by request

Sign “☮” the Times era 1987

Sign ☮ the Times

This album has always been bittersweet 4 me
Back then I never knew of the Dream Factory album or the Camille project, but it was really exciting to view this 'concert', I was ready 4 him when he brought the show 2 the States, ...but sadly he decided to release it as a concert film. The visuals are so stimulating.
My favorite stage set up, he could continue 2 use this one and there is so much there that I would never get tired of it.

Jill Jones Sheila E. Taja Sevelle Madhouse
Camille Project
Hard Knock Life film



Sign o the Times©1987 Paisley Park Records
3.30.1987 released composed of 3 unfinished projects:Dream Factory(w/the Revolution) Camille Project & the Crystal Ball
http://prince.org/msg/7/331997 Dream Factory is an amazing album



Susannah Melvoin: Backing vocals on Play In the Sunshine & Starfish and Coffee; co-lead vocals on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
"Starfish And Coffee", Lyrics co-written by Susannah
Eric Leeds: All saxophones
Atlanta Bliss: All trumpets
Sheena Easton: Co-lead vocals on "U Got the Look"
Sheila E.: Drums and percussion on "U Got the Look", drums and "Transmississippirap" on "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night"
Clare Fischer: Arranger of strings for "Slow Love"
Wendy Melvoin: Guitar and backing vocals on "Slow Love"; tambourine & congas on "Strange Relationship"
Lisa Coleman: Backing vocals on "Slow Love"; sitar & wooden flute on "Strange Relationship"
Miko Weaver: Lead guitar on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
Jill Jones: Co-lead vocals on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
The Revolution: Performance of "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
Gilbert Davison, Todd Hermann, Coke Johnson, Brad Marsh, Mike Soltys, Susan Rogers and "the Penguin": Party voices on "Housequake"
Greg Brooks, Wally Safford, Jerome Benton and "6000 wonderful Parisians": Backing vocals on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
Susan Rogers, Coke Johnson, and Prince: Engineer
Prince: All other vocals and instruments

"Slow Love" lyrics co-written by Carol Davis

It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night" music co-written by Dr. Fink & Eric Leeds.

the band: l-back 2 l-front
Eric Leads [sax]came n2 the Prince camp in 1984(Prince manager Alan Leeds is Erics brother also seen in the movie PR) 2nd half of the PR tour he would play sax on some songs. He was grafted n2 the protege group the Family and later into the extended Revolution for the Parade era. a jazz fusion (protege) group called Madhouse was formed around him via 1986/1987

Atlanta Bliss[trumpet]a friend of Erics performed on the Parade tour and was a sessions musician heard on Jill Jones album and a few other songs from the camp

Wally Safford[dancer/singer]friend of Prince and I believe previously a bodyguard. Appeared on the Parade tour and the videos Mountains Girls & Boys & Another Loverholenyohead. Prince constructed a song around his name.

Sheila E.[drums/percussion/vocals] met Prince in the early 1980's, the became friends and she became a protege via the Glamorous Life 1984 PR yrs she also sang colead on Erotic City and prior 2 SOTT released Romance 1600 & Sheila E. Her band toured with Prince opening mostly for the Purple Rain tour from there into the 1986 Parade years the bands combined on a good number of occassions to performs songs especially A Love Bizarre

Greg Brooks [see Wally Safford]

Dr. Fink[keyboards/synth]the band member with the seniority he started out with Prince's 1st live band for his album For You, credited with partial song writing, adding synth pieces, what more can I say about the Dr. Fink recorded toured appeared with Prince from For You till Diamonds & Pears/Nude Tour

Levi Seacer jr[bass]joined Sheila E's touring band for Romance 1600 and played occasionally with Prince's band on some 'Flesh' recordings

Boni Boyer[piano keyboards vocals]a member of Sheila E's SHEILA E band

Mico Weaver[guitar] started out as a sessions musician in 1984 the earlies poss 83 he toured with Sheila E's Glamorous Life band, played guitar on the Family album, rhythm guitar on Mountains also appearing in the video, and was engrafted in2 the extended Revolution for the Parade tour he continued with Prince until the Graffiti Bridge/Nude tour.

