I believe the original has both Mike on drums during the fills and backbeat, plus a loop (I forget which loop/breakbeat it is, but I have it somewhere) underneath Mike's playing. I believe in one of the concerts or aftershows from that era you can hear the loop being played before Mike kicks in.

jayARDAHB said:

steakfinger said:

The album version and the single version are exactly the same. The album version is edited to give folks something different. I would say, as a drummer, that it is NOT Michael Bland on either version. Michael Bland is a HARD hitter whereas that track is being performed by someone with a much lighter touch on the snare drum. Also, Michael Bland tends to play right in the middle of the beat and on the recording of TMBGITW the snare hits on the backbeat, (two and four) have a very slight behind-the-beat quality. There is really nothing technically complex about the playing, either. Whenever Mchale B. is turned loose in the studio for a solo, (Shhh..., the xtended She Spoke Me, ect...) he plays some stuff that you can be fairly certain is way out of Prince's curent skill level. Not his level to conceptualize, but to perform. TMBGITW is great, but there is nothing to suggest it's Michael B. and there are a few things to suggest it isn't.

I could be wrong, though. I seem to remember being positive Michael B. played drums on Billy Jack Bitch but I'm pretty sure I read an interview with Barbarella where he said that Prince played those drums and did a lot of editing on the track because for whatever reason he wasn't getting it done in one full take.

It's hard to say with 100% certainty, but I'm 99% sure it's Prince.

Hey, It you can't hear the difference between the single version and the album version, you may want to get your ears checked. The keys on the album version are different and the arrangement has many more starts and stops. Ricky Peterson plays keys on the single version. Bland plays drums on he album version - it's just so damn obvious! Same lead vocal though. J [Edited 7/2/12 14:47pm]

this is true, I learned the song and was relieved when I heard the single version because the album version is a little more complicated on the keys. I think I heard he did a bunch of versions when he realized it was a hit.

I don't know who played drums though, I always assumed it was bland, not because it was so complex but Prince almost always has a certain sound to his rhythms and beats and they don't necessarily include lots of fills. Not the kind on TMBGITW, not saying he couldn't, they're simple but just not his style. I usually think of Prince's rhythms as pretty repetitive and not lots of changes in them in any given song, as good as the beats are, he just tends to keep a good beat the same.