Listening to The Truth for the first time since a long way back. The P&B Podcast made me rediscover this gem of an album. So I mentioned in a thread a few days ago that I was sort of reincarnated with some of his music when I heard Dark again. And I gotta say, I fell even more in love with him this past day when listening to the songs "3rd Eye" and "The Other Side Of The Pillow". Mainly because I've rarely heard this instense plucking on a acoustic guitar for a long time. It really sounds like it hurts quite a bit when he's tapping on the strings. But I've rarely think of acoustic when I'm listening to Prince. Why didn't he release more songs like the two i mentioned above? Is he a skillfull acoustic player compared to others in the game. Because when I, as a novice, listen to those songs it's just pure bliss. One of the best earphones experiences in a long time I must say. Especially the bass part combined with the guitar in "3rd Eye". But my personal favourite is still "The Other Side Of The Pillow". He keeps on surprising me, Prince.

Back in the day when you got a free Prince album with your Prince album.

Deserved it's own release though.

A couple of his live acoustic sets are still on youtube.

I heard Prince and the Band and saw his Musicology special and he played some acoustic guitar there also. Would love to hear more though, so I will have to check some of these other songs out.

^ There is a KILLER acoustic version of Black Sweat too.

Where? I would love to hear it.

Noodled24 said:

^ There is a KILLER acoustic version of Black Sweat too.

purplerabbithole said:

Where? I would love to hear it.

Noodled24 said:

^ There is a KILLER acoustic version of Black Sweat too.

It was on youtube but it looks like it's been taken down.

Wolfie87 said:

Listening to The Truth for the first time since a long way back. The P&B Podcast made me rediscover this gem of an album. So I mentioned in a thread a few days ago that I was sort of reincarnated with some of his music when I heard Dark again. And I gotta say, I fell even more in love with him this past day when listening to the songs "3rd Eye" and "The Other Side Of The Pillow". Mainly because I've rarely heard this instense plucking on a acoustic guitar for a long time. It really sounds like it hurts quite a bit when he's tapping on the strings. But I've rarely think of acoustic when I'm listening to Prince. Why didn't he release more songs like the two i mentioned above? Is he a skillfull acoustic player compared to others in the game. Because when I, as a novice, listen to those songs it's just pure bliss. One of the best earphones experiences in a long time I must say. Especially the bass part combined with the guitar in "3rd Eye". But my personal favourite is still "The Other Side Of The Pillow". He keeps on surprising me, Prince.

.

He kinda hid his musicianship in general throughout his recordidng career, unfortunately.

.

When people talk about him being an underrated guitar player in general, the main reason for that is how relatively little he featured himself playing it on his own records. Think about how many guitar parts (solos, even) are buried in dense mixes.

.

But yeah, I love hearing that acoustic playing on 'The Truth' even if it is just rhythm parts. Same goes for the acoustic piano playing on 'One Night Alone' - wish there had been more of that throughout his recording career.

Prince Unplugged ... it would have been worth it.

^ In fairness he did plenty of acoustic sets live.

Noodled24 said:

^ In fairness he did plenty of acoustic sets live.

.

But unfortunately those are largely unheard by general audiences. His musicianship was curiously downplayed throughout hsi recording career.

CAL3 said:

Wolfie87 said:

Listening to The Truth for the first time since a long way back. The P&B Podcast made me rediscover this gem of an album. So I mentioned in a thread a few days ago that I was sort of reincarnated with some of his music when I heard Dark again. And I gotta say, I fell even more in love with him this past day when listening to the songs "3rd Eye" and "The Other Side Of The Pillow". Mainly because I've rarely heard this instense plucking on a acoustic guitar for a long time. It really sounds like it hurts quite a bit when he's tapping on the strings. But I've rarely think of acoustic when I'm listening to Prince. Why didn't he release more songs like the two i mentioned above? Is he a skillfull acoustic player compared to others in the game. Because when I, as a novice, listen to those songs it's just pure bliss. One of the best earphones experiences in a long time I must say. Especially the bass part combined with the guitar in "3rd Eye". But my personal favourite is still "The Other Side Of The Pillow". He keeps on surprising me, Prince.

.

He kinda hid his musicianship in general throughout his recordidng career, unfortunately.

.

When people talk about him being an underrated guitar player in general, the main reason for that is how relatively little he featured himself playing it on his own records. Think about how many guitar parts (solos, even) are buried in dense mixes.

.

But yeah, I love hearing that acoustic playing on 'The Truth' even if it is just rhythm parts. Same goes for the acoustic piano playing on 'One Night Alone' - wish there had been more of that throughout his recording career.