Cat[dancer/singer] her dancers were created 2 Prince's music she met Prince in 1986 when invited to a dinner party at his house. She also appeared in Sheila E's Koo Koo video

Prince... Prince

the 1st review I read of the Sign “☮” the Times show

PRINCE IN EUROPE: A PREVIEW OF HIS NEW SHOW

BY KURT LODER [Interview Magazine]




IT'S FOUR IN THE MORNING, May 15th, at Quasimodo, a small, black-walled Berlin jazz cellar, but the beer is still flowing, and fresh hash smoke curls languidly through the hot, stuffy air. Some 300 people are packed into the place, most of them lucky holdovers from a set much earlier in the evening by the expatriate American singer Joy Ryder. Now they are crushed around the club's tiny stage, staring in popeyed wonder at the totally unexpected mystery gig currently under way.

There are three men in long, hooded robes on stage -- one playing sax, another bass, the third wringing wondrous sounds out of a Fairlight synthesizer. There is an amazing woman playing drums -- it's Sheila E. And at center stage, wearing a rhinestone-spangled black leather jacket and at least three different kinds of dangling earrings, his heroically coiffed hair gathered into a small ponytail at the back, stands a little guy with a peach-colored guitar. Yes, it's Prince.

"Wanna go home?" he asks, peering out at the crowd with a coy smile.

"Nooo!"

"Me neither," he says, then glances at the band. "I think we oughta play the blues in G." A flurry of T-Bone Walker-style guitar lines suddenly fills the room, modulating quickly into a series of unmistakable Hendrixisms. The song is Jimi's "Red House," sort of. "There's a beach house over yonder," Prince sings, in a playful approximation of the original lyrics. "That's where my sugar stays...." He shouts out another verse or two and then takes off into a wild, glass-rattling guitar solo that makes jaws drop around the room and jacks up the temperature maybe another ten degrees.

It has been a long and amazing night, and there's still no end in sight. Many hours before, Prince and his new ten-member group, fresh from warm-up gigs in Sweden (they'll reach the U.S. sometime in August) -- played the fifth show of their 1987 European tour at West Berlin's Deutschlandhalle to a riotous response. It was Prince's first appearance in the divided city, and local scribes were already clapping together reviews centered on such words as genius and fantastic and marveling at the show's tech data: the thirteen trucks required to carry the elaborate stage set, the 240,000 watts of lighting, the 110,000 watts of amplification, the fourteen wardrobe trunks, two for Prince alone. In short, the first of Prince's two sold-out concerts in Germany's hippest city was an unqualified success -- at least for the approximately 12,000 people who danced and cheered their way through it.

The Prince camp, however, was less than totally pleased. There were some minor missed cues, and the rhythms of the tour hadn't yet settled into a satisfying groove. It had also been a disconcerting day: several members of the band had spent the morning visiting East Berlin and were still weirded out by the ugly hassling they got from the Volkspolizei gorillas on the eastern side of the Checkpoint Charlie border crossing. (Backing singer Cat Glover, who had rather rashly made the trip wearing a hot-pink suit and a white navy officer's hat, had been detained at length over a visa foul-up.) There was a certain fatigue factor at work as well. Three of the musicians -- bassist Levi Seacer, saxaphonist Eric Leeds, and keyboard phenom Matt Fink -- do double duty in Madhouse, the jazz-instrumental quartet that opens each show, and might have been subconsciously husbanding their energies in anticipation of this postconcert surprise gig that Prince had laid on. So, while the first concert at the Deutschlandhalle had been extraordinarily good by any normal standard, it hadn't been great -- which is Prince's standard.

But this surprise set at Quasimodo has been wonderfully invigorating. Madhouse opened up, blowing straight, muscular jazz and feeling more at home here than in front of the rock-funk crowds drawn to Prince concerts. Then Prince popped onstage, commandeered a synth and led the group into a steaming rendition of "Strange Relationship," from the Sign o' the Times album. That evolved into an extended jam ("Just keep on top of it!" Prince shouted), followed by the Hendrix workout. Next came a red-hot version of "Bodyheat," the James Brown dance classic, followed by a delicate and beautifully sung "Just My Imagination," the old Temptations hit, with more band members crowding onstage to join in. "Housequake," another song from the Sign LP, with Sheila E. whomping out a monster beat, loosened the roof on the place, and the closer, "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night," with Prince briefly taking over on drums, blew the sucker completely off. The crowd was a puddle of glee, most patrons unable to believe what they'd just seen (and free of charge). Then, quicker than you could say, "Elvis has left the building," Prince was gone.

