I don't care 2 hear all that on a Prince

OldFriends4Sale said:

Some of us appreciate a soul rather than a machine creating beats for us

JesusFreak said:

ahhh, it wasn't all machine,

I'm talking about those simple dancible beats that the rest of the music swelled around
that 777-9311 beat was straight 4ward, not simple yet simple and it was not machine

a soul was behind those machine beats 2 though, cause it had people on the floor

Don't get me wrong, love songs like Tamborine Dance Onand Everywhere

What's your source?

wow, how young is he?

That 1st clip looks like they are in front of a church choir stand

It's cool how 'spectacular' he plays, I don't care 2 hear all that on a Prince song, just give me that simple Head Lady Cab Driver, DMSC Erotic City Pop Life Mountains Heaven Le Grind beat

once again, lotusflow3r has the scoop.

oh, wait

It's like Michael Jordan, You gotta work harder than everybody else to get that good, but you also have to have the right sperm enter the right egg for that kinda talent. You can't teach that!

OldFriends4Sale said:

I know exactly what you mean, those beats and rhythms on those early recordings were deceivingly simple but they packed a punch a whole lot more powerful than someone with rhythm diarrhea just smacking the drums like crazy without any thought to its space and time.
You could tell Prince had a feel for those drum patterns, that he really cared about those early drum patterns because those early songs seem to be built around them, they were integral parts of the compositions, not tacked on afterthoughts.
He put his soul into the machine and wanted those drum patterns to stand out and be appreciated. And they certainly have.

It was the empty space between the beats, and the timing that made those beats so much fun to listen to over and over, bobbing your head like a crazy person and never getting tired of them.
Listen to Erotic City, and as simple as the music deceivingly "seems" there is a whole lot of stuff going on all over it.
Prince at that early age seemed to instinctively know the power of the negative space, the power of a sound left on its own or playing off something else, kinda like when a color like blue or red packs a bigger punch and is better appreciated when in contrast or harmony to something else, like a white background.

The same thing was happening on his early jazzy efforts, that's why I absolutely adore the first madhouse album. Everything is snappy and crisp, I love how cool the drumming sounds on that record, everything is placed where you can really appreciate it, Eric's horns and the synths are not muddied by anything else.
He had that knack like a good chef not to add too much salt unless he specifically wanted to melt snow, or too much garlic unless he specifically wanted to ward off vampires. Everything had such a perfect feel that never let anything get old or make the listener tired listening to it.

His early records have held up amazingly well, feeling fresh and new after 20-something years.
I like the way "Lotus" sounds, i think its a great record, but i do think the sound is too muddied.

I was just enjoying listening to his live video version of "Love Bizzar" with Sheila, and noticed the same thing. As much as is going on with Sheila's band in conjunction with The Revolution, everything was orchestrated so perfectly. He let you savor things and even broke things down here and there because he was proud of certain elements going on that he wanted us to focus on them, appreciate and enjoy them as much as he was, such as the awesome rhythm guitar and sax sections. Everything flowed and lived naturally as part of a composition. Nothing ever felt forced.

Notice how awesome the kid's drumming sounds on those youtubes all by himself, now imagine that same kid's drumming buried deep inside all sorts of distortions, guitars and whatnot's doing nothing to play off of or enjoy in a uninspired composition with forced lyrics.(Cause and Effect) It all gets muddied and becomes hard for a listener to appreciate anything, when all you hear is a painful wall of noise. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but too much of anything makes for a boring and tiresome listening experience where you cant appreciate any of the individual favors no matter how good they are.

I listen to a lot of old jazz records, and you would never ever hear of anyone letting some awesome solo or player be buried deep inside a monotonous wall of noise,... and for a time neither would Prince.

.
[Edited 3/5/10 23:45pm]