I've been doing some web searching, looking for reviews of "Musicology." I've seen several fan reviews that mention that John Blackwell's drumming really adds to the album....however, he's only credited for one or two songs in the booklet, right? Is that Prince playing drums? Uncredited Blackwell? Kirky J. after five years of lessons? Wait, scratch that last one; it'd take more than five years for that asstube!

Some kickass drumming on "If Eye Was The Man In Ur Life" that has to be John. Which songs is he credited for?
[This message was edited Wed Apr 21 17:20:39 2004 by freakebear]

I mostly heard the Linn the few times I listened to the album.

lovemachine said:

There is indeed some Linn on that shit....but some damn good real drumming, too...does anyone know if the booklet's credits are correct? Is that really Prince?

John is credited on they marrying kind, if I was the man in your life, On The Couch and Dear Mr. Man. The rest is credited to Prince.

lovemachine said:

On one obvious track, yes. On what others? Sounds like live drums to me, or at least sampled and looped live drums. The majority of the tracks feature live drums.

Life O' The Party isn't actually the Linn is it?

KingSausage said:

No, there are some mighty omissions in the credits...musicians, engineers, studios, personal assitants,,...all sorts of unneccessary people!!!

i think a lot of the drumming is programmed, but not with the linn, it is probably public domain loops on protools.

At the end of the day, a drum sample played on a computer is basically a real drum that has been recorded into a snippet, then you program it to play wherever throughout the song. If John Blackwell recorded some drumming and then that recording get's cut up into snippets and re-timed, could you still call that John Blackwell's drumming? I suppose it depends on how much it has been cut up.

So it's not always easy to tell the difference between 'live' drumming and something entirely done on a computer - though programmed drums tend to sound too perfect in their timing. It is those little inconsistencies and accidents that really give a drum track that 'live/real' feel I guess.

It would appear there are 4 tracks where John appears in his entirety, so to speak. The rest sound like programmed drums to me - which is not always a bad thing, sometimes they can sound a bit too simplistic, but for instance on the Sign o the Times album I read once that a lot of the drumming you think is live is in fact programmed and vice versa.

The 4 tracks credited to John are the best on the album in my view. Sad Prince chose to use cheap drum programming on too many other tracks: Life O'The Party, What Do U..., and even including Illusion, Pimp...which could have been great with live drums or much more original programming)

Agreed. The three tracks you mention would have sounded so much better with live drums.

And sampled live drums do not count as live drumming.

My personal prefernce is to have a live studio backing band on all songs with Prince concentrating on vocals and guitars.

OilyRag said:

personal assistants?

DrD said:

You're kidding right?

The drum programming on What Do You Want Me To Do is what makes that song.

So I guess folks on the org forgat that Prince can play drums.

He doesn't spend as much time on them as he used 2, but listen 2 early unreleased stuff, the first two albums, etc.

Cinnamon Girl and Million Days both have live drums by Prince.

On Musicology, that's a live part clipped and looped, with a drum machine handclap on the 2 and 4... That could B Prince's drumming (in fact I think it is).

Peace.

G.

Giovanni777 said:

Thank you. I was waiting on someone with some sense to finally post this. Also, Prince is playing live drums on "Call My Name" and "Reflection." Seesh...and you guys call yourself Prince fans!

I prefer songs where Prince does most of the work... live drums or not Prince works better alone.

But the 3 tracks as mentioned: Pimp, Life O'the party and WDUWM2D don't have live drums.

The point is: why program a machine when u could either play yourself or have John Blackwell play live.

KAB said:

Maybe Mr. Blackwell was not avaiable.

slm4m said:

I'm not sure. Seems very insular. If you have talent around you why not use it?

Unless of course they're unavailable.

Seriously, some songs benefit from programmed drums. Illusion, Coma, Pimp, and Circumstance and What Do U Want Me 2 Do would be much different songs with live drums, and they wouldn't be improved. Some Prince songs were meant for drum programming....

Isn't John Blackwell playin' on "Call My Name"?

MashedPotatoKid said:

Nah, that's Prince.

okaypimpn said:

but isn't the music to CMN West from N.E.W.S which has John drumming

I hear the usual drum machine stuff. A bit more interesting than the weaker stuff he did earlier You would think the drums would be the easiest part.

MashedPotatoKid said:

Not to my knowledge.