This hour-long off-the-cuff jam -- a rare up-close demonstration of Prince's sensational powers as an instrumentalist, an improviser and (lest we forget) a singer -- was apparently just the tonic the whole troupe needed. By the following night, considerably refreshed and still buzzing from the Quasimodo gig, Prince and his band were primed to kill -- and proceeded, unforgettably, to do so.

The Friday-night crowd, another sellout, was already on its feet and screaming as an ocean of smoke poured out onto the stage. From somewhere within this impenetrable fog there erupted an abstract barrage of Hendrixian guitar sirens. A purple spotlight cut through the haze, revealing Prince in a long black leather coat and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, playing his peach-toned axe. As the electro-thump drumbeat that animates the title track of Sign o' the Times boomed through the hall, he began singing, and a back-light spot flashed on, silhouetting Cat Glover -- clad in the black bra and bikini briefs she would wear through most of the show -- gyrating wildly on an elevated platform at stage right. As the number built to a crescendo, the rest of the group came trooping down a long, winding ramp at stage left, each pummeling a drum with marching-band precision. Joining Prince, they spread out n the stage, beating out a resounding tattoo. It was an exhilarating entrance.

Then the lights went out, and the extraordinary stage set sizzled to life. An elaborate cityscape built on two levels, it echoes the cover of Sign o' the Times: a towering, impressionistic metropolis festooned with flashing neon signs -- UPTOWN, FUNK CORNER, BAR & GRILL, GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS. With all the lights popping on and off, the effect was that of a giant pinball machine. The band launched into the rollicking "Play in the Sunshine." On the stage level were Prince, bassist Seacer, rhythm guitarist Miko Weaver and backup vocalists Glover (whose picture on the sleeve of the "Sign" single has been widely mistaken to be Prince in drag), Greg Brooks and Wally Safford (two former Prince bodyguards). Elevated above them, and all but buried within her drum set, was Sheila E. And on the second tier, high above the stage, stood the two horn players, sax man Leeds and trumpeter Matt "Atlanta Bliss" Blistan, and keyboardists Fink and Boni Boyer.

Over the next ninety minutes, Prince and his extraordinary group ran, jumped, crawled and danced their way tirelessly through nineteen songs, ten of them from Sign o' the Times. Some numbers (the almost balladic version of "Little Red Corvette," for instance) were essentially abbreviated acknowledgments of past hits, but Prince did pull out the stops for certain oldies -- in particular a thunder-and-lightning performance of "Purple Rain" turned the house into a swaying sea of upraised arms. Equally memorable was the furious run-through of "1999" that closed the main part of the show, and the ultrafunk attack on "Kiss" that ended the first encore.

But in general it was the new material that was most powerfully presented. "Housequake" lived right up to its title and then some. The razor-riffed "Hot Thing" and the irresistibly exuberant "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" came across as instant and undeniable hits. On a steamier note, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" provided a perfect erotic set piece: as the song slithered to a close, Prince and the barely clad Glover, embracing before a giant, pink plastic heart, slowly went tilting back upon it into an unambiguous missionary positions as two neon signs high above the stage alternately flashed the words SEX and LOVE.

Throughout all of this, the band was spectacular. Prince has been listening to a lot of Duke Ellington and preelectric Miles Davis lately, and the show, while louder and maybe even funkier than ever, was also mightily enriched with jazz flourishes. The result, quite often, was an almost orchestral rock-jazz synthesis that was both harmonically exciting and (thanks to Sheila E. -- surely the world's hottest drummer in high-heeled pumps) relentlessly funky.

