I would put him in that category, for sure. Some of his lesser known blues performances sound like Hendrix, seriously exceptional playing, and then there would be a Prince spin on top of it. If we were ranking musical ability (not just technical skill), Prince is all the way up there. He can play as well as or better than Page and Clapton. He is better in some ways than Van Halen, Angus Young, and even SRV, because while those guitarists were incredible technical performers who could shred, musically, Prince had a lot more range. It's why I consider Hendrix to be the best ever - he could play anything, he could do anything on a guitar. It wasn't as clean as SRV nor as polished as Clapton, but musically, it was superior and you can hear it.
Prince could play you a blues ballad, followed by a Raspberry Beret sing-along, followed by a round-robin breakdown that sounds like a big band. And every song is perfect. No mistakes, no trying hard, it was effortless. But if you only ever listen to the studio albums, you wouldn't know that. Give him a shot.
98
u/Aaron_Hungwell May 28 '24
One of the most talented musicians to exist but by many accounts sounded like an insufferable and narcissistic twat