Vanity 6 – Vanity 6

hola! estas en Barcelona? Si puedo regojer el disco en persona avisame :)

Incredible album. I noticed my pressing isn't listed here

Matrix / Runout: 1-23716-A-WW4 #3 · ─◁
Matrix / Runout: 1-23716-B-WW3 #2 · ─◁

Amazing. Actually music you can make love while listening to/playing the album!
Classic retrograde funk soul.
For wannabe music directors this album is perfect for current standards what's lost on the FM radio stations today 2023.

Fun and bubbly album from Mr Nelson and his charges, and not to be found on CD or streaming services as far as I can see. Highly recommended for fans of the big little man and 80s pop in general. Part of Prince's 'shadow trilogy', along with the The Family album and Ice Cream Castle by The Time.

A note to sellers, a lot of buyers are specifically looking to buy this version for the poster. Please put in the listing whether it has the poster or not, I've had to message so many sellers to ask if it does.

one of the best Prince album, no offense dear Vanity ( rip )

The thing is, Vanity 6 is a manufactured masterpiece. Partially a mixed bag of oddities, Prince may hide behind a moniker here, but altogether doesn't even try hiding his sexual appetite, pouring it into lascivious songs, sang by three attractive women (he named them after three pairs of breasts - hence the phrase "3x2=6"), while complimenting this early 80s funk ambition of his with a subversive slab of electronic beats that at times sound ever so dangerously close to DAF, while also pre-date Miss Kittins and Adult.s of today (Tamion 12 Inch even directly borrowed from "Make-Up" to create their own masterpiece, called "Fuck You Tami").

"Nasty Girl", "Wet Dream" or "He's So Dull" reflect Prince at his most typical (and somewhat too sleezy; "He's So Dull" sounds like a song that never made it to the Flashdance movie soundtrack, the adorable "Wet Dream" sounds like an early take of "I Could Never Take the Place Of Your Man"), while masterpieces like "Drive me wild" and "Make up" are more to do with early Mute Records' repertoire than that of Prince (or the Revolution's). "Bite the Beat" on the other hand is charmingly close to the sound of The B-52's (think of a "Whammy!" demo of sorts). In all, "Vanity 6" is fun to listen to - naive, but at the same time there is something twisted bubbling in the background of it all. A truly recommended listen.

An essential funk/synthpop album, which is the perfect epitomy of Prince's then brilliant producer talent. My personal highlights here are Nasty Girl and I A Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up). The first seems to have been, well, a big "inspiration" for the Neptunes-produced "I'm A Slave For You" by Britney (listen to the rhythm!) - but you can also find references to this huge funk cut in other r'n'b tracks, such as Joyce 'Fenderella' Irby's "Let's Do It". The second is worth the listen for Prince part alone (he plays the part of an 'irresistible bitch' having an argument with the Vanity 6 girls).

Classic funk! So what if Vanity was replaced by Apollonia when she didn't make the final cut to star opposite Prince in Purple Rain? The 'heart & soul' of Vanity 6/Apollonia 6 were in the writing and production of the songs - handled of course by Prince (as Jamie Starr) and Jam & Lewis of the then fledgling Time. All that withstanding, this one's worth listening to just to hear Vanity and Brenda catfighting via the phone with another girl (voice supplied by a vocoded Prince)... this is when Prince and his entourage were truly at their best.

If there's one album that defines electro-funkiness then this is the one. It combines three striking forces that happened to have met at one precise moment: Vanity 6 (Brenda, Vanity and Susan - starlets wannabe) as lead singers and allegedly producers, Prince (under the alias The Starr Company) as producer and backing singer, and The Time as musicians.
It was not necessarily an accident. These people hanged out together and, at different points in time, worked together in different productions even if only as guest stars. However, this is a very relevant moment in the carreers of both Prince and The Time. As for Vanity 6, this album is their whole carreer. Vanity would go solo on Motown for a couple of records and the other two would Apollonia to form Apollonia 6 (also a one record act).
Prince is all over this album. Funky guitars and metalic drums, telephones ringing, girls moaning. Strangely enough this album sounds more like Prince then many of his own productions. On "Nasty Girl" Vanity sings "I don't like this groove. Try and give me something I can croon to. Catch my drift?" and the song goes into a sample of "Around The World In A Day". The album is predominantly feminine and interestingly enough many of the tracks have a similar production to those that Prince recorded under the name Camille ("If I was Your Girlfriend", "Scarlet Pussy", "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker"...) and those of darker tone in "The Black album".
Prince's music (and persona) has always been associated with a plurality of talent and possibilities. Thus, Vanity 6 is probably one of Princes most significant productions that could have never been what is should he have chosen to sign the project himself.
Twenty two years later, this record sounds very fresh apart from the off moment, "He's So Dull", which sounds like very cheap Dolly Parton and very unlike Prince (probably Vanity 6's only production credit, my guess).
Classic tracks: "Nasty Girl", "Drive Me Wild", "If A Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)", "Make-Up", and "Bite The Beat" (Where Felix Da Housecat ripped "What Does It Feel Like?" from).