http://www.vibe.com/news/online_exclusives/2009/03/the_51_albums_that_never_
w
ere_part_4/
ED NOTE: The history of hip hop and R&B is filled with broken promises.
These
albums,whether recorded in full, unfinished or simply hyped, have never seen
store shelves. This month VIBE looks at 51 coulda-been classics from artists
like Prince, 50 Cent, Lauryn Hill and Biggie Small & Jay-Z and talks to some
of the forgotten few. In our third installment, Art Projects.
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION
Dream Factory (Paisley Park, 1986)
"Writing a song for Prince is like brushing his teeth," keyboardist Lisa
Coleman says, laughing. "He's that guy." But for much of 1986, the prolific
artist whose albums often bore the tag, "Written, arranged, produced, and
performed by Prince," was in a collaborative mood. The outcome? The stunning
18-track Dream Factory.
During Prince's Hit & Run tour, he entered the studio for a series of dates
with his longtime backing band The Revolution. Two members of the classic
lineup would have the most artistic impact on those sessions: Coleman and
guitarist Wendy Melvoin. That was the relationship he, Lisa, and myself
had,"
Melvoin recalls of the duo's close musical bond with the infamously
independent Purple One. "We were in studios all over the world, writing and
finishing tracks that were all incredibly diverse and odd."
Following Around the World in a Day (Paisley Park, 1985) and Parade (Paisley
Park, 1986), Dream Factory was a showcase for Prince at his most
avant-garde.
What other multiplatinum superstar would open up an album with a melancholy
instrumental piano piece like "Visions"? But it only gets deeper-and
weirder.
Witness the dark funk title track, which rails against the crippling
illusion
of celebrity; "Crystal Ball," a relentless 10-minute epic about war; and
"Train," a soulful rocker that uses train-track sound effects as a backbeat.
The centerpiece is "All My Dreams," a whimsical number straight out of a
1930s
jazz musical, featuring Prince singing into a megaphone.
But Dream Factory was never officially released. After abruptly disbanding
the
Revolution, Minnesota's native son included Dream Factory solo standouts
like
"Ballad of Dorothy Parker," "Strange Relationship," and "Sign O' the Times"
on
his acclaimed 1987 album of the same name, erasing any trace of Wendy and
Lisa. "We wanted to be Prince's muses," she says, "but he felt like he
needed
to take back the initial thing that got him to where he was at, which was,
'I
need to do this on my own,'" Melvoin says. Yet Wendy and Lisa have thrived,
releasing several albums and scoring films like Soul Food (20th Century Fox,
1997) and television shows like NBC's Heroes, as well as working with the
Edith Funker supergroup with Erykah Badu, ?uestlove, James Poyser, and DJ
Jazzy Jeff. But looking back, Wendy says of the time: "We are extremely
proud
of that period."
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