The SUBSIM Music Thread

[tmccarthy]

[Eisenwurst]

6.01 rocket for Tim

6.53 bonus dodgy japanese lessons.

[Jimbuna]

[tmccarthy]

[Jimbuna]

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

[tmccarthy]

[Jimbuna]

[ET2SN]

[vienna]

Some guy, a mediocre guitar player...





3RDEYEGIRL was a side project/band put together by Prince to perform some of his more rock-based compositions rather than the larger, funk-based numbers he was better known for; all the young ladies in the band are highly accomplished musicians with impeccable CVs (the drummer, IIRC, has made a name for herself in Christian music); Prince was well-known for being hyper-critical in the selection of his backing musicians, choosing the best he could find, not just well-known sides, and selecting them based solely on talent and ability, regardless of gender, race, age, or other non-musical criteria; Prince's ear for talent certainly paid off, since he had some of the most tight and talented bands in modern music...







<O>

[Catfish]

I admit Prince was a great composer and musician, and as i found out an excellent guitar player.
But most of his songs never appealed to me, with this (intended of course) bombast and experimental shrills.
On the other hand we only heard Prince's "Purple Rain" on the radio, daily, everywhere, always. Nothing else from him was played on any radio station but this one, six times a day and on every party. I found the melody being non-existent, and the rest a grunge/high pitch/groove/funk mixture that i personally found boring and cheesy, surely not experimental. Hearing "Purple Rain" today still causes me almost physical pain .

But will listen to some of his music and the above this evening and see whether my taste has improved ..

[vienna]

Taste is, and should be, individual; that's why there are so many flavors of ice cream; the real measure of the greatness of any composer or musician is the extent of the reach of their influence on others in their field; when other artists, in other often vastly different genres or styles, reference and adapt a composer's work into their own as a form of praise in tribute to the composers work, it speaks volumes about just how really influential and important their works really are; when Prince died, I was really surprised at the sheer outpouring of respect and admiration from artists outside of R&B, funk, rock, and pop; country stars, jazz musicians, highly respected classical musicians, musicians from musical styles worldwide, all gave tribute to the memory of Prince; I think part of the underestimation of Prince's influence is due to the ease with which he did so many things musically; musical instruments, musical theory, compositional acumen, was all just a breeze for him and it seems to have undeservedly trivialized his accomplishments; I think other musicians, composers, and arrangers, who actually know the root rigors of such a high level of quality, have a greater appreciation of his work and that is a main reason they were so quick to express their respect and admiration; its kind of like watch one of those cooking or home improvement shows on TV; they make make it look oh, so easy, but once you pick up the pan or hammer and try your own hand, you realize there's a whole lot more to accomplishing a successful outcome...

The Purple Rain point is valid; if all you've ever heard was that one song or some of the other 'radio hits', its easy to be dismissive, but once you delve into the deeper works, the real efforts show through; if all you ever heard was I Want To Hold Your Hand or She loves You, The Beatles are a pretty benign, almost vapid group, but if you delve in and hear A Day In the Life or Tomorrow Never Knows, or Taxman, the realization that something is happening there is immediate; one of the more pleasant parts of my life in my later years have been the occasions when I have been able to steer some younger person who is interested in music towards the lesser known parts of the catalogs of artist they thought were boring or "old"; The Who suddenly become a whole lot more interesting than My Generation after I show them Won't Get Fooled Again or Baba O'Reilly, the Stones are a bit deeper than Satisfaction after being exposed to Gimme Shelter, etc. ...

I'll never forget the time I was conversing with a young guitarist who liked hip-hop, and the like, but shunned the Blues; he is African-American and asked me why the Blues were important; I pointed out how Blues-based modern guitarists like Hendrix, who inspired his generation, got their chops listening to Muddy, The Wolf, Buddy, the Three Kings, Robert Johnson, and all the other greats; I also pointed out all the rock and R&B groups who had recorded hit covers of old Blues songs; I particularly pointed out Willie Dixon, the great Chess Records master who not only wrote hit songs for a wide variety of artists other than himself, he was also a master bass player, arranger, and record producer, and the list of other artists in Rock & Roll who recorded hit versions of his songs was long indeed and covered several decades; the kid was in awe of what Dixon accomplished and, the next time I saw him, he eagerly told me he had gotten Dixon's recordings and was blown away by him and the other musicians he worked with; the kid even said "Man, Willie Dixon invented Rock & Roll!!", to which I said. "Well, not all of it, but he was a big part of the foundation..."...

Regarding your 'bad review' of Prince, you may be in good/bad company as a music critic; witness this review of Beethoven's 9th Symphony by a contemporary music critic.








Odd, everyone remembers Beethoven, but no one really remembers the critic...





<O>

[Catfish]

Odd, everyone remembers Beethoven, but no one really remembers the critic...

Well as you wrote everyone is entitled to his/her/its opinion, in the Harmonicon case people seem to remember those critics well enough. They are of course not as famous as Beethoven, but then even Prince isn't. And brexiters like Farage probably do not like Beethoven for his "Ode to Joy" having become almost the EU hymn, or for other political reasons, but i digress..

Driving home i looked for another Prince song and found.. "Kiss".



So I am a philistine when it comes to Prince's (and other's) music but i really do not see the innovation or sheer grandeur of this pop song. It was one of his greatest hits, i know. But for me it is an almost unvaried beat that goes on without much ideas or change, the vocal input is not enlightenening by voice or content, the guitar.. well, and so on, not so much melody there either. The dry garage sound is funny but not new. I do not hear much deeper thought or whatever going on like with "Strawberry Fields" or even Public enemy's "Fight the Power".
Yes there are other songs by him, will listen a bit..

[tmccarthy]

[Jimbuna]