Best group overall is the Time, their music stands head and shoulders above the rest. Still I agree the ballads on the first album are dull and unlistenable (But the other 3 Jams Cool, Get it up, The Stick are amazing). Also Icr cream castles is quite weak, but What time is it, is a great album and even Gigolos get lonely too is great.

The Jill Jones album is amazing, it should have done better, those songs like G Spot, Mia Bocca and the like are some of the most catchy pop Prince has ever written.

I really like the Madhouse stuff too, the videos are hilarious as well (The bank robber stuff)

But my first prize goes to The Glamorous Life by Sheila E, as its got so much rhythm and very catchy songs, its very well done and despite being all Prince, Sheila makes it her own with her layers of percussion and sexy vocals. Sheila E to me was about the only sexy protege who had geniune talent and Prince was the first to nurture it.

Second is Vanity 6, fluffy and exploitative maybe, but Vanity bought personality to those smutty little songs, which are super catchy and the best thing about it, is the album is funny rather than dirty. Prince's cameo on If a girl hangs up is great too. If she had stayed for a second album, it would have been better with songs like G Spot, Vibrator, Sex Shooter (The Vanity version blows Appollonias out of the water) and Prince does another funny cameo.

Third is What time is it by the Time, The Walk and Wild and Loose are just too hilarious and well done for words.

For some reason I am just not sold by The Family's album, I like the songs and the songwriting, but its the Family I am less keen on, Paul can not sing and to be honest neither can Susannah. I think it was just a project to keep Prince's girlfriend and his boyfriend ( ) happy. But I love Prince's versions of Mutiny, High Fashion and of course his etheral mix of Screams of Passion. And I know I will be crucified for this, as most of you are convinced this is the brighest star in the Prince universe judging by the comments so far.

TheDigitalGardener said: The Mazarati album is the only one I don't own....never have, not even a download. I heard it a couple of times back in ye olde days, but never ever wanted to own it. Good job really, as I see it's stupidly expensive.

The cd is indeed. The vinyl Lp copies are bargains tho.

SuperSoulFighter said: Can we count Chaka Khan?

imho, no... and also not Mavis Staples, Sheena Easton, Larry Graham and maybe a few other who had an active career pre paisley/npg records era. I would call them pré-teges lol

Shango said:

SuperSoulFighter said: Can we count Chaka Khan?

imho, no... and also not Mavis Staples, Sheena Easton, Larry Graham and maybe a few other who had an active career pre paisley/npg records era. I would call them pré-teges lol

Oh shit I forgot about the first Mavis record! I loved that record, especially the title track and Come Home. I think it should count, personally. P's all over that record.

^ i understand, maybe the topic should be named "Best Side Project Album" ?

I don't know where to stand when I see Sheila E. and Pandemonium on this thread: Prince contributed half the songs on both but in both cases the other half of the album weren't his.

I still consider these 2 as being albums by other artists with heavy contributions by Prince, as opposed to the first 3 The Time albums and the first 2 Sheila E. albums, which are just plain Prince albums with heavy contriibutions by Morris Day and Sheila E.

To answer the original thread, I consider most if not all the side-projects as being just as brilliant as any other Prince album. I nonetheless feel that Carmen Electra and Child Of The Sun were done with little care and were, therefore, quite disappointing. And of course there's Kamasutra, which was a brave but nonetheless cheesy tentative at contemporary music.

Another record that is actually only half-Prince and therefore can be considered as a record by another artist with a heavy Prince input, is May, 19, 1992. This one is an all-time favorite of mine, a truly visionnary record that shoulda been the pride of the Paisley Park label back then. Both the Prince and non-Prince tracks are equally remarkable.

[Edited 9/30/12 3:41am]

Shango said:

TheDigitalGardener said: The Mazarati album is the only one I don't own....never have, not even a download. I heard it a couple of times back in ye olde days, but never ever wanted to own it. Good job really, as I see it's stupidly expensive.

The cd is indeed. The vinyl Lp copies are bargains tho.

I guess that is the same for most Prince protege albums, seems to be.

[Edited 9/30/12 4:05am]

TheDigitalGardener said: I guess that is the same for most Prince protege albums, seems to be.

yeah, and it's good to see that all the albums from a previous associate such as Andre Cymone finally got some reissue-attention on cd as well. Whether the albums from Vanity 6/Apollonia 6, Sheila E, The Family, Mazarati and some others will have a second run on cd is uncertain. If so, then it would have to be targeted to a more specific market of interested buyers for a period of time; for example, the availability of Andre Cymone's "Livin In The New Wave" cd-reissue is already officially expired on the site of the manfacturer, funkytowngrooves. I'm not even sure if Warner Brothers still has the original masters of all those projects or if they are already added to Prince's vault.

Shango said:

TheDigitalGardener said: I guess that is the same for most Prince protege albums, seems to be.

yeah, and it's good to see that all the albums from a previous associate such as Andre Cymone finally got some reissue-attention on cd as well. Whether the albums from Vanity 6/Apollonia 6, Sheila E, The Family, Mazarati and some others will have a second run on cd is uncertain. If so, then it would have to be targeted to a more specific market of interested buyers for a period of time; for example, the availability of Andre Cymone's "Livin In The New Wave" cd-reissue is already officially expired on the site of the manfacturer, funkytowngrooves. I'm not even sure if Warner Brothers still has the original masters of all those projects or if they are already added to Prince's vault.

WB own the rights/masters to the 4 The Time albums, the 3 Sheila E. albums, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6 and possibly a few more (the status of The Family is uncertain, for example).