Yep. That's why Madhouse's "8" is so precious.
I just wished he would have drop the "strings pad doubling" on his piano sound.
There's nothing wrong with the natural decaying note of a piano.
The strings made every chord sustained. Not a big fan.

Which is absurd, because he's really mastering the sustain pedal (Cold Coffee & Cocaine session, Dortmund piano medley, Condition Of The Heart, etc.)

Well, we do have "7" as a well-known song displaying Prince on acoustic.
Also, the Musicology set (BET special) was on electro-acoustic and received quite an audience.
"Kiss", even if gated, relies on acoustic guitar.

CAL3 said:

Wolfie87 said:

Listening to The Truth for the first time since a long way back. The P&B Podcast made me rediscover this gem of an album. So I mentioned in a thread a few days ago that I was sort of reincarnated with some of his music when I heard Dark again. And I gotta say, I fell even more in love with him this past day when listening to the songs "3rd Eye" and "The Other Side Of The Pillow". Mainly because I've rarely heard this instense plucking on a acoustic guitar for a long time. It really sounds like it hurts quite a bit when he's tapping on the strings. But I've rarely think of acoustic when I'm listening to Prince. Why didn't he release more songs like the two i mentioned above? Is he a skillfull acoustic player compared to others in the game. Because when I, as a novice, listen to those songs it's just pure bliss. One of the best earphones experiences in a long time I must say. Especially the bass part combined with the guitar in "3rd Eye". But my personal favourite is still "The Other Side Of The Pillow". He keeps on surprising me, Prince.

.

He kinda hid his musicianship in general throughout his recordidng career, unfortunately.

.

When people talk about him being an underrated guitar player in general, the main reason for that is how relatively little he featured himself playing it on his own records. Think about how many guitar parts (solos, even) are buried in dense mixes.

.

But yeah, I love hearing that acoustic playing on 'The Truth' even if it is just rhythm parts. Same goes for the acoustic piano playing on 'One Night Alone' - wish there had been more of that throughout his recording career.

It's so frustrating especially with Whyen Doves Cry

214 said:

CAL3 said:

.

He kinda hid his musicianship in general throughout his recordidng career, unfortunately.

.

When people talk about him being an underrated guitar player in general, the main reason for that is how relatively little he featured himself playing it on his own records. Think about how many guitar parts (solos, even) are buried in dense mixes.

.

But yeah, I love hearing that acoustic playing on 'The Truth' even if it is just rhythm parts. Same goes for the acoustic piano playing on 'One Night Alone' - wish there had been more of that throughout his recording career.

It's so frustrating especially with Whyen Doves Cry

It's not frustrating for me at all - I love how he buried his guitar parts - they are like buried treasure

Noodled24 said:

^ There is a KILLER acoustic version of Black Sweat too.

"Love" acoustic is great as well.
Why these acoustic versions for the 3121 album?

mynameisnotsusan said:

214 said:

It's so frustrating especially with Whyen Doves Cry

It's not frustrating for me at all - I love how he buried his guitar parts - they are like buried treasure

It happens the same with the great guitar in Shockadelica.

214 said:

mynameisnotsusan said:

It's not frustrating for me at all - I love how he buried his guitar parts - they are like buried treasure

It happens the same with the great guitar in Shockadelica.

The guitar in "Shockadelica" is quite up front in the mix. He plays a little with the volume near the end, but it's not buried.

I found the guitar soloes near the end of "Wonderful Ass" and "Shortberry Strawcake" more frustrating.
That's what PP should propose. Virtual mixing desks where one can mute/solo the track(s) of his choosing while a song runs.

bonatoc said:

Prince showcased his (electro-)acoustic skills a lot
during the Musicology Tour medleys.
"Telemarketers Blues", and its voice-doubled solo was the shit.

"Shark Tank - San Jose CA." is a great example.

mynameisnotsusan said:

214 said:

It's so frustrating especially with Whyen Doves Cry

It's not frustrating for me at all - I love how he buried his guitar parts - they are like buried treasure

.

Interesting point of view. But the analogy is faulty - buried treasure must be unburied in order to appreciate.

.

