Prince’s When Doves Cry feature by John M. Ellison IV

Along with the theme of bands and artists who use drum machines, I’m going along with Prince Rogers Nelson, but better known as His Royal, Badness, TAFKAP, but just known to fans as Prince. Interesting enough, most of the bands I’m going to feature this week are from the mid-west…go figure. I’m not sure if a lot of people are aware of this or not, but on his albums, Prince actually plays a good amount of the instruments himself and uses a touring band when he goes on the road…actually, kind of a similar model that Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) uses. Also, Trent Reznor is a fan of Prince…just saying. So, in this case I’m going to feature the single “When Doves Cry” off of the classic Purple Rain album. Interesting enough, Prince added the song “When Doves Cry” after all the other tracks on the album were completed.

A lot of people might not realize at first listen but, there is no bass line on “When Doves Cry.” Originally there was a bass line but Prince felt with the bass line intact, the song too conventional. But, during the Purple Rain tour, then bassist Brown Mark added a bass line to “When Doves Cry” and other compositions that didn’t include a bass line. So, it’s just stripped down to him playing guitar, him programming a beat on a Linn LM-1 drum machine and him singing. Wow, just guitar/vocals and drum, y’know, it kind of reminds me of the modern power duo model that bands like White Stripes, Japandroids and Black Keys use. Anyway, here’s Prince’s When Doves Cry.