And the best came last. Prince started "The Cross" alone and shirtless, strumming the simple opening chords on his guitar as lighting effects flickered behind the darkened cityscape above him. Then the song started to build -- drums wading in, then fully cranked guitars, then the full band -- until the number attained an enormous, hall-shaking roar, with Prince soloing off into the stratosphere as a shower of mulitcolored silk flowers rained onto the stage. From there, the band jumped straight into "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night," which had the whole crowd chanting and stomping along with such abandon that certain far sections of the balcony seemed in danger off crashing to the main floor. Prince was out the stage door, into the limo and halfway back to his hotel before the cheering stopped.

4 some reason these photos always make me think of Dream Factory

[Edited 9/2/10 7:08am]

Dinner Party March 24,1987
Dinner with Prince & Miles Davis

TLM: You were part of an amazing dinner party on March 24 1987 that included Miles, Prince, Prince’s Dad, Sheila E and you. Was that the first time you met Miles?

Eric Leeds: He had come by a rehearsal for the Sign ‘O’ The Times tour that afternoon and I was introduced to him then. I had gone home after rehearsal and got a call from one of Prince’s assistants, “By the way, Prince is inviting you to have dinner with him,” so I jumped in my car and went over to Prince’s house. I kinda think that Prince wanted me there to open up the conversation with Miles and get things rolling. Miles was as much a performer during that dinner as he ever was on stage. You couldn’t get him to shut up and it was very funny! There are some aspects of that evening that I’m not sure I want anybody else to know about, and if I do, it’s going to be in my book! [note that at present, Eric has no firm plans to write a book].

But basically the most interesting aspect of the relationship between Prince and Miles was the dance that they would do around each other. What Prince really related to about Miles was his character – his legacy, his mystique and everything that Miles represented as a personality. Prince saw in Miles so much of what he thought of himself – the person that goes against the grain, that’s opinionated, that doesn’t allow himself to be controlled by any aspect of the industry for his own artistic vision. And that’s very much what Miles saw in Prince. He saw a young version of himself but there was always something about the generational thing. It was like “The King is dead, long live the King.” You had these supreme egos that had an undying respect for each other but neither wanted to give it up to each other. So with Miles, you could almost see the cartoon balloon over his head saying: “Yeah you’re young and hip, but I’ve got all of these years of experience that you haven’t had yet.” While Prince was looking at Miles and saying “Yeah, you’re the icon – but you’re old! I’m the new version!” And it defined and characterised every aspect of their relationship and it was hilarious to sit back and watch that unfold. That was the biggest enjoyment for me – watching these two dance around each other.

TLM: Any more recollections you want to share?

Eric Leeds: At one point in the evening, Miles grabbed me by the arm and said: “Eric, let me see your carriage!” I’m looking at him and trying to be cool and I say: “My what?!!” And he says, “Your carriage! Show me how you hold your horn!” And then I realised: “Oh my God, he’s using an archaic definition of the word carriage. He said “Show me how you stand when you hold your saxophone.” Then he goes: “Do you do it like this?” And he mimicked the way a saxophone player holds his horn. I looked at him and laughed and then I said, “Is that the way I should hold it?” And he said “Yes,” and I replied, “Well Miles, that’s exactly how I hold it!”

When we were sitting down the first thing I wanted to ask him was about the acid funk band with [guitarist] Pete Cosey [1973-1975], which is the band that I absolutely loved. I was one of the few people at the time that did! And Miles looked at me and said “You liked that band? Nobody liked that band! I never met anybody who liked the band. You liked that band?” I said “Miles, there were some of us who loved that band.” I also got the indication from his demeanour that that was a period of his life he didn’t remember too much about and what he did remember, he didn’t want to remember. I don’t think a lot of people realised that a lot of what Miles said, he said for effect. That he really wanted to say dumb stuff at times just to see how you would react or it was his way of making of point. So it was a case of trying to figure whether he was saying something for effect, or was heartfelt or was a direct response to a comment.

I remember asking him “Are you into someone like [trumpeter] Lester Bowie? A part of me said “Lester Bowie comes from the Art Ensemble of Chicago, a kind of music Miles was known for disliking, so what will he say?” Miles changed his tone of voice and looked at me very seriously and said: “Why wouldn’t I like Lester Bowie?” But then it would not have surprised me if I saw an interview with him in a magazine the next week where he dissed Lester Bowie! Because he was going to say what he was going to say depending on how he felt or what he felt the purpose of the question was. It was an interesting night.

