databank said:

I'm surprised to see a certain orger hasn't popped-up yet to say how badly Prince needed drumming lessons.

He's gonna come up with comparisons to Bonzo.

bonatoc said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yes, I believe Jesse Johnson talked about that too 777-9311 is linn programmed

You mean it's a demo preset?

Oh, well. Pretty much all rap is based on breforehand made music,
so let's give the man a break. We'll say he'd sampled it.

No one has ever proved this by fuppin getting a Linn and showing the preset. I'm gonna stick with there's no way in hell a drum beat as complicated as that was a preset and if it was it would appear on someone else's song somewhere. Probably the beat is built up from a preset and the story got confused in people's mind, I mean I love me some Jesse Johnson but his facebook story posts are always an absolute ramble.

[Edited 2/10/18 3:25am]

He was the bee's knees

jaawwnn said:

bonatoc said:

You mean it's a demo preset?

Oh, well. Pretty much all rap is based on breforehand made music,
so let's give the man a break. We'll say he'd sampled it.

No one has ever proved this by fuppin getting a Linn and showing the preset. I'm gonna stick with there's no way in hell a drum beat as complicated as that was a preset and if it was it would appear on someone else's song somewhere. Probably the beat is built up from a preset and the story got confused in people's mind, I mean I love me some Jesse Johnson but his facebook story posts are always an absolute ramble.

[Edited 2/10/18 3:25am]

It wasn't a pre-set. The beat is played but the hi-hat is the only thng on the Linn and it's programmed. It's not a preset.

Not bad, for a boy

milesb said:

Not bad, for a boy

Makes me thing about the "I'm Yours" bravado fireworks display...
He was pretty much already there.

The last time I saw him, he was playing drums. At the 3121 afterparty, Las Vegas. He closed the show on drums. I could never forget that.

There aren't much drummers with humour.
"Come Elektra Tuesday" is hilarious, and you can tell Prince studied Morris' cousin, "Alfred".
"The Sex Of It", "Movie Star", "Last Heart", all these minimalistic patterns.

"Temptation", man! "Temptation" weighs sixteen tons, and one more.
It's like drum in slow motion, and Prince tries to lift it up,
but the machine just slowly grinds, it's a war of the sex machines,
intercourse apocalypse. Those drums, they just pump!

And "Do Yourself a Favour".
The teles he lays over it. Rhythm guitar is a rhytmic element too.
A rather percussive one. "Controversy" is all rhythm guitar,
like some harmonical cabasa or shaker or hi-hat going on for ten minutes or so,
the trick being losing track of time.

Prince can make a hit just with a hi-hat.
That's what "U Got The Look" is.
OK, Sheila's timbals don't ruin it, that's for sure.
Nor does the giant lubricated Muppet Show horny dog
barking and yelping in some room next door, unless it's a guitar.


When he programs "Others Here With Us" or "Sign O' The Times", it's chilling.
It's serious stuff.

The insane female screams samples, the doomed tom rolls.
The only voodoo song in all Prince's repertoire.

The lone, black, slowdowned snare, flashing in repetition,
blinking in a giant hole... The gunshot of America.
Challenger exploding in slow motion.
It's serious stuff.

"Shockadelica", for which he blatantly steals himself,
the syncopated double kick drums of "Housequake" and scratches them
in paper sand or something. Ahhh, "Shockadelica".
Where's the humour nowadays, people?

Where's Cloreen?
So, do you like environmental records? Crickets chirping, water rushing.
Supposed to make you horny. It just make me want to go to the bathroom.
Actually this one's not bad, Check it out.

Ow yes, Prince has still an amazing sense of beat when he goes drumless.
"A Place in Heaven" is a good example.
There's very complex rhythm in all his voice flourishes.

I mean don't start me on how he deflects from the main vocal lead

in the second verse of "Anotherloverholenyohead".
That's harmonical polyrhythmics or whatever shit you wanna call it, right there.

