Many people claim that The Family is just as good as any other Prince album at this time.

-

So how do you think it would have been recieved as a follow up th Purple Rain instead of Around The World In A Day?

[Edited 4/15/15 21:24pm]

Very interesting question. thematically The Family is more a follow-up to The Time and Sheila E. than to Prince, though (the glamorous superficial aspect for The Time, the glamorous romantic for Sheila) as well as in many ways a precursor to Parade (the orchestra, horns and French Riviera atmosphere). But besides this I think anyway it would have taken people by surprise just as much as ATWIAD. The Family is a strange album when u think of it - genius but strange, and definitely too conceptual for the masses, which is why I think there was no way P would get ANY of "that Duran Duran money" with it, even if Paul had been here to promote and tour the album.

What u have here is an album that starts with 2 strong funk numbers, then shamelessly features a mixed bag of romantic pop songs with a vague new wave feel to them, atmospheric ballads that are neither R&B nor typical pop, and 2 agressive jazz-funk instrumentals that almost seem out of place except they aren't because the ensemble is, for some reason, extremely cohesive in its sound and themes. I'm pretty sure most people would have heard the first 2 songs and though "oh, cool, P is going with some strong funk", then would have slowly been puzzled track after track starting with The Screams Of Passion. Fans would have loved it. Critics would have raved. The general audience would have bought it anyway the same way they have bought ATWIAD out of the purple hype, but overall it wouldn't have been better received than ATWIAD, and it would have lacked the very strong leas single that Raspberry Beret was.

Also, one thing we need to keep in mind is that P composed and recorded all those songs with the project in mind as a side project, it's not songs he recorded for the sake of recording them then later decided to use on a side project instead of himself, so anyway the only way this could have happened is if he suddenly had decided to "take it back" the way he took Kiss back from Mazarati. I'm saying this because in that sense it means that The Family was recorded with a side project concept in mind, and that made it what it was. Had Prince had had the follow up to PR in mind it would probably had been something entirely different.

Rumor is that P's vocal guides were erased, at least in the case of NC2U and if so, it's a shame, it would be fascinating a document to have a rerelease feature a second CD with his own versions of the songs. Though once again it would mean either unorchestrated demos or cheating a bit by re-editing P's vocals into the final orchestrated mix which was made only with Paul and Susannah's vocals.

But yeah, I DO think The Family is as strong an album as any "Prince" album at the time. So were, for that matter, most of the side projects

i've always thought that "The Screams Of Passion" would have been a perfect Prince/Sheila E. duet.

Agree with databank

No to the headline, the OP.

Around The World In A Day is a masterpiece, a wonderful psycadelic pop-funk album.. and is better than "The Family".

And btw "The Family" was released after all, right... I know as a side-project, but still..

I always felt the Family album was a different side of Parade

the sound is more connected.

I think if Prince made himself more connected to the protege albums

and stopped acting like these were some independence from him, then they could have enjoyed a higher level of success.

He should have had some duets, at least 1 with Susannah. If back then people in general 'knew' openly by then about his relationship with Susannah, we might have understood it as an expression of his relationship.

I think it's more about how he interacted with the group that would have made the difference.

Such as with Vanity, Morris Day, the Time, Vanity 6, and Sheila E -Erotic City

the Family somehow should have been in the movie Under the Cherry Moon...

I think the album would have had a higher rate of success (of course St Paul would have stayed)

and the band would have had a 2nd album that was even broader in it's appeal.

But the Family album is one of my favorites

The Family album is good by the standards of a Prince side project, (and those standards aren't terribly high). As a Prince album it would've sucked. Lyrically it's a mess. Some of the songs fit the image and mood of the group and then you have Mutiny where a white dude is doing a Morris impersonation. Total trainwreck. It would've been just as goofy if it had been Prince doing the Morris Day/pimp voice. Totally out of character with the rest of the album.

