So here I go again comparing things that perhaps I shouldn't.

Anyway, I have been noticing from quite some time now a certain similiarity between Prince's 'Space (Universal Love Remix)' and Rah Band's 'Clouds Accross The Moon'.

I'd love to know if and where anyone hears it (any music experts out there?).

For me, there are a few things :

- The 'air traffic control' voice at the start + roughly about 3/4 into both songs,

- The overall 'intergalactical' feel of the song,

- The mention of mars:
... Prince: 'I've had dreams of us cuddling on the planet mars'
... Rah Band: "Yes. I'm trying to reach flight commander P.R. Johnson, on Mars, flight 2-4-7"

- The background keys/chord (or is it violin?) and the way the chords change into the chorus.

- Not the beat or the rap, obviously!

[Edited 10/20/17 3:59am]

thedoorkeeper said:

Yup - Prince copied their song. No doubt about it.

So glad we got that settled.

in defense of the original thought, the song was huge in Europe (so also in the UK) when it came out and we now know that Prince was way into European pop (based on those playlists we heard about a while back). So it is pretty much a given that he heard it. It may have influenced him as well, as it's a marvelous song with some great vocal harmonies, which was a particular forte for Prince.

mediumdry said:

in defense of the original thought, the song was huge in Europe (so also in the UK) when it came out and we now know that Prince was way into European pop (based on those playlists we heard about a while back). So it is pretty much a given that he heard it. It may have influenced him as well, as it's a marvelous song with some great vocal harmonies, which was a particular forte for Prince.

Thanks The first time I heard 'Space' I couldn't help but hear the background music of the other song and after a few hours the title eventually resurfaced from my memory. I think both songs have that timeless sound in common. I'm not sure if it is because of that timeless aspect or the fact that its harmonies to me are similar to the Rah Band song I've always liked, whatever it is, I never tire of listening to 'Space'.

ELO's been doing this shit for decades. Prince wasn't original about it. I will say "Space" is one of my favorite 90's songs from him but that spacey routine is old hat for music in general.

I dig Rah Band, but yeah this isn't an original thing. Prince was doing a similar thing on International Lover even.

I'm not just talking about the galactic theme here, as the pace and harmonies in the background are very similar too. I've actually just played the two songs together - adjusting the timing here and there - and it kind of works!

I can hear the similarities.

pinkcashmere23 said:

I can hear the similarities.

I discovered Clouds Across The Moon 3 years and a half ago and madly fell in love with that song. I've listened to it countless times and never has it crossed my mind to see any resemblance to Space whatsoever.

databank said:

I discovered Clouds Across The Moon 3 years and a half ago and madly fell in love with that song. I've listened to it countless times and never has it crossed my mind to see any resemblance to Space whatsoever.

Ah nevermind lol. I'm surprised you hadn't noticed the song before then though as it charted quite high in most Europeans countries at the time and is still played regularly (at least on UK radio stations). Glad you like it anyway!

CherryMoon57 said:

databank said:

I discovered Clouds Across The Moon 3 years and a half ago and madly fell in love with that song. I've listened to it countless times and never has it crossed my mind to see any resemblance to Space whatsoever.

Ah nevermind lol. I'm surprised you hadn't noticed the song before then though as it charted quite high in most Europeans countries at the time and is still played regularly (at least on UK radio stations). Glad you like it anyway!

Well, I was 9 in 1985 so I wasn't into music yet.

I don't believe it was too big a hit in France, even though I can see it peaked at 28 on the French charts, or at least it was one of those songs that don't get played after they fade off the charts. There were a lot of those (typically, Batdance made the top 5 but you'd never hear it anywhere again afterwards).

I'm pretty sure I've never heard it on the radio or seen the music vid on TV. I've always been into that kind of songs so I'm pretty sure if I'd heard it in my teens, I'd have fallen in love with it as much as I did 3 years ago. Surprisingly, though, one of the music vids of it on YT was recorded on a French music TV channel, but it probably was from an 80's nostalgia program.

When I had MTV Europe on cable TV in the early 90's, I came to realize that certain songs that were apparently huge in UK and some other countries were not played much in France. I guess the opposite was true as well.

The bass in the album version reminds me a bit of the bassline in Cosmic Slop.

Just the bassline.

KoolEaze said:

The bass in the album version reminds me a bit of the bassline in Cosmic Slop.

Just the bassline.

True, I remember noticing that

databank said:

CherryMoon57 said:

Ah nevermind lol. I'm surprised you hadn't noticed the song before then though as it charted quite high in most Europeans countries at the time and is still played regularly (at least on UK radio stations). Glad you like it anyway!

Well, I was 9 in 1985 so I wasn't into music yet.

I don't believe it was too big a hit in France, even though I can see it peaked at 28 on the French charts, or at least it was one of those songs that don't get played after they fade off the charts. There were a lot of those (typically, Batdance made the top 5 but you'd never hear it anywhere again afterwards).

I'm pretty sure I've never heard it on the radio or seen the music vid on TV. I've always been into that kind of songs so I'm pretty sure if I'd heard it in my teens, I'd have fallen in love with it as much as I did 3 years ago. Surprisingly, though, one of the music vids of it on YT was recorded on a French music TV channel, but it probably was from an 80's nostalgia program.

When I had MTV Europe on cable TV in the early 90's, I came to realize that certain songs that were apparently huge in UK and some other countries were not played much in France. I guess the opposite was true as well.

