Curtis Mayfield founded his own Curtom Records in 1968. The Beatles founded Apple Records the same year, when Steve Jobs was just 13. Sly Stone started Stone Flower in 1970, etc., etc. So on April 22, 1985, when Prince and the Revolution’s Around the World in a Day ushered in the Warner Bros. Records-distributed vanity label Paisley Park Records, there was an air of inevitability about it. Consider too that albums by The Time, Vanity 6 andApollonia 6 all came stamped as products of The Starr Company (the nonexistent enterprise of the nonexistent Jamie Starr, Prince’s early ’80s pseudonym) and the certainty of Prince’s own official imprint was written in the Starrs.

Roll call: The Family. Madhouse. Jill Jones. Sheila E. Good Question. The Three O’Clock. T.C. Ellis. Dale Bozzio.Eric Leeds. The Time. Ingrid Chavez. Carmen Elektra. Mavis Staples. George Clinton. Taja Sevelle. Mazarati.Tony LeMans. Japan even got two Kahoru Kohiruimaki albums (our loss). From 1985 to 1993, not one of these artists’ albums even went platinum. But unlike Michael Jackson’s MJJ Music label or even Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis’ Flyte Tyme Records, the Paisley Park stable was interesting.The late Tony LeMans’ “Higher Than High,” Ingrid Chavez’s “Hippy Blood,” Taja Sevelle’s “Love Is Contagious,” George Clinton with Public Enemy on “Tweakin’”—there were many gems, even when things weren’t secretly produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince (the overwhelming majority of it wasn’t.) Excepting the founder’s own albums, the following is a top-five breakdown of the best long players of Paisley Park Records. Rhino Entertainment, are you listening?

Good topic if we look at it as Prince's production work (after all, there's still an associated artists forum).

He over extended himself majorly with Paisley Park (the label). As much as I love his early protégé acts, they hardly always had top shelf material so despite investing considerably in some Paisley Park tracks, it was too much work overall and he couldn't stay focused. Very few individuals out there would be able to pull it off, so some of it is still impressive.

I used to buy them just because they were on the PP label!

Oh, to be young, irresponsible and have cash again.

callimnate said:

I used to buy them just because they were on the PP label!

Oh, to be young, irresponsible and have cash again.

Me too I really supported Paisley Park Records...I even bought the Good Question album

I've said this before....

Paisley Park Records could have been HUGE.....the Motown of the 80s.....if only Prince had utilized the talents of the people around him.Instead of firing Jam and Lewis,he should have kept them onboard and offered them a production deal (imagine Jill Jones getting a surefire hit like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On").He should have done the same to Andre Cymone (or paired
Andre with Brownmark and encouraged them to produce as a team).The possibilities were endless.When you look at successful labels like Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records,or Berry Gordy's Motown Records,you can see what makes those labels so successful: in-house producers and songwriters.Prince is super talented,but he can't do it alone.

SoulAlive said:

SoulAlive said:

I've said this before....

Paisley Park Records could have been HUGE.....the Motown of the 80s.....if only Prince had utilized the talents of the people around him.Instead of firing Jam and Lewis,he should have kept them onboard and offered them a production deal (imagine Jill Jones getting a surefire hit like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On").He should have done the same to Andre Cymone (or paired
Andre with Brownmark and encouraged them to produce as a team).The possibilities were endless.When you look at successful labels like Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records,or Berry Gordy's Motown Records,you can see what makes those labels so successful: in-house producers and songwriters.Prince is super talented,but he can't do it alone.

Great post! And very unfortunate that it never eventuated to this.

Prince is/was such a douche.

mikemike13 said:

Curtis Mayfield founded his own Curtom Records in 1968. The Beatles founded Apple Records the same year, when Steve Jobs was just 13. Sly Stone started Stone Flower in 1970, etc., etc. So on April 22, 1985, when Prince and the Revolution’s Around the World in a Day ushered in the Warner Bros. Records-distributed vanity label Paisley Park Records, there was an air of inevitability about it. Consider too that albums by The Time, Vanity 6 andApollonia 6 all came stamped as products of The Starr Company (the nonexistent enterprise of the nonexistent Jamie Starr, Prince’s early ’80s pseudonym) and the certainty of Prince’s own official imprint was written in the Starrs.

