RhoDeo 1634 Grooves

Hello,  to few requests for a re-up page yesterday, c'mon guys it ain't that hard to enter a captcha and say what you want live again.


Today's artist has been with us for sometime here, after all he has an enormous ouvre with lot's unreleased stuff as well. He commands the biggest space in my collection. Normally i'd post chronically but this time i will post cross his discography from 4 different decades. You can wait to see what i'll post or your welcome to request a title  ... N'joy

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Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums; he toured frequently, produced albums, and wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his vaults. With each album he released, Prince showed remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres. Occasionally, his music was inconsistent, in part because of his eclecticism, but his experiments frequently succeeded; no other contemporary artist blended so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole.

Prince's first two albums were solid, if unremarkable, late-'70s funk-pop. With 1980's Dirty Mind, he recorded his first masterpiece, a one-man tour de force of sex and music; it was hard funk, catchy Beatlesque melodies, sweet soul ballads, and rocking guitar pop, all at once. The follow-up, Controversy, was more of the same, but 1999 was brilliant. The album was a monster hit, selling over three million copies, but it was nothing compared to 1984's Purple Rain.
Around the World in a DayPurple Rain made Prince a superstar; it eventually sold over ten million copies in the U.S. and spent 24 weeks at number one. Partially recorded with his touring band, the Revolution, the record featured the most pop-oriented music he has ever made. Instead of continuing in this accessible direction, he veered off into the bizarre psycho-psychedelia of Around the World in a Day, which nevertheless sold over two million copies. In 1986, he released the even stranger Parade, which was in its own way as ambitious and intricate as any art rock of the '60s; however, no art rock was ever grounded with a hit as brilliant as the spare funk of "Kiss."

By 1987, Prince's ambitions were growing by leaps and bounds, resulting in the sprawling masterpiece Sign 'O' the Times. Prince was set to release the hard funk of The Black Album by the end of the year, yet he withdrew it just before its release, deciding it was too dark and immoral. Instead, he released the confused Lovesexy in 1988, which was a commercial disaster. With the soundtrack to 1989's Batman he returned to the top of the charts, even if the album was essentially a recap of everything he had done before. The following year he released Graffiti Bridge (the sequel to Purple Rain), which turned out to be a considerable commercial disappointment.

Diamonds and Pearls In 1991, Prince formed the New Power Generation, the best and most versatile and talented band he has ever assembled. With their first album, Diamonds and Pearls, Prince reasserted his mastery of contemporary R&B; it was his biggest hit since 1985. The following year, he released his 12th album, which was titled with a cryptic symbol; in 1993, Prince legally changed his name to the symbol. In 1994, after becoming embroiled in contract disagreements with Warner Bros., he independently released the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," likely to illustrate what he would be capable of on his own; the song became his biggest hit in years. Later that summer, Warner released the somewhat halfhearted Come under the name of Prince; the record was a moderate success, going gold.

Gold Experience In November 1994, as part of a contractual obligation, Prince agreed to the official release of The Black Album. In early 1995, he immersed himself in another legal battle with Warner, proclaiming himself a slave and refusing to deliver his new record, The Gold Experience, for release. By the end of the summer, a fed-up Warner had negotiated a compromise that guaranteed the album's release, plus one final record for the label. The Gold Experience was issued in the fall; although it received good reviews and was following a smash single, it failed to catch fire commercially. In the summer of 1996, Prince released Chaos & Disorder, which freed him to become an independent artist. Setting up his own label, NPG (which was distributed by EMI), he resurfaced later that same year with the three-disc Emancipation, which was designed as a magnum opus that would spin off singles for several years and be supported with several tours.

Crystal Ball However, even his devoted cult following needed considerable time to digest such an enormous compilation of songs. Once it was clear that Emancipation wasn't the commercial blockbuster he hoped it would be, Prince assembled a long-awaited collection of outtakes and unreleased material called Crystal Ball in 1998. With Crystal Ball, Prince discovered that it's much more difficult to get records to an audience than it seems; some fans who pre-ordered their copies through Prince's website (from which a bonus fifth disc was included) didn't receive them until months after the set began appearing in stores. Prince then released a new one-man album, New Power Soul, just three months after Crystal Ball; even though it was his most straightforward album since Diamonds and Pearls, it didn't do well on the charts, partly because many listeners didn't realize it had been released.

The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale A year later, with "1999" predictably an end-of-the-millennium anthem, Prince issued the remix collection 1999 (The New Master). A collection of Warner Bros.-era leftovers, Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, followed that summer, and in the fall Prince returned on Arista with the all-star Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. In the fall of 2001 he released the controversial Rainbow Children, a jazz-infused circus of sound trumpeting his conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses that left many longtime fans out in the cold. He further isolated himself with 2003's N.E.W.S., a four-song set of instrumental jams that sounded a lot more fun to play than to listen to. Prince rebounded in 2003 with the chart-topping Musicology, a return to form that found the artist back in the Top Ten, even garnering a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2005.

