Hi guys and gals,

I hope you are all well.

I just finished listening to the Lotus Flower album after not hearing it for almost a

year now. I have to say that his guitar playing is fantastic on that record. From track 1 to the end, he really put it down here. While the songs, hooks and production aren't fresh like they used to be, I really believe that he went for the gold in terms of playing that guitar!

Colonized Mind's layers of

guitars is an excellent example of just how freaky the guy is on guitar. Although the song itself hasn't hadthe same impact a song like Purple Rain has had on his fanbase and popular culture, the solos and playing really, really kick some major booty!

Technically speaking, the intro and outro tracks from that record highlight just how incredible the guy is! Keep up the great work Prince!

Now, write some pop songs again - songs we can relate to!

Jay from Toronto

http://www.myspace.com/thechocolateinvasion

Nice pic Jay and yes his guitar playing on Lotus is superb

i agree, the guitar playing is great!...prince loves playing his guitar,and he is one of the best at it!

purplerain14 said:

i agree, the guitar playing is great!...prince loves playing his guitar,and he is one of the best at it!

Excuse me but

Prince is the Best

colorblu said:

purplerain14 said:

i agree, the guitar playing is great!...prince loves playing his guitar,and he is one of the best at it!

Excuse me but

Prince is the Best

ya, ur right!

purplerain14 said:

colorblu said:

Excuse me but

Prince is the Best

ya, ur right!

Alright... I'm going to attempt to stop this before it continues any further.

Prince is a fantastic guitar player - but to call him the best is rather silly and not necessary.

He, like so many musicians around the world, is very good at playing with an instrument.

Let's have a discussion about his playing as opposed to turning it into a discussion about him being better than everyone else!

I'll add this: his playing really impressed me during the Dirty Mind era and then he seemed to really go nuts on the axe during Lovesexy. He began using more synthesized guitar sounds during the Diamonds and Pearls/Symbol era and then really started hammering on the axe during the Come/Gold era. After that, his playing just seemed uninspired until Lotusflow3r where he started shredding again!

His solos were super emotive again!

Thoughts?

His guitar playing on Lotus is the worst of his career. Uninspired Santana knock off crap

Wildboy said:

His guitar playing on Lotus is the worst of his career. Uninspired Santana knock off crap

Uninspired? I don't think so. Very inspired. I can see his Santana influences and his Jimi influences. And that's just it - When Prince rocks out, you can ALWAYS see the influence Santana and Jimi have had on his playing overall. Notice in every period where Prince really rocked hard on the guitar, he played Jimi and/or Santana covers.

jayARDAHB said:

purplerain14 said:

ya, ur right!

Alright... I'm going to attempt to stop this before it continues any further.

Prince is a fantastic guitar player - but to call him the best is rather silly and not necessary.

He, like so many musicians around the world, is very good at playing with an instrument.

Let's have a discussion about his playing as opposed to turning it into a discussion about him being better than everyone else!

I'll add this: his playing really impressed me during the Dirty Mind era and then he seemed to really go nuts on the axe during Lovesexy. He began using more synthesized guitar sounds during the Diamonds and Pearls/Symbol era and then really started hammering on the axe during the Come/Gold era. After that, his playing just seemed uninspired until Lotusflow3r where he started shredding again!

His solos were super emotive again!

Thoughts?

first of all we weren't being completely serious, second of all i couldn't agree more with u, prince is very good at playing guitar, i actually think mayte affected his music alot, after he met her he began to change alot, most of his songs were about her, which is nice, but i think the music started to loose its meaning, and his guitar playing started getting a little crazy.....And i know he says he changed is name because his spirit told him to, but i actually think mayte was a part of that because she was always saying that she never called him prince because "i dont see him as that person" whatever that means. But know he is back, and i think his guitar playing is better then ever!

"but to call him the best is rather silly and not necessary"

Co-sign. I've always dug P's keyboard playing more than his guitar playing. But we all know he has great guitar skills and sounds also. It was nice to hear it come back up front on "Lotus".

I think "Gold" and "Chaos" has some cool guitar stuff also.

Lotus is an underrated record all around.

Possibly because it's watered down with 2 CD's that delute a fine single record.

But if your talking about Lotusflower the single disk then it does rock and the guitar playing is the best that Prince has ever done on record.

In the past P puts to track in the studio stuff that is tame compared to how it is performed live.

