beside good nude tour version and 1985 purple rain tour prince never
put much effort to peform when doves cry live.

backing tracks oriented versions
from 2001 and 2004 tours are beyound standard.

even 1985 version wasn't
so good because of wendy playing sloopy guitar solo.

will we ever hear when doves cry live
with prince playing his legendary guitar intro
and solo to this masterpiece???

i think the 87-88 live versions kicked major ass and was really creative
{i loved the piano chords it makes the song even more sadder}

This thread idea as been in my mind for months!! I was afraid all the old ppl would bash me . Anyway i totally agree with banish. Even the 87/88 versions I've seen. I dont like the keyboard intro, it doesnt have the same effect the album version as. I always thought of ways he could better this song live, maybe do it like starfish and coffee with the one of each chord (not strumming), but with a distored guitar or w/e. Personally, If I were prince, I wouldn't have treated my first #1 hit with such unenthusiatic live versions; but then again if i was prince i wouldn't have done a lot of things

maybe prince forgot how to play that wicked intro ,but he can learn from tabs on the net

thebanishedone said:

lol haha. I can't find a good tab on the net. But I did find one for Purple Rain (of course). I played along with the track....he whooped my ass lol

wendy never did good job on intro when she played live on purple rain tour

The intro can be played IMO... but the recording is backwards...

no it's not.its played regulary.it's not backwords.
wendy played it,it simular to original,but she was sloppy.

i totally cringe when it's played live, since 87 it's morphed into some kind of Vegas style prop song, just awful, usually edited down, always a pastiche' version, solo replaced with dance moves etc. I sometimes feel the same about hearing Kiss live as well!

That's just you're opinion, I think it's fine!

Who plays the middle guitar solo on the studio version, Wendy or Prince? Man I love that solo and yes it never seems to be as great live but man do I love that guitar solo in the middle section of the studio version, I said that before right? Sorry but I think its just some wonderful guitar playing.

all guitar on studio version of when doves cry is prince.
his solo is much better then wendy's when she did it live

kinda hard to do justice to a song that doesn't have much going on in it
the melody line is basically one note repeated over and over
there's hardly a chorus
the break is the only thing that really has a hook
and maybe the ending double ascension of interweaving keyboard lines

the song relies heavily on its drum track
besides the guitar parts already mentioned,
what would you suggest he do with it?
[Edited 12/1/06 0:09am]

I agree that Prince never did justice to this masterpiece. I think Prince is a great songwriter, but not a great performer. When Doves Cry, I think, would be best done by someone like Kenny G.

Snap said:

I always thought When Doves Cry, along with Kiss, would be perfect candidates to be played alone on the acoustic guitar or piano on stage. Ani di Franco (I believe) did a great acoustic version of When Doves Cry.

I think both of those songs are really 'studio' songs, and can't be reproduced effectively live without doing them very differently.

Bumhole said:

Methinks you should go to more live shows!

I can't remeber when, but in an interview Prince stated that he didn't like performing When Doves Cry and Kiss live because it was difficult to make them sound as good as the studio versions.

thebanishedone said:

U have made good points and I also agree that everytime I saw the PR tour live, (I went 4 times on that tour) Wendy fucked that intro up. As a kid, I used to practice on that intro all the time. I adored it. Still do. I was able to duplicate the lick. Don't know if any of u recall this, but I ran a thread on here, specifically on the intro to When Doves Cry. banishedone, here lies the pure and scary genius of Prince; The intro is indeed reversed. It was processed so it wouldn't "sound" reversed, like say, the solo to the song "Are You Experienced?" Granted, when u play it on the guitar, u can duplicate the lick. It's not that difficult of a run. A variation of the minor penatonic scales. Which P used to death during this period. But, P wrote it and more importantly, PLAYED it in such a way, that so when the part is reversed, it still sounds as if he played it "normal". But from the octave styled effect who choose to use on the sound, it has a very "exotic animal" sound to it. Where u can really tell the intro is reversed is AFTER the opening run, where the flurry of notes are. When P first sustains that first note, and then he whips back into another flurry of notes, it's THERE where it shows the most that it's reversed. Mainly cuz the notes P played foward in that section wasn't as detailed and precise as the opening run of notes were. Then, after that, the solo is flipped BACK to normal. During the section when P's vocals are doing the "owwah owwah owwah owwah". Underneath that, P is playing something not unlike the into to "Purple Haze". That's right before the drums kick in and the intro chorus begins.

Besides Wendy's heavy handed takes on the intro and also the middle solo, (where she used to blow it even more) I quite like the PR 85 version live. Mainly cuz there IS bass on it. Mark Brown tore that shit up! The section where P added the "horns" from the keyboards and the strings underneath, that section is killin'. Ya'll know the part I'm talking about. The section where Mark and P are doing these dance steps together and Mark is poppin' and thumpin' the shit out of them strings! Mark still was able to keep up and mirror P's steps. That's one of the best parts of the whole show.

Speaking of Wendy and the intro, I have a bootleg of The Revolution rehearsing the PR tour before they went on tour. It's not the whole show but it includes, among others, "Let's Go Crazy", "The Beautiful Ones", "Darling Nikki" and "When Doves Cry". Well, in between songs, while P is talking, u can hear Wendy playing the intro to When Doves, over and over. But not even the full intro, just the first few notes. U could tell, even there, that she was not at all comfortable with playing the lick or the middle section solo.

Is it wrong that I liked the (short) live version on the "Musicology" tour?

Adisa said:

It's not.

I've seen him I don't know how many times over the past 20 years, and the Musicology tour was the first time he really did justice to that song in a live performance, imho. Coulda been longer, but what little he did was cool.

Alasseon said:

It was a joke....at least that's what I thought...

i'd like to hear him do a totally new arrangement of the song live. i think he's sick of playing it, and it shows. he should freshen it up - do an acoustic or slow version, or do an a cappella bit and then go into another song. something. he phoned that song in during the musicology tour, which was fine by me, but he could have fun with it if he wanted...

Bumhole said:

Prince is one of THE BEST PERFORMERS EVER!!!!! He's just not a good person.

Alasseon said:

Ehhhh? me thinks so too!!!
Come on the man is an AMAZING performer!!
I'm afraid to blink in case I miss a split second of him

blackguitaristz said:

I love your guitar posts...

murph said:

LOL! I know...I know...

Kenny G! I'm STILL laughing...

The 1986 Parade version of When Doves Cry was amazing... Stockholm ... It is even on video. My God, what a great song

Alasseon said:

Why thank u.