Ive never heard Prince sing as well as he did in the song Purple Rain (the album version) Prince has a great voice, but he rarely showcases it the way he did then, in my opinion. Of course, another great example of his vocals would be the beginning of the For You album.
Anyone else have good examples of his great vocal moments?

Although Prince has an obviously great voice I don't think his best vocal moment has actually happened yet.

It will happen when he says... "What? Lotusflow3r has members? Well, do U think we should give em something worth the entrance fee then or what?"

Other than that I'd go 4 the second part of "Adore" on "Lovesexy Live In Dortmund"

"If U let me, if U let me, I'll take U higher baby, higher babe." Pure class.

I've always loved the scream at the end of "International Lover."

I've always thought that Damn U demonstrated his voice really well.

Somewhere Here On Earth...very nice.

Mustang Mix? I like soulful Prince.

"Solo," is beautiful.

TheEnglishGent said:

very much agree with you on that.

TheEnglishGent said:

Absolutely!

the scream on when doves cry.....

Gotta Broken Heart Agiain from Vegas -man he did it in Indigo2 in 2oo7-i think sep 16th-man exactly the same-amazing

"Do U Lie" Prince at his best!

For me it is a toss up between two live performances.

The Syracuse Purple Rain show performance of "Purple Rain" is amazing. The way he sings the line "I never meant to be your weekend lover" is chill inducing especially with the use of reverb which was different than other versions I have heard.

The second is the performance of "The Cross" on in the Sign 'o' the Time movie. The way he breaks his voice on "Sweet song of salvation, a pregnant mother sings..."

Just damn!

Do Me Baby

For a slow vocal I always liked "When We're Dancing Close And Slow".
For a dirty vocal it was always "Automatic"
For a religious vocal make it "The Love We Make"
For a top ten vocal it has to be "Kiss"

The Beautiful Ones

Strollin'...And I love his improvisational vocals at the end.

Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful
Somewhere Here On Earth (live on Leno)
Damn U
Adore
Scandalous
Do Me Baby
etc.

Wow. I can't disagree with any of the picks!

A few:

"Come" from 9:11 to 10:30.... The choralized voice is on point.
"Man o' War"
"It's Gonna Be Lonely"
"Private Joy"
"Mustang mix"

Way too many to name.

It's funny how this dude can simultaneously be my favorite vocalist AND musician.

Note:

Would luv to hear P's rendition of 'Pretty Wings'. P and Maxwell seem to take pride in romancin' the hell out of their vocals. They seem to have a vocal emphasis that not many others do. Save D'angelo and to a different extent, Anthony Hamilton. And of course, Eric Benet is a beast.

On the female side, anybody else feel the dark-red soul that Tweet's voice richly delivers? Try her song called 'Cruisin'.....

End of ramble....

as dreadful as Solo is, he sings well in it. and Insatiable

My two favorites are:


"I Hate You" from the Gold Experience - this is his best falsetto IMO and the line where he says "did you do to your other man what you did to me" gets me every time, just the thought of Prince being treated bad is intriguing because he seems to be the hertbreaker most of time


"Long and Winding Road" cover from the vegas show - this song just moves me and the way he sang you can tell he was feeling every word

zsasz said:

me too.

80's - Adore
90's - Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife
00's - Call My Name

the "grind grind grind grind grind" from darling nikki is one of my favorite vocal moments

most of my favorites are subtle things and not full blown singing majesty
[Edited 7/10/09 1:49am]

xlr8r said:

Totally agree.

I also love the vocal on Power Fantastic - so controlled and so beautiful

Scandalous - "I could wrap my legs around you girl"- amazing

Adore and The beautiful ones have amazing performances too

I think his last one was on the Jay Leno show "SHOE" was beautiful, flawless! ....See my avatar.
[Edited 7/11/09 5:04am]

My favourite vocal moments are little falsetto ones.

Love his vocal work in I Hate U, Darling Nikki, and totally agree that he was great on Purple Rain.

One of my fav live moments is from a video i saw of the Musicology Tour and Prince was playing Little Red Corvette on acoustic guitar and his falsetto voice was just so good. Quite brilliant.

This is an easy one for me. 'When the Lights Go Down'.

The control & expression, in a low register in falsetto is simply amazing. It's all very well to sing in a mid-high comfortable range in falsetto, but do the same thing an octave or two lower, without slipping into your normal voice, is mind-blowing.

The melodic variety for what is a pretty simple riff is stunning as well.

I could go on and on about this.....

If I ever want to convince someone of Prince's singing prowess, this is the track I play them.

ronnwinter said:

You do know that the vocal (and guitar solo) for Purple Rain is taken directly from a live performance at First Avenue, right? His live vocal ability is one of the most incredible things about him.