Hey y'all. There have been lots of comments recently about Prince's use of a cheesy string pad mixed in with the piano sound on his recent Piano & Mic performances at Paisley Park. I share their frustration. It is one in a long line of promised 'acoustic' performances/recordings where Prince doesn't quite deliver that stripped-down sound.

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I loved the bootlegs I heard of the Piano & Mic performances (especially Show One). Incredible stuff. But I can only buy into it when I pretend not to hear the string pad. What is Prince's thinking here? Is he afraid that the sound won't be full enough with just his beautiful rich voice and virtuosic piano chops? He didn't seem concerned on the Lovesexy tour. All i can suspect is that he thinks the pad is pretty. That's the kind of thing he'd think, right?

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The Truth. Hot damn, a beautiful album, one of my favourites. And yet one can hardly call it an 'acoustic' album. I can hardly begin to dream of what that album could have sounded like without the sound effects/synths/plastic drum machines/electro-acoustic guitars.

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Give me the Lovesexy piano interlude. The Musicology-era acoustic guitar sets. Give me the studio version of Sometimes it Snows In April. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore. That brave, exposed acoustic sound that only Prince can do, that thrills and chills, that strips all that crap that surrounds him (musical and otherwise) and proves his genius.

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And yet. Enough bitching. This is Prince. He always confounds, in equal parts exquisite and frustrating. We all know that. This string pad nonsense is just part of the journey. I just hope he concentrates more on pants rather than pads in the future.

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What other truly acoustic Prince performances do you love?

The acoustic performance of "Love" that made its debut on 3121.com was nice, I thought. It of course had overdubs.

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There's a studio rehearsal named "Alphabet St Blues" in circulation that's P on guitar; a fun listen.

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"That Girl Thing" seems pretty free of overdubs but was labeled a demo.

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The "acoustic" mix of Space from the maxi-single is great, but yeah, hardly acoustic. Same for the "acoustic" version of 7 from its maxi-single.

Noone told me he used the cheesy mix pad. oh oh

he should strive for this :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S26kghjJI9c

I wish he would do an entire set like 'Oui Can Luv'.

His guitar with Andy's vocals was such a tease.

I like her voice on that track but no one can bring certain (many) experiences to life like Prince.

Don't tell anyone to turn the house lights down, don't have an audience sing along, just you and the acoustic guitar.

Be sad and let us hear desperation for an hour and a half.

Please.

Thank you.

EroticDreamer said:

I wish he would do an entire set like 'Oui Can Luv'.

His guitar with Andy's vocals was such a tease.

I like her voice on that track but no one can bring certain (many) experiences to life like Prince.

Don't tell anyone to turn the house lights down, don't have an audience sing along, just you and the acoustic guitar.

Be sad and let us hear desperation for an hour and a half.

Please.

Thank you.

Yeah, I'd love that too

As much as a piano&mic-set....

EroticDreamer said:

I wish he would do an entire set like 'Oui Can Luv'.

His guitar with Andy's vocals was such a tease.

I like her voice on that track but no one can bring certain (many) experiences to life like Prince.

Don't tell anyone to turn the house lights down, don't have an audience sing along, just you and the acoustic guitar.

Be sad and let us hear desperation for an hour and a half.

Please.

Thank you.

Just to be sure you're aware of it, he and Andy had the 9-track Oui Can Luv album available for 12 hours on Tidal back in November. If you didn't know (and you liked the original Oui Can Luv single stream, you should check it out. Just Prince's acoustic guitar and Andy's voice for the whole thing. It's an interesting set. Here's the Princevault link for more info:

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Album:_Oui_Can_Luv

EddieC said:

EroticDreamer said:

I wish he would do an entire set like 'Oui Can Luv'.

His guitar with Andy's vocals was such a tease.

I like her voice on that track but no one can bring certain (many) experiences to life like Prince.

Don't tell anyone to turn the house lights down, don't have an audience sing along, just you and the acoustic guitar.

Be sad and let us hear desperation for an hour and a half.

Please.

Thank you.

Just to be sure you're aware of it, he and Andy had the 9-track Oui Can Luv album available for 12 hours on Tidal back in November. If you didn't know (and you liked the original Oui Can Luv single stream, you should check it out. Just Prince's acoustic guitar and Andy's voice for the whole thing. It's an interesting set. Here's the Princevault link for more info:

http://www.princevault.com/index.php/Album:_Oui_Can_Luv

famosA, let's hope.

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EddieC, thanks for the info. I've had it for awhile and already 43 plays on my itunes.