Does he sing before the girls? Didn't he just sang late?
What's happening? What's goin'on? Help!
Uh-oh, here comes the chorus already.
Damn.

Love reading your post bonatoc, but what makes you say that Others Here With Us is the only voodoo song in all Prince's repertoire? I think there is a strong voodoo current all through his oeuvre. Not literally of course. But a dark pulse.

RJOrion said:

"morris' cousin, Alfred"? or do you mean Prince's brother, Alfred?

The Bacon Skin one.

paulludvig said:

Love reading your post bonatoc, but what makes you say that Others Here With Us is the only voodoo song in all Prince's repertoire? I think there is a strong voodoo current all through his oeuvre. Not literally of course. But a dark pulse.

Oh yes. But "Others Here With Us", you put that over
the "Eyes Wide Shut" secret club fake trial scene,
all of a sudden it's Dario Argento.

I'd rather go with "Severine! Severine!" on the Synclavier instead,
at least it's sexual.

Imagine "Others Here With Us" waking you in the headphones at 5 am,
trying to get your hangover over with. It's cold, it's night, the city is desert.
Try to listen to it in the dark, boost these basses and have a nightmare, non merci, I've been there.

The Clare Fischer take on it was totally mad. It's a failed experiment, but a very interesting one.
OHWU is much scarier all naked. Prince sweating his anguish.

Yeah, I see what you mean.
I would say "God (Vocal)" is voodoo, for sure.
But going that path, the guitar intro of WDC,
The pulse of TBO... "Erotic City"... "Irresistible Bitch" is kind of demonic,
in a war of the sexes way. Is it really just cursing?

Well pulse doesn't necessarily mean voodoo.
There has been some mystic shit all over, that much is true.
"Witness (4 The Prosecution)" has some serious possessed drummer.
It's just four tracks, old school. Well maybe a ping-pong, but no more than 6.
That ride he does!

"When U Were Mine" sounds like he borrowed the The Jam drummer for a session.
It sounds like the lost Soul B-Side found on one of the London Calling singles.
So much with so little. He knows all about behind and beyond the beat.
And he's steady! The click would just ruin the emotion.
When Prince slowly accelerates or slows down, you can bet your ass it's intended.

Here, another Joker card: the simple, steady pulse of "I Wanna Be Your Lover".
It's simple, but no one could have laid a first take so genuine, it's truthful in every detail.
Prince's beat sounds like a broken heart's beat.
That double snare making the jump from chorus to verse, it's Stax / Volt stuff, it's Motown, it may look like nothing much but Prince is a stylist.

He does very little on the drums because it has to laid three, four, five, 6, 7, 8 and so forth instruments depending on his mood. I would never diminished SKipper's abilities on the drums, we'll never know what a drummer or a basket-ball player he could have been, had he chosen to dedicate himself to one discipline only.

Considering he chose to use a machine to draw rhythmic sketches as they came to his mind, the Linn years were incredible. It sounded like the drum machine was an instrument especially made for Prince. It's like he left the pencil strokes visible instead of covering them.
Every other artist was doing cold, robotic stuff.
Prince's purple, red and blue drum computers are very much alive.
TBO has something driving it that is some sort of female HAL9000. It's alive.
I don't mind the Talking Heads, but they ain't funky. Bowie kinda is.
But Prince could make a single drum machine pattern totally hypnotic, organic, ambiguous.

Ooooo, Voodoooooo!!!

bonatoc said:

RJOrion said:

"morris' cousin, Alfred"? or do you mean Prince's brother, Alfred?

The Bacon Skin one.

Prince's big brother, Alfred Jackson

I think it's interesting how the Peach and Black guys say his drumming is sloppy and tight at the same time.

.

.

I agree but don't know if I could explain it to someone else.

RJOrion said:

bonatoc said:

The Bacon Skin one.

Prince's big brother, Alfred Jackson

Are you suggesting the "Alfred" in "Cloreen Bacon Skin" is actually a real character?
That's news to me!