Rebirth Of The Flesh
Intended for the 8-track Camille album, Prince recorded this song at Sunset Sound on October 28th 1986 on the same day as "Rockhard In A Funky Place". When the Camille album was shelved, the song was slated for inclusion on Prince's next album project, Crystal Ball. It was going to be the opening track segueing into "Play In the Sunshine". The NPG Music Club made a 1988 rehearsal recording available in September 2001, which means that all the Camille tracks have now been officially released, although the original studio version remains unreleased. "Rebirth Of the Flesh" is a rousing and somewhat chaotic rock, spearheaded by a charged guitar riff. Prince's vocal is speeded-up. The song features a nonsensical sing-along chorus, "La, la, la, la, la, la, Souli-a-Colia". The 1988 live rendition is quite faithful to theoriginal studio recording. Miles Davis' early '50s classic Birth Of The Cool seems to have provided inspiration for the song title and some of the lyrics. Incidentally, Birth Of The Cool includes a track by Gerry Mulligan called "Venus De Milo", a title Prince borrowed for a Parade instrumental. The song introduces "the fathers of the new boogie cool", who have "got the beat you're looking for". They are guaranteed to rock the audience because they are from "the old school". Slightly altered, the introductory lyrics, "Kick drum pound on the two and four, all the party people get on the floor", turned up in "Escape" (the B-side of "Glam Slam" in 1988) and as the opening words of the Lovesexy show. The melody of the chorus "Walk Don't Walk" on Diamonds and Pearls also borrows from "Rebirth Of The Flesh".



Rebirth Of The Flesh
Ooh yeah, alright
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah

Kick drum pounds on the 2 and 4
All the party people get on the floor
We got the beat U're looking 4
The rebirth of the flesh is at your door (Let it in y'all!)

It's a brand new day
3 2 funk ain't in our way (No no no)
It ain't about the money, we just wanna play
The rebirth of the flesh is here 2day (Is here 2 stay)

La la la la la la, souli-a-colia (Hey)
The rebirth of the flesh, it's all over U

We are the fathers of a new boogie cool
Guaranteed 2 rock U cuz we're from the old school
We are here, where are U?
Everybody jam 2 the new boogie blues (Check it out!)

It's a brand new day (Wooo!)
3 2 funk ain't in our way (No)
It ain't about the money, we just wanna play
The rebirth of the flesh is here 2day - now everybody say

La la la la la la, souli-a-colia (Hey)
We are here, where are U?
Everybody jam 2 the new boogie cool
La la la la la la, souli-a-colia (Hey)
We are here, where are U?
Everybody jam 2 the new boogie cool (Wooo!)
Souli-a-colia (Hey)
Souli-a-colia (Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey)

Think about your man, the one U worked so hard (Hey)
What's his is his, what's yours is yours
Unless U beat him at a game of cards (Hey)
This ain't cards, motherfucker!
This is life, this is real

We are here, where are U?
Everybody jam 2 the new boogie cool
Come on
We are here, where are U?
Everybody jam 2 the new boogie cool

La la la la la la, souli-a-colia (Hey)
We are here, where are U?
Everybody jam 2 the new boogie cool
La la la la la la, souli-a-colia (Hey)
We are here, where are U?
Everybody jam 2 the new boogie cool
Everybody jam 2 the new boogie cool

La la la la, souli-a-colia
(Hey) {x13}
No!
La la la la la la, souli-a-colia (Hey)

Welcome 2 the Crystal Ball

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/P%20mag%20and%20boot%20covers%20and%20ads/madhousePOS8.jpg[/img:$uid][img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/Madhouse8-1.jpg[/img:$uid]

Rehearsals began in late February 1987 with a "road version" of Madhouse for the upcomming Sign O The Times Tour.

The group featured Eric Leeds on saxaphone, Levi Seacer Jr. on bass, Dr Fink on keyboards and Leed's friend H.B Bennett on drums. Bennett was a jazz drummer from Pittsburgh who had jammed with Prince in the past.

