Not even sixty.

We were having the old "best guitarist ever" conversation one night and a friend of mine, an accomplished musician in his own right, made a pretty compelling argument for Prince to be included in the conversation.

We hooted him down and the vinyl came out and by the time we were done, we were all convinced that, while maybe not the best ever, Prince was a really good guitarist.

perhaps Prince's greatest concert was April 7, 1985, the closing night of the Purple Rain tour, at the Orange Bowl, and your old pal Stanshall was there ... though sunburned to a crisp after falling asleep on a raft in the pool earlier that day, I'll never forget that evening and the Purple Rain that closed the show ....

Prince played a mean guitar it's true but great as his playing was, it was truly his singing voice ....

for me his greatest guitar track is the tight and disciplined stuff he did on Kiss, rhythm guitar perfection and a masterful understated funky wah solo from 2:30 to 2:43

Prince - Kiss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baPsgmDexno

Last edited by stanshall (2016-04-21 23:38:54)

It always amazed me in the mid and late 80s that Prince wasn't ten million times more popular than Michael Jackson in the UK.

I remember taking the bus once in Chester and there were two college girls chuckling away about someone who one of them dated and when they went home with him, he put on his Prince record. They thought it was funny. That would have been maybe 1985. He was out there then, all those ruffles and bright purple jackets, you couldn't be sure if he was back dated, cutting edge, genius or just a pop singer. That's how people felt about him in the UK, no one was brave enough to say there were into him, not when the ethos of the day was to be into The Smiths. I am talking about teenagers.

A shame to see him go out, lots of death, accidents and illness around the Hepcat at the moment. The deaths of some musicians and others in the media seem to underscore it all. It's one of those times when life gets weird.

As I said over on Dressedwell I consider him, by the far, the most talented pop/rock artist of the last 40 years. There's is nobody even close, the exception being perhaps Kate Bush in terms of composition.

I loved him in the 80s, which was his golden era....he perfectly fitted the mood.

Of all his albums, I consider Parade his best, which was the last he recorded with the Revolution. Lots of conventional instrumentation which hasn't dated as much as a lot of his 80s output that was more reliant on electronica.

Saw him live twice, an utter joy. He played a surprise (warm-up) gig at the Manchester student Union a few years ago, which I heard about too late to attend. I believe it was epic. His after gig parties, where he would invite any artists in the crowd, of which there were always many, onto the stage and jam well into the early hours were legendary.

As for his talent as a guitarist, there's a video on YouTube, or there was, of him playing a solo at George Harrison's tribute gig. But as I said over on DW the guitar was only one facet, and was never central. Prince was never a lead guitarist he would pick it up and put it down as required.

There are so many musical influences, besides the obvious. You can clearly hear the Beatles influence on his album Around the world in a Day even the album cover.

Like Bowie, and unique talent who will be missed.

https://theanalogkidblog.com/2014/01/07/groovy-tuesday-princes-the-black-album/

Shooey I put it to you...you are a practising occultist. How do you plead?

Last edited by Bop (2016-04-23 04:08:28)

Aren't you just practising right hand path though?

Wouldn't that still make you an occultist?

Last edited by Bop (2016-04-23 06:01:56)

Last edited by The_Shooman (2016-04-23 15:08:32)

And just refering back to Prince, although I have a strong interest in the mystery schools, free masonary and the occult/arcane...whatever you want to call it and your notion of intention or lets say desire being quite capable of causing a huge corruption in an individual, I dont think that all deaths or acts of suffering have always been initiated by the Illuminati for want off a better term. I dont know enough about Prince's faith but the fact it limited him from having the surgery he needed and the subsequent use of strong pain killers was the only way he could remain mobile kind of suggests to me an accidental death.

What worries me is your polarisation of thought Shoo, you're are always bound to your opposite and whoever or whatever is teaching you polarisation is in fact corrupting you in my opinion..a sound mind is full of doubt and lacks conviction and because of this is unable to be swung one way or the other...intention can be good or bad but it will always turn into its opposite. And your unintention sounds more like the intention of good and the suppression of bad..I dont believe its one of neutrality

Last edited by Bop (2016-04-23 23:50:43)