I prefer Chaka's too.

I think that quite often people do Prince's songs better than he does.

Obviously there are the classics that are untouchable, but some of the album track and the stuff he didn't take too much time on, they benefit from someone else's attention.

RicoN said:

I prefer Chaka's too.

I think that quite often people do Prince's songs better than he does.

Hmmm, not sure I would go that far. Can you name another example where someone else has covered one of his songs and bettered the original?

And please don't say Sinead O Connor....

i can understand fully why people like chaka's version better. of course her voice suits the song better than the falsetto and the production is fuller. However, as a musician/producer, I like the barer version where I can hear the different parts better.

it's interesting that,at the same time that Chaka came out with her version,Rebbie Jackson had a cover version on her album too.

never knew that, i loved her MJ penned song Centipede. You would think that the jacksons would kinda avoid Prince stuff being as they were such rivals. Funny story about Jam and Lewis when they were to produce Janet, Joe Jackson told them he didn't want not nasty shit like Prince. For the most part they listened but Janet said her momma didn't like the moaning on the last song on the album.

GeminiBrown said:

breakdown2k14 said:

kitbradley said:

GeminiBrown said:

I think she owned it. She made it her own, not unlike Prince when he does covers. It's always been a little strange to me how she could hear the 'hit' in that song. Not that I think it's a bad song, but I wouldn't have guessed Chaka would pick that song out of P's catalog to remake. She did it justice and then some imo..

It wasnt her idea to cover the song. It was Arif's. The song, the rap, all of it was Arif's idea in response to the label wanting her to make music teenagers were going to buy. She never liked the song. To this day, she says its like a curse that she will always have to perform it.

SoulAlive said:

it's interesting that,at the same time that Chaka came out with her version,Rebbie Jackson had a cover version on her album too.

Woah! Never knew about this, released within days of each other...

As for Chaka's vs Prince's - I strongly prefer Prince's original, specifically for the simplicity. It still feels fresh to me, to this day - whereas Chaka's version (which I do like) feels too dated.

I could have gone the rest of my life happily not knowing about the Reebie Jackson and Pointer Sister covers of 'I Feel For You'. Those were not good on any level. And the Chaka Khan cover of 'Sign o the Times'? No. I knew that I shouldn't listen, but I couldn't stop myself.

In general, I think no one should cover Prince... period.

[Edited 7/5/16 8:05am]

Yes Chaka owned it for sure! One of the coolest songs from the 80s

TheLotus said:

I could have gone the rest of my life happily not knowing about the Reebie Jackson and Pointer Sister covers of 'I Feel For You'. Those were not good on any level. And the Chaka Khan cover of 'Sign o the Times'? No. I knew that I shouldn't listen, but I couldn't stop myself.

In general, I think no one should cover Prince... period.

[Edited 7/5/16 8:05am]

I have no idea what Chaka, Jam and Lewis were thinking when they decided to cover "Sign Of the Times". It was pretty painful. I never cared for Prince's original version either. It's more of a rap song and is extremely dated so I don't understand why of all the Prince songs they could have chosen to cover, why SOTT in 2007???

kitbradley said:

TheLotus said:

I could have gone the rest of my life happily not knowing about the Reebie Jackson and Pointer Sister covers of 'I Feel For You'. Those were not good on any level. And the Chaka Khan cover of 'Sign o the Times'? No. I knew that I shouldn't listen, but I couldn't stop myself.

In general, I think no one should cover Prince... period.

[Edited 7/5/16 8:05am]

I have no idea what Chaka, Jam and Lewis were thinking when they decided to cover "Sign Of the Times". It was pretty painful. I never cared for Prince's original version either. It's more of a rap song and is extremely dated so I don't understand why of all the Prince songs they could have chosen to cover, why SOTT in 2007???

Seriously? You must be the only Prince fan in the world that doesn't dig SOTT!!

