ernestsewell said:

The track is "Like A Prayer" (Dub Beats) - 4:36 from the US promo. At about 8 seconds in the phrase That skinny motherfucker with the high voice is sampled from Bob George, but it's sped up to sound more "normal".

squirrelgrease said:

OMG This is true! I'd never noticed before. It's funny they used it since the Black Album was unreleased back then. Now Prince plays on the song so...

databank said:

The sample sounds like it is off one of the vinyl bootlegs of Black Album that was sped up and prevalent in 1988. But more than that, the track has the obvious synth bass Prince was using in songs like Melody cool, and an ad lib electric guitar parts that sounds a lot like Prince's style of playing and mixing.

rialb said:

Think again. Sample is looping the original recording into your own (like Janet did with "Thank You" from Sly in "Rhythm Nation"). Prince copied the beats on his own by replaying them exactly as they were. That isn't a sample.

He didn't sample it, he TOOK it. That's two songs on GB that he's lifted from another. The drums in "Release It" are flat out from "Squib Cakes" by Tower of Power. The more I hear old music, the more I see just how much Prince has used from others without any sort of credit. The thing is though, you can't copyright a drum beat pattern, so he's free to lift and use whatever he wants and call it his own creation. In reality, it makes him cheap like some rap DJ pulling a drum sample from James Brown and calling it his "creation".

ernestsewell said:

Another point of interest for you guys posting above: if you look in the liner notes to the Symbol album, I'm sure there's a mention of Squibcakes being sampled there too. I forget which track, and can;t be bothered to look!

That album's actually got samples all over it, thanks to DJ Brother Jules or whatever his name was. eg. 7 supposedly samples Tramp by Otis Redding, although I can never quite place it.

ernestsewell said:

Thing is, there really are so many beats in the world. I'm a drummer myself, and much as I love DMitch Mitchell's part on Little Miss Lover, it's actually a fairly standard beat. So it really begs the question, why'd Prince bother sampling it? He or Morris coulda played it just as well. Probably less messily too (although maybe therein lies the answer - perhaps they wanted that 60's groove feel...?)

clbrooks said:

I'm only assuming but I always thought that Prince started messing with samples because it was the trendy thing to do. Very few, if any, of his uses of sampling are integral to the songs. Mostly he uses samples as sound effects not the structural basis of the song.

Wondered why such an elemental question thread had so many posts.

Great thread. I've learned a lot. These are the sorts of threads that make the Org cool.

American Idol contestant Blake Lewis had a pretty decent debut album. "She's Making Me Lose It" is his tribute to Prince (as noted in the album jacket).

However, listen to the downbeat carefully. You'll hear about 1 1/2 beats of a certain B-side circa 1984.



I still like the song.

ufoclub said:

Prince definitely plays the guitar: Madonna herself admitted it. No mention of him playing any synth, though.

rialb said:

Agreed. I understand the use of Squibcakes for Release It, but most of Prince's sample use could have been easily recreated/reinterpreted, or simply left out without effecting the songs. But of course, there's probably some method to his madness. In some cases, there may have been another party bringing certain sounds to some songs and P didn't know the origins at first. The "Music Is The Key" rap by Cat comes to mind. I guess Prince wasn't aware that Cat didn't come up with it until after all was said and done.

ernestsewell said:

I hear a lot of Paisley in that song. The chicken grease guitar, the falsetto and retro beats. I'm not sure what song you're referring to, though. I'd probably hear it if you told me. I was kind of listening for a 17 Days influence from your hint...

squirrelgrease said:

SO close, but no. The downbeat is a sample from "Erotic City". You can hear the downbeat and the flanger/whoosh sound before the snare. You can hear it clearer once the verse starts.
[Edited 5/14/10 6:17am]

clbrooks said:

I'm only assuming but I always thought that Prince started messing with samples because it was the trendy thing to do. Very few, if any, of his uses of sampling are integral to the songs. Mostly he uses samples as sound effects not the structural basis of the song.

Wondered why such an elemental question thread had so many posts.

Great thread. I've learned a lot. These are the sorts of threads that make the Org cool.

clbrooks said:

I'm not sure about the Symbol album but "Sleep Around" from Emancipation credits a "replay section from Squibcakes as performed by Tower of Power."

ernestsewell said:

Can;t hear it... I certainly take your word for it though!

Ah, no, got it!! Whooshhhhh! Not a bad little tune actually. I'd rather more pop had this feel to it.

rialb said:

Definitely. Bit of a sore point with me, was when P started moaning on about "real music by real musicians... I don't believe in computers... kids should learn real instruments..." etc. etc.

He's right. But he clearly knows all to well the benefit of 'borrowing' stuff, and as an early adopter of the Linn and so forth, should keep quiet! Some of P's greatest cuts feature both: eg. synthetic beats / horns, and and live guitars / bass.

His increased use of samples in that early 90's period though, I am sure is more to do with following trends.

Efan said:

Yeah, it's kind of an oddly arranged chart. La La Means I Love You is a weird inclusion unless there is an actual sample from the original song in Prince's version. I don't know the validity of the samples cited, but I noticed Release It is absent.

clbrooks said:

I agree. It was odd that he was talking about "real music by real musicians" while he was promoting the Musicology album. There are plenty of drum machines on that album.

rialb said:

Yeah. Wasn't there something about him dumping a load of computer equipment outside Paisley Park around '92-'93 with a 'For Sale' sign on it. Then he did Come, which had loads of electronics all over it!

rialb said:

Yeah. Wasn't there something about him dumping a load of computer equipment outside Paisley Park around '92-'93 with a 'For Sale' sign on it. Then he did Come, which had loads of electronics all over it!

clbrooks said:

I believe that was in Alan Leeds' writeup in the booklet in the Hits/B-Sides collection.

rialb said:

There was an interview in Spin where Prince explained the new sound of Diamonds & Pearls. He said "Everyone went and got drum machines & computers so I threw mine out."

Still, Prince playing a synth is still a musician playing an instrument, as graycap said, I don't think his point is you CAN'T use drum machines to make music. His point is that music should be made by musicians

clbrooks said:

U guys are funny.....seems u MISSED Prince's point completely.

NDRU said:

Err.. yeah. See my above comments. That's what I said!

clbrooks said:

I was just saying where I saw it written