry, I didn't even know who sly was until people kept comparing Prince to him.