2020 said:

Yes Chaka owned it for sure! One of the coolest songs from the 80s

YEP!!!

steakfinger said:

kitbradley said:

PeteSilas said:

MattyJam said:

Her version is a modern classic, from one of the best pop albums of the 80s.

The harmonica and Chaka's vocals really took what was just a decent album track to a whole other level. And of course, the legendary "Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, Chaka, Chaka Khan, let me rock you Chaka Khan..."

Agree/disagree?

[Edited 7/3/16 8:19am]

Agree that she owned it.

MattyJam said:

Her version is a modern classic, from one of the best pop albums of the 80s.

Prince's? The bare bones is there, but it ain't nothing special. The harmonica and Chaka's vocals really took what was just a decent album track to a whole other level. And of course, the legendary "Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, Chaka, Chaka Khan, let me rock you Chaka Khan..."

Agree/disagree?

[Edited 7/3/16 8:19am]

I totally agree with you. Chaka's "I Feel For You" is one of my favorite songs. I never knew it was originally a Prince song until I heard his version on the radio in 2014, I believe it was on his birthday. I remember where I was, I was at work.

--

Chaka's version is BETTER than Prince's version. Prince wrote the song, but I think that "I Feel for You" really is a Chaka Khan song. She made it hers. I think it's similar situation to how Whitney Houston covered Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" and Whitney's version was SO GOOD that it became her song. It's probably Whitney's signature song.

--

Prince made money off of Chaka's version because he was the songwriter. Dolly Parton made a lot of money off of Whitney's version of "I Will Always Love You."

kitbradley said:

Of course Chaka owns that song. She and Arif took it to a whole different level. The Pointer Sisters and Rebbie Jackson stuck with the original feel of Prince's version. Chaka's version is a masterpiece!

+1

breakdown2k14 said:

Disagree ...I've never cared for chakas voice and in concert in seems like she's shouting instead of singing

I can't speak for how Chaka sounds in concert, I've never seen her live. I'll have to watch some videos of her performing live because it's been a shile since I saw her perform on TV. That said, I think she sounds FANTASTIC on the single/album recording of "I Feel For You." I love the video too.

--

I wasn't alive in 1984, but my understanding is that Chaka's version of the song was very innovative when it was released because it was one of the first songs to feature a guest rapper on it. (Another song released around the same time and featuring a gues rapper was "Save Your Love (For #1)" by Rene & Angela, which included guest vocals from rapper Kurtis Blow.)

MattyJam said:

RicoN said:

I prefer Chaka's too.

I think that quite often people do Prince's songs better than he does.

Hmmm, not sure I would go that far. Can you name another example where someone else has covered one of his songs and bettered the original?

And please don't say Sinead O Connor....

Regarding "Nothing Compares 2 U," I like the Prince-Rosie Gaines version so much better than Sinead's version and The Family's version.

yuck, Prince version all the way

Regarding Chaka's version, there was a lot of talent involved and I think that Reggie Griffin and David Frank deserve a mention. As most of you will know, there's a recording of Prince performing David Frank's “You're In My System” circulating as well. I agree that Chaka's version is a bit busy, but to me Prince's original sounds a little bland in comparison (very early in his career of course, and fundamentally a great song).

On “Nothing Compares 2 U”, I always felt that Prince's later arrangements were over embellished and a little melodramatic. I love Rosie's voice generally, but I felt that it was just too “big” for this particular song. I prefer the minimalism of the original and Sinead's version. Sinead's is the definitive performance as far as I'm concerned. If I remember correctly, she altered the notes in the chorus slightly – it sounds darker, more desolate and unresolved.

These are the only 2 examples of Prince covers that I prefer over the originals.

Speaking of covers, Shilpa Ray's new single is a re-imagining of “When Doves Cry” (I think it's better than Patti Smith's version). It's not a patch on the original, but I don't hate it:

http://www.brooklynvegan....ng-europe/

Ummm...I liked the Prince version better.

I like Chaka's version better than P's. One of his weaker performances though it is okay. While the song is a classic, I don't think it is near as good as Tell Me Something Good!