I actually grew up in France but was always into music as far as I can remember plus the radio was always on at home. I had noticed 'CATM' immediately as it reminded me of 'Video Killed the Radio Star', another song I loved when I was a very young child. Both were played very often even throughout my teenage years (long after their charting period). Perhaps not all radio stations did but we were lucky to have an excellent local 'FM' station in my home town (they also played Prince a lot) and I also worked in the programming department for a national radiostation at some point, which helped me remember a lot of popular songs.

CherryMoon57 said:

databank said:

Well, I was 9 in 1985 so I wasn't into music yet.

I don't believe it was too big a hit in France, even though I can see it peaked at 28 on the French charts, or at least it was one of those songs that don't get played after they fade off the charts. There were a lot of those (typically, Batdance made the top 5 but you'd never hear it anywhere again afterwards).

I'm pretty sure I've never heard it on the radio or seen the music vid on TV. I've always been into that kind of songs so I'm pretty sure if I'd heard it in my teens, I'd have fallen in love with it as much as I did 3 years ago. Surprisingly, though, one of the music vids of it on YT was recorded on a French music TV channel, but it probably was from an 80's nostalgia program.

When I had MTV Europe on cable TV in the early 90's, I came to realize that certain songs that were apparently huge in UK and some other countries were not played much in France. I guess the opposite was true as well.

I actually grew up in France but was always into music as far as I can remember plus the radio was always on at home. I had noticed 'CATM' immediately as it reminded me of 'Video Killed the Radio Star', another song I loved when I was a very young child. Both were played very often even throughout my teenage years (long after their charting period). Perhaps not all radio stations did but we were lucky to have an excellent local 'FM' station in my home town (they also played Prince a lot) and I also worked in the programming department for a national radiostation at some point, which helped me remember a lot of popular songs.

My main sources of exposure to music in my teens were Fun Radio (though I'd occasionally listen to other stations, both local and national) and M6, then MCM and MTV Europe a bit later on.

databank said:

CherryMoon57 said:

I actually grew up in France but was always into music as far as I can remember plus the radio was always on at home. I had noticed 'CATM' immediately as it reminded me of 'Video Killed the Radio Star', another song I loved when I was a very young child. Both were played very often even throughout my teenage years (long after their charting period). Perhaps not all radio stations did but we were lucky to have an excellent local 'FM' station in my home town (they also played Prince a lot) and I also worked in the programming department for a national radiostation at some point, which helped me remember a lot of popular songs.

My main sources of exposure to music in my teens were Fun Radio (though I'd occasionally listen to other stations, both local and national) and M6, then MCM and MTV Europe a bit later on.

Not sure if they still do but I think Fun specialised in latest releases... Other than FM stations we listened to Europe 1 and France Inter - they were always very good at playing music from different eras - and we didn't have cable TV until much much later (so no MTV, in fact I think I only ever watched MTV whilst in the States) and the same with the CD player, but that's another story!

It's a great pop tune. The short window for making an interplanetary call is genius. It's like, she really had only 4 minutes to get her point across, and by the end of the song, she's outta time. And probably outta cash, imagine the bill.

bonatoc said:

It's a great pop tune. The short window for making an interplanetary call is genius. It's like, she really had only 4 minutes to get her point across, and by the end of the song, she's outta time. And probably outta cash, imagine the bill.

pinkcashmere23 said:

I can hear the similarities.

Goind back to the plot, I think it's actually highly possible that Prince may have heard of and perhaps been inspired by the RAH band for another reason than just their main hit:

"Rah Band was 'formed' in 1977 by producer and musician Richard Anthony Hewson. The band is not really a band as it only consists of one member.

Indeed, this multi-instrumentalist genius composes and plays all the instrumental parts of his songs. For information, the band name 'RAH' is made up of his initials.

Before embarking on his musical adventure, Rah Band, the foundator was already considered a prominent figure amongst other artists and the public.

Richard Anthony Hewson is, indeed, very known within the professonal music scene, having worked as an arranger and producer for big names such as James Taylor, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Herbie Hancock or even the Beatles, Supertramp, Art Garfunkel et Chris de Burgh.

Figuring amongst the great Jazz-Funk precursors, Rah Band has been a great influence to many contemporary musiciens and singers. "

(translated from (http://www.nostalgie.fr/a...s/rah-band)

[Edited 10/21/17 1:05am]

CherryMoon57 said:

databank said:

My main sources of exposure to music in my teens were Fun Radio (though I'd occasionally listen to other stations, both local and national) and M6, then MCM and MTV Europe a bit later on.

Not sure if they still do but I think Fun specialised in latest releases... Other than FM stations we listened to Europe 1 and France Inter - they were always very good at playing music from different eras - and we didn't have cable TV until much much later (so no MTV, in fact I think I only ever watched MTV whilst in the States) and the same with the CD player, but that's another story!

At the time (late 88 to late 92) Fun played a lot of hits from the late 70's and the whole 80's alongside new stuff: that's how I got quite a solid knowledge of 80's pop back then. But of course there were songs they just wouldn't play.

Maybe then it was played regularly elsewhere and I just missed it.

After 1992 I progressively moved away from listening to the radio so I wouldn't know much about what happened next. I would still occasionally listen to Fun from 93-94, then occasionally to Skyrock in 95-96.

Then, from 96-00, I was an avid Couleur 3 listener (Swiss radio available in Lyon), but they specialized in brand new electronica and other hip things, and would never played any hits whatsoever. Funnily enough though they played Shy on a regulat basis in early 96). When they had a change a policy and moved mainstream in 2000, I was done with radio forever...