All My Dreams
I think every Prince fan, especially the O.G. Prince fans immediately understand what I’m talking about when I speak of “the feeling” that certain Prince songs evoke. You know… that fuzzy, dreamy, warm, lush sweetness that starts at your toes and quickly encompasses your whole being? The experience of suddenly swimming in a kind of kaleidoscopic musical ecstasy? You know, that feeling!
In Arabic, the word is Tarab. The literal translation of Tarab is “a state of intense joy”. My daughter defines songs that make her feel this way as “wishing dreams music”.
In preparation for our first episode today, I posted a poll on the Prince: Living Legend and NY Prince Fan Group pages on Facebook asking Prince fans who their all time favorite associated female artists or protege’s were. Much to my delight and slight surprise, respondents overwhelmingly named Wendy and Lisa as their top choice.
I was surprised not because they aren’t deserving, but because I have always felt they don’t get the full recognition they deserve for their contribution to Prince’s work.
For me personally, the collaboration of guitarist Wendy Melvoin, keyboardist Lisa Coleman, and Prince Rogers Nelson is an incontestable merge of extraordinary talent, creativity and magic that was a musical big bang of sorts. It is my belief that Prince wasn’t just a teacher and mentor to Wendy and Lisa as is the popular notion, but that they played the role of student and teacher with each other interchangeably.
In 2017 during an interview with Esquire Magazine, Lisa stated that she and Prince connected over their love of Joni Mitchell, Sly and the Family Stone, Santana, Stevie Wonder, and Earth, Wind and Fire. “It was really fun to explore [music] with Prince because there were a lot of things that I knew that he didn't know. I started turning him on to classical music and he discovered Boléro by Ravel. I remember coming home and he was sitting there very intensely with the Boléro record on. He was like "This is insane, have you heard this before?" He was always on fire, and if you played him something new it was just the most exciting thing in the world—it just made you on fire and ready to burn down the world.”
They constantly pulled and pushed each other to break new ground. It was this mutual exchange that led the trio to fearlessly create a sound that was at times, unlike anything I personally had ever heard before. It was cosmic, weird, and delicious. I mean “I Wonder U”? What is that? It’s almost as if they internalized all of their inspirations and indeed, set us all ablaze.
A few years ago, a friend sent me the unreleased tracks “Splash” and “Adonis and Bathesheba”… As I listened in the middle of my dining room, I was teleported back to 1986 and straight into that wishing dreams, tarab headspace. I was carried, floating along with the sweeping string lines and Lisa’s piano arrangements, the siren-esque backing vocals, the emotional pull of those gorgeous, lyrics, and there it was… the feeling….It was almost like hearing “All My Dreams” again for the first time. Magic.
In the April 1986 interview with Rolling Stone, a 22 year old Wendy proclaimed the following “I’m sorry, but no one can come close to what the three of us have together when we’re playing in the studio. Nobody!” And while the mid-80s period was definitely NOT the end all/be all of Prince’s career, the magnitude of the work from this period is undeniable, and Wendy and Lisa were a major contributing factor. There is no question in my mind that this is why they are placed right by Prince’s side on the Wall of Influence mural at Paisley Park. Prince knew it too.
The touches of middle eastern and Indian musical influence and instruments were brought in by Lisa’s brother David. Truth be told, the first time my young ears ever heard any of those instrument and sounds was on Around The World in a Day. I eventually became interested in middle eastern music and dance, and I guess I have David to thank. Let’s not forget Susannah Melvoin, Wendy’s twin sister and singer who lended her vocals to much of the music of that time as well, and who is co-lead singer of my favorite protege album of all time, “The Family”.
The fact is, once Wendy and Lisa left the fold, there was something distinctly missing from Prince’s music.
There I said it.
I know I’m not the only OG Prince fan that feels this way, we just don’t talk about it much. If you have any doubts about their prowess, just listen to the original “Dream Factory” album with Lisa’s amazing piano solo “Visions” and I mean, just the whole rest of the album. THAT is a Prince, Wendy & Lisa album and it’s amazing. Fight me.
Now that’s not to say I didn’t like or love the music Prince did after that, or that I never experienced “the feeling” again after that period. Not at all! I remained a diehard, obviously. Prince went in new directions and I willingly followed. The 90s ushered in a new fun and amazing era and albums like the “Batman” soundtrack, the “Symbol” album, “Come”, “Emancipation", are to this day among my very favorites.
However I will still argue that Wendy and Lisa added a special sauce to Prince’s work that I truly missed at times. I often wondered what it would be like if they truly reunited with Prince; not just as special guests for a few performances as they eventually did, but as the true collaborators they once were. Of all my dreams, this was the one never meant to be. Luckily though, there was the treat of their solo albums. The work on “Eroica” and “Girl Bros”, is as solid as anything Prince was doing during those years. If you haven’t listened to those solo efforts, please please do yourself a favor and seek them out.
After Prince left this earthly realm, I remember hearing Wendy say in an interview “we went to the moon with this guy!” They did. We all did. A big bowl of cherry moons. And I’m thankful.