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Lol! Cool to see the old MikeyB thread still has it's uses. | |
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ROLLING STONE (1985)
PRINCE TALKS BY NEAL KARLEN
A few minutes later, Prince and his father pull in front of the Warehouse, a concrete barn in an Eden Prairie industrial park. Inside, the Family, a rock-funk band that Prince has been working with, is pounding out new songs and dance routines. The group is as tight as ace drummer Jellybean Johnson's pants. At the end of one hot number, Family members fall on their backs, twitching like fried eggs. . Prince and his father enter to hellos from the still-gyrating band. Prince goes over to a pool table by the soundboard, racks the balls and shimmies to the beat of the Family's next song. Taking everything in, John Nelson gives a professional nod to the band, his son's rack job and his own just-chalked cue. He hitches his shoulders, takes aim and breaks like Minnesota Fats. A few minutes later, the band is still playing and the father is still shooting. Prince, son to this father and father to this band, is smiling. . THE NIGHT BEFORE, in the Warehouse, Prince is about to break his three-year public silence. Wearing a jump suit, powder-blue boots and a little crucifix on a chain, he dances with the Family for a little while, plays guitar for a minute, sings lead for a second, then noodles four-handed keyboard with Susannah Melvoin, Wendy's identical-twin sister. . Seeing me at the door, Prince comes over. "Hi," he whispers, offering a hand, "want something to eat or drink?" On the table in front of the band are piles of fruit and a couple bags of Doritos. Six different kinds of tea sit on a shelf by the wall. No drugs, no booze, no coffee. Prince plays another lick or two and watches for a few more minutes, then waves goodbye to the band and heads for his car outside the concrete barn. . Now, however, the Gray Line Hip Tour swarm has slackened. According to Prince -- who goes there twice a week to dance when he's not working on a big project -- the old First Avenue feeling is coming back. "There was a lot of us hanging around the club in the old days," he says, "and the new army, so to speak, is getting ready to come back to Minneapolis. The Family's already here, Mazarati's back now too, and Sheila E. and her band will be coming soon. The club'll be the same thing that it was"
As we pull up in front of First Avenue, a Saturday-night crowd is milling around outside, combing their hair, smoking cigarettes, holding hands. They stare with more interest than awe as Prince gets out of the car. "You want to go to the [VIP] booth?" asks the bouncer. "Naah," says Prince. "I feel like dancing." . A few feet off the packed dance floor stands the Family, taking a night off from rehearsing. Prince joins the band and laughs, kisses, soul shakes. Prince and three of Family members wade through a floor of Teddy-and-Eleanor-Mondale-brand funkettes and start moving. Many of the kids Prince passes either don't see him or pretend they don't care. Most of the rest turn their heads slightly to see the man go by, then simply continue their own motions. . An hour later, he's on the road again, roaring out of downtown. Just as he's asked if there's anything in the world that he wants but doesn't have, two blondes driving daddy's Porsche speed past. "I don't," Prince says with a giggle, "have them."
The Interview
Friends? Musicians, people I know. A lot of the time they think I don't want to be bothered. When I told Susannah [Melvoin] that you were coming over, she said, "Is there something I can do? Do you want me to come by to make it seem like you have friends coming by?" I said no, that would be lying. And she just put her head down, because she knew she doesn't come by to see me as much as she wants to, or as much as she thinks I want her to. It was interesting. See, you did something good, and you didn't even know it.
What about the other bands? Apollonia, Vanity, Mazarati, the Family? What are you trying to express through them? A lot has to do with them. They come to me with an idea, and I try to bring that forth. I don't give them anything. I don't say, "Okay, you're going to do this, and you're going to do that." I mean, it was Morris' idea to be as sick as he was. That was his personality. We both like Don King and get a lot of stuff off him.
People think you control those bands, that it's similar to Rick James, relationship with the Mary Jane Girls. A lot of people think he's turning all the knobs. I don't know their situation. But you look at Sheila E. performing, and you can just tell she's holding her own. The same goes for the Family. You and I were playing Ping-Pong, and they were doing just fine.
