is it every time Renato starts playing the song no longer sounds like a Prince song. Renato turns the mood of the song into some kinda Blake Edwards cartoon. Hope he never shows his face in Purpleland again.

agreed .. his elevator jazz solo during delirious is what put me over the edge on this guy .. glad he is gone .. he ruined prince live sound for a solid decade

Let's agree to disagree

agreed

I think he had great moments such as his piano solo during ILYBIDTYA at Montreux.
But he has limitations, 'cuz most of his solos can sound the same.

I didn't like him. He may have been great at what he was doing, but I just didn't appreciate it.

He was great at what he was doing, but you're sort of right that his playing transformed the feel of Prince's songs often into something else.

novabrkr said:

He was great at what he was doing, but you're sort of right that his playing transformed the feel of Prince's songs often into something else.

Bingo.

novabrkr said:

He was great at what he was doing, but you're sort of right that his playing transformed the feel of Prince's songs often into something else.

Still I'm puzzled: every time Prince tries something a bit different the fans complain, every time he keeps doing the same thing over and over again they complain as well, so basically what is he supposed to do?

The reason why I love Renato being in P's music, besides the fact that he's a top-notch musician, is PRECISELY that he brought something different to the mix. For example that solo on the reggae part on When Eye Lay My Eyes On U at Montreux 2009 or the solo at the beginning of East is stuff that was really unexpected in Prince's music, and I really dig when this happens because it's not so often.

The only thing that I didn't like about his interventions where the basic, untwitched, generic 80's synth sounds that he's played on some songs at Nokia and Montreux. It's one of the only few times Prince has used generic synth sounds as such like this (reminds me of Miles who was a specialist in using terrible generic synths sounds in the 80's) and it really gives an elevator jazz feel to some tracks, but I suspect Prince was behind that really poor musical decision, not Renato. And somehow they don't spoil the shows for me, I still find them brilliant nonetheless. In a way it's so unpredictable in itself that P would use generic synth sounds that it works somehow

Ah, I meant it just in a way that the feel and harmonic content of Prince's music has a certain rawness to it that doesn't really come through Renato's solos (and whatever else he's added to the live arrangements himself). I like his playing and I like many of those performances, but I always get the feeling that "this doesn't really sound like it should". It often just goes into a direction that doesn't match his compositions.

its not that renato doesnt change the sound .. its that renato is a one trick pony .. every song he plays on ends up sounding like elevator muzak .. every solo is interchangeable with his other solos .. he is just boring .. prince is boring .. all anybody wants from prince is for him to make something that isn't boring .. when he does that people will be happy .. instead he just rehashes the same old styles .. take his recent "slowing down" of hits .. LRC was ok but ICNTTPOYM was boring LGC was almost interesting but ultimately loses what is good about the song .. how many times is he gonna do this gimmick .. same with the jazz mix on everything .. 10 years now isn't it that he's been elevator jazzing all his songs .. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz prince has a strange aversion to playing the songs the way they were written, supposedly by him .. wtf .. when i lay my hands on u was a clunker to begin with .. the renato version just made it worse .. prince should do his concerts in an elevator from now on

I love what he did

I...I...don't really care.

databank said:

novabrkr said:

He was great at what he was doing, but you're sort of right that his playing transformed the feel of Prince's songs often into something else.

Still I'm puzzled: every time Prince tries something a bit different the fans complain, every time he keeps doing the same thing over and over again they complain as well, so basically what is he supposed to do?

The reason why I love Renato being in P's music, besides the fact that he's a top-notch musician, is PRECISELY that he brought something different to the mix. For example that solo on the reggae part on When Eye Lay My Eyes On U at Montreux 2009 or the solo at the beginning of East is stuff that was really unexpected in Prince's music, and I really dig when this happens because it's not so often.

The only thing that I didn't like about his interventions where the basic, untwitched, generic 80's synth sounds that he's played on some songs at Nokia and Montreux. It's one of the only few times Prince has used generic synth sounds as such like this (reminds me of Miles who was a specialist in using terrible generic synths sounds in the 80's) and it really gives an elevator jazz feel to some tracks, but I suspect Prince was behind that really poor musical decision, not Renato. And somehow they don't spoil the shows for me, I still find them brilliant nonetheless. In a way it's so unpredictable in itself that P would use generic synth sounds that it works somehow

Prince should do exactly what he wants to--fans will like some of it, and dislike some of it. So I was underwhelmed for the few minutes after Prince said "Renato... Neto" until he finally said, even more excited, "Renato Neto!" No big deal. I didn't share his excitement with Renato most of the time, but there was alot going on that I did like--and whatever was going on with Renato, Prince seemed to like it.

I went to a Sheila E. and Eric Leeds concert in Hamburg in either 1994 or 1995 in Hamburg and I loved the new arrangements for some classic Prince songs.

Years later I asked Eric Leeds about those arrangements (at Paisley Park during the 2002 celebration) and he told me that it was Renato Neto. I told him that I didn´t remember seeing Renato in Hamburg but Eric told me it was him, just with very long hair back then.

*

Back then, he wasn´t playing endless sci-fi sounding synth solos though. I like what Renato added to the NPG sound but at some point it was getting a bit too much. I´m more into the sounds and contributions of a Dr.Fink and Morris Hayes.But I think Renato gets too much flak around here. I like him, but I agree that his sound was getting a bit too much. Sometimes less is more.

i loved renato's contribution to prince's music and his live shows.

his solo's are absolutely phenomenal on a lot of the ONA shows,

especially the aftershows in europe.

I really hate when Renato is on the keys. It was great during Musicology though, because I was still an avid pot smoker back then, and as soon as Renato started playing his solo I knew I had about ten minutes to go toke up in the bathroom, and not risk missing anything.

I forget what song it was, but it was usually the 4th or 5th in the lineup.

he fit in good with the time era he was in. he is indeed a talented player

nyse said:

I thought he was pretty solid..

novabrkr said:

He was great at what he was doing, but you're sort of right that his playing transformed the feel of Prince's songs often into something else.

and whats wrong with THAT?