The vault in Kirk's head is closed and will never be opened.

donnyenglish said:

Prince seemed to like both of them because they did not take over his music. Blackwell tended to overpower Prince’s music because he was so good. The same can be said about Michael B. But, is Kirk underrated as a drummer? He sounds better than Bobby Z to me and that is no diss of Bobby Z. All of Prince’s drummers served their purpose at the time.

Bobby Z during Prince time played the music close to what Prince wanted. During that time period, Prince was very specific about developing his unique style and sound. Prince was also learning the stage, learning to be a frontman, stage presence etc. So he hed didn't want people flashing and showing off either. They were allowed to be more loose on off tour shows, where they might play the songs differently. Like the 1982 First Ave show where they opened with a harder rock version of Bambi.

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Lisa Coleman in a recent interview talked about a Dirty Mind show early on where she was doing a lot more flurrishes and taking her playing a little more wider. She said, after the show Prince came to her happy and said "You got pretty excited up that tonight huh?" something like that. And they talked and then he reminded her to pull back and keep it close to what was rehearsed.

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Bobby Z also helped to break in Prince's use of electronic drums, linn drums and triggers for the shows. 1978-1986/87 Prince was into his sound ie Purple Music / Minneapolis Sounds etc. by the time Kirk and the NPG he had move further away from that. Linn drumming and that live sound more directly expressing the album music was over.

donnyenglish said:

Prince seemed to like both of them because they did not take over his music. Blackwell tended to overpower Prince’s music because he was so good. The same can be said about Michael B. But, is Kirk underrated as a drummer? He sounds better than Bobby Z to me and that is no diss of Bobby Z. All of Prince’s drummers served their purpose at the time.

Well that's bollocks about Michael Bland. He always played what was needed and didn't fall prey to overplaying.

OldFriends4Sale said:

donnyenglish said:

Prince seemed to like both of them because they did not take over his music. Blackwell tended to overpower Prince’s music because he was so good. The same can be said about Michael B. But, is Kirk underrated as a drummer? He sounds better than Bobby Z to me and that is no diss of Bobby Z. All of Prince’s drummers served their purpose at the time.

Bobby Z during Prince time played the music close to what Prince wanted. During that time period, Prince was very specific about developing his unique style and sound. Prince was also learning the stage, learning to be a frontman, stage presence etc. So he hed didn't want people flashing and showing off either. They were allowed to be more loose on off tour shows, where they might play the songs differently. Like the 1982 First Ave show where they opened with a harder rock version of Bambi.

.

Lisa Coleman in a recent interview talked about a Dirty Mind show early on where she was doing a lot more flurrishes and taking her playing a little more wider. She said, after the show Prince came to her happy and said "You got pretty excited up that tonight huh?" something like that. And they talked and then he reminded her to pull back and keep it close to what was rehearsed.

.

Bobby Z also helped to break in Prince's use of electronic drums, linn drums and triggers for the shows. 1978-1986/87 Prince was into his sound ie Purple Music / Minneapolis Sounds etc. by the time Kirk and the NPG he had move further away from that. Linn drumming and that live sound more directly expressing the album music was over.

Yes, Prince stated Bobby watched him like a hawk and followed his exact direction. I read (can't remember where) that when Prince let Bobby go he said, "you were a good soldier".

jjam said:

donnyenglish said:

Prince seemed to like both of them because they did not take over his music. Blackwell tended to overpower Prince’s music because he was so good. The same can be said about Michael B. But, is Kirk underrated as a drummer? He sounds better than Bobby Z to me and that is no diss of Bobby Z. All of Prince’s drummers served their purpose at the time.

Well that's bollocks about Michael Bland. He always played what was needed and didn't fall prey to overplaying.

You really can't compare the drum sound of Bobby to Michael or John. Prince was going much heavier on the drums on his 90's music, and John would copy that sound when he played those songs in the 2000's. Both Michael and John were quieter when the song called for less heavy drumming.