I miss Sign o´the Times. Not virtous, but incredibly soulful and funky.

2045RadicalMattZ said:

Lover Dreamer and all the variations he played at the time live. Boy was that a great time to see Prince live.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

Live 4 Love

rogifan said:

http://www.guitarworld.co...acks/29219 15. “Dreamer” 14. “The Ride” 13. “The Morning Papers 12. “Joy in Repetition” 11. “Electric Chair” 10. "U Got the Look" 9. "Alexa de Paris" 8. “She’s Always in My Hair” 7. “Purple Rain” 6. “When Doves Cry” 5. “Computer Blue” 4. “Let’s Go Crazy” 3. “Lady Cab Driver” 2. “Bambi” 1. “I’m Yours”

Im not mad at this list..an its amazing that finally Im Yours gets the respect it deserved..all at the beginning that nobody ever cared about..they all creamed about 1999 and on from there. Im Yours was staring you in the face from the jump.

Of course he rcognized it for the triple threat Conga Room 2009 club date

I think "Witness 4 The Prosecution" (hornless, choirless version) is a real treat in that category.
I'm surprised no one mentioned "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man", which, in its longest form, carries one of the most experimental stuff he's ever done during the extended bridge.

Also, no "Private Joy" outro?

We tend, maybe because of the Purple Rain guitar-hero phenomenon, to always think about Prince's guitar unseparable from distorsion and overdrive, but there's no doubt he was one of the very best rhythm guitar players there ever was. When you start to play the guitar, it's pretty tempting to go for distorsion (and the compression it brings), because it has a kind of redeeming quality: people will have a hard time discerning if your touch is really great or not. I'm not saying Prince hid flaws behind big fat guitar sounds in any way. But it's a shame he didn't do more up-front solos or riffs with a clean sound. I mean his work on the "Where U Were Mine" verses is just fantastic, he goes for the cheapest garagey Telecaster sound, and so he's forced to go for bare, crude expression there.

And don't start me on "Controversy", I mean just focus on the rhythm guitar alone, it's insane. By then he had a acquired a natural finesse and sophistication in details without sacrificing the immediacy of it.

It's pretty difficult, as with most of Princey things, to come up with this particular list. Because there are in reality multiple players in one man, especially if you consider the stylistic changes he went through. You have the young virtuoso ("I'm Yours", "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad", etc.), The master of all pentatonic scales ("God (instrumental)", "Let's Go Crazy"), the lyrical female singer's voice ("Computer Blue", "Purple Rain", "Alexa de Paris"), the heavy metal wunderkind ("Paisley Park", "Temptation", "Shockadelica"), the bluesman ("Sign 'O The Times", "Joy In Repetition", "The Question Of U")...

As a hardcore fan (of a discrete level: there are some serious nutcases amo,gst us, which I'm in awe of), I have a strong preference for the incredible style the "Blue Angel" period brought to the table. Just listen to "The Cross" solo from '88 Dortmund: it borders on the verge of abstract. Of course the most obvious pinnacle being the infamous Small Club's "Just My Imagination", but the Lovesexy era has him at his most inventive: "Anna Stesia", "I Wish U Heaven" and "Positivity" are traversed by phrases and sounds that barely resemble what a guitar would normally do... I hope one day we'll have Deluxe or whatever editions with instrumentals as bonus CDs.

And then there is the over-the-top, exploring territories of the first half of the nineties, with the über wah-wah controlled octave jumps and the up-to-11 overdrives ("The Undertaker" studio sessions, "The Ride" from "The Sacrifice Of Victor"), where Prince went to the limits of expressivity of the instrument, with failed and miraculously successful experiments in equal measure. Very few guitarists pushed the envelope as much as he did.

The last decade saw a return to a kind of classicism in the approach, and even if the use of the whammy bar is questionable (I always admired his bendings and slides for making the guitar sound way MORE elastic than a Floyd Rose), fantastic moments abound.

Really, for me it's too vast a subject and sorry if I can't come up with 15 definitive ones, because there's still one important thing that make the targets constantly move: live, the adrenaline of the performance could bring out alternative, and often better, even more creative work than the studio versions. The definitive example being "Shhh", where you'll be hard pressed to come up with the definitive live take. Just when you think you prefer this particular evening's solo, here comes another with a radically different approach, and then another one years later, that make you reconsider.

Eric, the one with the guitar, sums it best:
"— Mr. Clapton, how does one feel when he's considered the best guitar player in the world?
— I don't know, you'll have to ask Prince."

rogifan said:

rogifan said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

Lover Dreamer and all the variations he played at the time live. Boy was that a great time to see Prince live.

There was an amazing version on YouTube from Europe (either 2010 or 2011). Not great quality as it was just video from someone in the audience but good enough. I wish I would have saved it down before it got removed.

It looked like it was filmed on the 60's Woodstock stage and he was as dynamic in it as he has ever been.

[Edited 7/8/17 17:24pm]

I'd put the "Paisley Park" remix and the guitar version of "Crucial" at the top of my list. And "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man".

Too many to mention really...

Why You Wanna Treat Me so Bad

Dolphin

The Holy River

Question of U

Batdance

I Will

[Edited 7/8/17 17:44pm]

bonatoc said:

Why you wanna treat me so bad?

Gold?

bonatoc said:

I think "Witness 4 The Prosecution" (hornless, choirless version) is a real treat in that category.
I'm surprised no one mentioned "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man", which, in its longest form, carries one of the most experimental stuff he's ever done during the extended bridge.

Also, no "Private Joy" outro?

