My memory is getting bad.

Any suggestions on Prince songs that use strings/violins in a good creative way?

Is there a list of Clare Fischers songs somewhere?

[Edited 2/2/21 14:31pm]

Venus DeMilo

Arms of Orion

Pink Cashmere - the strings and guitar

langebleu said:

Pink Cashmere - the strings and guitar

This was my first thought. It's so textured and dreamy. I fucking love it. I would've loved to have heard a more acoustic take on it with the strings.

Also, I think "Old Friends 4 Sale" wouldn't be the song it is (even with the uber personal lyrics) were it not for Clare's strings on it.

"Alexa De Paris" really shows how strings don't just compliment a song, but bring in the groove or provide a leadline with the melody.

Others:

"Christopher Tracy's Parade"

"Raspberry Beret"

"Venus De Milo"

"Nothing Compares 2 U"

TrivialPursuit said:

langebleu said:

Pink Cashmere - the strings and guitar

This was my first thought. It's so textured and dreamy. I fucking love it. I would've loved to have heard a more acoustic take on it with the strings.

Also, I think "Old Friends 4 Sale" wouldn't be the song it is (even with the uber personal lyrics) were it not for Clare's strings on it.

"Alexa De Paris" really shows how strings don't just compliment a song, but bring in the groove or provide a leadline with the melody.

Others:

"Christopher Tracy's Parade"

"Raspberry Beret"

"Venus De Milo"

"Nothing Compares 2 U"

Pink Cashmere and Alexa de Paris are my top two examples of Prince and Clare Fischer immanentizing the eschaton. Not attempting to, mind you - they actually did it.

Baltimore comes to mind.

Crystal Ball.

And their sample on The Future works nicely too.

TrivialPursuit said:

Also, I think "Old Friends 4 Sale" wouldn't be the song it is (even with the uber personal lyrics) were it not for Clare's strings on it.

Co-sign that. I know there isn't a whole lot of love for the 1991 version around these parts, but I truly enjoy it, mainly for the way that Prince cedes the spotlight to the orchestra by muting the piano track and then taking a break from singing after the line, "Can somebody please tell me?" The resulting orchestral "solo" is utterly heartbreaking in the most beautiful way possible. It's one of my favorite moments in the entire Prince catalog.

.

All of the other songs named above are solid choices, particularly "Pink Cashmere." The way that the strings and the guitar both wrap their solos around each other at the end still gives me goosebumps.

.

I'd also like to throw "River Run Dry" into the mix. (Yes, Bobby Z. wrote it, but it still has Prince's fingerprints on it.)

[Edited 2/3/21 6:05am]

[Edited 2/3/21 11:37am]

the entire Kamasutra LP is overlooked and terribly underrated IMO .. i love "Serotonin" and "Kamasutra"... that recurring 8 note passage throughout the album takes my soul everytime

"Te Amo Corazón"

Genesia said:

psyche2 said:

Crystal Ball.

And their sample on The Future works nicely too.

This is my answer to this question too. There are more, but these two spring to mind immediately. The strings in Crystal Ball are magnificent in my opinion, just gorgeous and add a lot to the song.

Also, "Mia Bocca" & "The Screams Of Passion"

Thank u all.

I'm writing some orchestration and this helps quite a bit.

Screams of Passion

Desire

Mia Bocca

Crystal Ball

Venus De Milo

Raspberry Beret

Glam Slam