Roll call: The Family. Madhouse. Jill Jones. Sheila E. Good Question. The Three O’Clock. T.C. Ellis. Dale Bozzio.Eric Leeds. The Time. Ingrid Chavez. Carmen Elektra. Mavis Staples. George Clinton. Taja Sevelle. Mazarati.Tony LeMans. Japan even got two Kahoru Kohiruimaki albums (our loss). From 1985 to 1993, not one of these artists’ albums even went platinum. But unlike Michael Jackson’s MJJ Music label or even Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis’ Flyte Tyme Records, the Paisley Park stable was interesting.The late Tony LeMans’ “Higher Than High,” Ingrid Chavez’s “Hippy Blood,” Taja Sevelle’s “Love Is Contagious,” George Clinton with Public Enemy on “Tweakin’”—there were many gems, even when things weren’t secretly produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince (the overwhelming majority of it wasn’t.) Excepting the founder’s own albums, the following is a top-five breakdown of the best long players of Paisley Park Records. Rhino Entertainment, are you listening?

http://www.soulhead.com/2...hall-lewis

Rhino is a WB label and has no power over most of the Paisley Park catalogue. The call has to be: Prince, are you listening?

I personally enjoy each and every Paisley Park album to some extent (yeah like OK I wouldn't listen to Good Question every day but every once in a while it's cool), I mean in the end it was a great synthpop label. I know it could have been much, much more and SoulAlive makes a great point, but it was what it was and it wasn't nearly as bad as some say.

In the end PP's weakness was that it wasn't either truly commercial/successful nor truly experimental/edgy. It was stuck somewhere in the middle and that's never good for a label.

BTW regarding the Soulhead article I think it's a bit of a cheating top 5 because save Pandemoniuum the other 4 albums are, essentially, Prince albums (therefore negating the original statement excluding P's own albums).

.

If we're to exclude P's "albums in disguise" and keep only the records he had a limited input or no input at all on, I'd like to highlight the following (in no particular order):

.

- Ingrid Chavez's May 19, 1992: Highly visionary spoken word album and Koppleman did just as great a job as P on the tracks he produced. P reportedly told Kopplemann "this is the future of music" when he heard Hippy Blood. The whole record was, in many regards, the future of music, precursor to minimalist electronica and trip-hop altogether. To think that heaven Must Be Near is from 1989 is even more impressive given how ahead of its time it sound! It's also the most experimental PP album alongside 16 and The Cinderella Theory, and Ingrid Chavez' voice and personality are pretty unique, even in the small world of spoken word artists.

.

- Dale's Riot In English: Hated by many I know, but a true gem for those who, like me, are a lot into synthpop. It's silly as can be and this is what makes it so great. Catchy melodies, delicious minimalist arrangements and idiotic lyrics + Dale's totally fucked-up voice. While ignored at the time, Riot In English was echoed by several acts from the 2000's synthpop revival, such as Chicks On Speed, Freezepop, Hyperbubble or Disco Digitale, who aimed to recreate 80's music in its most stereotyped aspect. Had it been released in 2008, it probably would have been critically acclaimed as a wonderful homage to the 80's.

.

- George Clinton's The Cinderella Theory: Possibly Clinton's most experimental solo album alongside 1986's R&B Skeletons In The Closet. Like Public Enemy's Fear Of A Black Planet, TCT is so highly conceptual and so messed-up that it made it sound like a total UFO at the time, and Clinton truly incorporated hip-hop for the first time while not trying to emulate contemporary hip-hop artists. Of course this whole album was sheer commercial suicide, it was waaaay too weird for your casual listener, but hell what a gem! Right or wrong, I hear a lot of TCT in Public Enemy's Fear Of A Black Planet from 1990, which is considered one of the most important rap albums ever.

.