It does have some amazing songs, but it's not a coherent album as a whole. The album only has 8 songs on it and 3 of them are ballads and 2 of them are instrumentals. He didn't write all the songs, either, and I don't think Prince would release an album under his name with him singing a Bobby Z. song.

So no, as it was released having Prince's vocals on it wouldn't have made it better than ATWIAD. The only reason it's hailed as a great record in the Prince universe is because it's pretty good as a protégé project which isn't saying much in the real world. He said he wanted to get some of that Wham! money and he tried by releasing something less coherent than any Wham! record? Sure, the songs are less cheesy than Wham! for the most part, but as a record it's barely there. It wouldn't have succeeded in getting some of that Wham! money, (its stated purpose) even if he'd had George Michael singing the songs.

[Edited 4/16/15 7:00am]

steakfinger said:

The Family album is good by the standards of a Prince side project, (and those standards aren't terribly high). As a Prince album it would've sucked. Lyrically it's a mess. Some of the songs fit the image and mood of the group and then you have Mutiny where a white dude is doing a Morris impersonation. Total trainwreck. It would've been just as goofy if it had been Prince doing the Morris Day/pimp voice. Totally out of character with the rest of the album.

It does have some amazing songs, but it's not a coherent album as a whole. The album only has 8 songs on it and 3 of them are ballads and 2 of them are instrumentals. He didn't write all the songs, either, and I don't think Prince would release an album under his name with him singing a Bobby Z. song.

So no, as it was released having Prince's vocals on it wouldn't have made it better than ATWIAD. The only reason it's hailed as a great record in the Prince universe is because it's pretty good as a protégé project which isn't saying much in the real world. He said he wanted to get some of that Wham! money and he tried by releasing something less coherent than any Wham! record? Sure, the songs are less cheesy than Wham! for the most part, but as a record it's barely there. It wouldn't have succeeded in getting some of that Wham! money, (its stated purpose) even if he'd had George Michael singing the songs.

[Edited 4/16/15 7:00am]

Prince has sung other peoples songs: Power Fantastic, Mountains, Slow Love and some others

OldFriends4Sale said:

steakfinger said:

The Family album is good by the standards of a Prince side project, (and those standards aren't terribly high). As a Prince album it would've sucked. Lyrically it's a mess. Some of the songs fit the image and mood of the group and then you have Mutiny where a white dude is doing a Morris impersonation. Total trainwreck. It would've been just as goofy if it had been Prince doing the Morris Day/pimp voice. Totally out of character with the rest of the album.

It does have some amazing songs, but it's not a coherent album as a whole. The album only has 8 songs on it and 3 of them are ballads and 2 of them are instrumentals. He didn't write all the songs, either, and I don't think Prince would release an album under his name with him singing a Bobby Z. song.

So no, as it was released having Prince's vocals on it wouldn't have made it better than ATWIAD. The only reason it's hailed as a great record in the Prince universe is because it's pretty good as a protégé project which isn't saying much in the real world. He said he wanted to get some of that Wham! money and he tried by releasing something less coherent than any Wham! record? Sure, the songs are less cheesy than Wham! for the most part, but as a record it's barely there. It wouldn't have succeeded in getting some of that Wham! money, (its stated purpose) even if he'd had George Michael singing the songs.

[Edited 4/16/15 7:00am]

Prince has sung other peoples songs: Power Fantastic, Mountains, Slow Love and some others

Co-written by Prince

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Power_Fantastic

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Mountains

paulludvig said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Prince has sung other peoples songs: Power Fantastic, Mountains, Slow Love and some others

Co-written by Prince

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Power_Fantastic

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Mountains

Prince also contributed to River Run Dry

All I'm saying is Prince would release an album under his name with him singing a Bobby Z. song

If he did covers of other peoples songs, why not people from his own camp.

