As we all know, it was around the time of Sign o the Times that Prince started bringing a more pronounced jazz influence into his shows. "Rockhard in a Funky Place" was easily his most bebop flavoured tune, the band played Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time" while P went off to change costumes, and during Lovesexy, Prince quoted Mercer Ellington's "Things Ain't what they used to be" in "If I Had a Harem".

The guys in the SOTT band were all motherfuckers, as evidenced by that amazing performance of Now's the Time in the concert video. Can anyone recommend a particular live concert recording of that tour which contains the a better or comparable version of Now's the Time? I really want to hear what the band did with that tune beyond what we've already seen/heard in the movie!

your thread is lonely

The version on the SOTT Rehersal Sessions is just as good

Hatman said:

"The guys in the SOTT band were all motherfuckers", what do you mean by that? Because in my philosophy mf means something negative when used in this kind of sentence.

MrGravyLumps said:

I see. So when Prince says 'You sexy motherfucker' he means he does not like this woman?

It's one of those words you hear used to describe great musicians, kind of like on this genteman's blog (http://cookcrazy.blogspot.com) when he says "whisk like a motherfucker" he means that he is a good whisker. So you might say "Herbie Hancock is a monster" or "that solo was sick" the words are not taken literally, rather they're used for their normally opposite meaning.

Hope this helps!

TheChief said:

Thanks Chief! Let's hope some other folks gett off the Cause and Effect sticky part 4, get over here, and start posting!

TheChief said:

Ok I've just gone and listened to that.
Here are my thoughts:
Atlanta Bliss' 2 choruses of solo are really inconsistent...The first is kinda shaky and loose, the second is a real scorcher!
Miko's solo is great, he shows what a great melodic player he is going through the quick bebop harmonies but still maintaining inherent bluesiness. Still prefer movie version tho.
Levi's was the solo that was particularly impressive to me. To me, he outdoes his solo on the movie version. As for the others, they were a notch below. I don't know, somehow less 'iconic'. Maybe I'm just not as used to them yet.

Anyway, it was still a great performance by everyone, and I love the kooky arrangement. Only at that tempo would you get to play the head between every soloist! I reckon Eric must have arranged that. I love that guy.

Hatman said:

It does help, thanks. It's just that, the only time I've heard the word used in discribing musicians is by Miles Davis, just wasn't sure if you were on the same pitch. No offence

Still - it would be somewhat clearer and generally more pleasant if we could describe the band members as "versatile musicians of the highest order", for example !!
I'm not sure how he would take it, if you saw Levi across the street and shouted at him: "Levi, I think you are a motherfucker !!! "

FunkDr said:

If I saw Levi on the street I'd almost certainly call him a BAAAAD MOTHERFUCKER!

Now's The Time is great. You might want to also check out 4 Those Of U On Valium.

Se7en said:

Thanks, I just did! My capsule review is a few posts above. It would appear that these are the best 2 versions around. Movie version still pips the Valium version for me cause everyone's solo is a 10/10.

MrGravyLumps said:

No problemo Gravyman, it can be hard to sift thru modern vernacular!