We tend, maybe because of the Purple Rain guitar-hero phenomenon, to always think about Prince's guitar unseparable from distorsion and overdrive, but there's no doubt he was one of the very best rhythm guitar players there ever was. When you start to play the guitar, it's pretty tempting to go for distorsion (and the compression it brings), because it has a kind of redeeming quality: people will have a hard time discerning if your touch is really great or not. I'm not saying Prince hid flaws behind big fat guitar sounds in any way. But it's a shame he didn't do more up-front solos or riffs with a clean sound. I mean his work on the "Where U Were Mine" verses is just fantastic, he goes for the cheapest garagey Telecaster sound, and so he's forced to go for bare, crude expression there.

And don't start me on "Controversy", I mean just focus on the rhythm guitar alone, it's insane. By then he had a acquired a natural finesse and sophistication in details without sacrificing the immediacy of it.

It's pretty difficult, as with most of Princey things, to come up with this particular list. Because there are in reality multiple players in one man, especially if you consider the stylistic changes he went through. You have the young virtuoso ("I'm Yours", "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad", etc.), The master of all pentatonic scales ("God (instrumental)", "Let's Go Crazy"), the lyrical female singer's voice ("Computer Blue", "Purple Rain", "Alexa de Paris"), the heavy metal wunderkind ("Paisley Park", "Temptation", "Shockadelica"), the bluesman ("Sign 'O The Times", "Joy In Repetition", "The Question Of U")...

As a hardcore fan (of a discrete level: there are some serious nutcases amo,gst us, which I'm in awe of), I have a strong preference for the incredible style the "Blue Angel" period brought to the table. Just listen to "The Cross" solo from '88 Dortmund: it borders on the verge of abstract. Of course the most obvious pinnacle being the infamous Small Club's "Just My Imagination", but the Lovesexy era has him at his most inventive: "Anna Stesia", "I Wish U Heaven" and "Positivity" are traversed by phrases and sounds that barely resemble what a guitar would normally do... I hope one day we'll have Deluxe or whatever editions with instrumentals as bonus CDs.

And then there is the over-the-top, exploring territories of the first half of the nineties, with the über wah-wah controlled octave jumps and the up-to-11 overdrives ("The Undertaker" studio sessions, "The Ride" from "The Sacrifice Of Victor"), where Prince went to the limits of expressivity of the instrument, with failed and miraculously successful experiments in equal measure. Very few guitarists pushed the envelope as much as he did.

The last decade saw a return to a kind of classicism in the approach, and even if the use of the whammy bar is questionable (I always admired his bendings and slides for making the guitar sound way MORE elastic than a Floyd Rose), fantastic moments abound.

Really, for me it's too vast a subject and sorry if I can't come up with 15 definitive ones, because there's still one important thing that make the targets constantly move: live, the adrenaline of the performance could bring out alternative, and often better, even more creative work than the studio versions. The definitive example being "Shhh", where you'll be hard pressed to come up with the definitive live take. Just when you think you prefer this particular evening's solo, here comes another with a radically different approach, and then another one years later, that make you reconsider.

Eric, the one with the guitar, sums it best:
"— Mr. Clapton, how does one feel when he's considered the best guitar player in the world?
— I don't know, you'll have to ask Prince."

U know i love your posts (and that face) because you always seem very well versed, but that quote is a false one, that didn't happen.

Yeah, well. When it's too beautiful too be true, it probably isn't true.

Let's say Prince got God out of depression, which is not small feat.

Bambi

Fury

Joy in Repetition

Anotherloveholenyourhead

I'm Yours

Beautiful Strange

Lion Of Judah

Future Soul Song

This Could B Us

Hardrocklover

Revelation

Deliverance

I'm dreaming there is somewhere somehow an extended version of 'I HATE U'... that solo at the end is the best thing whole rock era of 90's witnessed.

stpaisios said:

I'm dreaming there is somewhere somehow an extended version of 'I HATE U'... that solo at the end is the best thing whole rock era of 90's witnessed.

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man... I love that guitar solo!

And... The Cross!

[Edited 7/11/17 2:58am]

rogifan said:

http://www.guitarworld.co...acks/29219 15. “Dreamer” 14. “The Ride” 13. “The Morning Papers 12. “Joy in Repetition” 11. “Electric Chair” 10. "U Got the Look" 9. "Alexa de Paris" 8. “She’s Always in My Hair” 7. “Purple Rain” 6. “When Doves Cry” 5. “Computer Blue” 4. “Let’s Go Crazy” 3. “Lady Cab Driver” 2. “Bambi” 1. “I’m Yours” Anything you’d add or take off this list? Any one you’d re-order? I’d probably add Colonized Mind, Shhh!, I Like It There and Alphabet Street. Maybe When You Were Mine, Fury, Peach and Guitar too. If you can find it check out the 2013 Dakota Jazz show with 3EG. They do a killer version of When You Were Mine and Guitar. Prince’s solo on Guitar kicks major ass. I’d definitely move Dreamer up higher on the list. And I’d probably put Let’s Go Crazy at #1. Yes I’m sure some people are sick of that song and no it’s not the heaviest rock song he recorded but the guitar solo at the end is pure bliss and on a song that topped the Billboard charts no less. Also I think the version he did with 3EG shows what an awesome rock song this is (check out the video from Manchester).

Looks like the list is in chronological order to be fair.

.

I think we'd all pick a different 15 and change it by the day. Mine would have to include the likes of..

.

3 Chains Of Gold

Peach

Dolphin

I Hate U

Shhh

Da Bang

Strays Of The World

I Like It There

The Same December

Anotherlove

james said: