Who played the guitar solo on When Doves Cry?

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Thread started 02/23/25 5:54pm

getwild180	Who played the guitar solo on When Doves Cry? I know it's a silly question and we all know that Prince plays everything. However, in some concerts Wendy plays the solo and I think she does in the music video as well. I know that Dez played the solo on Little Red Corvette. So it leads me to question as to who plays the solo on When Doves Cry. Thank you for your answer.
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Reply #1 posted 02/23/25 6:27pm

nayroo2002

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Wendy plays the solo on "Kiss".

"Whatever skin we're in
we all need 2 b friends"

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Reply #2 posted 02/23/25 6:39pm

getwild180	That's true, I forgot about that one too.
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Reply #3 posted 02/23/25 6:55pm

bozojones

PrinceVault says that Prince played the solos on both "When Doves Cry" and "Kiss", which is what I had always assumed.

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Reply #4 posted 02/23/25 8:17pm

nayroo2002

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The best guitar solo on a Prince produced song is still by Jesse Johnson on "Jungle Love".

"Whatever skin we're in
we all need 2 b friends"

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Reply #5 posted 02/24/25 8:46am

Boydie

On recordings, my favourite guitar solo is on SexyMF, which I believe was played by Levi - but I would love to hear Prince play it or know whether he wrote the solo for Levi to play??

My favourite of all time though, is the live bluesy/jazzy solo on If I Had A Harem from the Lovesexy 1988 Dortmund show - pure genius!

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Reply #6 posted 02/25/25 9:03pm

rockford

Boydie said:

Levi played the solo and Levi wrote the solo.

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Reply #7 posted 02/25/25 9:04pm

rockford

getwild180 said:

I know it's a silly question and we all know that Prince plays everything. However, in some concerts Wendy plays the solo and I think she does in the music video as well. I know that Dez played the solo on Little Red Corvette. So it leads me to question as to who plays the solo on When Doves Cry. Thank you for your answer.

Prince played all the instruments on When Doces Cry according to the liner notes and the engineer who was there recording him. Wendy played it (poorly), live so Prince could do his dance moves from the video without having to deal with a guitar.

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Reply #8 posted 02/25/25 10:09pm

nxx

Boydie said:
On recordings, my favourite guitar solo is on SexyMF, which I believe was played by Levi - but I would love to hear Prince play it or know whether he wrote the solo for Levi to play?? My favourite of all time though, is the live bluesy/jazzy solo on If I Had A Harem from the Lovesexy 1988 Dortmund show - pure genius!

I'm sure you know already but there are a few other nice Levi solos dotted throughout the back catalogue if you liked SexyMF... Get Some Solo, and Spoke 2 Me were both lovely.

Personally I didn't think much of If I Had a Harem, but to each their own!

I'm more into Prince's rhythm playing, less so his lead playing but I always loved the solos on "I Will" and "The Morning Papers" - really beautifully simple, exactly what the songs needed and no more. Solos I could sing in my head right now, they are so memorable.

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Reply #9 posted 02/25/25 10:14pm

nxx

nayroo2002 said:

The best guitar solo on a Prince produced song is still by Jesse Johnson on "Jungle Love".

Controversial take! I definitely wouldn't agree with that but to each their own. I personally liked the solo on "Time Waits for No One" a lot, very understated.

PS if you're a fan of Jesse's playing there was a great long interview with him recently, he's awesome. https://youtu.be/odeIqAY4...zWyMqMgBIh

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Reply #10 posted 02/26/25 2:52pm

nayroo2002

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nxx said:

nayroo2002 said:

The best guitar solo on a Prince produced song is still by Jesse Johnson on "Jungle Love".

Controversial take! I definitely wouldn't agree with that but to each their own. I personally liked the solo on "Time Waits for No One" a lot, very understated.

PS if you're a fan of Jesse's playing there was a great long interview with him recently, he's awesome. https://youtu.be/odeIqAY4...zWyMqMgBIh

Not many studio recordings of Time songs actually have Jesse on guitar.
But, what i actually meant was, if anyone else besides Prince did a solo on his own production,
then that was my favorite one. biggrin

"Whatever skin we're in
we all need 2 b friends"

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Reply #11 posted 02/26/25 2:55pm

nxx

nayroo2002 said:

nxx said:

Controversial take! I definitely wouldn't agree with that but to each their own. I personally liked the solo on "Time Waits for No One" a lot, very understated.

PS if you're a fan of Jesse's playing there was a great long interview with him recently, he's awesome. https://youtu.be/odeIqAY4...zWyMqMgBIh

Not many studio recordings of Time songs actually have Jesse on guitar.
But, what i actually meant was, if anyone else besides Prince did a solo on his own production,
then that was my favorite one.

Ah I see!

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Reply #12 posted 02/26/25 5:01pm

jasopig	It's Prince. The Revolution wasn't involved in any part of WDC, other than the music video.
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