The Family - The Family (30th anniversary)

Today (August 19th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the self-title debut album The Family. The album did fairly well on the Billboard R&B charts, spending a total of twenty nine weeks on the chart and peaking at number 14. It also spent twenty-two weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 62.

For the complete review of the album, click here.

For more from the Family, click here.

fDeluxe - Gaslight

A couple weeks back I was reviewing the Family’s 1985 self-titled debut album (click here for that review) and I mentioned that I really wished they had put together more than one record. This year, my prayers were answered when last month (September 2011), four of the five original members put out a new release called Gaslight under the new band name fDeluxe. It has been twenty-six years but this was well worth the wait.

The Family - The Family

In 1984 when the Time was breaking up after Morris Day departed for a solo career, Prince suggested that the band restructure with Paul Peterson as the lead. When that fell through, he invited Peterson (lead singer and bassist), Jerome Benton (vocals and percussion) and Jellybean Johnson (drums) to take part in a new project. He also brought in Eric Leeds on saxophone and flute and Susannah Melvin (vocals and keyboards) who wasPrince’s then-time fiancée and the twin sister of Wendy Melvoin.

In August of 1985, the group released their first album, the self-titled The Family. The album did fairly well on the Billboard R&B charts, spending a total of twenty nine weeks on the chart and peaking at number 14. It also spent twenty-two weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 62. All tracks were written by Prince except where noted.

Prince - Girl 6 (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In 1996, American film director Spike Lee released Girl 6, the comedic story of an African-American phone sex operator. The film starred Teherasa Randle, Spike Lee and a cast of cameos including Madonna, Richard Belzer, Coati Mundi, Naomi Campbell and Quentin Tarantino.

For the soundtrack album, Spike Lee tapped Prince for contributions. What resulted was a mix of previously released material from the Prince family of stars as well as a few original tracks. Unless otherwise mentioned, the tracks were performed by Prince.