Jan 86 Early 1986 : !
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LA TimesPop Music Reviews : Sheila E. Rescued By A Charming PrinceBy Connie Johnson Sheila E., who got her big break as the opening act for his highness Prince, inadvertently ended up in that role again Thursday night at the Universal Amphitheatre. Though she was the headliner, her often sluggish and self-indulgent performance didn't really give the near-capacity crowd much to shout about. While the singer-percussionist's two albums contain a fair share of party-inducing tunes, Ms. E. concentrated on her weakest material, from the neo-beatnik hipster groove of "Yellow" to a belabored acting out of "Toy Box" and "Bedtime Story" (complete with the star decked out in flannel jammies and cuddling a stuffed bunny). It's not that the evening lacked variety. Sheila E. tried on more fur coats than Liberace and did a drum solo so long that it would have even tired Gene Krupa. It's just that it was all so flat. The show really began around 11 p.m. when Prince came on stage for an unannounced appearance with his new, expanded Revolution band. He took command of Sheila's recent hit, "Love Bizarre," exciting the crowd with a series of electrifying dance steps and a warm manner - he shook hands with dozens of fans pressed against the stage. By the midpoint in the nearly 30-minute encore, Sheila E.'s band had been relegated to the wings as Prince and crew skipped through his "America" and his latest James Brown-flavored single, "Kiss." Even the folks seen dozing off earlier perked up for the night's true star. Local band the Untouchables opened the bill with a ska-oriented set that didn't really go anywhere until it lit into the anthem-like "Free Yourself," a tune with a lot of the energy (and sound) of "Land of 1,000 Dances." 09-03-1986 : Sheila E @ San Francisco 11-03-1986 : Sunset Sound Funny Love (1) Twosday Funny Love is an unreleased track recorded on 11 March, 1986 at Sunset Sound, (on the same day as Twosday). The name Fun Love was used to refer to the track in-house, but mastertape boxes list the track as Funny Love. Sheila E @ San Francisco Without any advance notice, Prince and the Revolution throw in their own set after Sheila E’s concert at the 6,200-seater Universal Amphitheatre. 12-03-1986 : Smash Hits The Prince story A Tom Hibbert “blockbuster” Does Prince really... Live all alone in a fortified mansion with only his life-size murals of Marylin Monroe for company ? Believe that he arrived on earth in a spaceship from another planet when he was a baby ? Employ a permanent food taster and a special bodyguard for testing his weekly vitamin shots because he’s convinced someone is trying to poison him ? Make the members of his band and entourage fill out an appointment request form – in triplicate – if they want to speak to him about anything ? Own a herd of rare buffalo in Wyoming all of which are dyed bright purple ? No he doesn’t. But these are just a few of the many extravagantly ludicrous rumours about Prince that have abounded ever since Purple Rain made him a huge star. Poor Prince – gross exaggerations and total lies all over the place : there can be few celebrities who have been painted so batty by press and public alike. Just because he refuses to talk to the press, pops up in public only very rarely (surrounded by brute-like minders and looking very sulky), maintains a strict privacy and wouldn’t even join in on USA For Africa or Live Aid – he has earned a reputation for being a reclusive madcap and an egomaniac i.e. a bloke who’s completely off his trolley. But only the other day – ping ! – there was Prince talking on The Tube – entirely normal and rather charming. Not a swaggering buffoon with an enormous head but a timide cove with a weeny speaking voice. So who is he, really, this small, strange person, the pouting figure in the lofty boots ? The following fib-free life story may yield some clues concerning the man they all call... Skipper !??? Well, that’s what his parents used to call him when he was a boy. He was born in Minneapolis on June 7 1958 and his real name, the one on his birth certificate, is Prince Rogers Nelson. Why did they chose that ? Well, you see... his father John Nelson (a black Italian who worked for an electronics company) played a piano by night in a jazz combo called the Prince Rogers Trio who worked in seedy dives backing strippers and who once had a female singer called Mattie. She ended up marrying John Nelson and had a little joke nickname for him which was Prince Rogers (after the group) and so she thought it would be nice to name her son that too. So she did. But Prince Rogers didn’t really suit him because he wasn’t very Prince-like – he was more like a sort of... Skipper. Voila ! Skipper was sent to the John Hay elementary school in Minneapolis along with his nine (approx.) brothers, sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters, where the only thing he was very good at was doing impressions of famous professional wrestlers like Mad Dog Vachon and The Crusher in the school yard and bunking off for nosh-ups at McDonalds. Or, rather, not nosh-ups because, Prince says ; “I didn’t have any money so I’d just stand there outside and smell stuff.” When he was ten, his parents split up and his father remarried and things turned sour : Prince and his step-father detested one another and the boy got sick of being yelled at for tinkling about on the piano that his Dad had left behind. So, when he was 13, he went to live with an aunt but she got sick of him tinkling about on the electric guitar his dad had bought him and she threw him out. So he went to live with one of his sisters but she threw him out too. Finally, he was taken in by Bernadette Anderson, the mother of his friend Andre (who later changed his surname to Cymone and became one of Prince’s musician). Andre remembers the teenage Prince as an extremely polite little chap who “didn’t even cuss”, unlike himself who was always hicking hub caps off motor cars and taking neighbourhood girls down into his Mum’s basement for a snog-up. Soon, however, Prince was joining in these mooning sessions with great gusto and the basement was put to further use when Prince and Andre formed an instrumental rock band. They rehearsed down there – Prince on guitar, Andre on bass, Andre’s sister Linda on keyboards and a local friend Morris Day (later with Prince protégé band The Time) on drums – and they also designed their “stage” gear down there : suede suits with their respective astrological signs drawn on the back (the Gemini twins for Prince). They called themselves Grand Central, changed that to Champagne, and, Bernadette Anderson recalls, they “just sounded like a lot of noise.” By 1974 Champagne were minor league local celebrities, playing cover versions of hits in black clubs, and Prince had done his first ever interview – for the Minnesota Daily – in which he revealed that he wanted to perform choreographed dance routines on stage but only ones without spins – “I get nauseated,” he confessed. Ten years later his stage antics would be littered with spins – but he still seemed to find them a problem : on the very first date of the Purple Rain tour, he fell over whilst attempting a foxy pirouette, and at the Grammy Awards the following year – whoops ! – there he went again, almost knocking his teeth out with the microphone in the process. The group used to hang out at a nearby recording studio in the hope of free recording time and the studio’s owner, Chris Moon, remembers Prince as “looking pretty tame. He always used to show up at the studio with a chocolate milk shake in his hand, sipping out of a straw.” But Chris Moon was impressed by Prince’s ability to play any instrument he picked up; and so Moon started teaching Prince studio technology and Prince began to record “demos” of his songs. When they were finished, Prince whisked them off to Los Angeles (man) to get signed up by a great big recording company. Which didn’t take very long at all because Warner Brothers Records thought he seemed like a pretty groovy prospect. They gave him quite a lot of money and they agreed to let him play all the instruments on his first LP and produce it himself – even though he was a mere teenager with scant experience. The first Prince LP, For You, was released in 1978; it contained songs called things like Soft And Wet – it was quite saucy. It was dedicated to “God” and it sold 100.000 copies. The next LP, Prince was very saucy – “Sex-related fantasy is all my mind can see” crooned Prince through one number - and it sold a million. Next came Dirty Mind – saucier still – very, very saucy INDEED – and from now on it was sauce aHOY as Prince took to leering about the stage in scantly black lace underwear and disgusting suspenders, blabbering on provocatively about his fabulous body, “boogieing on down” on silky beds and getting matey with his brazen trio of girls singers, Vanity 6, whose clothes were forever falling off, and making fiery “lurve” to his geetar and... Well, even his band were sometimes shocked : guitarist Dez Dickerson could never bring himself to join in on the vocals of one song, Sister (about the “joys” of incest), like he was supposed to : “That song goes too far,” he fumed... All this spice and steaminess was making Prince preposterously famous in America – and the first signs of the tetchiness, for which he’s now become renowned, were beginning to show. In 1982, while being interviewed to promote his (dazzling) double LP 1999, he stormed from the room and announced that he would never talk to the press again. Ever. Or be photographed – because having his picture taken made him “physically ill”. This was a most peculiar statement to make considering that he was about to go in front of the cameras as the star of a full-length feature film... With Purple Rain (a film containing some burrilliant music, some not-very-burrilliant acting and a useless script which called on Prince to do lots of heavy spooning with his co-star Patty “Apollonia” Kotero, chuck her into a dustbin, mumble “Let’s go, bitch” about a thousand times, trundle about on his purple motorcycle, and not a great deal else), Prince became a major, major star. As an actor, he seemed just mildly “average” – but as a performer he was piping hot, and the club scenes, with Prince on stage doing Purple Rain and blubbering away, guaranteed success. The film grossed over $100 million, the LP went platinum, and then there was the tour – 100 dates from Detroit to Miami. After all that Prince was $20 million richer and an inch taller (his “official” height had risen mysteriously from 5’2” to 5’3”). Perhaps this was how he managed to have about one million girlfriends all at the same time. According to gossip