But on Lotus he finally attempts at dishing it out instead of serving it cold.

I personally think Lotusflower will grow in accemptance as time goes on.

Just call it a hidden GEM in plain sight

SPYZFAN1 said:

"but to call him the best is rather silly and not necessary"

Co-sign. I've always dug P's keyboard playing more than his guitar playing. But we all know he has great guitar skills and sounds also. It was nice to hear it come back up front on "Lotus".

I think "Gold" and "Chaos" has some cool guitar stuff also.

His keyboard playing is phenonmal as well. I Can't Love U Anymore seems like a good fit for an example of his piano playing. Again, it's really emotive.

I agree with you though - he brought the guitar to the fore on Lotus and really went for it and as far as I'm concerned, hit the ball out of the park.

Gold and Chaos have some great stuff on it too!

Anyone else think that he was most exciting during the Lovesexy era on the guitar?

entropymc said:

Lotus is an underrated record all around.

Possibly because it's watered down with 2 CD's that delute a fine single record.

But if your talking about Lotusflower the single disk then it does rock and the guitar playing is the best that Prince has ever done on record.

In the past P puts to track in the studio stuff that is tame compared to how it is performed live.

But on Lotus he finally attempts at dishing it out instead of serving it cold.

I personally think Lotusflower will grow in accemptance as time goes on.

Just call it a hidden GEM in plain sight

Hey entropymc,

I hope you are right... although the record has some great songs on it, I have to say that I was pretty disappointed when I heard Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful. The jazz guitar and horns took so much away from the grit of the demo version he teased us with.

I agree with you though - like most of Prince's recent albums, there's just so much filler to sort through. The Lotusflow3r/MPLS package could have been really benefitted from someone saying no to certain songs and yes to so many of them.

I guess his tastes aren't as cool as they used to be

Yes..On "Lovesexy" he does some nice stuff on the guitar also. When I first heard it back then it sounded to me like he was trying to get the "Purple Rain" rock sound back.

I loved how he combined quirky guitar lines with the synth on "Dance On" and the title track. And

the solo on "Anna" is killer too. "Positivity" has some cool guitar stuff on it also that I almost forgot about. I love how he uses the octave divider.

I don't know. When it comes to Lotus, and most of his other albums, I feel like it's "Prince-Light" when it comes to the guitar playing. It's like he purposely holds back on the long-held vibratos and bends, the ascending/descending lines and the speed of his playing/runs in general in order to make the live versions THAT much more impressive. For instance, if you were to make a mixtape for someone showing them why P is a such a badass lead player, more often than not they would for the most part all be live versions.

This is the reason why Lotusflow3r is my favorite CD of the last ten years - because he rocks the guitar on that one!! Most of all, I love "Dreamer" - that song just blows me away with its groove! As far as I know it was even nominated for best rock song at the Grammy's, wasn't it? That's a song that should have been played on the radio a lot ... was it on air at all in the States?

Dreamer20ten said:

This is the reason why Lotusflow3r is my favorite CD of the last ten years - because he rocks the guitar on that one!! Most of all, I love "Dreamer" - that song just blows me away with its groove! As far as I know it was even nominated for best rock song at the Grammy's, wasn't it? That's a song that should have been played on the radio a lot ... was it on air at all in the States?

Hey Dreamer,

I hear you as well... Dreamer is a pretty dope track!

The Leno performance of that song rocks... HARD!

Michael B, Sonny T, and Prince is a ferocious mix! Kind of makes me wish for him to go on a three piece tour where they just play!

By the way, Prince's guitar playing on that solo at the end of BOOM is grimmey as can be as well! It's so damn aggressive and dirty!

J

http://www.myspace.com/thechocolateinvasion

I’m with you on this one. Boom, Crimson and Clover, Wall of Berlin, and Dreamer are all great guitar songs. And Dance 4 Me on MPLsound has some nice subtle funk guitar, too.

jpnyc said:

I’m with you on this one. Boom, Crimson and Clover, Wall of Berlin, and Dreamer are all great guitar songs. And Dance 4 Me on MPLsound has some nice subtle funk guitar, too.

The entire Lotusflow3r album is full of awesome guitars!

77 Beverly Park is wonderful as well...

I guess the songs $ and 4ever just don't do it for me... otherwise, that record kills.

He goes nuts on Wall of Berlin!

The poor guy can't seem to connect with people though through his music...