Into The Groove (15)

Hello, Into The Groove takes you behind the Prince extended musical family screen today. At the time-early eighties Prince was just bubbling over with music and ideas, not everything fitted his own 'style' and so many a musician suffered the fate of being the brilliant masters mouthpiece-as it where. Now this is putting it rather sharp but Prince really had no time to argue as it where, and as he was generous in giving the songwriting credits(money) away..whats there to complain. So Apollonia (Kotero) lost out big after she gave the impression not being in on it, just the one-this album then. Sheila E however had her own skills and background and did write her own stuff, and she and Prince would have made a great duo but then there can be only one...oh well i guess Erotic City remained a Prince fantasy. Now The Family was a Prince vehicle from start to finish, a great album and afterwards the lifting off point for Sinead O'Connors career with nothing compares to u, it has to be said Sineads dramatic female voice comes across a lot more intense, though i feel Prince himself would convince, anyway he's present on the album (incognito). ( All 3 vinyl rips btw)

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Apollonia 6 - Apollonia 6 ( 84 ^ 79mb)

After a number of disputes with Prince, Denise Matthews, also known as Vanity, the lead singer of Prince-created Vanity 6, fled the Prince entourage in 1983 to pursue solo endeavors recording with Motown Records and acting in films. She left open an acting position for the role written for her by Prince in the film Purple Rain. After a frantic casting call actress and model Patricia Kotero, renamed as "Apollonia" by Prince stepped into Vanity's role, as well as in the fragmented group, Vanity 6. The other two members of Vanity 6, Brenda Bennett and Susan Moonsie, joined Apollonia and reformed the group as Apollonia 6 for the film and one album, Jill Jones and Wendy and Lisa did the backing vocals. Apollonia 6 had a top 10 pop and R&B hit with the single "Sex Shooter" in 1984. Prince had originally intended his classic tracks "Manic Monday" (The Bangles), "17 Days", and "The Glamorous Life" (Sheila E. in 1984) for the Apollonia 6 album, but he soon lost interest in the project when he became convinced that Apollonia was only there to fulfill her job's obligations and would not be continuing with his group after her contractual obligations to completing the film and one album were fulfilled. And so ended the short and sharp career of Apollonia 6, even though their one album had been a certified platinum success.



1 - Happy Birthday, Mr. Christian (7:05)
2 - Sex Shooter (3:37)
3 - Blue Limousine (6:14)
4 - A Million Miles (I Love You) (5:48)
5 - Oo She She Wa Wa (4:09)
6 - Some Kinda Lover (4:44)
7 - In A Spanish Villa (2:09)

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Sheila E. - Romance 1600 (85 ^ 95mb)

Sheila Escovedo is the daughter of percussionist Pete Escovedo, with whom she frequently performs. Sheila E's uncle is Alejandro Escovedo, formerly with Delphine Neid's first-wave punk rock group The Nuns, now with The Alejandro Escovedo Orchestra. The late Tito Puente was Sheila's godfather. Escovedo is of Mexican, African American, and Creole heritage. Coke Escovedo was also her uncle. She made her recording debut with jazz bassist Alphonso Johnson, "Yesterday's Dream" (1976). She is a drummer and percussionist and also plays violin and guitar.

Prince saw Sheila performing at a concert with her father in the early 80s and was thoroughly impressed by her talent, after the show he met her. The two would eventually join forces during the Purple Rain recording sessions, though taken under Prince's wing, she proved to be a successful artist in her own right. In 1984 she scored hits with "The Glamorous Life" and "The Belle Of St. Mark" In 1985 she scored another hit with "A Love Bizarre" . She opened for Prince on his wildly successful Purple Rain Tour in 1984–85. Sheila recorded three albums during the '80s, The Glamorous Life, Romance 1600, and Sheila E. and, she is well-known for her co-vocals with Prince on his most famous B-side single, "Erotic City" from 1984.

During the Prince's Sign 'O' the Times and the Lovesexy World Tour she served as musical director and drummer in his highly regarded backup band, dubbed the New Power Generation not long after her departure. She also served as a writer and musician on many of Prince's records, as well as on the albums of his protégées such as Madhouse. After leaving the Prince organization in 1989, Sheila recorded a few more albums, Sex Cymbal, Writes of Passage, and Heaven. However, the albums garnered little attention, i guess the music biz has no use for independent, smart, talented and (very) good looking latino women ( "role models-please no we need druggies that bend over"). Whatever, Sheila E is a musician and she still performs, occasionally backing Prince aswell, but i guess you'll have to check her website for her gigs.



1 - Sister Fate (3:52)
2 - Dear Michaelangelo (4:37)
3 - A Love Bizarre (12:08)
4 - Toy Box (5:31)
5 - Yellow (2:09)
6 - Romance 1600 (3:53)
7 - Merci For The Speed Of A Mad Clown In Summer (Instrumental) (2:45)
8 - Bedtime Story (3:38)

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The Family - The Family (85 ^ 85mb)

The band's origins started with the disintegration of The Time in 1984. Lead singer Morris Day had left the band to pursue a solo careeras did guitarist Jesse Johnson soon after. The Time had served as an outlet for Prince to release more music, he invited the remaining members of The Time: Jellybean Johnson, Jerome Benton and Paul Peterson to his home and presented them with his new project, with Peterson (renamed St. Paul) as the new frontman and bassist, Johnson and Benton reprised their familiar roles from The Time. To the mix, Prince added his then girlfriend Susannah Melvoin as a backing singer and keyboardist. The fifth member was Eric Leeds, the brother of Prince's tour manager Alan Leeds, who provided saxophone and flute. Guitarist Miko Weaver was credited in the album's booklet but for some reason he wasn't officially a member of the band (Prince didnt want to be credited at all.) The band's name, "The Family."

Much like The Time, the band's material was composed nearly entirely by Prince, with the exception of "River Run Dry", which was written by Revolution drummer, Bobby Z. Prince wrote and performed all the other tracks and simply overdubbed Peterson's and Melvoin's vocals and added saxophone and flute by Leeds. Indeed, on several tracks, Prince's vocals can be clearly heard. As on other associates' albums, Prince falsely gave credit to the various band members for writing credits, though he kept his name on "Nothing Compares 2 U." The tracks were all recorded in a few weeks' span, at the end of the year 1984, after Prince had finished sessions for Around The World In A Day and just before he started to record music for Sheila E.'s Romance 1600 and his own Parade. Although the band performed a single concert and released a self-titled album and a single (of which the video shows Eric Leeds playing bass because this particular track contained no saxophone!), the project turned out to be short-lived. Peterson felt constricted by Prince's control and opted to pursue his own career. Without a lead singer, Prince lost interest and absorbed most of the remaining members into the expanded Revolution.

"The Family" was a relatively important album in Prince's musical career because it allowed him to test several musical concepts that he would later fully integrate in his music. First, it was the true beginning of his long-term collaboration with Eric Leeds. Leeds co-wrote the two instrumental tracks on the album, which were Prince's first step into jazz fusion, a genre he'd later explore even more with his Madhouse side-project,it also marks Prince's first collaboration with composer and arranger Clare Fischer, as well as the first time Prince added a symphonic orchestra to his music.



1 - High Fashion (5:04)
2 - Mutiny (3:53)
3 - The Screams of Passion (5:21)
4 - Yes (4:20)
5 - River Runs Dry (3:28)
6 - Nothing Compares 2 U (4:28)
7 - Susannah's Pajamas (3:55)
8 - Desire (4:54)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here