- Tony LeMans' Tony LeMans: A bit like Riot In English, this one is mostly for synthpop lovers and, thanks to David Gamson's unique production and sound palette, Scritti Politti fans. To the point, in fact, that one could almost replace LeMans' vocals by Green Gartside's and have the follow-up album to 1988's Provision and 1985's Cupid & Psyche '85. Except maybe that LeMans add a funkier side to Gamson's sound, that contrasts with Gartside's delicate pop. It's an album that never fails to boost me but unfortunately, while Scritti Politti's albums have now become cult-classics, Tony LeMans remains a well-kept secret.

.

- Mazarati's Mazarati: Pretty weird that the article ignores it. Mazarati's has become such a cult classic among Prince and Minneapolis Sound fans that I don't think I have to defend it here. Suffice to say that alongside 1999 or Morris Day's Color Of Success, it embodies everything the Mpsls sound was at the time, and is IMHO one of the funkiest records of the 80's.

[Edited 8/18/15 9:28am]

SoulAlive said:

Mazarati is better than all 5 of those albums mentioned, IMO. It's damn near flawless.

Tony's album is another of my favorites on PP.

You (or rather the article) forgot a MAJOR example...

Frank Sinatra formed Reprise Records in 1960, which would later have none other than Jimi Hendrix on its' label roster.

Reprise Records was formed in 1960 by Frank Sinatra in order to allow more artistic freedom for his own recordings. Hence, he garnered the nickname "The Chairman of the Board."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reprise_Records

.

[Edited 8/18/15 12:25pm]

Giovanni777 said:

You (or rather the article) forgot a MAJOR example...

Frank Sinatra formed Reprise Records in 1960, which would later have none other than Jimi Hendrix on its' label roster.

Reprise Records was formed in 1960 by Frank Sinatra in order to allow more artistic freedom for his own recordings. Hence, he garnered the nickname "The Chairman of the Board."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reprise_Records

.

[Edited 8/18/15 12:25pm]

Ironically, Taja Sevelle, Tony LeMans and Pandemonium were joined ventures between PP and Reprise.

SoulAlive said:

Giovanni777 said:

NorthC said:

SoulAlive said:

I've said this before....

Paisley Park Records could have been HUGE.....the Motown of the 80s.....if only Prince had utilized the talents of the people around him.Instead of firing Jam and Lewis,he should have kept them onboard and offered them a production deal (imagine Jill Jones getting a surefire hit like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On").He should have done the same to Andre Cymone (or paired
Andre with Brownmark and encouraged them to produce as a team).The possibilities were endless.When you look at successful labels like Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records,or Berry Gordy's Motown Records,you can see what makes those labels so successful: in-house producers and songwriters.Prince is super talented,but he can't do it alone.

That's what Owen Husney said. But Prince just wasn't that kinda guy. He did everything himself, so he made people around him like Morris and Andre believe that, if Prince can do it, I can do it too! And of course, it doesn't work like that. But that was the effect Prince had on people...

My take is that they were the same age and all started together. Prince may have been incredibly gifted from a very young age on, they were all ambitious and talented and very hard working people, P just happened to be the first with a record deal.

From today's perpective it seems obvious why neither Morris, Jesse, André, Dez, Mark, Alexander, Paul and even Jam & Lewis and Wendy & Lisa for that matter, were nor could ever be in Prince's league no matter how talented they were. But go back to those years when they were a bunch of teens in the Twin Cities, or young musicians who were lucky enough to get the gig in that Prince guy's band: I guess there was no reason why they wouldn't feel they could compete. The problem was not, by the way, a lack of skills. I think it was a lack of vision. None of those dudes save maybe W&L had a conceptual vision of the music they wanted to make beyond pop and electrofunk.

None of those dudes would have come up with something as fucked up as Crystal Ball or Temptation or 2 Nigs United 4 West Campton or Life Can Be So Nice or The War or East.

Jam & Lewis happened to create a new trend in pop music all by themselves but it wasn't a conceptual move away from the traditional pop forula, just a change in sound palette. No little thing, mind you, but not the same as Prince at his conceptual peak.

NorthC said:

SoulAlive said:

I've said this before....