To me, when a person can play guitar like that - let's hear it. Album version of "Joy In Repetition" is one of many examples of him mixing the guitar part too low to truly appreciate.

pah said:

Just a thought I had while reading this thread -- I'm not married to it, so please be kind! Do you think some of this may have been generational, meaning when Prince grew up and who influenced him? When you think about who he was listening to and when, the acoustic stuff tends towards folk music, not rock/funk/soul. There are pretty strong dividing lines there. (Blues would be a big exception here, I realize.). Music stayed that way for a while, too. I say this because I remember my reaction to the "new" Unplugged shows on MTV. (They started in 1989.). I remember thinking that they were an interesting idea, and nice enough, but I really couldn't grock why someone would want to hear their favorite rock star play acoustic rather than their "real" music. I have obviously grown since then, but I assure you that this was a common enough opinion at the time. (I would have been high school/college age.) I wonder if Prince saw acoustic as less desirable/appealing/commercially viable for albums over the earlier part of his career, but still enjoyed it enough to play live. BTW, for me it's the blues, too. That man could sing Mary Had a Little Lamb to some blues, and I'd be rapt.

Two words that refute this: Joni Mitchell.

CAL3 said:

mynameisnotsusan said:

It's not frustrating for me at all - I love how he buried his guitar parts - they are like buried treasure

.

Interesting point of view. But the analogy is faulty - buried treasure must be unburied in order to appreciate.

.

To me, when a person can play guitar like that - let's hear it. Album version of "Joy In Repetition" is one of many examples of him mixing the guitar part too low to truly appreciate.

That one as well, Shockedlica, When Doves Cry,Paisley Park (specially at the end) and some others i can't recall right now.

CAL3 said:

CAL3 said:

Noodled24 said:

^ In fairness he did plenty of acoustic sets live.

.

But unfortunately those are largely unheard by general audiences. His musicianship was curiously downplayed throughout hsi recording career.

I get what you're saying but Prince didn't court a general audience despite the runaway success of Purple Rain and even then, I still don;t run into that many people even of my own age who saw it or bought the record. Some I know STILL haven't seen it!
I'm regularly disappointed when people who are pretty solid music fans who know a lot about who played what on 'classic albums', will say things like 'I heard he got a lot of other people to play his guitar parts'.

Which just goes to show that when people expected Prince to return to 'general audience' success, they miss that he never had it. Purple Rain was a runaway train, sure, but its sales figures can't be taken, as they have been, to indicate his acceptance by a large, general audience.
The success was in his courting of freaks, for whom he was, temporarily or permanently (mostly temporarily) a totem.
But Prince was difficult...too difficult for the general audience which expected 'brand consistency'.

His guitar playing was the kind of thing that could win their loyalty for longer but his apparent narcissism was always going to be iffy for all but those particularly involved with him.
I have the same resistance to several other artists who have tended to court their own 'brand' of fan. Lady Gaga renamed them 'little monsters' and no matter what she does, there's something about her that seems to me a closed cult I can't enter because I don't worship her.
I am sure that Prince pioneered a kind of fandom which looks to separate from 'the herd', from the general audience.

So if people don't know Prince is a great guitarist, that's because he's keeping that for the circle you must enter. It's a fascinating and slightly illogical way of working but allows people like Prince, Gaga and Madonna to cultivate more intensity in themselves and the responses to what they do.

If Prince was hiding his guitar skills, it was always at moments when he WAS interested in new recruiting of general audience (he did it from time to time, notably with D&P, Musicology and 3121) but it was always before he'd impose a test of loyalty...as if to say 'Are you gonna come in? Are you gonna stay in? Because only if you do will you find out more.'

Genesia said:

pah said:

Just a thought I had while reading this thread -- I'm not married to it, so please be kind! Do you think some of this may have been generational, meaning when Prince grew up and who influenced him? When you think about who he was listening to and when, the acoustic stuff tends towards folk music, not rock/funk/soul. There are pretty strong dividing lines there. (Blues would be a big exception here, I realize.). Music stayed that way for a while, too. I say this because I remember my reaction to the "new" Unplugged shows on MTV. (They started in 1989.). I remember thinking that they were an interesting idea, and nice enough, but I really couldn't grock why someone would want to hear their favorite rock star play acoustic rather than their "real" music. I have obviously grown since then, but I assure you that this was a common enough opinion at the time. (I would have been high school/college age.) I wonder if Prince saw acoustic as less desirable/appealing/commercially viable for albums over the earlier part of his career, but still enjoyed it enough to play live. BTW, for me it's the blues, too. That man could sing Mary Had a Little Lamb to some blues, and I'd be rapt.

Two words that refute this: Joni Mitchell.

Touche, particularly as influences go.

Friend Lover Sister Mother

.

From 4min to 4:33 roughly.

.

Just unexpected instrumental brilliance on that acoustic.

.

Sometimes I think he was just so at home with his voice and writing that the other things were all just frosting on an already masterful cake.

I loved hearing Prince play the acoustic guitar. I wish he did more of it. He did do an Unplugged concert.