..because the stuff he's done over the last couple of years in the studio is very, very hit & miss. I still don't get how such a hard rockin' guitarist / singer / song writer cannot get the rock sound nailed as much as he used to in the studio. His best rock on an album was done with the Revolution on pUrple Rain, The NPG on the undertaker etc. Listening to Screw driver [Jesus what's with the voice!], Fix U R life up[corny as hell!] , Fury from a few years ago etc it makes me wish that he'd just released the much better live versions.

Saying that I love the rock tracks on LF.

For me his rock stuff is best experienced live.

I understand and agree to a point. I guess you could apply that logic to almost ALL his material though. Yes, there are certainly tracks that are best served by their studio recordings, however I personally feel the real song comes out during live performance. I find there are often too many studio filters to dull the true melody or real instruments. I can think of a number of tracks that suffer from over production compared to the much more natural presence of the song when heard live. His gutar seems to be the most common victim of the studio, where as it shines live.

[Edited 6/12/13 4:53am]

Dreamer is a very good studio production. It rocks hard.

But other tracks like Fury sound very flat, I agree.

The CD production tends to fall flat lately. Live versions tend to be better. So, yes live (with some studio work on top of it would be ok.).

Prince has never been able to capture heavy rock in the studio. He ends up over producing it and watering it down.

We know he is capable of heavy rock, he just needs to hand over the production.

SquirrelMeat said:

Prince has never been able to capture heavy rock in the studio. He ends up over producing it and watering it down.

We know he is capable of heavy rock, he just needs to hand over the production.

I agree the rocks songs that he does nowadays,are missing something.

the 3rd eye girl songs for sure ...screwdriver live film is the best of the versions

I look at it like this - Prince knows what to do in the studio, and these are the choices he makes. If he wanted a raw, balls deep rock sound, he surely knows how to put one on record - but he doesn't. I see that as a choice he makes, not a case of something he is unable to do.

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Not saying it's a good/bad choice, but I think it is just that; a choice.

NouveauDance said:

I look at it like this - Prince knows what to do in the studio, and these are the choices he makes. If he wanted a raw, balls deep rock sound, he surely knows how to put one on record - but he doesn't. I see that as a choice he makes, not a case of something he is unable to do.

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Not saying it's a good/bad choice, but I think it is just that; a choice.

I think he sees studio and live work as two very different media requiring different approaches.

again this is the "pop" sound he strives for..