ROLLING STONE, APRIL 26TH, 1985
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Mico Weaver: Yeah, actually we did the Purple Rain Tour. It was like 100 shows in the States. The last show was in Florida so everybody was chillin'. Now the tour was over, 'what are we gonna do right after this?' So he called me and said 'Hey come up to my room, and he showed me "Around The World In A Day", the cover and all that stuff. He said 'this is the new thing'. I thought 'this is cool' -- it showed his own label and then he told me 'I want you to play in The Family'.
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Early May 1985. Prince begins mixing The Family album at Sunset Sound Studio in L.A. Some tracks underwent changes during the mixing stage, with Prince dropping the bass parts to several tracks. Eric Leeds recalls, “Prince was in a no bass minimalist mood, there was bass guitar in a lot of those cuts that he did not include in the final mixes, and I missed it then and I miss it now. To hear the bass guitar that exists on those songs, particularly High Fashion and Mutiny, my God, those songs are on fire! And just listening to those rough mixes with the bass on there, that to me is quintessential funk, it doesn't get much better than that.”
Mid May 1985. The Family begin rehearsals at the Washington Avenue warehouse in Eden Prairie. After the conclusion of the Purple Rain tour, a winter tour with other Paisley Park acts Sheila E and Mazarati was planned. The Family's core group of Paul Peterson, Susannah Melvoin, Eric Leeds, Jellybean Johnson and Jerome Benton was added to for the proposed tour. Sheila E's guitarist Miko Weaver was drafted to play guitar. Lisa's brother David Coleman was asked to play bass but was replaced by Minneapolis bassist Alan Flowers. Billy Carruthers who was also from Minneapolis, and Wendy's and Susannah's brother Jonathan Melvoin, both joined the band to play keyboards. Two backing singers and dancers were also added to the lineup, they were, Wally Safford and Greg Brooks.
Early June 1985. A video for the single The Screams Of Passion is shot in L.A. Jerome Benton choreographed the dance moves. Since the song had no horn part, Eric Leeds is seen in the video “playing” bass guitar.
The Screams Of Passion was released a few weeks before the release of the album. It reached number 63 on the Billboard chart.
13th August 1985. The Family make their live debut at First Avenue in Minneapolis. They played a short but well received set.
19th August 1985. The debut self titled album by The Family is released. With the exception of Eric Leeds' horn parts, Clare Fischer's strings, and a rhythm guitar part on Yes by Wendy Melvoin, Prince played everything else on the album. Prince only takes credit on the album cover for Nothing Compares 2 U, but with the exception of River Run Dry (which is correctly credited to Bobby Z) Prince wrote all the songs. The album reached number 62 on the Billboard chart.
October 1985. A second single from the album, High Fashion was released but did not chart.
The Family's rehearsal and tour plans had been put on hold while Jerome Benton and Susannah Melvoin were in France with Prince, who was filming his second movie Under The Cherry Moon. During this time Paul Peterson was also in L.A taking acting lessons for the possible inclusion in a future Prince film project. With various band members in different parts of the world doing other things, The Family's album and singles were left to fend for themselves with no promotion.
Early November 1985. With Prince still in France, Paul Peterson, who was still in L.A had a “10,000 mile showdown” with Prince, he announced that he was leaving The Family. Various factors contributed to his decision, but the main ones were that Peterson was very frustrated with the lack of support and promotion in The Family project, another reason was Peterson's disappointment in the lack of creative input he was allowed to contribute to the album. Another factor may have been the lack of money that was being paid to the band members. Paul's announcement to leave surprised other band members, but many shared Peterson's frustrations. Paul Peterson's announcement to leave the band spelled the end of The Family.
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This is the look he developed 4 the Family, that lounge / silk pajamas look
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Now that I'm a woman My name is Miss Understood . He picked me up at midnight When all the town was fast asleep Just call me Miss Understood . . I want a lover that can satisfy the hunger of my lonely heart . Now that I'm a woman Just call me Miss Understood
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I used to play these on a higher speed | |
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Desire is the eighth and final track on The Family's first and only album The Family. The song was written by Prince, but credited to St. Paul Peterson. While specific recording dates are not known, initial tracking took place in late June, 1984 at the Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse in Eden Prairie (during the same set of sessions that produced High Fashion, Mutiny, River Run Dry and Mazarati, later renamed Susannah's Pajamas). St. Paul Peterson and Susannah Melvoin overdubbed vocals onto the track in late 1984 - early 1985, and Clare Fischer added orchestral overdubs during the same period. Phrases from the track were later used by Eric Leeds on his track Aguadilla on his 1993 album Things Left Unsaid, and co-writing credit was given to Prince as a result, but Prince was not directly involved in the track.
