Mazarati's version of "Kiss"

Great article - especially insightful considering a lot of people think that Quincy made Thriller - funny how the master couldn't even recognise the potential in it and it was Michael's belief in it that pushed it. I even remember reading an article about how Michael wanted a longer intro on the track but due to limitations of the LP it had to be trimmed.

As for Kiss - i have heard both the basically acoustic demo and the Mazzarati demo - and i have to give props to them for taking the song and giving it the groove and funk to it.

Swa

"Almost didn't get released" is a bit of an exaggeration. I mean, most songs "almost didn't get released" just because the songwriter didn't originally just happen to sit at an instrument (or his computer these days) and start writing a track at a specific time and get inspired enough. As soon as Prince heard the new version of "Kiss" he took it away and wanted it to be released on his own album. Where was this "massive fight" depicted exactly and was the writer of this piece present there? So basically the only reason why it "almost didn't get released" was because the original demo was not just release-worthy by itself. With "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" you'd have a better case with WB literally not wanting to put it out because Prince was already over-flooding the market with his output at the time.

It's true that Marvin had to fight over "What's Goin' On", but as far as I know the record was already canned and it still probably made perfect sense to put it out (Gordy leter admitted he was wrong about the recor ininitially). As for Billie Jean, did Quincy really "hate" it? The original bass line was indeed sort of clumsy, but you could always replace something like that. He didn't like the title because there was a (male) tennis player that had basically the same name.

novabrkr said:

Who is that?

Billie Jean King is a woman.

haha, yeah? I guess that's just a misunderstanding I've had since I was a kid. I read all the MJ bios when I was like 12 or so.

SUPRMAN said:

I was about to say, lol...

novabrkr said:

And you didn't bother looking up on Billie Jean King?

Timmy84 said:

Well this was about half-a-decade before the internet.

once i read the part about mazarati being shitty i gave up on the article and whoever wrote it

minneapolisFunq said:

lol,that was kinda mean Mazarati was one of the best bands ever signed to Paisley Park.They were superb musicians.

SoulAlive said:

You know how music journalists roll, if something isn't a huge thing on the charts, they'll most likely trash it


they'll real flip floppy too.....right Timmy?

bboy87 said:

They like to do a 360 on you, lol. One minute hating, next loving.

Timmy84 said:

First they emotionally disconnect themselves, then they're writing books and doing podcasts about you

In the Garden was not lackluster!

Moonbeam said:

I agree but would you have bought it or even listened to it without Sweet Dreams???

I did but only because of a family connection to the duo, lol otherwise I'm not sure I would have even known about it prior to Sweet Dreams.

Swa
[Edited 4/25/09 23:29pm]

Moonbeam said:

I agree but would you have bought it or even listened to it without Sweet Dreams???

Mazarati's version of "Kiss"

Cinnie said:

Hearing this again you are reminded how much these guys gave the song life - the whole groove is theirs, the layering of background vocals, and a lot of the instrumentation started with them.

The original demo (if what i have is correct) is just prince on an acoustic guitar and it has a lot more of a slow country blues twang to it and feels like a one take record.

I feel sorry that these guys weren't given a bit more credit.

Might also explain why every tour prince changes a lot of the arrangement of the song - maybe there is an underlying sense of "this ain't all mine" creeping in.

Swa

Swa said:

-----
What are you listening to? David Z said that the lead singer could not get the vocal right and he was on the money about that. The guy sounds like he is on prozac .

laurarichardson said:

Yes but if you have heard the acoustic demo it sounds NOTHING like this. If you listen to it and the mazaratti version it is a lot closer to the final product - even the structure of the background vocals. Just giving fair credit regardless of the "prozac" induced lead vocals .

Swa