I love Saxophone but not in Prince's music.

Like big girl voices sax never suited Prince's music(except Eric Leeds)

He tends to have overproduced sound

when he uses Saxophones.

I'm so glad current band formation is more synth oriented and i hope Mike Philips was only a guest.

So Horns or Synths ?

Synths, please. Detuned ones, analog, not digital, ran through guitar fx pedals. kthx.

Nothin wrong with big girl voices but you either gotta bring Boni back from the dead or get right with Rosie.

Eric Leeds all day.

[Edited 5/15/11 15:47pm]

Synths ftw

The debate doesn't make much sense per se. It all depends on what kind of music is being played and who plays alongside the horns or synths.

The 1993 Act 1/Act 2 tour and aftershows would really suffer a loss if u cut down the horns, but the same band without Levi and the horns was perfect for Come/Gold/Exodus material in 94-96. The same can be said of the Revolution with Miko and horns in 1986 and without both in 1984: the first configuration was perfect for Parade material, while a synth-oriented band was what was needed for Purple Rain material.

As for the current band and tour, it doesn't make much sense for me as I don't like "greatest hits" tours nor the background singers' contributions, so I don't give a damn about it having horns or not. Ask me again when Prince decides to play new material again.

thebanishedone said:

I love Saxophone but not in Prince's music.

Like big girl voices sax never suited Prince's music(except Eric Leeds)

He tends to have overproduced sound

when he uses Saxophones.

I'm so glad current band formation is more synth oriented and i hope Mike Philips was only a guest.

So Horns or Synths ?

Since I'm once of the biggest synth-funk/electro-funk fans in here, I vote synths.

Never liked the BIG GIRL voice in Prince music, Boni B was acceptable on a few songs cause it was not too long or big. Always prefered the more blended and background echo female voice:Lisa Sheila Jill Jones Wendy Susannah Taj Cat Vanity 6

SYNTHS 90%

Horns 10% songs from Parade and SOTT even Lovesexy just work well with a bit of horn ie the Ladder Temptation America G-Spot(the was horns right?) Girls & Boys Mountains Love or Money Power Fantastic In A Large Room w No Light Housequake etc

databank said:

The debate doesn't make much sense per se. It all depends on what kind of music is being played and who plays alongside the horns or synths.

The 1993 Act 1/Act 2 tour and aftershows would really suffer a loss if u cut down the horns, but the same band without Levi and the horns was perfect for Come/Gold/Exodus material in 94-96. The same can be said of the Revolution with Miko and horns in 1986 and without both in 1984: the first configuration was perfect for Parade material, while a synth-oriented band was what was needed for Purple Rain material.

Sure, if you're talking about the ability to re-create what's on the albums.

Apart from that, I think that basically any song could be done either way. Of course, they might sound different than the album versions - and to most people that means "not as good", since musical preferences are based more on recognition than anything else.

Personally, when I go to a concert, the last thing I want to hear is songs that sound just like the record. I always prefer new and different interpretations, so any changes in instrumentation (including using horns instead of synths or vice versa) is just great, if you ask me.

These days he needs horns. The synths he's using lately sound weak.

[Edited 5/17/11 2:59am]

Listening to Delirious (1999 album version) the other day, I actually felt that it works better with horns. The synth is a bit thin.

Horns, please.

Go Maceo. Go Candy!

"Big Girl" voice is not needed on this tour, but it was on the SOTT, LoveSexy, Nude and Diamond and Pearls Tours.

synths. it's what makes Prince Prince. or what made him Prince. but it depends on the horn players. there are certain players throughout the 80's and 90's that complemented his core sound. but in the last decade or so, the horns have turned his live show into a charicature of the 70's soul revues that his music moved r&b away from in the early 80's. he too often foresakes his own sound to emulate the kind of show his idols would have put on when he was growing up.

Generated synths are obviously a big part of Prince's sound, and there's no doubting that the punchy synth chords on 'I feel for you' or something of that nature should not be tampered with. However what I can't get on board with is prince using poor stock synthy sounding sampled brass sounds as a replacement for what should clearly be a brass section, such as in 'diamonds and pearls'. This is way more prevelant in his more recent output I would say, comes down to laziness or lack of passion for the sound of the final product. I particularly hate those flute sounds he uses in close clusters so much recently, sounds really atonal and fake, ugh....

I can't imagine why any musician/composer would opt for that sampled synth brass sound, (not pure generated synth brass sound as that is a different application) given the chance to record with a proper brass section. Well actually I can think of reasons, budget and convenience. While budget is obviously not a problem for Prince it must only come down to the latter.

It always used to make me chuckle when I used to watch top of the pops for instance, that bands would have used some crap sounding stock keyboard sounds on recordings (such as strings or brass), and when they performed them on the program they would have a stage full of real musicians miming to the record. Why on earth didn't they use the real musicians in the first place??

errant said:

synths. it's what makes Prince Prince. or what made him Prince. but it depends on the horn players. there are certain players throughout the 80's and 90's that complemented his core sound. but in the last decade or so, the horns have turned his live show into a charicature of the 70's soul revues that his music moved r&b away from in the early 80's. he too often foresakes his own sound to emulate the kind of show his idols would have put on when he was growing up.