So long have we known each other (So long have we known each other)
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Syncopated StrutMadhouseby Miles Marshall Lewis
“ ‘Susannah’s Pajamas’ was among the tunes we recorded on the first day,” Eric Leeds says, describing the very first instrumental he recorded with Prince, at a warehouse on Flying Cloud Drive in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, in July 1984. “Prince already had the basic tracks done, so I was overdubbing. He had no particular melody line in mind for the tune, so I just treated it as a long solo. Mostly it was just an ad-lib that became the ‘melody’ of the song, so to speak.”
You can chase Prince’s jazz ambitions and the origins of Madhouse down several avenues. Son of jazz pianist John L. Nelson, Prince was born with improvisation, syncopation, and swing in his blood. (Prince Rogers Nelson was named after his dad’s local Minneapolis ensemble, the Prince Rogers Trio.) Then, his instrumental compositions date back to “God (Love Theme from Purple Rain),” recorded in February ’84 and released as the U.K. B-side of “Purple Rain.” Two years later, the Parade era’s slight piano meditation “Venus de Milo” and sublime rock ballad “Alexa de Paris” (B-side of the “Mountains” single) were more excursions into jazz territory, but they arrived a year after two significant Eric Leeds collaborations on The Family. “Susannah’s Pajamas”—originally entitled “Mazarati”—and “Yes,” also recorded in ’84, laid a notable foundation for Madhouse.
“ ‘Yes’ was recorded several months later [in October],” Leeds continues. “Prince had the track done; I believe Wendy Melvoin played some guitar. He basically left it entirely up to me to do what I wanted. I created the melody and overdubbed several sax lines to make a section [and] played flute. The final version is edited from the original track, which was quite a bit longer. To be honest, I never cared for the mix or the edit, as it didn’t make much sense to me musically. Also, several of the harmony lines were, shall we say, underrepresented. So the final mix doesn’t really reflect what I had in mind when I recorded it. Obviously Prince heard it a bit differently.”
“As far as the Family thing, there’s a whole story as to how that band came about,” Alan Leeds says, in a telephone interview from Minneapolis. Former Time members Paul Peterson (lead vocals), Jellybean Johnson (drums), and Jerome Benton (percussion) were grouped with Revolution guitarist Wendy’s twin sister Susannah Melvoin (Prince’s fiancée, on lead vocals) and Eric Leeds for the Family. “It was an outgrowth of the fact that the Time was breaking up. Prince finally threw up his hands and said, ‘I’ll show those motherfuckers.’ Eric had been a part of the extended family, and it was like, let’s put him in [the Family]. That’ll give it an identity, because we don’t really have saxophone in our other groups. And Eric was probably the most mature, experienced musician of the whole bunch.”
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Thanks! Please keep doing.... "Money won't buy U happiness but it'll pay 4 the search." |
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Paisley Park Studios wasn't even thought of then..It was several years later. But otherwise most of it is accurate......  will ALWAYS think of  like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. |
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It doesn't read to me that they are saying the studio was then, just the label in 1985, they are just saying it's associated with the actual studio he now has
It was obviousl;y thought of in 1985 (why wouldn't Prince want to build a studio) because construction started January 1986
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Eye'm sure it was a dream of his that was accomplished, with the help of Warners. Plus its still open til this day & has turned into his main residence.. will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. |
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I don't understand the post
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Not to get off topic, but Prince has never lived at Paisley Park. TRUE BLUE |
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Eye feel it was a dream of his too have his own studio complex Paisley Park. Eye heard Warners help finance it..... will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. |
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still a bit lost. This came from your post saying the article had the wrong timing and date of Paisley Park. You said it wasn't even thought of in 1985 and built years later. Which was incorrect. . Then you reply with you feel it was a dream of his, which is obvious. And yes Warners helped him. | |
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Paisley Park open in 1987! I still stand by my comment, that the article referenced the studio already built in 1985. The rest I just added.... [Edited 1/22/14 20:06pm] will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. |
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but it started being build January 1986 your comment/correction was wrong in stating that it wasn't even a thought in 1985 by the time he had the Paisley Park label. It obviously was a thought. And the article did not reference that it was built in 1985. Enough, seriously | |
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Here is an outtake
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Don't let the facts spoil your fun OF4S The wooh is on the one! | |
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Miami 1985 Jellybean Johnson and Jerome Benton on the Purple Rain tour awaiting their placement
Prince & the Revolution April 7.1985
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Fun times!!!! will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. |
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Band Prince (vox, bass) Bobby Z. (drums), Brown Mark (bass), Wendy Melvoin (guitar), Lisa Coleman (keyboards), Dr. Fink (keyboards), . June 7. 1985 . As far as the show itself, Prince And The Revolution open with the first public performance of "A Love Bizarre", which would see release over two months later on Sheila E's "Romance 1600" album. Sheila was a guest onstage for a good portion of this show as well. Prince seems to forget the lyrics as he repeats the first verse instead of singing the second, but its pretty obvious this is a new song to the band.
