First off,Prince's latest band is good!
however I feel that there is a drop off from the talent in past NPG groups


cora is no John Blackwell, or the big dude with stupid hats on his head from the 90's

John is a capable bass player,but not a sonny t,or rhonda,

renato is great keep him,but why bring morris hayes back?

if you gonna bring back a keyboard player Dr.Fink is the way to go...

keep maceo,but the other 2 horn players are boring as hell.....


this group is just kinda sterile to me.....

anyone agree?

mirrorbestfriend said:

I think what this band lacks is personality and cohesion.

The Revolution was his best band

Oh no, not again !!!

mirrorbestfriend said:

mirrorbestfriend said:

And definitely no Larry Graham, the best damn bass player P ever played with.

I love Morris, I think he's great and I'm glad he's back!
Not so sure about Cora and Josh, but will reserve judgmemt until I see them in London. John and Rhonda are a hard act to follow.
[Edited 6/6/07 3:21am]

you know, it's no big deal that prince hasn't always worked with super-talented people
if so, he woulda had to quit before he even started
the cool thing about prince was that he believed in people
and if he saw potential, he aimed to get it out of 'em
from personal experience, prince knows what we're capable of
if you have the drive and determination, results will follow
maybe not in all areas, but at least in one more than others

rise and shine

ZARIA7ETAN said:

chocolate1 said:

Co-sign

Since around 1987 Prince has often had 1 strong keyboard player in the band, and a secondary player whose chops weren't as strong but added other things to the band (singing, hair flicking etc..)

With Morris and Renato there're now 2 great players with their own sounds fitting nicely together. I'm looking forward to seeing them in London. Likewise I reserve judgement on the rhythm section as I've not heard enough to make up my mind, but Cora has got a nice shuffle thing going on which I like.

wickyb said:

Having seen his current line up a couple of weeks ago at Koko, the only people I would keep are Mr Hayes and the horn section (the dude who's replaced Candy Dulfer sounded pretty good).

DRUMS
Michael B for pounding rhythms and funk or John Blackwell for the more jazzy numbers.

BASS
Sonny T all the way. The problem with Josh is that whilst I'm sure he's a very talented guy, he just doesn't have the on-stage presence or charisma that Larry or Sonny have.

KEYS
Tommy Barbarella as the second Keyboard player alongside Mr Hayes. Renato is obsessed with crappy storm sound effects and is more suited to jazz than the funk.

BACKUP SINGERS/DANCERS
The twins work for me...in more ways than one...

phunkymunky said:[quote]

wickyb said:

I never thought of that, but your right!

wickyb said:

i think his current band is far from his best configuration, but i think anyone who can keep up with prince is great. skill-wise, his worst backing band is probably better than some of the "best" bands on the pop charts right now.

furygirl said:

+1

furygirl said:

Maybe creatively, but musically, the 2002-2004 incarnation of the NPG is one of the best. Also the NPG from 1994-1995 are tops. John Blackwell and Michael Bland could outplay Bobby Z in their sleep.

I'm not a fan of Renato's playing at all.

Mong said:

i'm not either - i think he's a little too "lite jazz" for my tastes - but i think he's very skilled at what he does.

Anxiety said:

Perhaps. Is he playing under Prince's direction though? I have heard him do some great things aswell, though. He is good at adding suprises to his solo's. they never seem to go where u think they are.

Anxiety said:

Yes I see your point anx but it takes more than just skill to make a great band.
there are millions of great players out there with skill,but you also need some type of personality to define the group.I think that is what made the time so good. skill and personalities.

From the little I've heard, I think this lineup is perfect for what he seems to be doing now (guitar-heavy, poppier, rockier stuff...the one genre the blackwell/candy/renato crew didn't pull off that well)
[Edited 6/6/07 8:27am]

i've seen lots of good artists give great shows with a less-than-interesting backing band. and i didn't care because i wasn't there to see the backing band, i was there to see the main/lead artist. if one of the musicians catches my eye (for example, bjork's most recent tour drummer was AMAZING...and, ok, cute ) that's a bonus. as long as they don't suck or make the main performer look bad, they're doing their job. and prince's band right now doesn't suck, nor do they make prince look bad. in fact, they draw even MORE attention to him.

mirrorbestfriend said:

Michael Bland

Lovesexy/SOTT band 4 me!

mirrorbestfriend said:

Have you seen them live and in person???

SCNDLS said:

yes, I saw them when prince and tamar performed in houston last year....

just seems to be something missing

FuNkeNsteiN said:

That's true, but I don't really think he's the best bass player for Prince's music.

None of his bands have really impressed me much since the 1993-1996 line-up of the NPG. The ONA-era band was pretty good, but all of the others have seemed kind of generic.