Purple Rain: The Official Prince Thread.

[Birds in Hell]

It's definitely not as though I'm unable to recognise Prince's skill on the guitar, same with SRV or Van Halen, but I don't think of technical ability as holding much great value in and of itself and I tend to think of guitar playing as intrinsically tied in with the music it serves.

I guess I also find it personally important to push against the idea that you can have a "well-rounded" musical appreciation, that you can see the worth in almost everything. I think that's an abrogation of personal taste, a refusal to engage with your own subjective aesthetic. The things I like are great, everything else is garbage.

[Jorge]

I listened to the album on the way to, and then again on the way home from, work today.

AMAZING.

You know how I said there was I couple of tracks I didn't quite connect with yet?

Forget I said that, this album is spectacularly brilliant.

If Backspacer was a woman, I'd want to be a polygamist.

I have NO criticism. None.

[Self]

I guess I also find it personally important to push against the idea that you can have a "well-rounded" musical appreciation, that you can see the worth in almost everything. I think that's an abrogation of personal taste, a refusal to engage with your own subjective aesthetic. The things I like are great, everything else is garbage.

That's where we differ. A good song can be found anywhere if you're willing to give it a chance.

[Birds in Hell]

We all go a little mad sometimes.

[Birds in Hell]

I guess I also find it personally important to push against the idea that you can have a "well-rounded" musical appreciation, that you can see the worth in almost everything. I think that's an abrogation of personal taste, a refusal to engage with your own subjective aesthetic. The things I like are great, everything else is garbage.

That's where we differ. A good song can be found anywhere if you're willing to give it a chance.

Perhaps I've given the wrong impression but I definitely wouldn't disagree with you there.

[Jorge]

We all go a little mad sometimes.

Sometimes it snows in April.

[McParadigm]

I'm sort of team spenno here, in that I think there are limitations on your ability to appreciate the playing of a musician who is making music you don't enjoy. The aforementioned SRV is a great example for me. Can I recognize that the playing is technically great? Absolutely. Can I identify some surfacy qualities that make it great? Sure. Can I effectively discuss or even admire what makes it stand out against contemporary players in the same format, the way I can when comparing (for example) George Harrison's playing and Paul McCartney's? No. There is a larger aesthetic understanding and a resulting amount of exposure that comes from admiration, which allows you a deeper and far richer ability to admire what you are hearing.

[McParadigm]

I also think Dave Gilmour spent a lot of his most famous years as a very capable easy listening snoozeball, whose work was given worth by a combination of a great keyboard player and a songwriter with vitriol.

And also that not liking the Rolling Stones is a surefire route to having absolutely no worth as a human being.

[Strat]

You can think Dave Gilmour is a better guitar player because he just tickles your fancy in that sweet spot a little more, but you would be wrong and you should feel bad. Prince is all around sexy and hits you in all your sweet spots before you even know whats happening.

Technical proficiency aside, Prince is the correct answer.

[surfndestroy]

Who was the better artist, Bowie or Prince?

[Jorge]

And also that not liking the Rolling Stones is a surefire route to having absolutely no worth as a human being.

Whatever Dad!!!

[McParadigm]

And also that not liking the Rolling Stones is a surefire route to having absolutely no worth as a human being.

Whatever Dad!!!

go make a blogsite page about it you ungrateful shit

[bada]

[zeb]

So Prince is an objectively better guitarist than Gilmour?

[LoathedVermin72]

Not this shit again

[zeb]

Why is that conversation such a trigger for you, LoathedVermin72?

[Birds in Hell]

The last two pages have essentially been about this shit.

[LoathedVermin72]

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

I'm a Prince poser. I've always admired him from afar and I have his greatest hits CD.

It is also worth noting that Prince recorded non-stop for 40 years and only released about 5% of what he recorded, some of it the worst material he could have possibly included because he hated his record company with a passion. He was one of those people like Bob Dylan and Neil Young who deliberately hoarded his best shit.

[Jorge]

I'm a Prince poser. I've always admired him from afar and I have his greatest hits CD.

Same. The only Prince albums I own are the Ultimate Prince collection and Purple Rain.