I like the Revolution,but I agree with you.It was time for a change.The SOTT/Lovesexy Band was incredible!

Considering how prolific Prince was in the '86/'87 time frame I think he knew exactly who musically he needed in order to make that vision happen. The Revolution is great, however they don't neccesarily have the chops to full off some of the more Madhouse-esque moments of that material especially when it comes to the drumming side of it all

[Edited 10/31/20 17:47pm]

Yeah he did the right thing. I've been listening to a lot of his post 2000's shows lately and they are simply amazing. I dont think the Revolution could have taken him there. The Revolution's sound was prety distilled and uniform and there is only so far that could go without getting old fast.

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Also he was mixing his personal love life with business, and that's always a sure way to brew a toxic situation, and that's exactly what happened. it was never going last regardless.

It would have been a great decision if he kept them as well. Listening to Revolution rehearsals as they keep leaking over the years has been one of my favorite pastimes. The Rev doesn't get old at all, and they would have evolved and it would have been awesome. They were like a New Wave James Brown band they were incredible! His subsequent band was great, but they were more straight forward in some ways. The Rev was more esoteric and weird.

I think the thread keeping things interesting in the second band was Shelia E. She was spending ample studio time with him working out weird sound design shit like Dance On, and there's so much stuff like that going on the Lovesxy record and tour. It's amazing. He never had bands as interesting and vibey as that ever again.

I think Prince knew he got as much out of the Revolution as he could and their journey was ending. The 87/88 band was beautiful.... probably his best band

AvocadosMax said:

SoulAlive said:

I like the Revolution,but I agree with you.It was time for a change.The SOTT/Lovesexy Band was incredible!

Without Wendy & Lisa's influence SOTT wouldn't be what it is. Prince did his best work with the gals in his orbit

homesquid said:

Prince and the Girl Bros. were magic. That doesn't detract from Prince at all. They helped him to be his best self (artistically) and vice-versa. However, he wanted to go in a different direction musically and then with the Susannah drama, disbanding the Revolution was inevitable. Rather than let things completely implode he saw the writing on the wall and had the balls and foresight to make the move when he did.

Poplife88 said:

the parade tour was so incredible.

Wendy and Lisa completed some songs and fleshed out others. They wanted more credit for their contributions and were vocal about it (I can't blame them)

I saw Prince as evolving into a band leader and less of a collaborator.

Looks like this "unpopular opinion" is pretty popular.

Sadly the Lovesexy band didn't last. But I knew that in 1987.

And Cat and Sheila E weren't really cool...

But I thought an expanded musical Revolution would have been cool. He lost that W&L connection and tried to duplicate it with Cat & Sheila. But it was a forced thing. Sheila wanted Prince all to herself.

I wish the Revolution encorporated a few more musicians David Suzi and Novi, Juan Sheila and Eddie

see the 80s through ... Prince's New Power Lovesexy wasn't so powerful, Boni ran all the way to Australia, Cat ran to Europe, Atlanta flat out retired

Perhaps but was it worth it? In terms of product on wax, we got some of SOTT and LoveSexy out of it. Plus one european tour, a concern movie and a world tour for LS.

With the core group of Bobby, Lisa and Mark, we got Controversy, 1999. Add Wendy and we got PR, AWIAD and Parade.

I understand why he did it and perhaps it wasnt a mistake but then why did he blow it all up in less than 2 years?

and before anyone gets all crazy.... yes I know ITS ALL PRINCE and that the bandmates are basically hired help most of the time but I'm saying he seemed to have gotten more our of the "Revolution" core than he did with anyone afterwards.

When it comes to art - which is wholly subjective - no decision can be objectively right or wrong. There are only decisions which serve the artistic vision, whatever that happens to be at the time.

Was it good to get rid of Wendy & Lisa? To me, that depends. Are we talking about kicking them out of the stuidio or off tour?

As a number of people have mentioned upthread, I think Wendy & Lisa were very positive influences on the style and direction of Prince's music in the studio. Having them around was a great thing.

But with that said, I recognize the Revoluation wasn't the strongest live band. Keeping them around limited what he could do in concert.

Consequently, I wish he would have kept them around and swapped out the rest of the band. (Though I might have also wanted him to keep Matt Fink.)

clay said:

Outside the sheer musicality of the SOTT/Lovesexy band, which would've smoked the Revolution, Wendy and Lisa wouldn't be able to hang with the direction he was going in. He seemed to want to exploit/expand the sexuality and sensuality in both his music and stage shows and from watching the Parade shows, it was, for the most part, stiff. Great for what it was. But comparatively, he seemed tamed by fame - playing it safe. It took balls to make that decision but he was on the right track. Probably an unpopular opinion, but it's all "IMO".

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Serious?

I do not agree.

Prince shined and radiated during all those The Revolution concerts.

The sparks were leaping off him.

And there was so much positive interaction between him and the band, you even felt the friendship.

With all his later bands you felt mostly perfection through great craftmanship.

He was the star, the others were (just) people he needed to play live.

The bar was indeed much higher, but musically on stage it became much more of a show than a concert - which was wonderful, don't get me wrong.

Personally, I think there was more soul and connection through the intertwined friendships, and of course the resentment that that entailed.

Listen to what Eric Leeds told about his years with Prince, and you'll know what i mean.

But you don't have to agree with it.

I prefer to feel the music through the connection (or even tension if you will) amongst the members of a band/group. It's the love i want to feel, not the perfection or craftmanship alone.

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lurker316 said:

Was it good to get rid of Wendy & Lisa? To me, that depends. Are we talking about kicking them out of the stuidio or off tour?

As a number of people have mentioned upthread, I think Wendy & Lisa were very positive influences on the style and direction of Prince's music in the studio. Having them around was a great thing.

But with that said, I recognize the Revoluation wasn't the strongest live band. Keeping them around limited what he could do in concert.

Consequently, I wish he would have kept them around and swapped out the rest of the band. (Though I might have also wanted him to keep Matt Fink.)

Prince wanted Brown Mark to stay as well

thebanishedone said:

What are you guys talking about? the only incompetent musician in a Prince band was Wendy cause she always was and still is a lousy guitar player.All the other guys were killer musicians.Even Bobby Z a guy who had the best pocket.The Revolution could go from soul funk to jazz to hard rock and punk in the same breathe and they didn't have annoying female screamers like Bonnie Rosie Shelby...

You're out of your mind.

Poplife88 said: