Poplife88 said:

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.

LOL right, Prince who said in 2004/5 that Wendy “She plays acoustic guitar with me better than almost anyone."

Prince ended up paying the Revolution a huge compliment, by disbanding them the way he did.

They were originally his touring band. It would have been easy to replace a few musicians, and continue on with the name. The Revolution would be whoever happened to be in Prince's band that year. He had already done as much, replacing Gail and Andre in the pre-Revolution days, and Dez with Wendy after the band had a name.

Just like he'd do with the NPG.

By retiring the name along with most of the bandmembers, he cemented the idea that without all five of them, it couldn't be the Revolution. He also implied that they were his ultimate backing band. Most of the bands that came afterward, he either didn't bother to name, or treated as 100% replaceable.

I didn't think too much of it at the time (at age 15), especially since the SOTT band was stellar.

It was at least a lateral move, but IMO it was a step up.

Mintchip said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

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

Yeah, I know Brown Mark tells people that, but was it confirmed?

Regarldess, if he kept Wendy, Lisa, Fink and Mark, that means he'd only really be firing Bobby Z. (And augmenting the band with Miko, Eric and Altanta, as he'd done on the Parade tour.)

watch one of the SOTT or Lovesexy shows and it's clear that Prince could have never done those type of shows with the Revolution.

lurker316 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Prince wanted Brown Mark to stay as well

Yeah, I know Brown Mark tells people that, but was it confirmed?

Regarldess, if he kept Wendy, Lisa, Fink and Mark, that means he'd only really be firing Bobby Z. (And augmenting the band with Miko, Eric and Altanta, as he'd done on the Parade tour.)

Yeah he did. And he talked about (them) often in the 1997-1998 period
Levi was still playing in Sheila E's band in 1987
.
BASS PLAYER
November, 1999

His Highness Gets Down!
By Karl Coryat

Starting with 1982's 1999, Prince began crediting a band, the Revolution, on his recordings. Though he still played many of the parts, over the next few albums the Revolution played an increasingly important role. "I wanted community more than anything else. These days if I have Rhonda [S., formerly The Artist's primary live bassist] play on something, she'll bring in her Jaco influence, which is something I wouldn't add if I played it myself. I did listen to Jaco -- I love his Joni Mitchell stuff -- but I never wanted to play like him." The Artist still raves about the original Revolution bassist, Brown Mark (who took over for Andre Simone), calling him the tightest bass player next to Graham himself.

Also cause he was stealing Prince's girlfriends from him.

LOL, SHE THREE FINE!

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Miko was a great rhythm guitarist. He got rid of him cos he talked back. [Edited 11/2/20 13:44pm]

emesem said:

SoulAlive said:

watch one of the SOTT or Lovesexy shows and it's clear that Prince could have never done those type of shows with the Revolution.

Why not? Prince And The Revolution already did jazzy stuff on the 1986 Parade tour? And you know what Bobby Z was killing it on drums,check Bobbys playing during after Atlanta Bliss solo around 9m40s Stockholm Parade gig.u have that video circulating.or 10m 40sec The Revolution doing a turnaround similar to those on Lovesexy tour.

Some of you guy underrate The Revolution ,but all of those guys are killer musicians,Wendy was not killer in guitar playing but maybe she was better at creative side of things.

On the 20m11sec of the Stockholm 1986 Parade tour video that is online,

you can see Prince showing sign for that turnaround lick that the Sign O The Times band

played all the time (on 1987 concert with Miles as well)

So The Revolution played all the turnaround licks that the next band played and you some of you said that The Revolution couldn't play that.

Regarding Bobby Z he is Charlie Watts of funk.Always in the pocket,never missing a beat,not a flash guy but he could be if he wants.But his flash is more subtle ,he have those drum roles that never miss a beat and he have a character on acoustic drum.

Regarding the linn drum years 1982-1985 All the beats for the songs were diffrent to recorded versions.All the beats had elements of what was on record but they were in a more improvised form.

That way The Revolution could strech beyond the limitations of a drum machine.

And Bobby had to handle all that.He had to participate in making those drum patterns .

And the patterns were complex,there was always something going on.

On the tours after Bobby left linn patterns were much more basic. On the Nude tour there was no linn.linn was coming from a backing tape .

RJOrion said:

emesem said:

Also cause he was stealing Prince's girlfriends from him.

LOL, SHE THREE FINE!

Prince didnt seem to be able to sustain sharing the stage & spotlight with too much testosterone... Andre, Mark, Dez, Miko, Morris, etc...all typeA personality types (jury still out on BM) who couldnt/wouldnt deal with Prince's sometimes Napoleonic heavy-handedness over all aspects of their collaborations... P was clearly better at dealing with women (young ones), with whom he could get to submit to his pimp-handed ways

Really? what if ladies inspired more his artistic vision and wasn't 1993-1996 Npg all testosterone?

some of the comments i'm ready is why we need the estate to start releasing live dvd/cds of shows from 1978-1986 and 1978-1981 specifically

I remember someone saying the Revolution could not do 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' lol I thought to myself(and probably responded with) you must not have heard any shows from 1981-1984
IIWYG done on the SOTT show was nothing compared to Do Me Baby or International Lover. the SOTT shows never took that song beyond what they did. the noituloveR broke those songs DMB and IL into all kinds of raw sexy funk.

People especially need to hear more of the off night shows

ESTATE!!!?
.
the noituloveRevolution, was doing all types of styles and more specifically PURPLE music, which uniquely sounded like Prince, not other influential artists.
.
the Time, Sheila E, Prince and the 1978-1986/87 band etc unique

It is why I still have a hard time mixing Princes music from that period with other artists/genre. But I can mix his stuff after 1990 with other artists/genre. Hard to explain though

thebanishedone said:

SoulAlive said:

thebanishedone said:

Why not? Prince And The Revolution already did jazzy stuff on the 1986 Parade tour? And you know what Bobby Z was killing it on drums,check Bobbys playing during after Atlanta Bliss solo around 9m40s Stockholm Parade gig.u have that video circulating.or 10m 40sec The Revolution doing a turnaround similar to those on Lovesexy tour.

Some of you guy underrate The Revolution ,but all of those guys are killer musicians,Wendy was not killer in guitar playing but maybe she was better at creative side of things.

Bobby Z. is a good drummer,but would you really say he is better than Sheila E.?

I don't think theBanishedone is saying that. But people underestimate Bobby Z because, I think, too many people are only familiar with the Purple Rain Syracuse show. Most haven't heard him on the Dirty Mind tour or the Rolling Stones opening show or the First Avenue off night concert shows

.

Prince Bobby Z and BrownMark did an aftershow at the 7th St Entry in 1984 that I need to hear.

LoveGalore said:

homesquid said:

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

Stop this mess. They didn't have any thing to do with SOTT and only contribute anything to three songs - most of which are unrecognizable from the session they contributed to.

Thank you, I'm tired of hearing this same old "SOTT wouldn't be anything without W&L, W&L made the album". They're barely on it like you said, they're on the outtakes more than they are on the actual album. Sussannah contributed more to the album if you want to argue like that, but they really didn't add much to the album. As you can hear most of it is solo Prince and he sounds so much better, personally I wish he had held off on releasing the album a bit longer and had rerecorded IGBABN with the new band as it sounds much better with them. But that's just my personal opinion and what I wish had happened.

Wendy & Lisa aren't as important as the fandom makes it out to be, I think people just cling on to Nostalgia too much on here and create things to fit their ideal timeline. They were more important to previous albums, he was trying to distance himself, notice how everything they did in Strange Relationship doesn't even exist really. Once we have the version before they touch it, we can see exactly what they added and how much of it changed from the original to the released version.

thebanishedone said:

Wendy crushed When Doves Cry??? Hahahahahahaha . U need to wash your ears cause what she did on WDC is abomination.she fucked up intro and solo every single time.She was an ok rhythm guitar player but Miko eat her for breakfast.Wendy was maybe a good composer but a good guitar player she was not.Actually she is the worst guitar player Prince ever played with.Little Red Corvette guitar solo is very simple but i guess still too hard for Wendy.Actually i'm pretty sure she got the gig for 2 reasons 1) She was banging Lisa 2)her dad was a very influental figure you guys give too much credit and maybe she deserves it but not for her guitar playing.

Thank God someone said it, Miko destroyed her, just listen to Controversy Hit n Run Tour in SF, he could play, Wendy is not the best player and even now. I've seen video of her playing the Father's Song section of Computer Blue and such and she's faking it. People just give her too much credit, and her stories about what Prince did and what they did with him changes all the time.

SoulAlive said:

thebanishedone said:

Why not? Prince And The Revolution already did jazzy stuff on the 1986 Parade tour? And you know what Bobby Z was killing it on drums,check Bobbys playing during after Atlanta Bliss solo around 9m40s Stockholm Parade gig.u have that video circulating.or 10m 40sec The Revolution doing a turnaround similar to those on Lovesexy tour.

Some of you guy underrate The Revolution ,but all of those guys are killer musicians,Wendy was not killer in guitar playing but maybe she was better at creative side of things.

Bobby Z. is a good drummer,but would you really say he is better than Sheila E.?

I wouldn't say .Sheila had more speed,more dynamics,more flash,but Bobby had better pocket than Sheila.Sheila was better at latin fusion jazz ,Bobby was better at rock drumming.

Check the Stockholm show.video is from somebodys camera but audio is soundboard and Bobby iz on top of the game,perfect time keeping,nice and tasty drum fills.check it out .

haveaglamslam said:

thebanishedone said:

haveaglamslam said:

Thank God someone said it, Miko destroyed her, just listen to Controversy Hit n Run Tour in SF, he could play, Wendy is not the best player and even now. I've seen video of her playing the Father's Song section of Computer Blue and such and she's faking it. People just give her too much credit, and her stories about what Prince did and what they did with him changes all the time.

yeah and those who think Wendy nailed WDC solo check Stocholm WDC ,she didnt play the fast part

Prince was also pissed off @ W&L. They threatened to leave and were talked into finishing the tour.

I thnk Wendy is great. I never heard Miko do anything like the WDC intro. I mean, Prince wouldn't even do it. But I think Miko's great, too. Wendy killed it over and over.

The Revolution was good, but the SOTT/Lovesexy band was by far superior. Miko was the best guitar player Prince had. Miko could mirror Prince perfectly. Prince wanted and needed that soulful voice he got with Bonnie and never looked back since, such as Rosie and others.

Shiela is better than Bobby Z., but Bobby wasn't a bum either. Bobby Z. was able to handle whatever Prince threw at him.

As for the bass, it could be a toss up. Levi and Brownmark were both nasty on the bass.

But when it comes down to pure showmanship the SOTT/Lovesexy band was the one!

thebanishedone said:

Wendy crushed When Doves Cry??? Hahahahahahaha . U need to wash your ears cause what she did on WDC is abomination.she fucked up intro and solo every single time.She was an ok rhythm guitar player but Miko eat her for breakfast.Wendy was maybe a good composer but a good guitar player she was not.Actually she is the worst guitar player Prince ever played with.Little Red Corvette guitar solo is very simple but i guess still too hard for Wendy.Actually i'm pretty sure she got the gig for 2 reasons 1) She was banging Lisa 2)her dad was a very influental figure you guys give too much credit and maybe she deserves it but not for her guitar playing.

She can't play Eruption but she can rock the heck out of a scratch rhythm and a minor chord and that is exaxctly what Prince wanted and needed for the Revoltuion. Anything else is irrelevant IMHO, her guitar playing was perfect for what was needed for that band at that time.

[Edited 11/2/20 21:44pm]

ForceofNature said:

thebanishedone said:

Wendy crushed When Doves Cry??? Hahahahahahaha . U need to wash your ears cause what she did on WDC is abomination.she fucked up intro and solo every single time.She was an ok rhythm guitar player but Miko eat her for breakfast.Wendy was maybe a good composer but a good guitar player she was not.Actually she is the worst guitar player Prince ever played with.Little Red Corvette guitar solo is very simple but i guess still too hard for Wendy.Actually i'm pretty sure she got the gig for 2 reasons 1) She was banging Lisa 2)her dad was a very influental figure you guys give too much credit and maybe she deserves it but not for her guitar playing.

She can't play Eruption but she can rock the heck out of a scratch rhythm and a minor chord and that is exaxctly what Prince wanted and needed for the Revoltuion. Anything else is irrelevant IMHO, her guitar playing was perfect for what was needed for that band at that time.

[Edited 11/2/20 21:44pm]

Well she can't play When Doves Cry either. She is a decent funk guitar player,not above average

and i have nothing against the girl,but thats what i hear.She didn't get the gig because she is a good guitar player.

haveaglamslam said:

LoveGalore said:

homesquid said: Stop this mess. They didn't have any thing to do with SOTT and only contribute anything to three songs - most of which are unrecognizable from the session they contributed to.

Thank you, I'm tired of hearing this same old "SOTT wouldn't be anything without W&L, W&L made the album". They're barely on it like you said, they're on the outtakes more than they are on the actual album. Sussannah contributed more to the album if you want to argue like that, but they really didn't add much to the album. As you can hear most of it is solo Prince and he sounds so much better, personally I wish he had held off on releasing the album a bit longer and had rerecorded IGBABN with the new band as it sounds much better with them. But that's just my personal opinion and what I wish had happened.

Wendy & Lisa aren't as important as the fandom makes it out to be, I think people just cling on to Nostalgia too much on here and create things to fit their ideal timeline. They were more important to previous albums, he was trying to distance himself, notice how everything they did in Strange Relationship doesn't even exist really. Once we have the version before they touch it, we can see exactly what they added and how much of it changed from the original to the released version.

Yes, I read this thread and every other thread on here bashing Wendy's guitar playing and W&L in general and that is what I came away with too