columns, he was courting Rande (his cook) or Wendy Melvoin (his guitarist) or Madonna or Apollonia or hundred of assorted Hollywood starlets no-one had ever heard of and a lot more “eligible” ladies besides. Every time he wrote or produced a song for one of his protégées (he’s worked with Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Sheila E, Chaka Khan, Sheena Easton, The Bangles, The Family plus a few blokes), there would be “reliable” reports in the papers of wedding bells in the air. When Smash Hits, as a jaunty little April Fool’s joke, said that Prince and Madonna were getting spliced and Billy Idol was going to be the best man, this highly unconvincing “fact” was reprinted as news – in a newspaper !! And now we hear that Prince really has got married to Susannah Melvoin, twin-sister of Wendy. Well, that does at least sound plausible... Throughout everything Prince maintained a dignified silence about his personal smoochin’ n’ a-moochin’ activities, and about everything else for the matter. In fact, in the whole of 1985 he only spoke once (to the world at large, that is) and that was to announce that he would never tour again because he was going to “look for the ladder.” What was that supposed to mean ? No-one knew – and when this unusual statement was followed by a new LP, Around The World In A Day, which contained some highly dotty lyrics, some highly hippie-ish effects, and which came in a sleeve that hinted at some mysterious “symbolism” ...too awful to contemplate... Actually, it was a rather wonderful LP, given half a chance, but there were more than a few pop “pundits” who saw it as the end of Prince : he had flipped his cork absolutely this time and would never be heard of again. However, the pop “pundits”were wrong, as per usual. Prince has just bounded back with a new single, Kiss; he has a new LP, Parade, in the works, an eagerly awaited new film, Under The Cherry Moon, somewhere up his sleeve, and he’s looking pretty chipper. Kiss is as perky as anything – but what of the film ? Under The Cherry Moon is being shot in the south of France and its director Mary Lambert (who made Madonna’s Material Girl video) describes it as “a fairy tale about a couple of boys (the other one’s played by another Prince protégé, Jerome Benton from The Family) who go the Riviera to strike it rich. It’s hopelessly romantic.” Sounds hopelessly dull so far – but wait, what is this ? Not only is it being filmed in old-fashioned black and white but it’s not even a pop music film ! Prince’s only musical contribution is when he’s seen playing piano in a casino. Well, that’s Prince for you – he’s crispy round the edges, he’s of a slightly grumpy persuasion, and he keeps a two-foot statuette of a yellow gnome in his spare bedroom – and what, pray, is wrong with that, eh ? Hurray – yore a bit of a toff, Skipper... 15-03-1986 : New Home Studio - Dream Factory Sessions The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (1) * - Dream Factory On March 15, sessions for the Dream Factory project begin in Prince’s home studio in his house. Much money was invested in the need of the studio, which was designed by Westlake Studio. The studio is large enough for Prince to record the whole band at home, which has never been done before. While Prince personally attended the recordings, as usual, the Dream Factory project involves largely Wendy Melvoin, Susannah and Lisa Coleman. ”It was going to be marketed as a group record, not a Prince record,” remembers Alan Leeds. “Whatever Dream Factory meant to him, it was inspired by the camaraderie of that group of people during that period of time.” The first title recorded in his studio is "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker." Between mid March and late April, he recorded several tracks, "Power Fantastic", "And How", "A Place In Heaven", "Movie Star" and "Witness For The Prosecution", most will be part of various configurations of the Dream Factory album. "Power Fantastic" will be included on The Hits / The B-sides in 1993, while "Movie Star" surfaced on the triple Crystal Ball in 1998. "And How" was reworked and released in 1991 by Jevetta Steele on Here It Is (First Edition). Prince continues occasional recording sessions at the Washington Avenue warehouse. Because now he has the equipment at both locations, he can record with his band during or after rehearsals and then bring the tapes home to add overdub and keep working on them. A funky instrumental intended for Dream Factory was recorded with the band at the warehouse and is entitled "And That Says What". The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, the first song recorded in his home studio, got its mid-range-dominated sound as the result of a technical glitch. While Prince and engineer Susan Rogers were working, a snowstorm caused a power outage. When the lights came back on and work resumed, the playbacks seemed to Rogers dull and murky; Prince, in a creative trance, did not notice, and Rogers was hesitant to interrupt the session. But when she checked the equipment after he went to bed, Rogers found that, as a result of the blackout, the soundboard had been running on half its recommended wattage, robbing "Dorothy Parker" of its high end and giving the song a distant and subdued feel. Learning of the problem the next day, Prince treated it as serendipity, deciding that the offbeat sound added character. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker Dorothy was a waitress on the promenade She worked the night shift Dishwater blonde, tall and fine She got a lot of tips Well, earlier I'd been talkin' stuff In a violent room Fighting with lovers past I needed someone with a quicker wit than mine Dorothy was fast Well, I ordered - "Yeah, let me get a fruit cocktail, I ain't 2 hungry" Dorothy laughed She said "Sounds like a real man 2 me" Kinda cute, U wanna take a bath ? (do you wanna, do you wanna, bath) I said "Cool, but I'm leaving my pants on" (she say) "Cuz I'm kind of going with someone" She said "Sounds like a real man 2 me" "Mind if I turn on the radio ?" "Oh, my favorite song" she said And it was Joni singing "Help me I think I'm falling" (Ring) The phone rang and she said "Whoever's calling can't be as cute as U" Right then I knew I was through (Dorothy Parker was cool) My pants where wet, they came off But she didn't see the movie Cuz she hadn't read the book first Instead she pretended she was blind An affliction brought on by a witch's curse Dorothy made me laugh (ha ha) I felt much better so I went back 2 the violent room (tell us what U did) Let me tell U what I did... I took another bubble bath with my pants on All the fighting stopped Next time I'll do it sooner This is the ballad of Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker Well Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker Well The whole song sounds somewhat dull and murky because of a technical problem. The console for the newly built home studio arrived from Los Angeles as a skeleton, with the wires hanging out and all the parts in boxes. Everything was hooked up, but there was never any music ran through the console, before recording commenced. While installing there was a loss of power in the house. The console had one power supply for the positive side and another for the negative side, and unbeknown to technician Susan Rogers one of the power supplies didn’t come back up. Rogers noticed the music sounding flat, but didn’t want to ask Prince to stop recording so thing could be checked out. Not until after the day long recording session Rogers found out what the problem was. However Prince professed to like the recording. The song's title seemingly refers to Dorothy Parker, an American writer and poet, born 1893, "best known for her wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles", but this was unintentional. Prince wrote the song following a dream he had. He must have heard the name somewhere, but allegedly when asked at the time, it appeared he did not know about the writer Dorothy Parker. The song also references Joni Mitchell's Help Me ("Help me, I think I'm falling in love again") from her 1974 album Court And Spark (also released as a single in 1974). The lyric of ‘The Ballad of Dorothy Parker’ is similarly beguiling. Prince’s Dorothy Parker (a blonde waitress) has no relation to the great Algonquin Round Table wit (although it’s certainly fun to imagine her in a bathtub with Prince), and the lines in the song about Dorothy being quick-witted and the fact that the real Dorothy Parker died on the day Prince was born are merely fodder for the conspiracy theorists. The song was inspired (once again) by an argument with Susannah, or a dream Prince had, or a combination of both. Although the Parker reference seems accidental, that Dorothy’s favourite song is Joni Mitchell’s ‘Help Me’ seems more than just a shout-out to one of his biggest influences, as the song mentioned is a female inversion of the situation in which Prince has placed her.
(9th Annual Bay Area Music Awards (simulcast on KFOG 104.5 FM) Sheila E. won two trophies, but the joke going around was, ``How do you get a Bammie ? Buy one from Huey (Lewis).`` Sheila E. gave it a whirl. It’s unknown if she performed or not. 16-03-1986 : Unknown newspaper Once and for all, clarify what happened with Prince and his nonparticipation in the recording of We Are The World. Ken Kragen : Prince got a bad rap. Steve Fargnoli and Bob Cavallo (Prince’s co-managers) had always said that Prince was not going to be there. Prince was very consistent in saying “no” from Day One. And he was far from the only major star who declined. Our problem was that because he and Lionel (Richie) were friends and because Sheila E (Prince’s protégé) was doing it, we kept convincing ourselves that he was going to make a dramatic appearance. So we put him on the music (for a vocal part) and we put a place for him on the floor (in the recording studio). We were being extremely optimistic, and we did him a disservice in that regard. Now, did he make a mistake in not appearing ? Sure he did, but some people didn’t realize what it was going to be. He also made a serious error in going to a party that night and having all those problems with his bodyguards. (They roughed up two photographers, which grabbed headlines, and they were eventually fined by a judge for their action.) The good news is that Prince was the first one there with a track for the (We Are The World) album. He called that night and offered to Quincy (Jones, who produced the recording) to do a guitar track, but by that time it was too late. So you have to credit him with compassion. There was a slight error in judgment early and he has done everything ever since to correct it. He initiated the buy-a-mile program for Hands Across America. We didn’t have one until he came to us and asked to buy a mile, and he did it at a moment when we were seeking credibility. I have nothing but positive feelings about him. 17-03-1986 : Jet Prince completes ‘Moon’; June release scheduled Rock star Prince has just successfully completed his directorial debut in the upcoming movie Under The Cherry Moon. Prince finished filming the movie ahead of schedule and under budget. The film is slated to be released at movie theatres across the nation in June. 19-03-1986 : Home Studio And How (1) Power Fantastic Intro (aka Paris) (1:28) – Dream Factory #2 Power Fantastic * – Dream Factory #2
