No guitar policy? He had two guitar players, and played guitar, so... that theory is unfounded.

Besides, if you had 11 people backing you up, you wouldn't need a guitar most times. Prince did whatever he wanted.

Dude lived every day like it was opposite day. "Oh, you like when I shred on this guitar, huh? NO GUITAR FOR YOU."

I mean, maybe, but it was an experiment in something new, if he wasn't doing that he may as well have been just any old 80s popstar. Besides, the tour lasted all of a month, Piano and Microphone lasted longer and that was cut short by his death!

thebanishedone said:

masaba said:

I liked P's approach on the "Parade" tour. He wanted to do something totally different..I think he also wanted to get back his R&B audience that accused of him "selling out" on the previous albums/tours.. I thought it was cool that he ditched the "guitar rock" of "PR", and did something slick and polished (in the studio and live)..... Leeds and Bliss' horn work was fantastic...P jamming on the Hammond was cool too.....and out of that group was sort of the birth of one of his best bands (S.O.T.T/Lovesexy band)...By 1986, some R&B artists were still copping P's 1982 to 1984 sound in their music (synth/drum machines/electric guitar solos)...P had already moved on from that by then.

thebanishedone said:

Poplife88 said:

thebanishedone said:

No guitar policy in Prince case.i don't care for back guitars,anyway Wendy was always and still is a weak soloist.she butchered every single guitar solo.

??? You’re out of your mind about Wendy. I’ve seen her live a few times now and her solos are smoking. Girl can throw down with the rest of them. Her solo for Purple Rain on the Grammy special proved that! It was the highlight of the show.

Exactly. Prince didn't seem to think so. To say Wendy is untalented is just short-sighted. Doesn't mean she's better or worse than Dez, Levi, Miko, Kat (who really was a bad addition to the band), mike Scott, or anyone else.

Was no guitar policy of P&M tour a bit forced?

Why was one tour `forced` and not the other? (or vice versa)

It is all about choices, options and a decision.

udo said:

no, it wasn't forced.
there weren't that much guitars/guitarwork on "Parade" album as well.

There was Miko as a 2nd guitarist, Prince was in a Kid Creole mode.

siim said:

no, it wasn't forced.
there weren't that much guitars/guitarwork on "Parade" album as well.

You don't know what you're talking about.


It's Skipper's "Hissing of The Summer Lawns" period, dude.
They just don't sound like what your ears are expecting,
which is obviously shreds.

Sounds like you don't know how to listen to 11 properly.
You either have shitty hardware and/or physical support,
or in dire need of a Q-Tip exploration/explanation.


1. "Christopher Tracy's Parade"
Acoustic arpeggios and slide noises,

2. "I Wonder U"
Slicky Funk riff and solo,

3. "Under The Cherry Moon"
Italian acoustic grattugiatos on the right,

4. "Girls & Boys"
MIDI Guitar distorted riff, voice doubling, solo, ad libs,

5. "Life Can Be So Nice"
Ostinatos, truly audible from 1:43 on the right, responding to the harpsicord on the left, and then they don't stop until the end, and then crazy cowbells join,

6. "Venus de Milo"
Organic noise on the far right @1:36, with audible amp distortion on the last chord @1:50.
This is debatable, could be a bass or a desk preamp in the red.



1. "Mountains"
Rhythm guitars like, never stop dude (far right, then center).
There's even a shredder on the far right (power chord starting @3:10).

2. "Do U Lie?"
You would like to think that it's some Rhodes on the far right (Dammit!),
but it's actually a semi-acoustic.
It's typical muffled Jazz guitar sound.
Never stops as well.

3. "Kiss"
(cough cough).

4. "Anotherloverholenyohead"
MIDI Guitar intro solo, main underlying riff.
Quite upfront in the mix.

5. "Sometimes It Snows In April"
Honey smelling acoustics, creaking like Minnesotan late winters woods.



That leaves us with "New Position".
Which is mandatory for eardrums as well,
now and then.

[Edited 5/3/20 10:59am]

siim said:

no, it wasn't forced.
there weren't that much guitars/guitarwork on "Parade" album as well.

LOL what album you listening to? That's an uninformed statement if I ever heard one.

thebanishedone said:

udo said:

Was no guitar policy of P&M tour a bit forced?

Why was one tour `forced` and not the other? (or vice versa)

It is all about choices, options and a decision.

because only on Parade tour Prince was like :no i ain't playing for the sake of not playing.

.

How was this different from the P&M thing?

udo said:

bonatoc said:

siim said:

no, it wasn't forced.
there weren't that much guitars/guitarwork on "Parade" album as well.

You don't know what you're talking about.

It's Skipper's "Hissing of The Summer Lawns" period, dude.
They just don't sound like what your ears are expecting,
which is obviously shreds.

Sounds like you don't know how to listen to 11 properly.
You either have shitty hardware and/or physical support,
or in dire need of a Q-Tip exploration/explanation.

1. "Christopher Tracy's Parade"
Acoustic arpeggios and slide noises,

2. "I Wonder U"
Slicky Funk riff and solo,

3. "Under The Cherry Moon"
Italian acoustic grattugiatos on the right,

4. "Girls & Boys"
MIDI Guitar distorted riff, voice doubling, solo, ad libs,

5. "Life Can Be So Nice"
Ostinatos, truly audible from 1:43 on the right, responding to the harpsicord on the left, and then they don't stop until the end, and then crazy cowbells join,

6. "Venus de Milo"
Organic noise on the far right @1:36, with audible amp distortion on the last chord @1:50.
This is debatable, could be a bass or a desk preamp in the red.


