— Chris Heath
Here is the second part about what it means to be 'Princian' — for good or bad.
Wendy & Lisa represented the musically literate side of Prince's vast entourage. While no one in Prince's employ could come close to his abilities, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman were (and remain) accomplished multi-instrumentalists, talented songwriters and excellent vocalists. They even came from good musical stock, with Melvoin's father Mike having been a notable jazz pianist while her brother Chris would later go on to be the touring keyboardist for alternative rock superstars Smashing Pumpkins.
But the Prince stable was populated by more than just ace session cats. Being a showman of the highest caliber, the Purple Perv cultivated first rate dancers for his renowned concerts and he kept many of them around. While Wendy & Lisa were easy on the eyes themselves, these girls were gorgeous, sexy and knew their way around a stage. In some ways they were as necessary to Prince's shows as his crack backing band.
Cat Glover came on board at roughly the same time that Wendy & Lisa departed following the purge of Prince's band The Revolution. She appeared in some of his videos and became an increasingly prominent part of his critically lauded Lovesexy tour. Magazines like Smash Hits would refer to her by the mononym 'Cat' with only the added bit of info that she was "Prince's foxtress". It looked like she was becoming properly famous.
As if to test this out, record label WEA (the same company that Prince, perhaps just a touch dramatically, would later claim had enslaved him) had Glover signed up to their subsidiary Red Dot Records. With her old friend having just released the Batman soundtrack, it seemed like a stroke of genius to have her debut single be titled "Catwoman". It's just a pity that everyone was beginning to conclude that while the movie itself was really good, the music sucked for the most part. Prince, it would seem, couldn't simply belch out an entire album's worth of songs about Bruce Wayne and Vicky Vail's romance and electric chairs and expect everyone to fawn all over it. Whatever hit single potential Cat's response had, it would pay the price for Prince's worst album to date.
But could "Catwoman" have been a hit? Possibly. New jack swing was beginning to really take off with the massive success of Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 and it could easily have taken off as a result. With hits like "Miss You Much" and "Escapade", the youngest of the Jackson clan was staking a claim to territory previously occupied by her brother Michael; the hits weren't as big in Britain however. Luckily, Cat's single was very much a product of and for the UK with Bomb the Bass' Tim Simenon producing and references to Radio 1 and Radio 2. Turns out, it didn't do so well but at least it got itself a spot of the lower reaches of the UK charts.
Chris Heath admits to "Catwoman" taking its time to grow in his esteem and its lack of immediacy also may have hampered its chances. On the other hand, it hasn't altered much for me over the last few days. It sounded like a mess — an engaging mess but a mess all the same — but one that wasn't so off-putting that I had to turn it off. Not "useless, tuneless and boring" but neither is it "quite wonderful" either. A more than acceptable first — and, indeed, only — try from Cat.
As for the song's Princian aspects, it's all surface level. Hard-hitting R&B with a hard rock guitar solo are key elements to some of his most well-remembered songs but they were hardly required in order to make a Prince tune great. Creativity, swagger and a willingness to stick one's neck out were elements that his nibs used to craft some of the most memorable pop of the age (and I say that as a bit of a Prince agnostic) but they aren't present and correct here. Wendy & Lisa had those qualities while Cat had the stage presence and confidence. Prince had it all and that X factor. In the end, perhaps it's a willingness not to be just like The Beatles or Prince that makes a band truly Beatlesque or Princian. They didn't wish to follow anyone, so why would you want to follow them?
Finally, a look at the single's review this fortnight shows a glut of product on offer. In addition to the thirteen records evaluated by Heath, there's another two dozen listed in the 'Also Released This Fortnight' sidebar. It being the start of November, it was once again time to start looking towards the Christmas Number One sweepstakes. As ever, these "contenders" were too early to put up much of a fight as the real favourites were still to come. But these singles also suggest a staleness in pop in the waning weeks of the eighties. The sidebar does give off some hope with The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Wonder Stuff and Lightning Seeds all releasing new singles. Indie would be British pop's saviour as the nineties kicked off and one of its key records was about to emerge.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Phil Collins: "Another Day in Paradise"
Phil Collins' many critics have some legit reasons for loathing his music but they might wish to try for a bit of nuance. Yes, "Another Day in Paradise" is a rich man's sob story about encountering homeless people but it isn't that bad. In fact, it all seemed very noble, if quite preachy, back when it hit the charts at the end of 1989. Where Phil got it wrong was in a lack of understanding: rich guy sees people begging out of the corner of his eye and he's moved enough to promptly write a song about it. And that's fine only there's nothing else to it. Compare it to the Pet Shop Boys' "The Theatre" from the Very album and it feels even more shallow. The following spring my English Language Arts teacher Mrs Reid had us do presentations about protest songs. Lazy bugger though I was (and still am), I was up for this assignment and I did well speaking about U2's "Silver and Gold". Most of my classmates also gave good presentations on the likes of John Lennon, Tracy Chapman and Public Enemy. The girl who chose to speak to the class about "Another Day in Paradise", however, struggled. From what I can recall, she didn't seem to have much to say beyond simply "homelessness is bad". And who can blame her? That's all Phil was able to contribute too.
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