. . Another new song follows as Prince And The Revolution are joined by St. Paul Peterson, Susannah Melvoin and Jerome Benton from The Family for an over 14 minute version of their song "Mutiny". St. Paul sings lead on this performance. The Family's one and only album would not see release until September of that year, so this was another new song to those in attendance. . 3. Sometimes It snows In April only Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Sheila E. . After a two minute Sheila E. drum solo, the band slows things down for the public premiere of "Sometimes It Snows In April". This song would not see release for almost another year, on the "Parade" album in late March, 1986. It's obvious the song is a work in progress at this point as Prince sings the first two lines of the song, then it becomes an instrumental performance save the chorus which the band has worked out, full lyrics and all. It's a fascinating look at a song in its skeletal form. Prince tells the crowd 'y'all wanna get a drink or something, it's cool', probably aware of the funk explosion they were about to lay on them the rest of the evening. . .
The first familiar song of the night starts a 30 minute non-stop funk marathon as they kick into "Irresistible Bitch". I simply love the way The Revolution re-worked this song live, usually leading into the unreleased "Possessed" as it does on this night. Eric Leeds and Eddie M. on saxophone add to the massive groove emanating from the stage on this performance. Given his incredible Sign o' The Times and original NPG bands, I think I have underestimated The Revolution over the years and listening to these shows is a great reminder of just how bad-ass this band was.
. . "Possessed" then runs into a brief workout on The Time's "The Bird" featuring Jerome Benton helping with the chants. This leads into the seemingly improvised "Drawers Burnin'", a hilarious song with Prince singing in his 'Morris Day voice' and Benton again backing him up on the chant. This song has also been referred to as "Burn It" in the past, but that seems to be more from crappy recordings of this show making it hard to tell what they were saying. Prince starts by singing 'Asshole tried to take my picture, kicked him in the neck! Sued me for a million dollars I said what the heck!' as Benton chants 'Drawers Burning' in between each line. Musically the song is little more than a popping bassline and drums, but it is still funky as hell. 'Good drawers hard to find, bad ones follow you home', too funny. Prince asking a woman in the audience 'Do your drawers burn honey? Sing!" kills me as well. I highly doubt this song was ever considered to be recorded, it all seems pretty much made up on the spot. .
. The night closes with a 13 minute version of another Prince written track given to Sheila E., "Holly Rock". Sheila rocks the timbales on this performance, again a debut as this song would not be released until September on the "Krush Groove" soundtrack. In all, six of the eight songs played on this night were unreleased at the time and two have still never seen the light of day. .
Guest(s) Sheila E. (vox, drums), Jerome Benton (vox), Susannah Melvoin (vox), St. Paul (vox), Eddie M. (saxophone) Eric Leeds (saxophone)
. It's a shame Prince pretty much cut out these birthday shows after the following year's concert in Detroit, which was far less interesting than the '84 and '85 Minneapolis shows as far as material played. They were loose, fun and drowning in new, rare material, a fan's dream. Although a soundboard recording would be wonderful to see surface some day, at least fans finally have a decent , highly listenable, totally enjoyable quality recording from this 1985 classic.
. info from PrinceVault & http:// mikea7.typepad.com...27-v2.html | |
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I know we'll never get it, but i would love to see a color version of UTCM, just for Prince's outfits. Make it so, Number One... | |
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Those pics are taken in Prince's house.............
will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. |
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