Two weeks into the rehearsals, Bennett was replaced by Dale Alexander, a Minneapolis drummer who had auditioned for Prince's band in 1978. It is said that Prince wanted more of a funk feel to the Madhouse band and felt that Alexander was better suited than Bennett.

[Edited 9/2/10 7:57am]

[Edited 9/26/10 13:59pm]

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/P%20mag%20and%20boot%20covers%20and%20ads/Paris-87.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 9/26/10 14:17pm]

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/P%20mag%20and%20boot%20covers%20and%20ads/Sign-of-The-Times-DVD-Cover-1.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 9/26/10 13:51pm]

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/P%20mag%20and%20boot%20covers%20and%20ads/princeflyer.jpg[/img:$uid][img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/P%20mag%20and%20boot%20covers%20and%20ads/SOTT-Tour.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 9/26/10 14:04pm]

MikeyB71 said:

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/Prince%20record%20and%20mag%20covers/Sign-of-The-Times-DVD-Cover-1.jpg[/img:$uid]

If you were going to only one concert that year, this movie should have been the one....

MikeyB71 said:

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/Prince%20record%20and%20mag%20covers/Paris-87.jpg[/img:$uid]

I would love 2 c some photos of Madhouse performing

1 bad and good thing about the 80's was there was that technology made it harder to get images and info

In this photo the backdrop was possibly a cloth image

of the actually lighted production

Ghettos 2 the left of us

Flowers 2 the right

^ See my post above about the Madhouse band.

It is a shame that photos are not available, not that i can find anyway.

MikeyB71 said:

Rehearsals began in late February 1987 with a "road version" of Madhouse for the upcomming Sign O The Times Tour.

The group featured Eric Leeds on saxaphone, Levi Seacer Jr. on bass, Dr Fink on keyboards and Leed's friend H.B Bennett on drums. Bennett was a jazz drummer from Pittsburgh who had jammed with Prince in the past.

Two weeks into the rehearsals, Bennett was replaced by Dale Alexander, a Minneapolis drummer who had auditioned for Prince's band in 1978. It is said that Prince wanted more of a funk feel to the Madhouse band and felt that Alexander was better suited than Bennett.

[Edited 9/2/10 7:57am]

Wait, wasn't Sheila the only Madhouse drummer (aside from Prince)? I know I'm a lazy Prince fan for even asking...I've never been all that knowledgeable about the Madhouse sessions and should do some research...

OldFriends4Sale said:

In this photo the backdrop was possibly a cloth image

of the actually lighted production

Ghettos 2 the left of us

Flowers 2 the right

If so, that is one amazing cloth image. There's so much going on in that whole album cover. I loved staring at it and studying it when it came out.

Efan said:

MikeyB71 said:

Rehearsals began in late February 1987 with a "road version" of Madhouse for the upcomming Sign O The Times Tour.

The group featured Eric Leeds on saxaphone, Levi Seacer Jr. on bass, Dr Fink on keyboards and Leed's friend H.B Bennett on drums. Bennett was a jazz drummer from Pittsburgh who had jammed with Prince in the past.

Two weeks into the rehearsals, Bennett was replaced by Dale Alexander, a Minneapolis drummer who had auditioned for Prince's band in 1978. It is said that Prince wanted more of a funk feel to the Madhouse band and felt that Alexander was better suited than Bennett.

[Edited 9/2/10 7:57am]

Wait, wasn't Sheila the only Madhouse drummer (aside from Prince)? I know I'm a lazy Prince fan for even asking...I've never been all that knowledgeable about the Madhouse sessions and should do some research...

The album Madhouse "8" was a Prince solo effort, the only other musician on 8 was Eric leeds who played Saxaphone and flute.

The second Madhouse album "16" featured five tracks performed by Prince and Eric Leeds, (Matt Fink played on one track). The remaining three tracks feauture Prince, Leeds, Levi Seacer Jr and Sheila E.

The third and unreleased Madhouse album "24" was again a Prince and Eric Leeds recording. Prince did however call on the services of a French singer and actress named Mathilda May to deliver some lines in French.

[Edited 9/2/10 8:42am]

MikeyB71 said:

Efan said:

Wait, wasn't Sheila the only Madhouse drummer (aside from Prince)? I know I'm a lazy Prince fan for even asking...I've never been all that knowledgeable about the Madhouse sessions and should do some research...