Power Fantastic Late at night when the world is sleeping U are frightened 'cause the power's creeping In your room is something u're afraid of Life or doom is what this feeling's made of Power fantastic is in your life at last U're a little apprehensive 'Cause what it is, is what u want and need Minor G is the chord of pleasure It will be played 11 measures U will see fire but you're cool as ice U're a liar (huh), if u say this isn't nice Power fantastic is in your life at last u're a little apprehensive What it is, is what u want and need Power Power - ooh Power fantastic is in your life at last u're a wee bit apprehensive 'Cause what it is, is what u want and need Power, Power, Power fantastic But while all these tracks are appealing and worthwhile, they pale next to the remaining Wendy and Lisa/Prince collaborations, which represent a career high point for all concerned, though only one, ‘Power Fantastic’, has been released in its original form, hidden away at the end of a bonus disc of B-sides. Lisa Coleman remembers writing the music for ‘Power Fantastic’ when Prince gave her and Wendy studio time (it was originally for a song of theirs called ‘Carousel’). She told me that, as with ‘Visions’, the song was born out of instrument testing and experimentation : ‘A lot of the songs were test studies, to hear how something sounds.’ Having written the music, they recorded the song at Prince’s house with The Revolution, with Lisa on the new piano upstairs and the rest of the band in the downstairs studio. Unlike ‘Visions’, which has an improvisational feel, this is one of Prince’s most sophisticated out-takes, Atlanta Bliss’s trumpet-playing of such quality that for many years those who heard it mistook it for a collaboration between Prince and Miles Davis. 20-03-1986 : New Eden Prairie And That Says What ? (Live) - Funky Instrumental – Dream Factory #1 22-03-1986 : Billboard Prince ignores industry marketing wisdom Parade : third album in less than two years By Fred Goodman Prince, who has confounded attempts to categorize his work with hits on the pop, black, and dance charts, is also bucking the industry’s prevailing marketing philosophy that superstar artists should carefully space their releases to avoid consumer burnout. Parade, Prince’s third album in just 21 months, is scheduled to hit record stores in early April. His previous album, Around The World In A Day, was released last May, just 10 months after Purple Rain. While acknowledging that the nearly three million units sold domestically on Around The World In A Day was less than one-third the tally racked up by Purple Rain, Lou Dennis, vice president of sales for Warner Bros., Prince’s label, says there is “no concern from me about burnout.” “Every record is judged on its own,” he says. “Following up a big, big record is always a problem. Who knows how long the proper amount of time to wait between superstar releases is ? In some cases, I think these artists take too long. I’d love to have a Madonna album right now.” Kiss, the first single from Parade, vaults five notches to N°10 on this week’s Hot 100. Alan Leeds, a Prince management representative, eschews the notion that artists must follow a set schedule for releasing material. “You can’t make blanket rules,” he says. “I think you have to approach an artist as an artist, examining their way of operating, audience demographic, music, and goals. What works for Michael Jackson doesn’t work for Prince and vice versa. Prince isn’t the kind of artist who looks at the calendar and says ‘it’s time to write.’ He’s a free-form artist and a free-form businessman. He doesn’t go in the studio with preconceived notions about making hit singles, but with the idea of making music. Later he figures out how he wants to market it. He has never done anything by the rules in any area of the business.” Before Purple Rain, Prince’s albums were released at one-year intervals in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. They were For You in ’78, Prince in ’79, Dirty Mind in ’80, Controversy in ’81 and 1999 in ’82. The latter album, which was Prince’s first to crack the top 10 or generate a top 10 single, was issued in November 1982. There was a 10 months interval before the release of Purple Rain, the longest gap to date between any two of Prince’s albums. Purple Rain became Prince’s first N°1 album and yielded a pair of N°1 singles, When Doves Cry and Let’s Go Crazy. The followup album, Around The World In A Day, hit N°1 and generated two top 10 singles : Raspberry Beret and Pop Life. Prince and his coterie have begun defending their spot on the dance floor, judging from the rhythm attack of Kiss, A Love Bizarre, and now Mazarati’s Player’s Ball, another monotonous but