Paisley Park Records could have been HUGE.....the Motown of the 80s.....if only Prince had utilized the talents of the people around him.Instead of firing Jam and Lewis,he should have kept them onboard and offered them a production deal (imagine Jill Jones getting a surefire hit like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On").He should have done the same to Andre Cymone (or paired
Andre with Brownmark and encouraged them to produce as a team).The possibilities were endless.When you look at successful labels like Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records,or Berry Gordy's Motown Records,you can see what makes those labels so successful: in-house producers and songwriters.Prince is super talented,but he can't do it alone.

That's what Owen Husney said. But Prince just wasn't that kinda guy. He did everything himself, so he made people around him like Morris and Andre believe that, if Prince can do it, I can do it too! And of course, it doesn't work like that. But that was the effect Prince had on people...

Prince can do alot of things,but he wasn't able to do everything.Running a record label and producing all the music....that's alot of work! Plus,he had his own career (movies,tours,etc) to tend to.That's why I say he should have utilized all the talent he had around him.Can you imagine how successful Paisley Park Records could have been? Hit songs galore.

I agree.That album is an underrated 80s funk masterpiece.

Militant said:

Mazarati is better than all 5 of those albums mentioned, IMO. It's damn near flawless.

Great topic and excellent comments all around!!

I'd throw 16, Hey Man Smell My Finger & both Mavis LPs in the discussion as highlights for the label.

I agree with most of the list. Although, I'd replae Romance 16000 with The Glamerous Life and Pandemonium with just about any other Time album.

bluegangsta said:

I agree with most of the list. Although, I'd replae Romance 16000 with The Glamerous Life and Pandemonium with just about any other Time album.

Yeah but they weren't Paisley Park and this is about Paisley Park

I make my own rules. #Renegade4life

hippy blood was indeed the future of music. well, it wasn't the future like tomorrow never knows

was the future. but it was a kind of future none the less

i'm listening to it now and it's hard to think it was recorded so long ago. it sounds so crisp and it

might be me, but i don't find it dated at all. it has a timeless quality to it.

but that could also be sleep deprivation. it's 5:35 am over here. however, i'm tempted to think it

really is that good of a song and very well produced. i think i've just re-discovered the perfect cd

to keep me going until sept 7th.

IstenSzek said:

hippy blood was indeed the future of music. well, it wasn't the future like tomorrow never knows

was the future. but it was a kind of future none the less

Listening to it now for the first time in my life. This shit is INCREDIBLE

^^speaking of "Hippy Blood".....I actually like the Ingrid Chavez album.It was a pleasant surprise.The music throughout is very hypnotizing and her poetry works really well with the music.One of the few truly great Paisley Park albums of the 90s.

databank said:

NorthC said:

SoulAlive said: That's what Owen Husney said. But Prince just wasn't that kinda guy. He did everything himself, so he made people around him like Morris and Andre believe that, if Prince can do it, I can do it too! And of course, it doesn't work like that. But that was the effect Prince had on people...

My take is that they were the same age and all started together. Prince may have been incredibly gifted from a very young age on, they were all ambitious and talented and very hard working people, P just happened to be the first with a record deal.

From today's perpective it seems obvious why neither Morris, Jesse, André, Dez, Mark, Alexander, Paul and even Jam & Lewis and Wendy & Lisa for that matter, were nor could ever be in Prince's league no matter how talented they were. But go back to those years when they were a bunch of teens in the Twin Cities, or young musicians who were lucky enough to get the gig in that Prince guy's band: I guess there was no reason why they wouldn't feel they could compete. The problem was not, by the way, a lack of skills. I think it was a lack of vision. None of those dudes save maybe W&L had a conceptual vision of the music they wanted to make beyond pop and electrofunk.

None of those dudes would have come up with something as fucked up as Crystal Ball or Temptation or 2 Nigs United 4 West Campton or Life Can Be So Nice or The War or East.

Jam & Lewis happened to create a new trend in pop music all by themselves but it wasn't a conceptual move away from the traditional pop forula, just a change in sound palette. No little thing, mind you, but not the same as Prince at his conceptual peak.

