I really miss the orchestral music behind some of Prince's songs, including "I Wonder U," "The One," "Pink Cashmere," "The Ladder," "Glam Slam," and "The Screams of Passion" with The Family. Clare Fischer was such an integral part of Prince music from that era that I feel like a deep hole is left by his death in 2012. I can't believe Mr. Fischer died at the age of 83! Is it true that he and Prince never met in person? It's sad that we won't hear "that sound" with Prince ever again.

FormerlyKnownAs said:

No - all those orchestrations sounded exactly the same. Once you've heard 1 Clare Fischer you've heard them all. Prince figured that out pretty quickly, and from then on just used sampled bits of his orchestrations to teh same effect. Affirmation 2 (or 3)'s strings sounded quite refreshing in comparison, I thought.

Ymaginatif said:

Affirmation 2 (or 3)'s strings sounded quite refreshing in comparison, I thought.

You must find it funny then, that Stringenius were specifically asked by Prince to make the strings have that 'Clare Fischer sound'...

FunkyStrange said:

Ymaginatif said:

Affirmation 2 (or 3)'s strings sounded quite refreshing in comparison, I thought.

You must find it funny then, that Stringenius were specifically asked by Prince to make the strings have that 'Clare Fischer sound'...

Well, do they? Not at all

FormerlyKnownAs said:

I really miss the orchestral music behind some of Prince's songs, including "I Wonder U," "The One," "Pink Cashmere," "The Ladder," "Glam Slam," and "The Screams of Passion" with The Family. Clare Fischer was such an integral part of Prince music from that era that I feel like a deep hole is left by his death in 2012. I can't believe Mr. Fischer died at the age of 83! Is it true that he and Prince never met in person? It's sad that we won't hear "that sound" with Prince ever again.

Glam Slam?

paulludvig said:

FormerlyKnownAs said:

I really miss the orchestral music behind some of Prince's songs, including "I Wonder U," "The One," "Pink Cashmere," "The Ladder," "Glam Slam," and "The Screams of Passion" with The Family. Clare Fischer was such an integral part of Prince music from that era that I feel like a deep hole is left by his death in 2012. I can't believe Mr. Fischer died at the age of 83! Is it true that he and Prince never met in person? It's sad that we won't hear "that sound" with Prince ever again.

Glam Slam?

Indeed. FormerlyKnownAs is a bit mistaken about Glam Slam and The Ladder. Glam Slam doesn't have any real strings at all and The Ladder's strings were, I believe, orchestrated by W&L and played by a small string ensemble. Clare's first orchestrations were on The Family's album released in 1985. The first Prince release with his orchestrations was Parade in 1986. Don't think there were any Fischer orchestrations on Lovesexy.

pzlyprk said:

I agree, without him, Eric Leeds and W&L a lot of the sophistication in Prince's music was gone!

rainbowchild said:

pzlyprk said:

Indeed. FormerlyKnownAs is a bit mistaken about Glam Slam and The Ladder. Glam Slam doesn't have any real strings at all and The Ladder's strings were, I believe, orchestrated by W&L and played by a small string ensemble. Clare's first orchestrations were on The Family's album released in 1985. The first Prince release with his orchestrations was Parade in 1986. Don't think there were any Fischer orchestrations on Lovesexy.

Indeed, Prince even acknowledged Clare Fischer in the album liner notes of the Parade album: "With special thanks 2 Clare Fischer 4 Making Brighter the Colors Black and White." Another reason I enjoy watching the movie, Under the Cherry Moon is Claire Fischer's orchestrations for the score of the film. [Edited 12/17/14 8:23am]

Okay - I stand corrected. I can't find any info about C. Fischer doing the epic strings/orchestration on the 12" version of 'Glam Slam' that I have. Nor is C. Fischer credited with "The Ladder." As indicated, the string credits on that one are indeed Wendy & Lisa. Alright, take out those two songs from my original post and insert two others that YOU KNOW Clare Fischer contributed to and then you'll have the intent of my post. I just like the sound - and so much of it was because of C. Fischer. Not all -- as you've indicated, but enough to notice that "that sound" is certainly not present in Prince's music today. We know it can be explained by the absence of former associates from Prince's camp. Thanks, you all, for pointing the credits out though - like I said, now I know.