monstrous groove. Clones beware : they’ll have to bite something else if this circle chooses dance over psychedelia this year. 22 to 26-03-1986 : Sunset Sound - Sheila E sessions 23-03-1986 : Boy’s Club (1) – Sheila E Boy’s Club Hi Suzie, this is Sheila What U gonna do 2night ? Stay home and watch "The Honeymooners" ? Ah girl, later 4 U I'm gonna go 2 the Boy's Club Let me tell U 'bout this club I know They got all the men, all the dough They really can't dance and they ain't 2 bright But the girls don't mind if the money's right Some are cute and some are not But that don't matter cuz the music's hot Can't help dancin' when U feel the beat U can't help watchin' cuz U feel the heat A girl with 4 legs, that's the best U better look twice, there's someone under her dress CHORUS : Boy's Club Meet me later at the Boy's Club Boy's Club Meet me later at the Boy's Club Yeah, U're kinda cute But it's about the perfume Confusion in your bathroom Oh yeah, he just asked me 4 a match And I said - "Yeah, U're face and my shoes" He said, "U just ruined my night" And I said - "Yeah, just think U could be at home watchin' "The Honeymooners" Wanna dance ?" Light skinned boys think they're so bad They drink Evian, listen 2 jazz At home they like symphonies But when they're at the club, it's Sheila E. (Sheila E.) CHORUS (Please) {x2} Can't help dancin' when U feel the beat (CHORUS) Can't help watchin' cuz U feel the heat A girl with 4 legs, that's the best U better look twice, there's someone under her dress Boy's Club CHORUS (Please) Light skinned boys think they're so bad They drink Evian, listen 2 jazz At home they like symphonies When they're at the club, they like me (Please) Boy's Club Meet me later at the Boy's Club Boy's Club Can't help dancin' when U feel the beat U can't help watchin' when U feel the heat A girl with 4 legs, that's the best U better look twice, there's someone under my dress (Hey) Hey, get outta here (Hey boy, get outta there) 25-03-1986 : Love And Sex (PA – 3:04) - Sheila E #1 The song was intended for Sheila E.'s third album Sheila E, but was not included on the final release. Prince had previously used the title for an otherwise-unrelated 1984 recording 03-1986 : Soul Salsa * - Sheila E Hon E Man * - Sheila E Wednesday Like A River * - Sheila E
Hon E Man Hon E man (Hon E man) {x2} I've got 2 be the victim of your weekend vows {fade out} Hon E man (Hon E man) I've got 2 be the victim of your weekend vows Only 2 discover loneliness aroused Shades of your past begin 2 stir the heat Roll over, baby, and get off my satin sheets Dig up ! Hon E man {x4} Baby, never in my life in the time I've been with U Has anyone had the ability 2 make me feel so blue If U lost my number, that's a story 2 be told The candle burn at both ends, baby, when niggaz get 2 bold I might take things 2 serious or maybe not at all It's just that I'm so curious when love bounces from wall 2 wall (I'm so curious) Little girls who sleep at night are better left 2 dream I've just seen 2 many movies, baby, if U know what I mean Dig up ! Hon E man {x4} I've got 2 be the victim of your weekend vows Only 2 discover loneliness aroused Shades of your past begin 2 stir the heat Roll over, baby, get off my satin sheets Dig up ! He's gonna be missin' the small details Like the way he moves in his glove One finger at a time Hon E man {x2} Dig up ! {fade out} Come on, sugar, uh ! Uh, play your horn Good God, dig up ! Wednesday Like A River Tuesday I surrendered beneath the willow tree When I gave 2 U the key 2 my virginity Wednesday I remembered your physical poetry The passionate pretender, I'm a part of your history (Sing) CHORUS: Oh, oh, oh - Wednesday like a river (Sing) Oh, oh, oh - Wednesday like a river Wednesday's like a river, Thursday rivers are lakes Friday finds me in the ocean, sometimes love is hard 2 take Emotional evidence sometimes hard 2 face The double-edged sword can be like arsenic and fine lace CHORUS {x2} (Everybody) Bathing in the beauty, romantic interlude Wondering 4 long, never did I play a lover or a fool Wednesday like a river, Thursday rivers are lakes Friday finds me in the ocean, sometimes love is hard 2 take CHORUS {x2} (Sing) Oh, oh, oh - Wednesday like a river Wednesday like a river (Wednesday, yeah) Unknown Newspaper (UK) Is Prince planning a British tour ? And is it true that he is dating Susannah Melvoin from the group The Family ? Prince may be doing a British tour. There’s no official word yet but there’s a “rumour” that he’ll play seven nights at Wembley in May and charge £30 a ticket. Even that may come as a surprise to anyone who believed him when he went a bit “queer” last year and said he was never going to perform live again. He’s already changed his mind about that : the other week he popped up onstage with Sheila E at the Los Angeles Amphitheatre and enjoyed it so much that the day after he played his own show with The Revolution, now including a horn section. As for Susannah Melvoin... who knows ? Some reports say that he and Susannah – she’s the sister of The Revolution’s guitarist Wendy and she’s also the guitarist on the stool in the Kiss video – are already married whereas others say that they, um, aren’t. And there’s another “rumour” that he’s “friendly” with Susannah Hoffs of The Bangles !? Maybe we shall never know... why don’t you ask us about the Industrial Revolution (haw !) instead ? 