The album Madhouse "8" was a Prince solo effort, the only other musician on 8 was Eric leeds who played Saxaphone and flute.

The second Madhouse album "16" featured five tracks performed by Prince and Eric Leeds, (Matt Fink played on one track). The remaining three tracks feauture Prince, Leeds, Levi Seacer Jr and Sheila E.

The third and unreleased Madhouse album "24" was again a Prince and Eric Leeds recording. Prince did however call on the services of a French singer and actress named Mathilda May to deliver some lines in French.

[Edited 9/2/10 8:42am]

Two weeks into the rehearsals, Bennett was replaced by Dale Alexander, a Minneapolis drummer who had auditioned for Prince's band in 1978. It is said that Prince wanted more of a funk feel to the Madhouse band and felt that Alexander was better suited than Bennett.

Dale Alexander was a drummer for 94 East and Prince hired Bobby Z as live backing drummer before starting his own band.

Dale Alexander Dr Fink Eric Leeds Levi Seacer Jr

OldFriends4Sale said:

MikeyB71 said:

The album Madhouse "8" was a Prince solo effort, the only other musician on 8 was Eric leeds who played Saxaphone and flute.

The second Madhouse album "16" featured five tracks performed by Prince and Eric Leeds, (Matt Fink played on one track). The remaining three tracks feauture Prince, Leeds, Levi Seacer Jr and Sheila E.

The third and unreleased Madhouse album "24" was again a Prince and Eric Leeds recording. Prince did however call on the services of a French singer and actress named Mathilda May to deliver some lines in French.

[Edited 9/2/10 8:42am]

Two weeks into the rehearsals, Bennett was replaced by Dale Alexander, a Minneapolis drummer who had auditioned for Prince's band in 1978. It is said that Prince wanted more of a funk feel to the Madhouse band and felt that Alexander was better suited than Bennett.

Dale Alexander was a drummer for 94 East and Prince hired Bobby Z as live backing drummer before starting his own band.

Dale Alexander Dr Fink Eric Leeds Levi Seacer Jr

Cool pic Oldfriends, i love the whole intended mystery of Madhouse, at least to me it was. Prince and his failed intent to keep his name out of the whole Madhouse 8 release.

Even pics like this have an air of mystery to them, they remind me of the UK band The Art Of Noise, not musically, but rather the mysic surrounding them.

MikeyB71 said:

Efan said:

Wait, wasn't Sheila the only Madhouse drummer (aside from Prince)? I know I'm a lazy Prince fan for even asking...I've never been all that knowledgeable about the Madhouse sessions and should do some research...

The album Madhouse "8" was a Prince solo effort, the only other musician on 8 was Eric leeds who played Saxaphone and flute.

The second Madhouse album "16" featured five tracks performed by Prince and Eric Leeds, (Matt Fink played on one track). The remaining three tracks feauture Prince, Leeds, Levi Seacer Jr and Sheila E.

The third and unreleased Madhouse album "24" was again a Prince and Eric Leeds recording. Prince did however call on the services of a French singer and actress named Mathilda May to deliver some lines in French.

[Edited 9/2/10 8:42am]

Thanks!

Efan said:

MikeyB71 said:

The album Madhouse "8" was a Prince solo effort, the only other musician on 8 was Eric leeds who played Saxaphone and flute.

The second Madhouse album "16" featured five tracks performed by Prince and Eric Leeds, (Matt Fink played on one track). The remaining three tracks feauture Prince, Leeds, Levi Seacer Jr and Sheila E.

The third and unreleased Madhouse album "24" was again a Prince and Eric Leeds recording. Prince did however call on the services of a French singer and actress named Mathilda May to deliver some lines in French.

[Edited 9/2/10 8:42am]

Thanks!

There was also a second version of Madhouse 24 recorded. This was recorded in 1993 and featured Prince, Levi Seacer Jr, Sonny Thompson, Eric Leeds and Michael Bland.

The album was completed in 1994, but again, remains unreleased.