3121 In early 2006 he was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing two songs with a new protégée, R&B singer Tamar. A four-song appearance at the Brit Awards with Wendy, Lisa, and Sheila E. followed. Both appearances previewed tracks from 3121, which hit number one on the album charts soon after its release in March 2006. Planet Earth followed in 2007, featuring contributions from Wendy and Lisa. In the U.K., copies were cover-mounted on the July 15 edition of The Mail on Sunday, provoking Columbia -- the worldwide distributor for the release -- to refuse distribution throughout the U.K. In the U.S., the album was issued on July 24.

LotusFlow3rLotusFlow3r, a three-disc set, arrived in 2009, featuring a trio of distinct albums: LotusFlow3r itself (a guitar showcase), MPLSound (a throwback to his '80s funk output), and Elixer (a smooth contemporary R&B album featuring the breathy vocals of Bria Valente). Despite only being available online and through one big-box retailer, the set debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. A year later, another throwback-flavored effort, 20Ten, became his second U.K. newspaper giveaway. No official online edition of the album was made available.

From mid-2010 through the end of 2012, Prince toured throughout Europe, America, Europe again, Canada, and Australia. During 2013, he released several singles, starting with "Screwdriver" and continuing with "Breakfast Can Wait" in the summer of that year. Early in 2014, he made a cameo appearance on the Zooey Deschanel sitcom The New Girl, appearing in the episode that aired following the Super Bowl. All this activity was prelude to the spring announcement that Prince had re-signed to Warner Bros. Records, the label he had feuded with 20 years prior. As part of the deal, he wound up receiving the ownership of his master recordings, and the label planned a reissue campaign that would begin with an expanded reissue of Purple Rain roughly timed to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

Art Official Age First came two new albums: Art Official Age and PlectrumElectrum, the latter credited to 3rdEyeGirl, the all-female power trio that was his new-millennial backing band. Both records came out on the same day in September 2014. (Two years later, the Prince reissue program and the expanded edition of Purple Rain had yet to appear.) Almost a year to the day, he released HITnRUN: Phase One, with contributions from Lianne La Havas, Judith Hill, and Rita Ora. A sequel, HITnRUN: Phase Two, was released online in December 2015, with a physical release following in January 2016. In early 2016, Prince set out on a rare solo tour, a run of shows he called "Piano and a Microphone." The tour was cut short in April due to sickness, however, and Prince flew home to Minneapolis. On April 21, 2016, police were called to Paisley Park, where they found Prince unresponsive; he died that day at the age of 57. His early death and incredible achievement prompted an outpouring of emotion from fans, friends, influences, and professional associates. On the following week's Billboard charts, he occupied four of the top ten album positions and four of the top singles positions.


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As huge as Prince's Minneapolis sound was in 1985, one would have expected a band boasting three ex-members of the Time to hit big. But the urban contemporary and pop markets can be incredibly fickle, and this self-titled debut album by the Family wasn't the blockbuster some folks predicted it would be. Not surprisingly, this release is about as Minneapolis-sounding as it gets, and the heavy Prince/Time influence is undeniable considering every track was written by Prince. The Family isn't among the true classics that came from Minneapolis in the 1980s; Prince's Purple Rain, the Time's Ice Cream Castles, or Sheila E's The Glamorous Life, but it's competent and generally decent. Produced by David Z, this LP ranges from the sweaty funk of "High Fashion" and "Mutiny" to moodier items like "Desire" and the single "The Screams of Passion." Also noteworthy is the band's interesting version of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U." After the Family's breakup, this LP went out of print. And by the end of the 1980s, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find.

The Family - I    (flac  211mb)

01 High Fashion 5:07
02 Mutiny 4:02
03 The Screams Of Passion 5:28
04 Yes 4:30
05 River Run Dry 3:31
06 Nothing Compares 2 U 4:35
07 Susannah's Pajamas 3:58
08 Desire 5:06

The Family - I  (ogg  88mb)

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Heavily influenced by Prince and the Time, Mazarati was among the many acts that came out of the Minneapolis funk-rock scene of the 1980s--a scene that also gave us Jesse Johnson's Revue, the Family, Ta Mara & the Seen, Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6. Mazarati never became well known nationally, although the interracial band acquired a small following in Minneapolis. Mazarati members Sir Casey Terry (vocals) and Romeo (bass) were students at a Minneapolis' high school when they met bassist and fellow student Brown Mark, who gave them a lot of encouragement and went on to become famous after joining Prince's band, the Revolution. With Brown Mark giving them a lot of guidance, Terry and Romeo ended up calling their band Mazarati and hired several more Minneapolis-based musicians, including lead guitarist Craig "Screamer" Powell, drummer Kevin "Blondie" Patricks, rhythm guitarist Tony Christian and keyboardists Marr Starr and Aaron Paul Keith. Mazarati's association with Brown Mark led to a deal with Prince's Paisley Park label, which released the Midwesterners' self-titled debut album in 1986.