27-03-1986 : Witness 4 The Prosecution (1) (3:57) – Dream Factory #2 While the track was not included on a late April, 1986 configuration of the Dream Factory album, it was included as the 17th track on the 3 June, 1986 configuration, and as the 16th track on the 18 July, 1986 configuration. Witness 4 The Prosecution I am a witness 4 the prosecution of a hate in this love affair I who am guilty of nothing but always wantin' 2 be there Mama, I swear I love U, I always have In school I once traded chairs If I couldn't be near U, I wanted what was yours Now I just want U 2 care I am a witness (Witness) I am a witness 4 the prosecution of a hate in this love affair Witness 4 the prosecution) Aah yeah Whatever it is U think that I did U're wrong, I wouldn't even dare Cuz U know I am a witness 4 the prosecution of a hate in this love affair (Witness 4 the prosecution) Yes I am Don't U know I am ... I am a witness, witness (Witness 4 the prosecution) Witness 4 the prosecution {x2} I am a witness 4 the prosecution of a hate in this love affair, yeah I who am guilty of nothing but always wantin' 2 be there, be there Oh, I swear by heaven I love U, I always have In school I once traded chairs If I couldn't be near U, I wanted what was yours Now I just want U 2 care I am a witness 4 the prosecution of a hate in this love affair (Witness 4 the prosecution) Yes I am Let me tell U, whatever it is U think that I did U're wrong, I wouldn't even dare No, no, no (Witness 4 the prosecution) (Witness 4 the prosecution) (Witness 4 the prosecution) Witness, witness Witness, witness Witness, ooh, witness Witness 4 the prosecution of a hate in this love affair Witness, witness Witness 4 the prosecution {x2} Guilty, 7 years hard labor, take him away ! With both ‘Witness 4 the Prosecution’ and ‘A Place in Heaven’, Prince handed over a degree of control to Wendy and Lisa (and his engineer Susan Rogers), although with the former, he reclaimed the song as his own by recording a new version six months later. The difference between the two versions is fascinating, a similar transformation to the one Prince made to ‘Strange Relationship’ between recording it with Wendy and Lisa and redoing it for Sign o’ the Times . Prince also revisited the idea of a relationship being tried in a courtroom, which gives this song its shape, in the much later Gold Experience song ‘Eye Hate U’, which has a similar, albeit even darker, feel. It’s an extremely erotic idea, combining a sanctioned sadomasochism with the wish-fulfilment fantasy of sexual arguments being resolved in public. On the first version of ‘Witness’ the three women were also joined by Eric Leeds on saxophone and Susannah Melvoin, who Susan Rogers has suggested was, once again, the subject of the song,8 although if so, this is heavily disguised, as the vocal describes the relationship beginning in school. But even if the song wasn’t about her, it is an indication of the uniqueness of Prince’s set-up at the time that he could present these four women with a lyric in which he defends his obsessive behavior and ask them to finish it off for him while he went to France. The second version makes explicit the suggestion that it is a song about childhood love, with a spoken intro from Prince stating that it is a story of two childhood sweethearts, and even implying that he is taking on a character’s perspective in the track. With Prince singing of wanting to be given the ‘electric chair’ for his sins, the track also pre-echoes the later Batman song of this title.
The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (2) – Eric Leeds sax overdubs Eric Leeds added a saxophone part to the song which was discarded. The song was also sent to Clare Fischer for his input and an elaborate horn arrangement was recorded, but Prince ended up not using it. Late 03-Early 04-1986 : Home Studio A Place In Heaven (1) (2:51) – Dream Factory #2 Moviestar (1) (4:10) – Dream Factory #2 Although Moviestar was not included on a late April, 1986 configuration of the Dream Factory album, it was included as the seventeenth track on the 3 June, 1986 configuration (segueing directly into A Place In Heaven, which includes the final line of dialogue from Moviestar in its opening bars) and as the seventeenth track on the 18 July, 1986 configuration (with a complete ending). The Crystal Ball liner notes state that the song was written for The Time, although the band was no longer together at the time Prince recorded the track, and it is unknown if the song was considered for the band when Prince and Morris Day began work on the Corporate World album in 1989. A Place In Heaven She wants a place in heaven. She cannot face the truth. She lives on a rope of self pity, that only requires a noose. Why is everyone so afraid 2 live ? Much more afraid 2 die. It’s as easy 2 imagine laughing, u really hear a cry. And they sound the same (and they sound the same). U want a place in heaven, baby, u’re already there. Life’s what u make it, stop whining baby. Love comes 2 those who care. There must be children in heaven. Ones who know loving from hate. Three-year olds live of all colors. I’d feel safer with them in control, control, control, control. Three-year olds in control. We all want a place in heaven. Suites of a lover of u. Let’s not be lazy, there’s no room service, it’s all up 2 u and me. Let’s not be lazy, there’s no room service, it’s all up 2 u and me.