And as far as proteges:Jungle Love, the Bird, 2 Sexy, Merci4theSpeedofaMadClownInSummer

Power Fantastic & Mountains were composed by Lisa Coleman (Wendy Melvoin) Prince did the lyrics to Power Fantastic

Slow Love I believe the lyrics were by the lady and most of the music by Prince Lisa & Wendy

OldFriends4Sale said:

paulludvig said:

Co-written by Prince

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Power_Fantastic

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Mountains

Prince also contributed to River Run Dry

All I'm saying is Prince would release an album under his name with him singing a Bobby Z. song

If he did covers of other peoples songs, why not people from his own camp.

And as far as proteges:Jungle Love, the Bird, 2 Sexy, Merci4theSpeedofaMadClownInSummer

Power Fantastic & Mountains were composed by Lisa Coleman (Wendy Melvoin) Prince did the lyrics to Power Fantastic

Slow Love I believe the lyrics were by the lady and most of the music by Prince Lisa & Wendy

I agree with your point about Prince singing songs that include contributions from other people.

Prince added music as well to Mountains, at least according to W&L. They specifically mentioned the instrumental part towards the end of the song.

paulludvig said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Prince also contributed to River Run Dry

All I'm saying is Prince would release an album under his name with him singing a Bobby Z. song

If he did covers of other peoples songs, why not people from his own camp.

And as far as proteges:Jungle Love, the Bird, 2 Sexy, Merci4theSpeedofaMadClownInSummer

Power Fantastic & Mountains were composed by Lisa Coleman (Wendy Melvoin) Prince did the lyrics to Power Fantastic

Slow Love I believe the lyrics were by the lady and most of the music by Prince Lisa & Wendy

I agree with your point about Prince singing songs that include contributions from other people.

Prince added music as well to Mountains, at least according to W&L. They specifically mentioned the instrumental part towards the end of the song.

right into the extended version,

On the album when I first heard it I knew that one would be a single w/long version

would have never thought for Kiss though

OldFriends4Sale said:

paulludvig said:

Co-written by Prince

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Power_Fantastic

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Mountains

Prince also contributed to River Run Dry

All I'm saying is Prince would release an album under his name with him singing a Bobby Z. song

If he did covers of other peoples songs, why not people from his own camp.

And as far as proteges:Jungle Love, the Bird, 2 Sexy, Merci4theSpeedofaMadClownInSummer

Power Fantastic & Mountains were composed by Lisa Coleman (Wendy Melvoin) Prince did the lyrics to Power Fantastic

Slow Love I believe the lyrics were by the lady and most of the music by Prince Lisa & Wendy

Prince didn't play on this.

databank said:

Very interesting question. thematically The Family is more a follow-up to The Time and Sheila E. than to Prince, though (the glamorous superficial aspect for The Time, the glamorous romantic for Sheila) as well as in many ways a precursor to Parade (the orchestra, horns and French Riviera atmosphere). But besides this I think anyway it would have taken people by surprise just as much as ATWIAD. The Family is a strange album when u think of it - genius but strange, and definitely too conceptual for the masses, which is why I think there was no way P would get ANY of "that Duran Duran money" with it, even if Paul had been here to promote and tour the album.

What u have here is an album that starts with 2 strong funk numbers, then shamelessly features a mixed bag of romantic pop songs with a vague new wave feel to them, atmospheric ballads that are neither R&B nor typical pop, and 2 agressive jazz-funk instrumentals that almost seem out of place except they aren't because the ensemble is, for some reason, extremely cohesive in its sound and themes. I'm pretty sure most people would have heard the first 2 songs and though "oh, cool, P is going with some strong funk", then would have slowly been puzzled track after track starting with The Screams Of Passion. Fans would have loved it. Critics would have raved. The general audience would have bought it anyway the same way they have bought ATWIAD out of the purple hype, but overall it wouldn't have been better received than ATWIAD, and it would have lacked the very strong leas single that Raspberry Beret was.