Prince started using horns on the Purple Rain tour. Since then, he has featured them on and off again throughout his career. The Parade tour and Sign O' The Times were not a some unique Prince way of using horns....they were the James Brown way. Prince has always emulated his idols in this regard.

802 said:

"Big Girl" voice is not needed on this tour, but it was on the SOTT, LoveSexy, Nude and Diamond and Pearls Tours.

I don't think it was needed on the SOTT/Lovsexy tour

He gave Boni a few moments but overall as far as the music went she had no Big Girl voice

Sign o the Times

Play in the Sunshine

Housequake

Slow Love

Hot Thang

Forever In My Live *

U Got the Look

If I Was Your Girlfriend

Strange Relationship

I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man

the Cross

It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night

skywalker said:

errant said:

synths. it's what makes Prince Prince. or what made him Prince. but it depends on the horn players. there are certain players throughout the 80's and 90's that complemented his core sound. but in the last decade or so, the horns have turned his live show into a charicature of the 70's soul revues that his music moved r&b away from in the early 80's. he too often foresakes his own sound to emulate the kind of show his idols would have put on when he was growing up.

Prince started using horns on the Purple Rain tour. Since then, he has featured them on and off again throughout his career. The Parade tour and Sign O' The Times were not a some unique Prince way of using horns....they were the James Brown way. Prince has always emulated his idols in this regard.

The difference is in the way he's used them in each decade. As with so many things, he went from incorporating his influences into his sound to outright aping them and allowing them to overpower his own unique style.

Synths! But they need to be analogue though, he's been using some weak sounding synths lately...

funkaholic1972 said:

Synths! But they need to be analogue though, he's been using some weak sounding synths lately...

I like synths more for Prince, but I loved the live horns during the "Parade" era, So I guess it depends on which sound Prince is using them for imho...I always thought "All My Dreams" would be even doper with live horns....

The synths were one of the main attractions on the early 80s albums (Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain), whereas the horns often stole the show on his 90s output (Symbol, Come, Exodus). I know that one of the reasons why I fell in love with Prince's music in the early-90s were the horn arrangements. A little bit later on I started "getting" the synths as well, although by early-90s it was a dated sound on its own right. Analog synth sounds started to get trendy again by the mid- or late-90s.

The ATWIAD-Lovesexy years were sort of a middle period for him and the electronic / acoustic elements in his music were quite well-balanced. As much praise as synth geeks have given to Prince's synth work on the older albums, it must be said that he really didn't use the analog synths too much after Purple Rain. He used mostly samplers and early digital synthesizers on them. Thank God he used real horns on those albums for the horn sounds instead of attempting to construct similar parts using early digital synthesis.

ive seen prince many times & the more horns the better!!! horns all the way!!!!!

802 said:

These days he needs horns. The synths he's using lately sound weak.

[Edited 5/17/11 2:59am]

For real. Renato's synths are so Zzzzzzzzz...

Honestly?

Synths.

funkaholic1972 said:

Synths! But they need to be analogue though, he's been using some weak sounding synths lately...

I agree. The synths these days sound real flat.

funkaholic1972 said:

Synths! But they need to be analogue though, he's been using some weak sounding synths lately...

Exactly.

The Oberheim OB x was a great analogue synth that sounds very live and warm, with alot of edge and attitude. I don't need to hear prince with synth all the time. But when he uses it, it's most difinitly a hell of alot better analogue. And his sound is way more polished now that ever. It's like plastic with gold paint.

Spinlight said:

802 said:

These days he needs horns. The synths he's using lately sound weak.

[Edited 5/17/11 2:59am]

For real. Renato's synths are so Zzzzzzzzz...

Renato in general is Zzzzzzzzzz.

802 said:

Spinlight said:

For real. Renato's synths are so Zzzzzzzzz...

Renato in general is Zzzzzzzzzz.

Prince on piano is much more vibrating emotionally imo. Renato sound technically good, but programmed for boring lounge jazz. No edge.

I play trumpet (it's been awhile tho) and I love the sound of funky horns but, I actually prefer synths more then live horns with P's music. I go back on forth on this, yeah ... Synths ... I'm stayin' with it ... LoL

PurpleLove7 said:

I play trumpet (it's been awhile tho) and I love the sound of funky horns but, I actually prefer synths more then live horns with P's music. I go back on forth on this, yeah ... Synths ... I'm stayin' with it ... LoL

There's a period when I started being a Prince fan that I loved horns (because that's when I started to notice him, age two, age three, by then, Prince was in favor of horns even then over synths) but then when I heard the synth material of pre-1985 I was shocked lol so it went from horns and synths, depends on what one preferred if they were in the mood for. I've been in a synth mood for a while now.