We all know Prince has gone through a few bands. I think "The Revolution" was his best band. I loved the sound and style. Which band do you fellow fans prefer?

LOVE The Revolution

I'm just not too crazy about the NPG when they influence Prince/ to the point that rap slips into songs that were otherwise "pure"... and w/o them, we wouldn't have that royal mess, Jughead (heh, royal mess, I love that pun).

Songs like:
Love 2 the 9's
Sexy MF
Willing and Able

Would come off a lot better without Tony's rapping. And NewPower Soul would probably just be another disc of Emancipation without the heavy NPG tracks like "Freaks on this side" and "Push it up"... but I'd prefer it that way.

BUT the NPG does have their moments. Michael Bland is awesome on the drums in the songs Live 4 Love and Shh.

I don't know how much input they had on Planet Earth, but I love the band he had there. The perfect mix of his past proteges, Wendy & Lisa and Shelia E.

But as for my favorite, favorite...

The Revolution in Purple Rain (for nostaglic reasons)
or
The Revolution in Parade (with Eric Leeds on flute )

Sorry, I just can never make these things easy.

My favorite "Prince" band is the Lovesexy band. Tight as hell and they could really play and entertain at the same time. They put on some truly great shows!

I think the revolution (all incarnations, with Andre, with Dez, with Wendy, Parade era, etc...) would be a close second for me.

As Prince himself said during the Lovesexy tour: "I don't care what anybody says. I got the best band in show business."

The Lovesexy band rules.

The NPG from 02 to 04. To me, they were the best musicians he has ever worked with. All of them were properly trained musicians and brought out something in P that had never been brought out.

Sure, the Revolution and others were good, but (to me) they didn't display the level of talent that John Blackwell, Renato, Rhonda, Greg, Maceo, Candy, Mike Scott and othe rest brought to the table.

Efan said:

He has said that about all of his bands...even when Kirky J was the drummer

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Flute?

Not sure if Eric plays flute on any of the records, and I don't think I've ever seen live footage of Eric playing a flute. He plays the saxophone

81-83

Prince
Dez Dickerson
Brown Mark
Lisa
Bobby Z.
Matt Fink

Lovesexy/SOTT band 4ever!

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Eric plays flute as well and has also played flute on a couple of official releases ( I Hate U 12" versions) and of course during concerts, especially in 1985/86.

He doesn´t play bassguitar though, even though he had to pretend in the video for Screams of Passion.

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Yes, Eric plays flute as well. DreamyPopRoyalty is correct.

Yea, I figured he was also proficient with the flute, just didn't think he played it on any of the albums

.
[Edited 10/30/07 13:12pm]

What about the flute in "Life Can Be So Nice"? I was wondering who played that, maybe it was him?

Anotherloverholeinyohead said:

Any version of The Revolution with Dr. Fink

Anotherloverholeinyohead said:

Those were my thoughts exactly!
That's why I mentioned Eric Leeds cuz I love the flute in that song. If he did it great, but if Prince did it, even more brilliant.

And then there's Venus de Milo with the saxophone. I'm positive that's Eric Leeds. Prince was never THAT brilliant at saxophone (no offense). I mean people here have said that if he really worked on it, Prince would be an accomplished saxophonist as well.

sexxydancer said:

Second to none!

Sasal said:

Oh, yes! The Revolution is PRINCE'S best band, hands down to me.
The New Power Generation comes in a strong second.

sexxydancer said:

No better band put together by Prince. Gave him the best synergy ever!

joyinrepetition said: