That being said,they are also somewhat outside American pop conventions of the late 80’s. The chord changes on the song are actually very singable. The rhythm is in as much an unusual time signature as what Dave Brubeck did in the “cool jazz” genre,also featuring some ultra funky bass/guitar interaction. The bridge features an electronic marimba type solo before the choral sequence of the song repeats to fade-with the synth marimba playing right along side it all the way.Ĭo written with Johnathan and Susannah Melvoin (‘ne of The Family,now fDeluxe), “Honeymoon Express” is a very densely composed,jazzy funk number. Just before the choruses,the song goes up a chord just before the chorus-with the ethereal synthesizer mixed up a bit higher.

This is accompanied by a bassier sounding synth that plays for all the bars of refrain-along with a beat that kicks up high on the snare every few beats or so. Wendy starts out playing a thick and liquid rhythm guitar over an ethereal synth sound. The first song on this album made an immediate impact on me personally. Their 1987 self titled debut featured songs that featured the production and co-writing of fellow Revolution alumni Bobby Z as well as Wendy’s brother,the late Johnathan Melvoin of Smashing Pumpkins fame. They were genuine proteges who not only had enormous talent on their own,but also contributed new musical ideas for Prince. Wendy and Lisa were significant because,similar to Jam & Lewis,the duo were never anyone Prince could be a puppet master with. After two years of success with Prince,Wendy & Lisa left the Revolution,signed with Columbia and began their career as a duo. In fact,it was Coleman who recommended Wendy to succeed original Revolution guitarist Dez Dickerson when he left before the making of the Purple Rain album. These musical lives led up to Coleman becoming the successor to Prince’s original keyboard player Gayle Chapman in 1980. Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman knew each other their entire childhood in LA,with both their fathers being musicians in the group of iconic session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew.

Prince protege