I agree, the whole outro is ruined but that whole mix is terrible, have you heard the 'Maracas'/'Shakers'?....way too loud, ruined the whole song for me....
Sony will end up with all Warner albums except the soundtracks, it doesn't really matter how they came out originally. How does it have "nothing to do with NPG" when they are playing on half of the tracks? Here on the other hand it doesn't matter who is on the sleeve, or if you want to call it Revolution or not, since they're not playing on the album (except for keyboard overdubs on a couple of tracks).
Yup, Wendy was the secret sauce that made the Revolution-era records really click. He was never quite the same after she was gone. The Revolution is one of those bands that musically isn't necessarily as adept or proficient or whatever, but they had personality. Like Big Brother & The Holding Company or Talking Heads for that matter. All of the bands he worked with after were technically more proficient, but they were boring and brought nothing to the table. Whereas The Revolution and Prince - for whatever reason - just produced absolute lightning in a bottle magic. I loved "Black Sweat", but 3121 was a huge disappointment to me after the far more even Musicology, which was the first Prince LP I could listen to since his Imperial Period without cringing at some point (or just tuning out). I did love those elements and that track in particular might be his last truly great single.
I consider 3121 to be vastly superior to Musicology. Musicology just didn't have any interesting tunes. He really got it right (and had one of his best late-period albums) with Planet Earth.
I just checked my CD box set, and the only times it is used is for the Prince Estate brand (bottom left really tiny on the backs of the disks and in the back of the booklet) which uses the glyph for their logo so definitely it is just branding in terms of branding this as a release from The Prince Estate as far as a I can tell
it's funny how we all differ in our opinions even as Prince fans...i completely agree with you with the 1st part of the post but couldn't disagree more with the last part. 3121 to me is his best late period album, most consistent by far. 'Love' is his best song, at least since the mid-90's and should've been a big hit instead of being what it is.
"Love" is certainly the highlight of that album. Also like Fury, but I got spoiled by the better version done on Saturday Night Live.
People are saying that all the time. I think that the part of Wendy is overrated. She was very visible in the 4 years she was around. But there were many other factors around that played an important, a more important role in Prince’s music. Musicians/friends/etc. Lisa Coleman and (a very important muse) Jill Jones. Both are around for the same time as Wendy. Susannah was also important and let’s not forget Sheila E. She was a huge inspiration. On top of that, there was Steve Fagnoli. His personal manager... Era: In those years Prince was eager to reach the top. He was also on his creative peak. Just look at the 1999 deluxe set. What an amazing set! And.. no Wendy. Lisa, Jill and his immense talent and power to make it are there. Such a hit record does help in every way by itself. It gives confidence, opens doors and gives his exposure to a wide audience. And, like someone else also mentioned, he did most if his music by himself. The Revolution was more than anything his live band, not his studio band And with this new set you can clearly see some of the contributions by Wendy and Lisa: Yah You Know and Teacher Teacher. Personally, I prefer the 1982 version to the 1986 versions. Without trying to write an essay about this, there were many factors in his life at that time that can explain his visible populair success. After leaving all his long time friends late 1986 and again in early 1989 he lost his mojo (writers’ block, Prince style) and had trouble creating music. Batman was not on par with his previous music (still great though), the Rave project was shelved and Graffiti Bridge was made with older music (see also 1999 set). With Diamonds and Pearls you can see that search and doubt (Cream...) and The Symbol album was where he started to get hold if his talent again. With the amazing 1993-1995 as the result.
The SNL appearance was right before the album came out IIRC? Anyways, Fury was amazing on SNL and then I get the album and barely recognized that it was the same song. I was so disappointed.
Agreed, but that's also because I find Lovesexy to be a letdown, and Black Album to be a bit one-dimensional. (I also prefer most of the pre-Revolution era over these albums too.) My big issue with Batman is there's no standout song that redeems the whole album, like "Anna Steisa" (Lovesexy) or "Bob George" (Black Album). The latter is one of the weirdest, most unique songs Prince ever did.... Wish the entire record had been that inspired!
THIS!! (Though I'd probably choose The Dance as my favorite song. That slow burn just kills me every time!)
Why do you think that? Not only did she play a big part in his music, she was also a scout/source for new band members... about half the SOTT/Lovesexy band (P’s best live band) and later on some members from the ONA band were from her network of musicians. It is true that she overrated/overplayed her role and impact, but that doesn’t mean that she had limited impact on his music.
Agreed! If you can see the re-formed Revolution in concert, go. There's something about Brown Mark's bass playing that translates much better in live performance than on record (or video or whatever). When you FEEL The Revolution playing, it all clicks.
The toughest think about the Black Albums is that the overwhelmingly best song, "2 Nigs United" actually has that phrase prominent in a chant during breaks in the song, which renders it pretty much unplayable in public company, especially for a white guy. Love the jam, but that's headphones-only kind of stuff. For Lovesexy, the songs just aren't all that catchy despite some great rhythm section work. I like the production on that album, though. Dance On has a superb groove, and Anna Stesia is probably under-rated in his canon.
He’s on some stuff. I’m just speaking to why the Revolution sound so good live. There are plenty of live videos, but the real thing is better... heightened.
that song is the one song I skip on the black album, one man's treasure… and Lovesexy is in my top 4 albums, every song on there is very catchy to me.
