Two legends, 1 song...I played these back to back recently and thought, imagine if Jimi was still alive and collaborated with Prince...what are your thoughts?

Prince´s version cannot be posted, its on youtbe for comparison purposes...

Might not have been room on the stage for both of these megastars

^ True...I know this topic has been worn to death, but after watching the Montreaux boot a few weeks ago, and given copies of it to musicians that I know, we got into discussions about Jimi and Prince. Jimi passed away at 27, possibly at his peak of experimentation. Prince, now well into his 50´s, has turned his own experimentation into his/or a style of playing guitar. This raises the question, how far could Hendrix have brought it, if he had remained alive. What would he have thought of Prince? and vice versa...

Naturally, we will never know, and as you have pointed out, there probably would never have been a stage big enough. A rather frigthening thought is that if Hendrix had lived, Prince would never have made it to the top in the first place but merely have been seen as another copycat artist.

Jimi's Red House is a cup of strong coffee.

Prince's Purple House is a cup of tea without the teabag.

TheDigitalGardener said:

Jimi's Red House is a cup of strong coffee.

Prince's Purple House is a cup of tea without the teabag.

I dont drink coffee, cant stand the stuff, but the tea without the teabag would be a nightmare.

Anyway, to put abit of perspective on things, I got into Jimi Hendrix becoz of Prince, and Redhouse was one of the first versions I heard of P covering Hendrix, back in the late 80´s. When I found this version from the Albert Hall, i was blown away. It is incredible, and in my opinion, merits your comment.

Thinking about the first cassette I got of Hendrix, back in the 80´s, I actually think I was too young to get what was going on, even though, at that stage I was heavily involved in music. It still took years to appreciate what he was doing...

@ Whitnail

If you want to hear Prince play Hendrix with any kind of emotion, then you should track down Villanova Park on the GlobalFunkschool label.

It is a recording of a Prince show at Paisley from 1998. Prince is on fire and plays many covers during this show including a couple of string melting Hendrix numbers Machine Gun & Villanova Junction.

The entire 1st half of the show is very guitar heavy, but these two tracks are standout. His soloing is very impressive indeed.

Sound quality is not the best, I would rate it at EX, but it's a very enjoyable show, and one that you should hear.

Which version of Purple House- the studio version on the Hendrix tribute album or the live version from the Rave DVD?

TheDigitalGardener said:

@ Whitnail

If you want to hear Prince play Hendrix with any kind of emotion, then you should track down Villanova Park on the GlobalFunkschool label.

It is a recording of a Prince show at Paisley from 1998. Prince is on fire and plays many covers during this show including a couple of string melting Hendrix numbers Machine Gun & Villanova Junction.

The entire 1st half of the show is very guitar heavy, but these two tracks are standout. His soloing is very impressive indeed.

Sound quality is not the best, I would rate it at EX, but it's a very enjoyable show, and one that you should hear.

Cheerz, I will check that out, I think I have it here somewhere...if not, I will have to find it...

united1878 said:

Which version of Purple House- the studio version on the Hendrix tribute album or the live version from the Rave DVD?

The one I am comparing to is from Rave, coz it is the only decent version I can get on youtube of P covering JH, some of the other versions are much better, but alas youtube...not that i dont think it would make a difference, this Albert Hall performance from Hendrix is insane, no one could top that...

TheDigitalGardener said:

@ Whitnail

If you want to hear Prince play Hendrix with any kind of emotion, then you should track down Villanova Park on the GlobalFunkschool label.

It is a recording of a Prince show at Paisley from 1998. Prince is on fire and plays many covers during this show including a couple of string melting Hendrix numbers Machine Gun & Villanova Junction.

The entire 1st half of the show is very guitar heavy, but these two tracks are standout. His soloing is very impressive indeed.

Sound quality is not the best, I would rate it at EX, but it's a very enjoyable show, and one that you should hear.

Is that the same boot Steve Vai apparently bought that he thought Prince had covered Tender Surrender (which is a blatant rip off of Villanova Junction). Still not to sure on that story though.

bigd74 said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

@ Whitnail

If you want to hear Prince play Hendrix with any kind of emotion, then you should track down Villanova Park on the GlobalFunkschool label.

It is a recording of a Prince show at Paisley from 1998. Prince is on fire and plays many covers during this show including a couple of string melting Hendrix numbers Machine Gun & Villanova Junction.

The entire 1st half of the show is very guitar heavy, but these two tracks are standout. His soloing is very impressive indeed.

Sound quality is not the best, I would rate it at EX, but it's a very enjoyable show, and one that you should hear.

Is that the same boot Steve Vai apparently bought that he thought Prince had covered Tender Surrender (which is a blatant rip off of Villanova Junction). Still not to sure on that story though.

Never heard that story before, but Tender Surrender is not on this recording.

I noticed copies of "Power Of Soul" (the tribute album that Prince's version appears on) in my local Fopp record store a couple of weeks back for £3.

That is a lot less than I paid for it back in the day.

ok, maybe this comes close, Albert Hall as well I think...

^^ [img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Gifs/youknow_sg.gif[/img:$uid]

TheDigitalGardener said:

^^ [img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Gifs/youknow_sg.gif[/img:$uid]

^^

I am making time...

Jimi all the way baby!

That Royal Albert Hall performance is a very good live version.

I know this is probably a mistake as constructive observations do not fare well here.
But anyway, as another example of Jimi's take on Red House, this is the studio version from the U.K. release of Are You Experienced...



...a much more playful and looser version than the U.S. release on Smash Hits.

The only thing missing is that signature ending from the U.S. version.


IMO, Prince is very good at certain things on the guitar but the Blues is not one of them.
Not relaxed enough and the vibrato is much too manic for my tastes.
How B.B. and Albert King approach vibrato relative to the Blues is what i'm talking about.


Another good Blues lesson from Hendrix is...



...Voodoo Chile


Remember for this tune he's using an off-the-shelf Stratocaster, a Fender Bassman amp and for effects probably some kind of fuzz box and an Echoplex at best.
Crude by today's standards. Yet the guitar sound is huge.




Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

That Royal Albert Hall performance is a very good live version.

I know this is probably a mistake as constructive observations do not fare well here.
But anyway, as another example of Jimi's take on Red House, this is the studio version from the U.K. release of Are You Experienced...



...a much more playful and looser version than the U.S. release on Smash Hits.

The only thing missing is that signature ending from the U.S. version.


IMO, Prince is very good at certain things on the guitar but the Blues is not one of them.
Not relaxed enough and the vibrato is much too manic for my tastes.
How B.B. and Albert King approach vibrato relative to the Blues is what i'm talking about.


Another good Blues lesson from Hendrix is...



...Voodoo Chile


Remember for this tune he's using an off-the-shelf Stratocaster, a Fender Bassman amp and for effects probably some kind of fuzz box and an Echoplex at best.
Crude by today's standards. Yet the guitar sound is huge.




Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

Thanks for the links and info

TheDigitalGardener said:

Jimi's Red House is a cup of strong coffee.

Prince's Purple House is a cup of tea without the teabag.

Mpaige63 said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

Jimi's Red House is a cup of strong coffee.

Prince's Purple House is a cup of tea without the teabag.

!!!

...V Big House!

TheDigitalGardener said:

Jimi's Red House is a cup of strong coffee.

Prince's Purple House is a cup of tea without the teabag.

Prince's Purple House at Paisley Park was extremely strong and hauntingly

beautiful. His reference to his "Puerto Rican Beauty" adds creme to his

amazing rendition.