2freaky4church1 said:

Why do we all have to admit it.

For me the worse period was 1996-2000

I love The Rainbow Children, Musicology, 3121, Planet Earth, Lotusflow3r and MPLSound.

With regards to Wendy And Lisa, I do believe they did have a very positive effect but still believe that Prince was the true genius behind the Revolution albums.

I think he's made far better records without the girls than the girls have made without him. In fact both my favorite Prince albums Lovesexy and 1999 had very little or no input from Wendy and Lisa.

All this said it was interesting listening to the the recollections. I don't think the album was really disected and discussed in great detail.

I'd much rather listen to the Peach and Black boys.
[Edited 7/29/09 14:00pm]

2freaky4church1 said:

Sorry I would have to say 93-03 I very much enjoy his new albums, even if they aren't as good as his hey day.

This was such a good interview! Lot's of new information. I really appreciate all the revolution documentation that has come out in the last few years. Starting with that Possessed: the rise and Fall of... book to the Purple Rain DVD special edition interviews. to all the new Wendy and Lisa Interviews, including that Fabulous ORG interview, that was perhaps the best W&L interview ever. SO FUCKING GOOD!

I really think that it's important that all these people involve tell the story of how it all went down, cause as Susan Rogers has said, genius should not go undocumented.

This was a major cultural moment, and it was an intense artistic project for all involved. It's so great to have these interviews.

I have a beef with the DJ that said the film Purple Rain was "rotten" and that you only need to see it once. C'mon, rookie acting and bad continuity aside, Purple Rain is arguably one of the greatest rock films of all time. I said... of all time.

squirrelgrease said:

And the special effects were amazing too. For example, I actually believed that Jerome was throwing a real woman in that dumpster. They spared no expense to make that look authentic.

That's why you need to see the movie again and again. To notice and appreciate stuff like that.

gogol said:

Great analysis. Put these revisionist historians in check.

Efan said:

Best CGI character since Jar Jar Binks.

thanks 4 that interview:)

squirrelgrease said:

I agree. I watch Purple Rain regularly. It really is a ridiculous, poorly-acted movie. But, none of that matters. I love it anyway.
[Edited 7/29/09 21:03pm]

You have to admit it, the movie is a sexist piece of crap.

There is no scene with his mother, where he actually talks with her. His parents in the film are mere props. Prince basically makes faces through the entire film. Making faces aint acting. Apolonia can't act to save her life. Nice tits aint enough.

Needed more tit shots..lol

2freaky4church1 said:

Still, it's Citizen Kane, next to the unmentionable Graffiti Bridge.

But for my money, I'll take Under the Cherry Moon.

2freaky4church1 said:

I think we all have to admit that you don't have any place trying to speak for all of us when it comes to the so-called "worst period" in Prince's career. You may think the last 9 years have sucked but someone else may have thought it was brilliant. Like what you like but don't come in here playing the ass with shit like this cause you'll get called on it. Trust.

Oh and I like ALL periods of Prince music. Some eras were better than others but I got something great out of all of them at some time or another in the last 25 years of being a Prince fan.
[Edited 7/30/09 10:19am]

2freaky4church1 said:

Totally disagree with U. Music is different now and so is People & Prince. U don't like his 2000's music don't listen 2 it....

jdcxc said:

-----
Co-Sign No one thinks P is some lone wolf he has had collaborators in the past and will have them in the future but there is a huge different between being a colloborator and contributing something and these girls have gone overboard in the last few years with their so -called contributions turning into "we did everything"

laurarichardson said:

Prince is the greatest singular musical force in popular music for the lasy half century.

I am sick of people (who tend to be of a cetain persuasion) attributing some fraction of Prince genius to these two band members. It is as if Borwnmark and Fink werehired hands. Hell, Fink has the greatest tenure with Prince and was the first member allowed to co-write a song. You never hear him talking about how he "opened Prince to new things" or introduced Prince to this or that. Look at what Dez Dickerson did for the rock elements in Prince's early music. Unlike whatever it is that WEndy and Lisa are supposed to have done, you can pick up a Prince record and play what Dez did in the Revolution.

If they were such genius muses for Prince, why havent they come even close to showing it on their own? ANd Prince has long since surpassed the Purple Rain to Parade period (as great as it was).

Brofie said:

Well, one wonders what 'persuasion' you are referring to. Is Questlove of this persuasion? Am I? Are my real life Prince buddies? Are people of this 'persuasion', are their opinions valid? Are they more or less valid because of the 'persuasion' that they are? You should say what you mean or say nothing at all.

The issue here is really not a big deal. Prince, Wendy & Lisa had a period where they worked very closely and together. The period that they were together was his golden period or at least one of his major periods. This does not negate the influence of Dez, Matt or anyone else. But the time of Prince and the girls is pretty interesting to me and plenty of others. Why that continues to be controversial around here is something I don't understand at all.

Is it just that you don't like people of a certain 'persuasion'?

JudasLChrist said:

-----
You dam well know what persuasion Brofie is referring to and no your persuasion don’t make your opinions more valid but they can make them bias. All you really have to do is go back to Possessed and read Wendy’s comments about P having too many black people around the Parade tour era. I have not had time for either one of these chicks since I read that book

laurarichardson said:

Actually I have read that book a couple times over, and I never seen that quote. From what I remember Alex Hahn says some things about how the band stared to split socially on racial lines, but Wendy is not quoted as saying anything like that. If that's true, tell me what page number it's on. Also, I actually didn't know what persuasion Brofie was talking about. I guess you believe he is talking about whiteness. If that's the case, then I would point to non white people like Quest?ove and others who also hype W&L for their contributions. And just to make a point, even if Wendy had said something disgusting like that (which she didn't) it would change the fact that W&L made a significant, collaborative contribution, from 83 to 87.

JudasLChrist said:

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Yes, I do mean white people and please don’t use some lone black person as the example. I was a teenager back in the 80’s and I can tell you the African-American audience was not feeling AWIAD or Parade. I understand the Prince was trying to branch out and try new things since he had so many other artist riding off of him at the time but I know the collaborations with W&L hurt his rep with the African-American community and not because they were white but just because of music.

W&L were just a few of the people P worked with back in the day. He had success before they came along and he had success without them we cannot say the same for them. In my mind when you have had over 25 years to make your mark and you still have not been able to pull it off the proof is in the pudding.

If you want to talk about protégés that have been successful and are really talented you should look at Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who don’t get much credit from people on this board at all.

Do you want to take a guess why that might be?

laurarichardson said:

I just use Quest?ove as an example. There are many others. I think Jimmy and Terry have gotten props here. I also think Wendy and Lisa have been very successful at what they do. I wouldn't understand why anyone would say otherwise. If you want to use the type of logic you are using against them regarding success then you could say: Prince never again reached the level of popularity that he had at the height of Purple Rain. And what would that mean? Not much.

Speaking for myself, the Revolution era is interesting to me because of the music, it's not cause Wendy and Lisa are white. That they were close collaborators with him at that time is interesting as well. It should be non-controversial to acknowledge these truths here at PRINCE.ORG, of all places.

Lastly, anyone who claims to be speaking for a large minority such as gays or latinos or black people is suspect. Are black people who disagree with what this so-called representative of the 'black community' says not part of 'the black community'? It's better to not even go there, I think. There's no honesty or truth when statements like that are being made.

I'll just note here that you didn't bother to answer the question about Alex Hahn's book.
[Edited 8/6/09 15:30pm]

delete
[Edited 8/6/09 15:29pm]

JudasLChrist said:

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Please name me the many other black people that are hugh Wendy and Lisa fans outside of Questlove (LOL). No Jam and Lewis never get the credit they deserve on this board because people are too busy riding W&L jocks all the time.

I count success beyond CD sales I do not believe for one minute that these chicks every had any albility to have mass appeal in addition I just do not care for their music and find it palls against some of P’s weaker material.

Maybe it is a question of taste I do not know but I just do not care for their music and I do not think I am the only one on the board who feels that way.

“Lastly, anyone who claims to be speaking for a large minority such as gays or latinos or black people is suspect. Are black people who disagree with what this so-called representative of the 'black community' says not part of 'the black community'? It's better to not even go there, I think. There's no honesty or truth when statements like that are being made. “

I am speaking for the community I grew up in and I can read. All of the black mags back at the Parade era were writing P off because of W&L I know because I am old enough to remember all of this. In addition, if you did not agree at the time it does not make you a lost of member of the black community but it is highly unlikely that a black teenager back in the late 80’s was digging W& L contributions or solo work. I worked in a record store back then and I remember black teenagers buying rap records.


“I'll just note here that you didn't bother to answer the question about Alex Hahn's book.”

I do not have a copy of Alex Hahn’s book but I am going to go ahead and buy it and scan the page were Wendy made these statements. I know what I read and I am tired of people defending her nosense.