MikeyB71 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Two weeks into the rehearsals, Bennett was replaced by Dale Alexander, a Minneapolis drummer who had auditioned for Prince's band in 1978. It is said that Prince wanted more of a funk feel to the Madhouse band and felt that Alexander was better suited than Bennett.

Dale Alexander was a drummer for 94 East and Prince hired Bobby Z as live backing drummer before starting his own band.

Dale Alexander Dr Fink Eric Leeds Levi Seacer Jr

Cool pic Oldfriends, i love the whole intended mystery of Madhouse, at least to me it was. Prince and his failed intent to keep his name out of the whole Madhouse 8 release.

Even pics like this have an air of mystery to them, they remind me of the UK band The Art Of Noise, not musically, but rather the mysic surrounding them.

The Madhouse thing kinda fell off as well as the protege side during 1988

I think that is one large part about the change from 1986-1987 was that with the desolving of the Revolution it also desolved the proteges such as Sheila E. Jill Jones, Mazarati

OldFriends4Sale said:

MikeyB71 said:

Cool pic Oldfriends, i love the whole intended mystery of Madhouse, at least to me it was. Prince and his failed intent to keep his name out of the whole Madhouse 8 release.

Even pics like this have an air of mystery to them, they remind me of the UK band The Art Of Noise, not musically, but rather the mysic surrounding them.

The Madhouse thing kinda fell off as well as the protege side during 1988

I think that is one large part about the change from 1986-1987 was that with the desolving of the Revolution it also desolved the proteges such as Sheila E. Jill Jones, Mazarati

I agree with Madhouse tailing off after 8 and 16.

24 (though one of my favourite Prince instrumental albums) just never had the same mystery to it, maybe it was due to the fact that it was never released, but by the time 24 came along, Madhouse just seemed like routine to Prince.

And the '93 version of 24? Lets not even go there, though again, i like it.

There certainly was a "golden age" as far as protege's were concerned. Later protege's never seemed to have anything special about them at all imo.

I think the last protege album worth any salt was Mayte's Child Of The Sun, sure she is a fairly bad singer, but musically the album was excellent imo, and Mayte seemed to have an innocent charm that was missing with other later proteges, i would have liked to have seen her make a second album.

Of course, Mayte cannot be compared to the likes of Jill Jones and Sheila E, who were streaks ahead in musical and vocal talent.

[Edited 9/2/10 11:02am]

remko said:

MikeyB71 said:

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/Prince%20record%20and%20mag%20covers/Sign-of-The-Times-DVD-Cover-1.jpg[/img:$uid]

If you were going to only one concert that year, this movie should have been the one....

I was so ready 4 this concert to come 2 the States, seriously disappointed, Prince missed a prime opp to a greater level of success.

MikeyB71 said:

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/Prince%20record%20and%20mag%20covers/madhousePOS8.jpg[/img:$uid][img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/Prince%20record%20and%20mag%20covers/be30828fd7a055343d461110_L.jpg[/img:$uid]

Rehearsals began in late February 1987 with a "road version" of Madhouse for the upcomming Sign O The Times Tour.

The group featured Eric Leeds on saxaphone, Levi Seacer Jr. on bass, Dr Fink on keyboards and Leed's friend H.B Bennett on drums. Bennett was a jazz drummer from Pittsburgh who had jammed with Prince in the past.

Two weeks into the rehearsals, Bennett was replaced by Dale Alexander, a Minneapolis drummer who had auditioned for Prince's band in 1978. It is said that Prince wanted more of a funk feel to the Madhouse band and felt that Alexander was better suited than Bennett.

[Edited 9/2/10 7:57am]

12" Maxi single '6'...TRACKLISTING..
Side A - 1. 6 (End of the world Mix),
Side B - 1. '6', and
2. '6 and 1/2'

01. Sign O' The Times
02. Play In The Sunshine
03. Little Red Corvette
04. Housequake
05. Girls & Boys
06. Slow Love
07. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
08. Hot Thing
09. Now's The Time + Sheila E drumsolo
10. Let's Go Crazy
11. When Doves Cry
12. Purple Rain
13. 1999
14. The Cross
15. It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night

Recorded Live at Palais Omnisports de Bercy, Paris, France - June 17, 1987.