Out of ALL of P's guitar solos (the solo to Purple Rain is my fave from P) to P's riffs, I have to say that, still to this day, nothing has more of an effect on me than P's guitar run to the intro of When Doves Cry. From his choice of scale to his tone to his vibrato, to me, it transcends beyond a cat playing a melodic phrase. It sounds like something else to me...to me, it always sounded like some kind of exotic and wounded animal trying to speak. When this was first released onto the public, IT sounded like NOTHING else on the radio. Nothing. And the beauty part of it for me was always that this song opened up with this perfect guitar intro. Being a lead guitarist myself, I realize that this phrase isn't that hard to play. But it's what Prince created and captured and his execution of the phrase that I find to be...beautiful.

blackguitaristz said:

Wasn't it backwards as well? Not the actual Guitar playing but the recording !!

blackguitaristz said:

I agree. It's interesting that you say it's not that hard to play. I've broken down quite a few of Prince's song down over the years and they are amazingly simple to play. The man just knows to how to ARRANGE. I think he is highly underrated and appreciated in this area.

Overrated.

workingupahiyellasweat said:

Why ?

I've told you before that i'm not a big fan of most of Prince's lead guitar sounds. However this intro works for me.
It's not about how complicated it is. The vibe is right. That's what counts.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

He is the master of intros, all his great singles you know within 2 seconds what song it is. When Doves Cry is probably my favourite example.

blackguitaristz said:

A perfect song.

From the beginning of the gutiar solo,

to ending of the fabulous keyboard display,

this is a masterpiece...

Agree with nothing else like this was being played on the radio.

Nothing came close to this tune..

And it still stands the test of time..

Funk at its best!!...(Yes damit!!! I said funk..it can do airthang.. )

A groove with no bass that hit #1!!

I mean the drums were being

bass and beat at the same time....dayummm!!!

That blew me away!!

I thought Ladycab Driver was sheer genius, but this one, just a classic..

purpledisc said:

Yeah, I'm curious about this too... I'd heard that it was backwards...

It is backwards. The guitar notes are very Middle Eastern and the octave divider masks it a little too. But it's one of the coolest intros to a song ever written. I like how Prince's 1990 band did this song. Levi's bass and the funk guitar gave it a whole new life.

SPYZFAN1 said:

It is backwards but that just goes to show how visionary P is with knowing what scale to choose and more than that, what it's finally going to SOUND like when it's played foward.

blackguitaristz said:

Without sounding a smart arse though, Backwards Guitar was done many years earlier - Hendrix did this on Electric Ladyland (I think it was the track And The Gods Made Love where Hendrix kicked his strat around the floor and then played it backwards later) and also on his track Are You Experienced, which is very, very cool ..... So although it was cool in When Doves Cry, I don't see it as anything excitingly new at that time.....Still a kick ass intro though !!!

The intro alone is fantastic but it is even better when you watch the video. That moment when the camera moves towards him and he stands up and gives you his hand in the bathtub is one of my Top 3 Prince-moments. Absolutely awesome.

You're dead on it Brutha B. P is definetly not from this planet! (lol) But he knew where he was going on that guitar lick. Whenever I hear that intro, I'm just like "Aww sheet!"

purpledisc said:

Trust me, player. I am well versed in backwards recording being I do it myself recording backwards lead guitar solos. U can ask some folks on this very site that has heard my music. They will confirm this. The first cat that I was hip to was Jimi in a beautiful solo from the song "Are You Experienced". It's all over Axis album as well, especially Castles Made Of Sand. I've run several threads over in Non Music regarding the art of backward recording and masking.

blackguitaristz said:

Personally I always digged the 'Choppy' intro to that song.....

Hendrix, besides being a druggy was awesome.....I sometimes wonder how cool he would be today if it had not been for his tragic passing ?? In some ways he was brillaint but in others he wasnt.....Whatever the facts may be he was cool

coolcat said:

You guys DON'T miss anything. I never would have even thought about this being backwards. I always knew there was something "un-natural" about the way it sounded but it never really dawned on me. This is just another reason why I appreciate this site.

purpledisc said:

Well, I quess then I'm even bigger smart arse than you. Backwards guitar solo was done almost a year before (than Hendrix did it on Are You Experienced-67) in Beatles song called "I'm only Sleeping". You can find that song from their "Revolver"-album, which was released in 1966. I'm also quite sure, that someone has done that even earlier than The Beatles did.

I will have to reverse that I see what it sounds like backwardsbackwards. I've heard this before but wasn't sure if it was confirmed.

PasiKullero said:

lol.....Never been a fan of the beatles. I am fairly sure that many Guiatrists would have done "Backwards" guitar before Hendrix, I just wanted to make the point that the Backwards effect had been done years earlier - One of my favourite Backwards Guitar Tunes is "The Bells of Lal" by Joe Satriani in case your'e wondering !!

Now how many times did I say Backwards in there !!!!!

purpledisc said:

IMO the point still is HOW you use it. Same thing goes with Prince's speeded up vocals. Actually that trick was quite common in the 50's when they did those "funny" records with the squirrel-voices. Though they were hardly as funky as Prince were in those Camille-tracks.

PasiKullero said:

Pinky and Perky rocked man.....Don't be dissing on them.....

Marvin and the Chipmunks too.....

purpledisc said:

Actually, that'd be...



...Alvin & The Chipmunks


Ross Bagdasarian (aka David Seville) was the recording wizard that sped up the audio to create the distinctive chipmunk voices.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

PasiKullero said:

Well, to keep this thread from being hijacked, as far as backward masking, The Beatles were FAR from being the first to do it. This was being done quite a bit in the 40's and early 50's. The cartoon Popeye The Sailor has TONS of backward masking where he is actually cursing up a storm when it's played in reverse. Since Popeye started off as a comic strip,where Popeye cursed. When made into a cartoon, the creators decided to keep the cursing, but used the backward mask so children wouldn't understand a word he says. Whenever Popeye is mad, like after he gets his ass kicked by Brutus and Popeye walks away pissed off and he's mumbling on his way to grub some spinach, play those scenes in reverse, and he's cursing for days.

blackguitaristz said:

Classic.

funkpill said:

great post, pill.

theAudience said:

he he....Alvin .....Scary shit..... Whats scarier is you know who did this !!!!
[Edited 4/17/06 15:12pm]

why does the guitar strike before the yeah yeah's (prince's serpentine sleazy vocal) sound like its forwards, normal, NOT reversed? Doesn't have that vacuum suction to a point of sound that backwards hits have. Or is it an edited together thing?

purpledisc said:

...



...That's me.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

ufoclub said:

Cuz the vocals aren't backwards. He just edited the vocals to come in AFTER the guitar. Funny that u should mention the "yeah, yeah" part cuz that's something that sounds weird. That's an "un-natural" thing to say, considering the lyrics of the song and it's in an odd place to say it in the song. I think the backwards guitar, the "yeah yeah yeah" are all for an effect. He wanted to make an impact on u right away. But the overall intro has a somewhat unsettling vibe. It's "foriegn". It's like u SHOULD know what it is but u don't. It SOUNDS like music, but...in a way, it sounds like something else. The first thing u hear in a song is crucial. It usually dictates if you're going to like the song or not. Not all of the time, of course.