The rights/masters to most, if not all, of the other albums released on Paisley Park Records reverted back to Prince when WB shut the label down in 1994. Prince could rerelease all that stuff anytime, and he actually almost did when he was considering developping NPG Records into a real label back in 1994 (The Voice and Hey Man... Smell My Finger were rereleased in Europe by Edel in 1994, and several others were supposed to follow before prince changed his mind).

They may have been a few contractual exceptions, in which cases the rights may have reverted back to another right-holder, or remained in the WB estate. A notable one is the 2 Kahoru Kohiruimaki albums, which most likely belong to TDK or some other label in Japan. It is not known wheither the albums released with Reprise Records (instead of WB properly) had a special contractual status or if they had a classical Paisley Park contract.

databank said:

I don't know where to stand when I see Sheila E. and Pandemonium on this thread: Prince contributed half the songs on both but in both cases the other half of the album weren't his.

I still consider these 2 as being albums by other artists with heavy contributions by Prince, as opposed to the first 3 The Time albums and the first 2 Sheila E. albums, which are just plain Prince albums with heavy contriibutions by Morris Day and Sheila E.

To answer the original thread, I consider most if not all the side-projects as being just as brilliant as any other Prince album. I nonetheless feel that Carmen Electra and Child Of The Sun were done with little care and were, therefore, quite disappointing. And of course there's Kamasutra, which was a brave but nonetheless cheesy tentative at contemporary music.

Another record that is actually only half-Prince and therefore can be considered as a record by another artist with a heavy Prince input, is May, 19, 1992. This one is an all-time favorite of mine, a truly visionnary record that shoulda been the pride of the Paisley Park label back then. Both the Prince and non-Prince tracks are equally remarkable.

[Edited 9/30/12 3:41am]

a protege isnt defined by having all the song written or produced by Prince

Tina Marie the Mary Jane Girls & Eddie Murphy were all proteges of Rick James

the Time Pandemonium even though they were under his production before at that Time they werent really with Prince, I guess it could be included, but I didnt see them as Prince proteges after they left his camp, same with Vanity or Jesse Johnson

the Sheila E album she was still in his camp, Jill Jones also had heavy involvement in her album, like Sheila Es 3rd

Adorecream said:

Best group overall is the Time, their music stands head and shoulders above the rest. Still I agree the ballads on the first album are dull and unlistenable (But the other 3 Jams Cool, Get it up, The Stick are amazing). Also Icr cream castles is quite weak, but What time is it, is a great album and even Gigolos get lonely too is great.

The Jill Jones album is amazing, it should have done better, those songs like G Spot, Mia Bocca and the like are some of the most catchy pop Prince has ever written.

I really like the Madhouse stuff too, the videos are hilarious as well (The bank robber stuff)

But my first prize goes to The Glamorous Life by Sheila E, as its got so much rhythm and very catchy songs, its very well done and despite being all Prince, Sheila makes it her own with her layers of percussion and sexy vocals. Sheila E to me was about the only sexy protege who had geniune talent and Prince was the first to nurture it.

Second is Vanity 6, fluffy and exploitative maybe, but Vanity bought personality to those smutty little songs, which are super catchy and the best thing about it, is the album is funny rather than dirty. Prince's cameo on If a girl hangs up is great too. If she had stayed for a second album, it would have been better with songs like G Spot, Vibrator, Sex Shooter (The Vanity version blows Appollonias out of the water) and Prince does another funny cameo.

Third is What time is it by the Time, The Walk and Wild and Loose are just too hilarious and well done for words.

For some reason I am just not sold by The Family's album, I like the songs and the songwriting, but its the Family I am less keen on, Paul can not sing and to be honest neither can Susannah. I think it was just a project to keep Prince's girlfriend and his boyfriend ( ) happy. But I love Prince's versions of Mutiny, High Fashion and of course his etheral mix of Screams of Passion. And I know I will be crucified for this, as most of you are convinced this is the brighest star in the Prince universe judging by the comments so far.

dont forget 777.9311 baddest song still

Vanity 6 Make Up lead by Susan I LOVE

seeing Sheila E and band do Merci4theSpeedofAMadClowninSUmmer live was awesome

I Dont Want 2 Leave U & Dear Michaelangelo the music was/is an example of Purple Music that is a unique sound feel vibe the melodies on those song are armost melencholy

Blue Limousine & A Million Miles killer purple energy

the Family Purple Chic, love the album, its a chill album, Paul & Susannah can definately sing, he did good despite the seemingly push for him 2 sound a bit like Morris, love Susannah:Rock Hard in a Funky Place, Play in the Sunshine, Ballad of Dorothy Parker, the Ladder, song from Parade love how she backs Prince

#1 - The Time

#2 - What Time Is It?

#3 - is up for grabs between Ice Cream Castles, The Family, Vanity 6 & The Glamorous Life.

databank said:

WB own the rights/masters to the 4 The Time albums, the 3 Sheila E. albums, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6 and possibly a few more (the status of The Family is uncertain, for example).

The rights/masters to most, if not all, of the other albums released on Paisley Park Records reverted back to Prince when WB shut the label down in 1994. Prince could rerelease all that stuff anytime, and he actually almost did when he was considering developping NPG Records into a real label back in 1994 (The Voice and Hey Man... Smell My Finger were rereleased in Europe by Edel in 1994, and several others were supposed to follow before prince changed his mind).

They may have been a few contractual exceptions, in which cases the rights may have reverted back to another right-holder, or remained in the WB estate. A notable one is the 2 Kahoru Kohiruimaki albums, which most likely belong to TDK or some other label in Japan. It is not known wheither the albums released with Reprise Records (instead of WB properly) had a special contractual status or if they had a classical Paisley Park contract.

Thanks for the info