1. "Mountains"
Rhythm guitars like, never stop dude (far right, then center).
There's even a shredder on the far right (power chord starting @3:10).

2. "Do U Lie?"
You would like to think that it's some Rhodes on the far right (Dammit!),
but it's actually a semi-acoustic.
It's typical muffled Jazz guitar sound.
Never stops as well.

3. "Kiss"
(cough cough).

4. "Anotherloverholenyohead"
MIDI Guitar intro solo, main underlying riff.
Quite upfront in the mix.

5. "Sometimes It Snows In April"
Honey smelling acoustics, creaking like Minnesotan late winters woods.


That leaves us with "New Position".
Which is mandatory for eardrums as well,
now and then.

[Edited 5/3/20 10:59am]

And yet, you have to pin point exactly when these instances occur.

Wendy was able to handle most of the guitar work during these live shows.

I dont agree with the OP that Prince had a "no guitar policy" in 86. Thats just ridiculous.

But what Siim said above is true. There wasn't much SOLO guitar work needed during the live shows.

But when it was needed, he was there (like always) in awesome form.

LOL, i'm sorry I can't this thread seriously when the original poster is now on record as disliking all "backing" guitars. He just wanted a two and a half hour guitar solo for a show!

jaawwnn said:

thebanishedone said:

jaawwnn said:

LOL, i'm sorry I can't this thread seriously when the original poster is now on record as disliking all "backing" guitars. He just wanted a two and a half hour guitar solo for a show!

i am glad that u r psychic and u know what i wanted. I just wanted him to play an instrument a little bit more cause it sure wouldn't take away from the quality of the show.

The 1986 Hit'n'Run is sandwiched bewteen two massively guitar-based tours.
You could try to get every 1984/1985 and 1987/1988 live bootleg there is out there
and listen to each and every one of them.
Make sure you don't forget soundchecks and small shows.

Now that you've ingested (except Prince expels it)
all ol this shreddings and soloes ("they're all different too"),
wouldn't you want to take a break from the axe?

At least away from any distortion or fuzz pedal for a while?
No, I don't think it was forced.
Like P&M, Prince was taking a salutary break.

bonatoc said:

This means P&M 2016 was really forced:

The tour title hints at no guitar.

He actually did not play guitar, even for songs that could use it.

He even forgot to bring a band.

That is forced.

udo said:

thebanishedone said:

thebanishedone said:

udo said:

This means P&M 2016 was really forced:

The tour title hints at no guitar.

He actually did not play guitar, even for songs that could use it.

He even forgot to bring a band.

That is forced.

no no no.On piano and mic tour Prince played an instrument during the whole concert.for me Prince not playing during a live show is incomplete xpirience.i like that he did P&mic tour .he was doing something different.On Parade tour he was leading a bsnd but that was not the first time.he was a band leader on 2999 tour yet he still found time to play

.

He did not play guitar.

How much keyboard did he play in other tours?

~10% of a show?

That is forced.

Yes, different from not playing an instrument for extended times during shows, but the title concentrated on the guitar thing.

And the guitar exclusion was much more stringent during P&M than during Parade.

thebanishedone said:

bonatoc said:

The 1986 Hit'n'Run is sandwiched bewteen two massively guitar-based tours.
You could try to get every 1984/1985 and 1987/1988 live bootleg there is out there
and listen to each and every one of them.
Make sure you don't forget soundchecks and small shows.

Now that you've ingested (except Prince expels it)
all ol this shreddings and soloes ("they're all different too"),
wouldn't you want to take a break from the axe?

At least away from any distortion or fuzz pedal for a while?
No, I don't think it was forced.
Like P&M, Prince was taking a salutary break.

2 massively guitar based tours? prince didn't have massively based tours starting with 1999 tour up until Gold tour.on all tours after Controversy up to Gold Prince played guitar only occasionaly

"Massively" is a stretch alright.

But the tracks from the setlists which have Prince playing lead guitar
are usually extended versions. Combined, the tracks accounts roughly
for a quarter or a third of a whole standard Prince concert.
« Purple Rain » usually went on for fifteen minutes.
Drop in the others and you get half an hour out of two hours.

Still occasionaly means "now and then",
and it sounds like what could be played at one concert wasn't on the next.
Yet the "guitar tunes" were in a "forced" fixed position in these setlists.

And this quarter of a concert was intense,
and you left the venue thinking Prince had played
guitar for a larger part of the show than what he had actually played.
But that's my subjective distortion lens.

I probably don't understand the topic.
It should be rephrased as
"Was no Prince's guitar solos policy of Parade tour a little bit forced?".

Because again, Wendy (1984 and 1986 tours)
and Miko (1986 — ahem, two guitars, how's that for a policy — 1987 and 1988 tours)
are sure earning their paycheck. Like what they're doing or not,
these two played Prince's rhythm parts every night from start to finish.

Would you rather have Prince jumping and sliding,
do mimes and spiritual gatherings,
or have some kind of Eric Clapton/Mark Knopfler/David Gilmour,
a dude who just stands behind the mike and plays from start to finish?

I mean, you have to consider what you lost in the process,
and what you gained. I'll take the 1986 shows as they are any day,
thank you very much.

I don't understand what this "Forced" is supposed to mean.
This topic sounds like some guy whining he wants yet more Prince's solos,
as if there wasn't myriads of them to listen to, with some still to be heard.

Go listen to some Joe Satriani or Steve Vai, if you really need it that bad.
I'll be standing here and be a witness for the prosecution of this "forced" affair.

[Edited 5/6/20 6:08am]

bonatoc said: