I never see this album gettin praised or talked about. Im wondering if its any good or not and how much of it is Prince?

a lot of it is Prince (or I should say after he changed his name). He's only on one track with Nona Gaye but I think he had a hand in writing and producing some of the other tracks.
It's nothing earth shattering but a good collectors item from the beginning of the anti-Warners era.

Can he be heard in backing vocals?

dance4me3121 said:

he shares the vocal on Love Sign with Nona Gaye.

It's a compilation album of Paisley Park/NPG records artists and it's very good. Sort of a peek into where he wanted to go with the music and careers of those around him.
Only 4 tracks (Hollywood, If I Love U 2Night, 2Gether & You Will Be Moved) actually saw release on the respective artists CDs (George Clinton, Mayte, The NPG & Mavis Staples).
All the other tracks are basically the only official releases by the other artists (Margie Cox, Nona Gaye, MPLS, The Steeles & Madhouse).
Definitely a worthy catch if you can get it.

dance4me3121 said:

It's a great insight into some of the projects that Prince was working on at the time. Margie Cox's vocal on "Standing at the Altar" is the standout IMHO.

I like the version of Lovesign that is on this, but not as much as the Crystal Ball version.

There are some very enjoyable tracks on it. It can be found very cheap too. I see it for around $5 once in a while.

1. Minneapolis - MPLS - Very cool.
2. Hollywood - George Clinton - Decent P-Funk lite.
3. Love Sign - Nona Gaye & Prince - My favorite from this compilation.
4. If I Love U 2Night - Mayte - Not bad at all.
5. Color - The Steeles - Musically good, but I don't care for the vox.
6. 2Gether - The NPG - Like it.
7. Standing At The Altar - Margie Cox - Love it. Very old-school Prince lyrical phrasing.
8. You Will Be Moved - Mavis Staples - I like Mavis, but she sounds like she needs an inhaler here. Hard to listen to her wheezing.
9. 17 - Madhouse - I loves me some Madhouse.
10. A Woman's Gotta Have It - Nona Gaye - Breezy, jazzy little number.
11. Minneapolis Reprise - MPLS - Unnecessary.

Darwintheorgangrinder said:

The LoveSign remix on Crystal Ball is just one of 5 or 6 remixes.

Love Sign,

the original version on 1-800-new-funk is FAR better than the crappy remix on CB

ps.. Standing At The Altar is great - I don't care much about the other songs on this cd,
[Edited 8/31/09 0:15am]

a2grafix said:

1. Love Sign (Ted's Get 'Em Up Mix) 2. Love Sign (Shock's Silky Smooth Mix) 3. Love Sign (Ted's Chariot Mix) 4. Love Sign (Mack Attack Message Mix) 5. Love Sign (Ted's Double Trouble Mix) 6. Love Sign (Ted's Love Sign Radio Mix) 7. Love Sign (Shock's Silky Smooth Instrumental)

squirrelgrease said:

Stand corrected -- 7 remixes. Never seen this release, but I have it on cassette, though, from back in the day from a "friend." In all, the Love Sign EP / maxi single CD is quite nice.

MPLS kicks ass and still does today. Love the "anime-type" music video. Hollywood really swings with that Pfunk beat and Margie Cox's Standing at the Alter is a nice groover.

1-800-New-Funk was just an avenue tried out -- released Come, Interactive CD-ROM and New-Funk in the summer of 1994.
[Edited 8/31/09 1:24am]

Shock as in Shock G?

I prefer the remix on CB 2 BTW

squirrelgrease said:

I have this, it's a boot right?

Rorywan said:

Yes.

squirrelgrease said:

Unfortunately I bought it from eil.com not knowing it was a boot!
Can't remember how much I paid, but I know it was too much.

Ta Mara and The Seen

Milty said:

I'm sure he's on backing vocal duties on Standing at the Altar too.

thedance said:

Those are my two favorite songs as well.