The Artist Formerly Known As 'Prince'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Cooper

 

And you're saying these guys were all outstanding all-around musicians, who could compete equally with Prince in regards to all criteria: incredible songwriting skills, unbelievable guitar and other instrument playing facilities, fantastic range in singing, and amazing showmanship/performance abilities?

 

Haha Dan Rather with the Rev BillyG
I'd not previously seen that, thanks.

 

Again?

Prince was great. We get that. Other artists were, and are, as well.

 

I enlighten when and where it's needed

 

Much obliged. I don't know how any of us ever got along before.

 

Whoa! That’s a lot of generalizations.
Opinions vary. You’re entitled to yours.

 

Yep. It's another great tune, although the verse is almost identical to that of "1999."

Like a lot of creative geniuses Prince could be incredibly generous in sharing material at times but then be incredibly controlling and overly protective at others. Prior to his passing, for example, he was one of the most aggressive in having YouTube pull unauthorized material like his legendary performance of "Creep" at Coachella in 2008. Prince fought to keep it off of YouTube despite the fact that Radiohead themselves wanted it to be posted!

Here it is . . .

 

Lol, these "comments". Lived it, understood it P. Spring is the only time I can do the catalog. Thanks for pulling back the curtains for a few...RIParadise.

 

Prince was a great bandleader, before anything else. Watch this and the other Sign O' the Times live videos. He's calling a tremendous amount of the musical performance and choreography live. This is one tight band. I've never heard anyone tighter. They have their cues down ice cold. In that respect his peers would be people like Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, George Clinton, and Frank Zappa. There really aren't a lot of people who ever performed on that level.



As a guitar player, Prince can be fun, but he's not in the first rank of guitar players. He certainly had funk chops, and could put on a credible guitar solo. I can't really think of a lot of originality that he brought to guitar playing itself. Guitar heroics was a decoration to his art, but not the point. I don't think it's fair to either Prince or people whose art is primarily the craft of guitar playing to go further with the evaluation.

 

Yeah, that Creep clip makes it pretty clear that he was no guitarist

 

Mornin' Blowtorch! This is becoming my morning coffee tilt at windmills!

Todays thoughts on the matter...


Some members have set up an arbitrary set of "rules" in an effort to loft Price above all other musicians/performers as if being more diverse equals superior.


I can set up a much more in depth set of parameters to "prove" the Grateful Dead were the greatest rock band ever. I'm sure there would be a riot in the rush to disagree, understandably so. In fact I can tell you that I was a bit more fanatical about the Dead back in the 70s-80s, much like our Prince fans here and like the Prince advocates I gained few fans and generally turned off people for life by my incessant insisting of my point of view being right.

I'm glad some people here are super turned on by Prince! I love finding an artists that makes me fanatical! I've learned that my enthusiasm rarely relates to how others feel about it though...

Wanna make a musician instantly unlikeable? Say they're superior to other musicians...


Thankfully we really can't quantify music or musicians! It's like which ice cream is best...

 

Prince could have never picked up a guitar and he'd still be very possibly the greatest all-around musical entertainer to ever have lived.

The guitar was just icing on the cake

 

I don't understand this inclination to pigeon-hole artists into well-defined functional slots. For every person that finds Prince's guitar playing tacky there is another who considers his mastery of the instrument brilliant and at times even transcending.

Eric Johnson's Venus Isle and Ah Via Musicom albums are two of my very favorite works, and his voice makes it all work. Great songs, great playing, great vocals.

Paul Simon is quite the acoustic guitar player, Lennon was on of the great rhythm players of the 60's and McCartney's approach to bass should be a required area of study for anyone learning pop/rock bass.

Humans have a pesky habit of wiggling out of their assigned roles.

 

Never was a fan. A Great guitar player yes but not one of the greatest.

 

Anyone got any details on that Strat?

jh

 

You know, it's easy to be hard on Prince for his antics and appearance... But damn this is a great song. Guitar solo was passionate and perfect for the song. A more seasoned guitarist would have tore the lid off that place, but Prince was good enough to pull it off.

 

Apparently he had the lyrics memorized!

 

Yeah he squeaked by