Mazarati is a perfect example of a band that was expected to be huge but never enjoyed the commercial success it was supposed to. When Brown Mark of the Revolution produced this self-titled debut album in 1986, the Minneapolis funk-rock sound was tremendously popular. Prince was a superstar, and disciples like the Time, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Ta Mara and Jesse Johnson had enjoyed major hits as well. But for whatever reason, Mazarati wasn't the blockbuster that many R&B experts predicted it would be. Although not in a class with Prince's Purple Rain or the Time's Ice Cream Castle, Mazarati is decent and respectable, if derivative. Driving funk-rock items like "Suzy," "100 MPH" and "Player's Ball" aren't breathtaking, but they aren't anything to be ashamed of either. Also noteworthy are the psychedelic-influenced "Strawberry Lover" and the melancholy soul ballad "I Guess It's All Over." An LP that shouldn't have fallen between the cracks, Mazarati been out of print since the 1980s but is worth picking up if you come across a copy somewhere.

Mazarati - Mazarati     (flac  252mb)

01 Players' Ball 4:40
02 Lonely Girl On Bourbon Street 4:46
03 100 MPH 7:23
04 She's Just That Kind Of Lady 4:31
05 Stroke 4:30
06 Suzy 4:28
07 Strawberry Lover 5:30
08 I Guess It's All Over 4:56

Mazarati - Mazarati  (ogg  91mb)

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Recorded in less than five days in the fall of 1986, 8 was Prince's first foray into jazz fusion, a natural progression from the sophisticated, horn-spiked funk of Parade. As with his numerous other side projects, like the Time and early Sheila E., Prince took pains to disguise his involvement, making woodwind player Eric Leeds the spokesman for Madhouse. In fact, Prince wrote and laid down all eight tracks before calling on Leeds -- who was reportedly being rewarded for his loyalty -- to add overdubs on sax and flute. The results, titled only by number, are more impressive when considered in light of how many other musical balls Prince had in the air at the time: Sheila E.'s third effort, the beginnings of The Black Album, and his own epic Dream Factory (which would later mutate into the two-disc Sign o' the Times), among others. But on their own merits, the songs aren't bad, either, with the instrumental format offering Prince and Leeds a chance to indulge in more complex melodic and harmonic ideas than often appeared on record. In that sense, 8 has more in common with the Revolution's legendary live shows of this period, which often featured such extended jams. The best song, however, is the simple single "6," a throwback to the foot-stomping '60s soul-jazz of artists like Grant Green, updated with an explosive '80s backbeat.

Upon the release of the second Madhouse album he decided to mix it up a little bit. This album has many similarities to the first in that it presents a jazz based sound in general but in this case the funk is turned up much heavier and the musical concept is more coherant as sound samples from The Godfather. Throughout another set of eight cuts this album is a jazz-funk extravaganza if I ever heard one and more in keeping with Prince's own music at the time. There's also even more of a full band flavor as Sheila E is present on drums and her somewhat insistant sound gives all of these songs an instant sense of musical direction. Especially impressive is th heavily reverbed rhythm of the monster "Eleven",with it's insistant chants of "BABY DOLL HOUSE" throughout the song. "Thirteen" was actually released released as a single and reveals itself as a very Prince oriented variety of funk for sure and it's obvious in that respeect why it was released as a single. "Twelve" is a swinging number led by Eric Leeds and is among the jazzier of the tunes here along with the very Joe Zawinul/Weather Report sounding world fusion closer of "Sixteen". The two Madhouse projects represented some of the most ambitious and musicianally albums Prince ever had a hand in and even though they weren't enormous commercial smashes and were somewhat out of the mainstream musically at the very least Prince had the good sense to at least have these albums released to see what happened.

Madhouse - 8 + 16   (flac 417mb)

01 One 7:18
02 Two 5:29
03 Three 3:16
04 Four 2:24
05 Five 1:18
06 Six 4:28
07 Seven 4:09
08 Eight 10:06
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09 Nine 2:06
10 Ten 5:04
11 Eleven 6:14
12 Twelve 5:14
13 Thirteen 4:46
14 Fourteen 5:12
15 Fifteen 3:49
16 Sixteen 4:17

Madhouse - 8 + 16 (ogg  169mb)

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