I remember watching MTV News back in 85 and JJ Jackson (rest his soul) mentioned that The Cult were touring. He said that Billy Duffy was an excellent guitarist, then he also said that Prince was no slouch as a guitarist. In your opinion, who's the better lead guitarist?

khanada said:

this is a bizarre question but seeing as im a cult fan ive heard billy duffy on guitar abit, but i think its prince by several miles. duffy can come up with good rocking riffs and stuff, but his solo's are often lacking, even on beyond good and evil he still hasn't fully developed em, they just sound a tad weak sometimes. whereas prince has covered more styles, better than duffy ever could. in fact, prince is a million times better than duffy, who i dont rate that highly in the all time stakes (ie he's not on there)

I'm a big Cult fan, even got the 7 cd box set of rare cult (that beats Prince with his mere 3 + 2 Crystal Ball set!), but Prince is a far better, more universal guitarist. Duffy sticks to what he knows best, which is making a rocking funky grundgy rythm section on his guitar which suits the hard rock sound of the Cult perfectly. He does solos, but nothing that matches the extravagance of Prince, that wouldn't suit the band.

On Beyond Good and Evil, I don't think it is a case of undeveloped guitar playing, I think they wanted to go back to a simpler hard rock in your face style, punchy but not over-elaborate, so I think the restrained guitar playing was intentional.

But a great guitarist nevertheless and good on 'em for surviving this long! One of the few hard rock bands who's albums do all sound different and have individual identities.

Love the Cult. Love Prince.
Its Prince over Billy by a mile.
WOMAAANNNNN!!

( i HADDA DO IT!)

I used to be a bit time Cult fan as well. I think for the entire Love album they used the same 2 or 3 chords, but way that they used them was really cool. I guess Billy Duffy found his Rock God self around the time of Electric and Sonic Temple. Not as fresh to me, but still good albums (Thanks to Rick Rubin). That being said, there No fuckin way to compare Billy Duffy and Prince as guitarists. Billy duffy does the kind of solos that you can hear once or twice and replay them note for note. The same cannot be said for Prince solos.

peace.

On Beyond Good and Evil, I don't think it is a case of undeveloped guitar playing, I think they wanted to go back to a simpler hard rock in your face style, punchy but not over-elaborate, so I think the restrained guitar playing was intentional.

yeah not sure why i said underdevloped, i know me and a mate saw em live and we both felt that quite abit of the time his solo's just didnt seem to "fit" the song. i definately dont think they're his strong point at all!

Now that got me hooked - Billy Duffy mentioned on this board.

Didn't know there are quite some like minded people on here! On topic... well, Billy's playing has improved over the years. But otherwise... not to be compared to Prince. And a entirely different approach too. It's like comparing Keith Richards & Prince.

Btw, metalorange... my collection includes the Rare box as well - AND the white box (all EPs 1984-1990) even plus the demo set (admittedly sometimes hard to listen to).

Difference to Prince is: I can't get rid off the impression The Cult released each and every single note they played while Prince has loads of fully produced tracks in his vault. Not to mention versions & demos. Guess what this box would look like! And please, don't tell me that's The Work Vol. 1-5 or The Testament. Apart from the sometimes lousy quality I wonder how many tracks are *not* circulating.

Wolf

P.S.: The Cult are touring again? REALLY? I missed something... just thought that Ian still is involved with the new incarnation of The Doors.