Syncopated Strut

Madhouse

by Miles Marshall Lewis

Eric Leeds in the Madhouse promo photo (original photo B&W).

The DJ at Le Réservoir spins nothing but 1980s vinyl loaded with LinnDrum beats and synthesizers for Parisians packing the smallish dance floor, but nobody minds. The NPG Party is the only fête in town where gorgeous French women gladly fall into step with the mechanized drum programming on Sheila E. rare grooves like “Too Sexy” and “Shortberry Strawcake.” The infectious blend of funk-rock, new wave, and R&B music once known as the Minneapolis Sound prepares everyone for tonight’s main event: Rad, featuring saxophonist Eric Leeds.

You see, Rad is an alumna of the New Power Generation, class of 2004. And Leeds famously spent years in the Revolution during the mid-’80s. Both groups have flanked Prince, architect of the Minneapolis Sound, stretching back over two decades (the Revolution from 1983–86; various lineups of the NPG from 1990 to now). So Rad—born Rose Ann Dimalanta—will be preaching to the converted this springtime Sunday night, having played keyboards in the NPG once upon a time.

Rad, a petite forty-year-old Filipina in a sleeveless sequined top with white slacks, stands center stage behind her bank of synths at the stroke of nine. Fronting a five-piece band, she powers through many original funk numbers from her own records for over an hour before dipping into the catalog of the man whose genius has been the purple elephant in the room through her whole show.

“Mutiny! I said I’m taking over,” Rad sings, atop James Brownish staccato horn blasts from Eric Leeds. “You gotta give up this ship. You should’ve been a little more hip.”

Tall, lanky, and bespectacled, suited in all black, fifty-seven-year-old Leeds eyes trombonist Greg Boyer (another NPG alum) as a quick signal before blowing the house down. Leeds approximates his own original solo from “Mutiny,” recorded back in late 1984 for the eponymously titled album of Prince protégé band the Family.

Known intimately by the dancing crowd at Le Réservoir, the Family is most familiar to the general public for “Nothing Compares 2 U,” a ballad brought to the top of worldwide charts by Sinéad O’Connor in 1990. Nominally an R&B quintet, the Family stands tall in Prince lore for introducing live horns into the one-man-band’s musical output. The Family secretly features Prince undercover on every instrument except Eric Leeds’s saxophone and flute. The group was predictably short-lived, but not before inspiring Prince to create another pseudo band with himself secretly playing every instrument except Leeds’s sax and flute.

That band was the jazz-fusion outfit Madhouse. Drummer Billy Johnson strikes the opening fill to “Six,” and the crowd goes wild. At the lip of the stage, a dredlocked fan starts acting out with a French brunette, throwing up goofy Egyptian hieroglyphic hand gestures and shimmying around. Because if you paid twenty-five euros to see Eric Leeds play an intimate Parisian nightclub, Madhouse’s “Six” is the song you’ve been waiting all night long to hear. Sax and keyboard variations on one sinuous musical riff center “Six” in a funky, rhythmic groove; “Six” reached number five on Billboard’s Black Singles Chart in early 1987, the age of Beverly Hills Cop’s hit instrumental, “Axel F.”

Madhouse, for the relatively few paying attention, was one of those riddles wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma that Churchill talked about. Every piece of the group’s cover art—two albums, three singles—featured only twenty-one-year-old Maneca Lightner, credited as the “Madhouse cover girl,” dressed in sexy polka-dotted outfits with a Yorkshire terrier. Lightner, it so happens, was dating Prince casually at the time. Warner Bros. Records released the band’s first album, 8, through Prince’s Paisley Park Records label on January 21, 1987, and the album credits made no mention of the band members. Those same credits claimed that 8 was recorded at Madhouse Studios in Pittsburgh, a studio that doesn’t exist.

for the rest of this story go to: http://www.waxpoetics.com...ated-strut

[Edited 2/15/12 19:45pm]

a prelude to Madhouse Hard Knock Life

Thanks for posting.

the Family had song a prelude to Madhouse

Yes & Feline (unreleased)

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.

Wax Poetics is one of the most informative magazines on music. They did a fantastic piece on Sly Stone a while back that got me into the magazine. You can find it at most magazine stores (in Manhattan - especially along 14th street). Going to buy my copy as soon as I get off

[Edited 2/16/12 13:54pm]

From the article...

"Common knowledge says, if you search “control freak” on Wikipedia, a picture of Prince appears. If you’ve got even passing familiarity with Prince, it won’t come as much surprise that he’d shelve the democratic jazz-fusion of the Flesh for the controlled one-man-band approach of Madhouse. The move fits with his disbanding the Revolution to avoid creative differences with Wendy and Lisa; or allowing his classic material to stay unremastered because of animosity against his former Warner Bros. record label; or refusing to let a young-gun producer like Questlove (for example) modernize his sound for the twenty-first century. Prince is determined to make even detrimental artistic choices based on his being able to run shit."

...and there it is!

That sums up about 85% of the arguements around here (the other 15% being fashion, girlfriends and, umm... girlfriends).

It's a GREAT read, altogether!

Thanks for the link!

Prost!

[Edited 2/18/12 7:40am]