unique said:

thanks for the info, i think he could rock it if he just did it acoustic and vocal, even if he did it as a crowd sing along type thing it could be pretty cool. my favorite prince versions of 'nothing compares' are when he sings it himself, especially that one from around '89 i think (?) when he's dancing all around on top of the piano and it's a jazzy piano solo break instead of the sax solos... love that arrangement! he nails it vocally on that version too...

muirdo said:

who the fuck is michael? did one of the bangles have a sex change or was a tranny? if they lied to us by making us think the bangles were female, then they'd fucking lie about anything like writing the songs. i often tell people i wrote purple rain, but no cunt ever believes me apart from the old drunk guys in the pub that think i'm talking about prince charles and are only interested in getting another drink

unique said:

apparently thats her name old boy.

unique said:

Weirdly she (yes, she) is actually called Michael.

http://www.thebangles.com...el_bio.asp

And by the way, I wrote 'Purple Rain'. And 'Happy Birthday'.

from their wikipedia page... i think she's one 'o them there female michael's.


Band members

Susanna Hoffs – vocals/guitars
Vicki Peterson – vocals/guitars/bass guitar
Debbi Peterson – vocals/drums/bass guitar
Annette Zilinskas – vocals/bass guitar (1982–1983)
Michael Steele – vocals/bass guitar/guitars (1983–2005)

muirdo said:

thank fuck i wasn't wanking over a photo of a bloke

electric said:

how many fucking bass players do they need? prince and larry would love to have a fucking jam session with them and victor wooten on a 56 minute medley of manic monday and sly stone songs

ufoclub said:

You're deaf...if you exchange the lyrics to Manic Monday to 1999, rhymically it matches. Its Prince, the melody, the arrangement...i do think The Bangles producer did put some orchestral overdubs and may have mixed it a little differently to match the rest of the album. But the song is DEFINITELY Prince.

rudedog said:

Yep, listen to

I was dreaming when I wrote this, so forgive me if I go astray
(then)
It's six o'clock already and I was just in the middle of a dream

Those "1999" harmonies that became the lead line for Lisa and Jill are pretty much identical to the opening lines of "Manic Monday". Sing one over the other, find out.

rudedog said:

Ha, you must be blind, I pointed out the similarity of the structure to 1999 and Never Take The Place of Your Man earlier, before the Lisa info was posted.

I'm talking about the sound of the snare and the kick, not the lyrics, melody... just sliced out bass drum hit and the snare hit ... take those and then compare to ANY prince produced pop song's snare or kick.
[Edited 12/9/09 12:40pm]

ufoclub said:

as i mentioned before, the drums on the demo are accoustic drums played by prince, not linn drum, and the released drums are completely different, they sound like programmed drums, not a linn drum

unique said:

Even his live drums have a prince sound. Another Lonely Christmas, Madhouse... even on bootleg demos, he keeps it up front and pushed out in tone.

But all I'm saying is it doesn't sound like his playing, can't say for sure unless an engineer or Prince answers. and Rudedog's comment was ignorant considering what I had already posted.

ufoclub said:

what i'm trying to tell you is the drums on the bangles version don't appear to be by prince, but the demo version is prince playing accoustic drums and sounding like prince

unique said:

okay, I misinterpreted which version's drums you were talking about. I was triggered by the post that said that the music recording was Prince's and The Bangles just overlaid their vocals. Or did I imagine that post?

ufoclub said:

the bangles replaced vanitys vocals, but more was done to the track than just that. the basic prince recording was used as the basic for the bangles version, but extra instruments etc were added. it's not just a simple case of wipe the original lead vocal and add sussannah hoffs

SPOOKYGAS said:

HAHAHA! You've clearly bumped your head. Maybe you should go lie down.

ufoclub said:

Hmmm, so you didnt' say: really? The tone of the music doesn't sound like Prince at all.