Pretty sure I conducted one of his last, if not the last, interview with Clare for my Parade documentary before he passed. He was clearly unwell and didn't speak much, his son Brent did most of the talking. But I feel honored to have spoken to him and told him how much I enjoyed his work.

I'd love to read/hear that interview...is any of it posted online?

'Clare Fischer is Sadly Missed'

I agree big time.

Scotsman1999 said:

I'd love to read/hear that interview...is any of it posted online?

Here's the main documentary
http://www.mixcloud.com/X...de-april/

Here's 30mins of "deleted scenes"
http://www.mixcloud.com/bcu/prince-parade-documentary-deleted-scenes/

Truthfully I can't remember what's in there and what's not. There's got to be some bits of Brent in there. Clare wasn't able to say anything substantial enough to get used unfortunately.

However! We've not announced this yet, but the whole documentary series (Parade was one episode of 12) is being turned into a book, and the interviews we did are being transcribed in their entirety (so I'm told) and we hope to release this book next year. So there should be about 30 minutes or more of talking to Brent and Clare getting transcribed, as well as over an hour of talking to Dr. Fink.

rainbowchild said:

pzlyprk said:

Indeed. FormerlyKnownAs is a bit mistaken about Glam Slam and The Ladder. Glam Slam doesn't have any real strings at all and The Ladder's strings were, I believe, orchestrated by W&L and played by a small string ensemble. Clare's first orchestrations were on The Family's album released in 1985. The first Prince release with his orchestrations was Parade in 1986. Don't think there were any Fischer orchestrations on Lovesexy.

Indeed, Prince even acknowledged Clare Fischer in the album liner notes of the Parade album: "With special thanks 2 Clare Fischer 4 Making Brighter the Colors Black and White." Another reason I enjoy watching the movie, Under the Cherry Moon is Claire Fischer's orchestrations for the score of the film. [Edited 12/17/14 8:23am]

I always thought that this was a rather lovely poetic thing for Prince to say about Claire Fischer's contribution to the soundtrack, and in some ways a very apt thing to say about the whole ethos of the UTCM project in light of Claire's work.

Is Te Amo Corazon the last song he is featured on?

He added so much to the musical tapestry, I can't imagine Alexa de Paris without him

I agree - Clare Fischer's arrangements were like none other, except for his son Brent who comes very close. The ones on the new album pale in comparison to their richness and uniqueness.

Like many people have said before, Clare's arrangements cut sideways across a track and expand Prince's original music in way that just takes it to a whole 'nother level. Prince's way of saying "Making Brighter the Colors" is perfect.

I have no idea why someone would say Clare's arrangements are all the same - that makes about as much sense as saying Prince repeats himself over and over again from album to album.

I was always under the impression that Clare would send Prince samples and Prince would incorperate them in to his music. It wasn't until someone posted a YouTube link (Militant, I think) with Clare and his son speaking on the process and how it worked. They then played a slightly different version of I wonder U, too hot! I miss his vibe in P's music.

[Edited 12/23/14 21:19pm]

klick2me said:

I was always under the impression that Clare would send Prince samples and Prince would incorperate them in to his music. It wasn't until someone posted a YouTube link (Militant, I think) with Clare and his son speaking on the process and how it worked. They then played a slightly different version on I wonder U, too hot! I miss his vibe in P's music.

I love that clip... According to Clare he score the whole album? Or whole songs on the album, and Prince decided what to keep and what to delete. There was an oboe part or something in I Wonder U, and I remember Clare saying something to the effect that Prince made the right decision. Watching that clip, I would like to hear Clare's full orchestrations of all the songs he received. It also, increased my appreciation for Prince's skills as a producer & arranger--his final version of I Wonder U contains the subtley and nuance, balance of orchestra and band that makes the song magical.