Lavaux borrows heavily from Pointer Sister's 'Automatic'

Listen for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/wa...Ni8aW8Nf6s

I thought it sounded familiar when i first heard it!

Btw, Anyone hear an update about the Girl 6 / 'Phonesex' plagiarism lawsuit?

Listening to it, i would agree with the prosecution, however Prince did add a lot of his own touches to it, which we love him for!

Also, if you haven't already listen to 'Faithfully' by Journey then listen to Purple Rain!

Oh and the 'Guitar' intro borrowed from U2's 'I will Follow'

I know our man is v.creative but sometimes, just sometimes, influences creep in!!!

[Edited 1/14/11 12:06pm]

You're only seven months late!

http://prince.org/msg/7/3...?&pg=1

Genesia said:

You're only seven months late!

http://prince.org/msg/7/3...?&pg=1

That link is no longer available - do you have another copy?!

I can hear it.............good catch.

Essentially every thread that ever mentioned "Lavaux" in 2010 had someone crack the Pointer Sisters joke.

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Genesia said:

You're only seven months late!

http://prince.org/msg/7/3...?&pg=1

That link is no longer available - do you have another copy?!

Just go to the upper right corner of this page and type in "Lavaux." You'll find everything you've missed - all the way back to last July.

Hmm...interesting, I only recently heard the Pointer Sister's song and instantly recognised that it sounded like Lavaux!

What about the plagiarism case, anyone done a thread on that??

OK, I'll say this again...

They do indeed sound similar in the chord progression, BUT this is because "Automatic" was deliberately arranged and produced 2 sound like a Stevie Wonder/Prince song. Everyone back then was riffing off Prince's synth chord progressions... Remember Phil Collins?

.

[Edited 1/14/11 13:15pm]

Giovanni777 said:

OK, I'll say this again...

They do indeed sound similar in the chord progression, BUT this is because "Automatic" was deliberately arranged and produced 2 sound like a Stevie Wonder/Prince song. Everyone back then was riffing off Prince's synth chord progressions... Remember Phil Collins?

.

[Edited 1/14/11 13:15pm]

Fair comment, Phil Collins has admitted in interviews that 'Susudio' was inspired by Prince's 1999.

However, as to the Pointer Sister's Automatic - Prince did not do a song with that chord progression that until he did Lavaux, so they may have been inspired by him in some way , but in Lavaux it sounds to me like they inspired him!

[Edited 1/14/11 13:32pm]

That dang Sussudio reminds me of something!

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Giovanni777 said:

OK, I'll say this again...

They do indeed sound similar in the chord progression, BUT this is because "Automatic" was deliberately arranged and produced 2 sound like a Stevie Wonder/Prince song. Everyone back then was riffing off Prince's synth chord progressions... Remember Phil Collins?

.

[Edited 1/14/11 13:15pm]

Fair comment, Phil Collins has admitted in interviews that 'Susudio' was inspired by Prince's 1999.

However, as to the Pointer Sister's Automatic - Prince did not do a song with that chord progression that until Lavaux, so they may have been inspired by , but in Lavaux it sounds to me like they inspired him!

They weren't trying to copy a specific chord progression, but the sound, rythmic feel, and even the intervals are "Princely".

Prince never sued the people who blatantly ripped him off or even made a fuss, these people with no clout should just go and write another song if they are so good. Plagiarism suits are just part of the business,an occupational hazard. There is no artist who does not lift from others, none, it's a part of art. The key is to put the pieces together in fresh, unique ways.

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Also, if you haven't already listen to 'Faithfully' by Journey then listen to Purple Rain!

Oh and the 'Guitar' intro borrowed from U2's 'I will Follow'

[Edited 1/14/11 12:06pm]

Faithfully does not sound like Purple Rain. The end refrain of PR has two chords that are similar, but both songs came out aroudn the same time, so this not proven. I'm a BIG fan of both artists, so i have no bias towards anyone.

Guitar shares TWO chords with I Will Follow. These are basic chords, it could have just been coincidence. Besides the songs are completely different besides those two chords.

As Tom Petty once said:

Some have claimed that the Red Hot Chili Peppers single "Dani California", released in May 2006, is very similar to Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance.^[26] Petty told Rolling Stone, "I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock 'n' roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry.

this thread needs more gifs

Check out this excellent interview with Ruth Pointer

http://www.popmatters.com...h-pointer/

Here's just a little bit that's relevant to this thread

“I Feel For You” (So Excited, 1982) “Prince sent the song to us and we recorded it. I don’t know that we were always real happy with the way we recorded that song. We used to fight with Richard Perry a lot. He didn’t give us the freedom that we really wanted to have. Sometimes he turned us loose but a lot of times he held close reins on a song. He wanted to keep it close to the demo we heard. Even though it’s a good song, and a lot of people like it, that version is not one of my favorites…but I love Prince!”

“Automatic” (Break Out, 1983) “Ah, that is one of my favorite songs. We’d almost finished an album and were looking for another tune. We were sitting in a little tiny office on a break and, being the snoops that we are, decided to snoop around this person’s office because we knew that he was the one who was hording all the material. We heard this song and went, Whoa, this is a really cool song! When we told them that we wanted to do it, they said, ‘Well who’s going to do that low part?’ I said, ‘Are you kidding me? I’ll do the low part!'"

i think "sticky like glue" is borrows from Tom Tom Club's: Genius of Love

http://www.youtube.com/wa...N1t5qdBUzs

Thank God we've been blessed with the presence of the OP, so that we can learn what we already know since ages ago...

True story: I actually thought that their version of Automatic was Prince when I first heard it. I knew he had a song on 1999 called "Automatic" but I didn't have the album yet. I remember being slightly disappointed that they were different songs.

mynameisnotsusan said:

Check out this excellent interview with Ruth Pointer

http://www.popmatters.com...h-pointer/

Here's just a little bit that's relevant to this thread

“I Feel For You” (So Excited, 1982) “Prince sent the song to us and we recorded it. I don’t know that we were always real happy with the way we recorded that song. We used to fight with Richard Perry a lot. He didn’t give us the freedom that we really wanted to have. Sometimes he turned us loose but a lot of times he held close reins on a song. He wanted to keep it close to the demo we heard. Even though it’s a good song, and a lot of people like it, that version is not one of my favorites…but I love Prince!”

Interesting. I wonder if he really sent it to them, since it was already released by him. Or if a producer or A&R guy brought it to them, since it would be considered a cover by that point. If he did send it to them, I wonder if this was a song that he sent around to people on a tape, possibly re-mixed or re-recorded as an idea for a female act to cover, since Chaka Khan ended up doing it again a few years later. He also gave Chaka "Eternity" after he'd already given it to Sheena Easton.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

i think "sticky like glue" is borrows from Tom Tom Club's: Genius of Love

http://www.youtube.com/wa...N1t5qdBUzs

I dont hear it...

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Lavaux borrows heavily from Pointer Sister's 'Automatic'

Listen for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/wa...Ni8aW8Nf6s

Holy shit, how much helium was in the shoulders of that purple dress?

At first glance I was wondering "when did they have the Hindenburg on Soul Train?"

PRNelson said:

The riff in lavaux is exactly the same as the one in 'life can be so nice'. Nobody ever mentions that though.

I mentioned that in one of the Peach & Black Podcast episodes (either the 'first impressions' or the actual review show, I can't remember), so you're not alone.