I think there is much more to the 'music' than bass and snare. But even to argue that, we're talking about an artist that has created some of the most unique sounds in music, so why wouldn't he be capable of changing a bass drum or snare sound? Check out Sexual Suicide, that doesn't 'sound' like a Prince song...which of course has no meaning since he's reinvented himself many times...something you seem obviously ignorant of.
[Edited 12/9/09 16:41pm]

rudedog said:

No I didn't say what you quoted if you include context as part of communication, I said this: "The tone of the music doesn't sound like Prince at all. The actual sound and beat sound much more conventional. Normally his snare is more loud and full and up front, as are his bass drum, you know that signature Prince mix/sound that all his songs had."

AND

Both versions of Sexual Suicide are very "Prince" in TONE(the quality or distinct property of a complex sound) meaning they have the percussion in both is EQ'd and mixed and recorded with this very up-in-the-red across the board loudness that Prince loves as his brand of sound. He turns even all the little embellishments like hihats, snaps, claps, rim shots (things that people mix in with amounts of softness) to flat out LOUD. Even the way he uses reverb has a certain compressed loudness to it that sounds dry or very clear.

Prince is capable but he is not willing. I remember Femi Jiya talking about how Prince does not like to deviate from his all channels to the max mixing/recording style because Prince would say "Femi, that's what people want a Prince song to sound like". Femi said he snuck behind his back and adjusted the mix on Rainbow Children to have more volume variation and conservative levels.

Listen to Any Prince produced song, from "101" to "Cool Love" to "U" to his own two singles at the time of "Manic Monday": "Kiss" and "Love Bizarre".

Now what I am saying is that the drum playing and bass guitar playing and every other instrument don't sound like Prince's sound to my ears. I could be wrong, but after listening to every single studio bootleg and official album and 12" and protege recording that I can... it just doesn't match up. It sounds like a kareoke cover of a Prince song. Maybe it's just the Bangle's producer that is throwing it off for me because he remixed the tracks and used his own reverbs.

So like I said, to my ears it doesn't sound like they just put their vocals on top of Prince's tracks. I don't know for sure because I'm not friends with them. But I could try to find out...

Okay I sent this message to the public point of contact for Susanah... shhh.

I had a question for Susanna, and I don't want to be annoying but it's drudging up factoids about the past. As an aspiring songwriter myself (myspace.com/ufoclub1977) I know it can sometimes be a drag to have people only hit up your art you made long ago.
But here goes:

Was the pop single "Manic Monday" constructed from pre-recorded tracks provided by Warners (from Prince's studio recordings) or did The Bangles reconstruct and clean up the song from scratch to make the published version?

Thanks in advance if you answer, and now, I want to listen to more of that cover of the Bowie penned song.... while I make my dinner.
Much respect,
Sharad

PS I did this same thing when there was some debate about who played drums on the studio version of "Shhh" on the org... I asked Michael Bland on his myspace site, and he said it was himself. Not Prince. So sometimes asking works for the right info. I wish the conspiracy theorists would try investigating.

Marrk said:

he does.

"Guitar" pre Planet Earth version etc

xlr8r said:

I agree about that song. It's SO very radio friendly, it's catchy, it's fun, and I feel like Prince is having a fun time with it. I wish it was pushed more on radio, and in video (edit and add to the Verizon commercial footage a bit and funk it up a bit).

ernestsewell said:

OSC shits all over guitar.

unique said:

No. 'Kiss' made No.6.

Marrk said:

Yep. #1 on the US and US R&B charts, and #6 in the UK.

SPOOKYGAS said:

I heard "Guitar" on the radio. OSC won't even see a mailer to a station manager. Prince doesn't care about that album anymore, why should radio?

sussed out what OSC was edit.
[Edited 12/10/09 3:18am]

ernestsewell said:

Who gives a rats arse about radio? My previous post still stands.

SPOOKYGAS said:

How can you be serious? Old School Company is barely a song. It's a weak mid-90s hip hop loop, with zero melody, and Prince ranting another of his tired pseudo-political screeds for 7 minutes. It's marginally funky, but Guitar is a million times better.

SPOOKYGAS said:

As does mine.