Let's see, body oil - check Incense - check Environmental records - double check! I'ma get some serious drawers 2night, think I ain't ? Let's see, if I tell Gilbert and 'Rome 2 meet me 11 then I creep at 10 That'll give me an hour of free reign Mo' drawers (Mo' drawers) 9:30 - gettin' dressed I had a couple sips of wine Boo! - I swear 2 God My suit was hangin' fine Everybody at the club freaked When I stepped from the limousine They said - "Ooh, it's good 2 see ya" I said - "Oh, it's good 2 be seen U know what I mean ?" Tell U what's good It's a good thing we live close cuz I almost suffocated in that car Next time I won't wear so much Paco Rabinni or whatever that stuff... I wonder if they got potato chips up in this... Man, this ain't like them house parties we used 2 go 2 That's alright, I'm clean 2night, hey, I'm a movie star I see myself on a silver screen, huh 2night, it don't matter who U are I'm the only star on the scene U know what I mean ? Man, I hate makin' movies But I like that money, think I don't ? Hmph Check me out I just walk in, don't even find a seat Just threw my coat right on the floor Grab somebody 4 a quick dance Boy or girl - it don't matter no more, I'm hot ! Ha, ha, ha – shit Mix was right Bold, Lord Ouch ! Ha, ha Baby, do U wanna, do U wanna get off ? 2night, I'm a movie star I see myself up on the silver screen 2night, it don't matter I'm the star on the scene Ouch ! Mix was right On the 1 the kick drum hit the triple beat Baby, I was poppin' Did one spin, did a second, did the splits Came up, looked around, the joint was hoppin' Hoppin' ! The joint was hoppin' ! Somebody say "Movie Star !" So check it out, U wanna dance ? Are U wearing that Paco Rabbit or whatever U call it ? Oh wow, that's dog What ? Speak up, I can't hear over that suit Maybe U can hear this ? Am I supposed 2 be impressed ? That's right, Rolls Royce Check it out, baby U wanna dance now ? Maybe next song Yeah right, dance floor is not big enough, fat cow Ooh, the mix, it's about the mix Ooh baby, I like that, but the kid gonna show U a few tricks Can I play with U ? Baby, let's creep, I had enough of this action Bartender, on the house Give everybody in here somethin' Man, I don't care I got money 2 spare, U're cute and your music's thumpin' Yo baby, get the check "Yo baby" my behind, I need my money Say Brother Carothers, can I get some credit ? No ? Much money I done spent in this nasty joint ? U need 2 be slapped ! Darlin', shall we leave now ? Go 2 Hades, boy ! So U like my crib ? It's not mine, it's rented Say, how much did U have 2 drink ? What's the biggest lake U've ever been in ? So, do U like environmental records ? Crickets chirpin', water rushin' Supposed 2 make U horny It just make me wanna go 2 the bathroom Actually this one's not bad, check it out So like, what's your name ? Oh wow, that's dog ! 29-03-1986 : Billboard Mazarati Debut for funk/rock septet written, arranged and produced by Revolution member Brown Mark. Band’s more famous mentors tend to overshadow its identity, hardly helped by the Prince-ly vocal stylings or the set’s longest and best track, 100 MPH, written by you-know-who. 30-03-1986 : Detroit Free Press Prince takes a cue from his past and gets back to the dance floor By Gary Graff / Donna Oldendorf Parade - Prince (Paisley Park/Warner Bros.) : Prince takes stock of the various directions he has explored during his eight-year recording career and integrates them into an intriguing and, ultimately, entertaining work. He brings his music back to the dance floor of "Dirty Mind" and "1999" without getting trapped by the same old steps. He also retains the pseudo-psychedelic edge - and makes better use of it - than he did on last year's album, "Around the World in a Day." And he checks any pretensions by managing to keep his sense of humor and fun throughout the record. The only thing missing is the hard rock guitar pyrotechnics of his breakthrough record, "Purple Rain," but they wouldn't really fit here, anyway. The gems on "Parade" - due in stores on Monday - are unquestionably the foot-movers, stuff like the quirky first single, "Kiss," "New Position," "Girls & Boys," "Mountains" and "Anotherloverholenyohead." But Prince is equally effective when he about-faces on "Venus De Milo," a soft piano-saxophone duet, and "Sometimes It Snows in April," a moody acoustic piece full of religious metaphors. The lulls come when Prince dips too far into psychedelia on the imitative "Wonder U," "Christopher Tracy's Parade" and "Under a Cherry Moon," songs written more as accompaniment for the visuals of Prince's upcoming film, "Under The Cherry Moon," than as listening pieces. Still, the bulk of "Parade" is listenable and enjoyable, a confirmation of Prince's place as a superior melodist, arranger and player as well as a celebration of his creativity. LA Times Download 1.69 Mb. Share with your friends:
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