Also, one thing we need to keep in mind is that P composed and recorded all those songs with the project in mind as a side project, it's not songs he recorded for the sake of recording them then later decided to use on a side project instead of himself, so anyway the only way this could have happened is if he suddenly had decided to "take it back" the way he took Kiss back from Mazarati. I'm saying this because in that sense it means that The Family was recorded with a side project concept in mind, and that made it what it was. Had Prince had had the follow up to PR in mind it would probably had been something entirely different.

Rumor is that P's vocal guides were erased, at least in the case of NC2U and if so, it's a shame, it would be fascinating a document to have a rerelease feature a second CD with his own versions of the songs. Though once again it would mean either unorchestrated demos or cheating a bit by re-editing P's vocals into the final orchestrated mix which was made only with Paul and Susannah's vocals.

But yeah, I DO think The Family is as strong an album as any "Prince" album at the time. So were, for that matter, most of the side projects

I am curious how databank would describe the ATWIAD album listening experience.
I feel like that one is more of a rollercoaster than The Family's album.

[Edited 4/16/15 11:59am]

databank said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Prince also contributed to River Run Dry

All I'm saying is Prince would release an album under his name with him singing a Bobby Z. song

If he did covers of other peoples songs, why not people from his own camp.

And as far as proteges:Jungle Love, the Bird, 2 Sexy, Merci4theSpeedofaMadClownInSummer

Power Fantastic & Mountains were composed by Lisa Coleman (Wendy Melvoin) Prince did the lyrics to Power Fantastic

Slow Love I believe the lyrics were by the lady and most of the music by Prince Lisa & Wendy

Prince didn't play on this.

I know these were songs created by the Proteges on albums connect to 'his' albums

OldFriends4Sale said:

I always felt the Family album was a different side of Parade

the sound is more connected.

I think if Prince made himself more connected to the protege albums

and stopped acting like these were some independence from him, then they could have enjoyed a higher level of success.

He should have had some duets, at least 1 with Susannah. If back then people in general 'knew' openly by then about his relationship with Susannah, we might have understood it as an expression of his relationship.

I think it's more about how he interacted with the group that would have made the difference.

Such as with Vanity, Morris Day, the Time, Vanity 6, and Sheila E -Erotic City

the Family somehow should have been in the movie Under the Cherry Moon...

I think the album would have had a higher rate of success (of course St Paul would have stayed)

and the band would have had a 2nd album that was even broader in it's appeal.

But the Family album is one of my favorites

I'm with you, the instrumentation sounds like a stepping stone to Parade.

A funkier edge was creeping back, the significant increase in strings, and probably the most obvious, the massive increase in live horns.

You can tell that Parade was more born out of the work on The Family than The Family was born out of the sounds on ATWIAD.

SquirrelMeat said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I always felt the Family album was a different side of Parade

the sound is more connected.

I think if Prince made himself more connected to the protege albums

and stopped acting like these were some independence from him, then they could have enjoyed a higher level of success.

He should have had some duets, at least 1 with Susannah. If back then people in general 'knew' openly by then about his relationship with Susannah, we might have understood it as an expression of his relationship.

I think it's more about how he interacted with the group that would have made the difference.

Such as with Vanity, Morris Day, the Time, Vanity 6, and Sheila E -Erotic City

the Family somehow should have been in the movie Under the Cherry Moon...

I think the album would have had a higher rate of success (of course St Paul would have stayed)

and the band would have had a 2nd album that was even broader in it's appeal.

But the Family album is one of my favorites

I'm with you, the instrumentation sounds like a stepping stone to Parade.

A funkier edge was creeping back, the significant increase in strings, and probably the most obvious, the massive increase in live horns.

You can tell that Parade was more born out of the work on The Family than The Family was born out of the sounds on ATWIAD.

even some of the Parade outtaks sound like the family, and some of those being Dream Factory outtakes

It was 1985 definately had some eclectic pieces

.

.
Yeah ATWIAD is more connected to Purple Rain than people want to believe, more than anything it stands alone, with songs like Go, Slash, Adonis & Bathsheba possibly touch by ATWIAD