That's all fine and good,but a record company has to be able to generate hits (sales) Yes,Prince is a genuis who could play so many different styles and genres,but Paisley Park Records needed surefire hit records.That's why I said he should have kept Jam and Lewis in the camp and offered them a production deal at Paisley Park.Can you imagine The Family getting a song like "Human" (a hit single that J&L gave to the Human League)? Or imagine Jill Jones having a debut album loaded with hits like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On"? She would have became a big star.We shouldn't underestimate the talent of writing hit singles.Not everyone can do it,but Jam and Lewis were masters at it.

SoulAlive said:

databank said:

My take is that they were the same age and all started together. Prince may have been incredibly gifted from a very young age on, they were all ambitious and talented and very hard working people, P just happened to be the first with a record deal.

From today's perpective it seems obvious why neither Morris, Jesse, André, Dez, Mark, Alexander, Paul and even Jam & Lewis and Wendy & Lisa for that matter, were nor could ever be in Prince's league no matter how talented they were. But go back to those years when they were a bunch of teens in the Twin Cities, or young musicians who were lucky enough to get the gig in that Prince guy's band: I guess there was no reason why they wouldn't feel they could compete. The problem was not, by the way, a lack of skills. I think it was a lack of vision. None of those dudes save maybe W&L had a conceptual vision of the music they wanted to make beyond pop and electrofunk.

None of those dudes would have come up with something as fucked up as Crystal Ball or Temptation or 2 Nigs United 4 West Campton or Life Can Be So Nice or The War or East.

Jam & Lewis happened to create a new trend in pop music all by themselves but it wasn't a conceptual move away from the traditional pop forula, just a change in sound palette. No little thing, mind you, but not the same as Prince at his conceptual peak.

That's all fine and good,but a record company has to be able to generate hits (sales) Yes,Prince is a genuis who could play so many different styles and genres,but Paisley Park Records needed surefire hit records.That's why I said he should have kept Jam and Lewis in the camp and offered them a production deal at Paisley Park.Can you imagine The Family getting a song like "Human" (a hit single that J&L gave to the Human League)? Or imagine Jill Jones having a debut album loaded with hits like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On"? She would have became a big star.We shouldn't underestimate the talent of writing hit singles.Not everyone can do it,but Jam and Lewis were masters at it.

You are absolutely correct. Proof is that the only time Jam & Lewis were involved in producing a Paisley Park album (Pandemonium), it became the label's biggest seller besides P's own albums.

However PP could have been something else also, i.e. not aimed at generating big bucks but at releasing more confidential, edgy/niche music.

The problem is that there was no vision for the label: one day it would release an insanely experimental jazz-funk record aimed at a niche, sophisticated audience (16) and the next a ridiculously lame, but totally mainstream boys band aimed at teenagers (Good Question), and somewhere in the middle a paisley underground pop band aimed at white hipsters (Three O' Clock). Everyone was confused, by the way: the mere notion that Clinton expected to get a hit with a brilliant but totally radio-UNfriendly record such as Cinderella, or Prince believing that Carmen Electra could be like the next sensation shows that everyone had lost touch with reality.

IF Paisley Park had been dedicated to releasing radio-UNfriendly but edgy records that woiuld be critically acclaimed by the music press, hipsters and their dedicated niche audience, and if both Prince and WB had expected this instead of "getting some of that Duran Duran money", then it could have been a successful label even with limited sales figures, a prestige thing for WB and a creative playground for Prince and his camp. But you just can't go fucking anywhere running a label that will release 16, Good Question and Vermillion in the course of a single year. It just makes no sense at all. It was like a single label releasing a John Zorn album, a New Kids On The Block album and a Smiths album on the same year: no one could have figured out what was going on, starting with the PR people at WB.

databank said:

IstenSzek said:

hippy blood was indeed the future of music. well, it wasn't the future like tomorrow never knows

was the future. but it was a kind of future none the less

Listening to it now for the first time in my life. This shit is INCREDIBLE

are you serious, you never heard it before?