as per Fury, the snippet of Screw Driver etc. For whatever reason his album versions lack so much feel, life, passion etc whereas they come alive wehn done live. Surley the basic track i.e. vocals, guitar, drums and bass should be recorded live with overdubs later [wasn't most of Purple Rain done this way?].

The studio and P's rock trax have been a bad combo in recent years so it would be great to hear them more alive. I am sure we all agree on this?

I was ready to disagree based on this post's title but I think you're on to something... Like you suggested, I wonder if tracks like Computer Blue, Let's Go Crazy, I Like It There, Dreamer and others feel more alive (that is, less sterile) because he's overdubbing on top of a live basic track of guitar/bass/drums... Curious to hear if anyone in the know has an opinion or insight

COMPLETELY AGREE!

i mean... FURY should be a NEW CLASSIC by now... but that watered down version on the album - though i like it... just isnt anywhere near that damn live version on SNL!

I remember when he played that on SNL.. people were FREAKING OUT!!!!! and then the album comes and the excitement is just gone!

AND

Especially since he doesnt have to worry about making HITS anymore.. lets be real... unless you are a pop tart, you arent getting played on the radio anytime soon...

Just make the BEST music that will LAST ..

who cares about hits that are here today and gone tomorrow!

JUST MAKE IT FUCKING COOL!

prince needs a band to flesh out ideas .. even if he records everything himself .. it just works better if he jams them first for a while to see what really does or does not work .. i often wonder why he discards his bands so often .. obviously the revolution was by far the best group .. even if a member changed here and there .. there was enough history that the band could play most of his catalog and have it sound as good as his records . there are numerous songs i think could have been great with the magic touch of the revolution ... dolphin, pearls, dance 4 me, here, beautiful girl .. yeah I know beautiful girl was a hit but the production and performance are pretty crap .. sounds like a michael bolton album ... ewwwwwww ... I don't think switching bands has ever benefitted prince as much as adding or switching a player here and there has ... dez was great but wendy was too .. andre and brown mark are both pretty good .. but to overhaul the complete backing band changes the sound often for the worse when it comes to back catalog .. and even the newer songs don't have that prince sound ... sounds like a different musician altogether .. and not in a good way ... the other issue is that rarely can a talented multiinstrumentalist recreate the sound of a band all on his own ... dance tracks like 1999 are fine because its more about being a robot than getting a feel .. but a rock song .. like fury .. needs a rock band behind it to make it work .. just like purple rain would have sounded to stock and robot if it were done by prince alone .. it needs all that other good energy to bring it to life as a rock song/ ballad .. prince alone gets u stuff like lotus flower .. decent ideas but performance with prince live drums is pretty clunky and simple .. even paul mccartney could not recreate the magic of ringo .. its just different .. on the other hand .. prince sounds great on a song like tamborine all by himself .. but that is less rock and more erratic funk pops .. prince is good at that but he hasn't played like that in years .. decades

Dreamer was a very well produced studio track, it ROCKED.

So he can do it if he really wants. But obviously he doesn't put much effort in all his recordings.

I agree that Fury live and that snippet of the Screwdriver rehearsal sound much better than those watered down studio versions. Hopefully he recognizes the criticism and reworks the studio recording. Maybe it was just a unfinished demo?

The first version of "Guitar" was also very poor, the album version was much better.

It always grinds my beans when individuals advise what Prince should be doing, but this is the one area where I feel there's maybe a valid point. I'd say about 75% of my Prince listening is live recordings & rehearsals, but I think it's the mastering process as opposed to the studio process that saps the energy from the albums.

The energy, excitement that we get in a live recording fundamentally comes from the dynamic nature of the song. Take e.g. the rehearsals of Slow Love from the SOTT tour. Despite being a slow jam, it's got huge variation with firecracker snare drums; real low down bass and some twinkling arpeggio on top. You can follow every instrument and it really grabs you. If this was mastered for release though it'd be crushed and have every ounce of life sucked out of it.

So I think the only music that shines through on radio is melody driven as opposed to groove or riff driven.

I don't think there's an easy answer to the problem, other than for us to put the studio versions to one side and just enjoy the live versions which inevitably find their way to us.

ludwig said:

Dreamer was a very well produced studio track, it ROCKED.

So he can do it if he really wants. But obviously he doesn't put much effort in all his recordings.

I agree that Fury live and that snippet of the Screwdriver rehearsal sound much better than those watered down studio versions. Hopefully he recognizes the criticism and reworks the studio recording. Maybe it was just a unfinished demo?

The first version of "Guitar" was also very poor, the album version was much better.

fair point about Dreamer...just wish he applied the energy and loudness a lot more to other similar trax.

its not that...he cant sem to get that image of a "hit" single outta his mind

On the other hand you have "Let's Go Crazy" or even the electric guitar oriented "U Got the Look" which usually sound much more mellow live than on record.

sometimes, it's the way the songs are mixed more than anything... almost like an RnB mix on a rock tune

I've grown to like the album version of "Fury". I mean, the reason why I like listening to Prince records is that they sound like Prince records and not the Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkings or something like that. He's stripped down the production of his rock numbers on records since "The Cross" at the very least

The OP made a good point about the Purple Rain record, but that album didn't rely on rock guitar riffing or the chord progressions played on distorted electric guitars (especially the latter technique gets boring easily, to be honest). The album's sense of "drive" comes mostly from the drums and synths. The singing plays a part in it too.