Rank Prince Albums:

1.Purple Rain
2.1999
3.Around The World In A Day
4.Dirty Mind
5.Diamonds And Pearls
6.Chaos & Disorder
7.The Black Album

"Dirty Mind"s complete lack of acid-rock guitar robbed it of its otherwise-deserved #2 spot. I really do need to get "Sign o The Times" someday, considering how frequently it tops people's lists.

etc etc until

96. The Gold Experience
97. NEWS
98. Grafitti Bridge
99. Symbol
100. The Rainbow Children

Need: Parade and new copies of Dirty Mind and Controversy.

UPTOWN

This might be the best song on here. Some chick asks Prince if he's gay and he's all like "Bitch, do I look gay?" But then he thinks for a second and then he's like "Wait, don't answer that question. Just watch me rock out on this guitar here for a sec, then tell me whether or not I look gay. If you're lucky, maybe I'll let you come back stage and fellate me."

I also demand that I finally get off my duff and get The Gold Experience already.

Best is a tossup between _The Gold Experience_, _Come_, and _Emancipation_ (although right now I'd say _Come_). Worst is _Chaos And Disorder_. There's something to recommend all of them, though.

1 Emancipation (well about 1.5 discs of it, which were first rate)
2 The Rainbow Children
3 The Truth (acoustic album given away with shoddy unreleased crystal ball anthology)

From here on, im not sure, its all odds and sods really. Like Venga said, there's usually something to recomend all of them.

ok so off of the more shoddy releases, what are the good tunes? can you tell i'm being lazy and i want to catch up on a decade or more of prince that i've unjustly neglected? you can't? well, it's true.

and wasn't c&d his kiss off to warner bros?

You lovely and accurate man.

Best is a tossup between _The Gold Experience_, _Come_, and _Emancipation_ (although right now I'd say _Come_)

Pretty much my take. Come is his perv industrial album.

1) Cant stop

2) We can funk

3) Joy in repetition

4) Thieves in the temple

5) Get off

6) Cream

7) Strollin

8) diamonds and pearls

9) Walk don’t walk

10) Money don’t matter

11) Morning papers

12) 3 chains of gold

13) Pink cashmere

14) papa

15) Dark

16) Let it go

17) Dolphin

18) Shy

19) Dinner with delores

20) Had u

21) Courting time

22) In this bed I scream

23) Soul sanctuary

24) Curious child

25) Lets have a baby

26) Holy river

27) My computer

28) One of us

29) Love we make

30) So far so pleased

i'm kinda shocked how 1999 hasn't even charted on some people's lists.

i agree with chuck!

I dunno, I think Scarlet Pussy is his best B-Side, possibly followed by Shockadelicka.

1) Purple Rain
2) Sign "O" the Times
3) Around the World in a Day
4) Parade

These are the Prince albums to own, plus a handmade compilation of the best of the rest.

This is why the whole exercise is so pointless. Prince = God.

Aside from a few obvious clunkers ("Chaos and Disorder"/turkeys) trying to rank Prince is like tring to rank life - so much good and bad and ultimately as essential and ungraspable as the air we breathe to live.

or its like paying 7 bucks for a used CD when you were in high school, later seeing Hits 1 and realizing that you already own the full-lengths of the songs you'd actually want to hear and not feeling like coughing up a lot of cash to get the B-Sides (which is only available with the full 3cd set). Hits 2 gives me some radio edits of tracks I have the LPs for and choice singles from his lesser albums. Plus "Peach" and "Pope."

Erotic City
Shockadelica
Irresistable Bitch
Scarlet Pussy
La,La,La, He, He, Hee
She's Always In My Hair
17 Days
How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?
Another Lonely Christmas

and its more consistent than any patch on either Hit cd

after that, it's spotty. There really should be a CD of the extended-mix B-sides. "Love or Money" has always been my fave of those, actually.

1. Purple Rain
2. Sign "O" The Times
3. Parade
4. 1999
5. Around The World In One Day
6. Controversy
7. Dirty Mind
8. Lovesexy
9. Diamonds And Pearls
10.Come
11.Emancipation
12.Black Album
13.(Symbol)

99.Batman

Although I still thing Illusion, Coma, etc is better than anything on Batman.

**if any of you kind gentlemen or ladeez has an extra copy for whatever reason, email me!!

Race to the bottom...

as far as batman being half decent as it was recorded in a few weeks all by prince on his lonesome, isnt that how most of his albums were made?

1. Purple Rain
2. Sign "o" Times

But maybe this thread will help me decide which one to get next.

I'm going to change my mind as soon as I post this.

Embarrassed to say I skipped 3121 until now, not having been a huge fan of "Black Sweat." It's good! I've decided I've got to reconsider every single album.

Anyone have a comprehensive ranking? (Calling Matos!)

However I would rank them, Parade and Sign O' The Times would be at the top and the two new ones MPLSound and whatever the other one was) would be at the bottom.

SOOT
Dirty Mind
Parade
Controversy
Purple Rain
Emancipation
The Gold Experience
Symbol Album
3121
Musicology

The rest

oops: slip 1999 b/w Controversy and Purple Rain

Have always loved Christgau's running overview and Harris's Blender guide, though the online Blender no longer links to the actual blurbs (which you can search out individually):

http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist2.php?id=1095
http://www.blender.com/guide/back-catalogue/66639/every-original-cd-reviewed-prince.html

1) Sign o' the Times
2) Emancipation
3) Love Symbol
4) 1999
5) Controversy
6) Lovesexy
7) Gold Experience
8) Graffiti Bridge
9) Purple Rain
10) Dirty Mind
11) Parade
12) Around the World in a Day
13) Diamonds and Pearls
14) Batman
15) Come

However I would rank them, Parade and Sign O' The Times would be at the top and the two new ones MPLSound and whatever the other one was) would be at the bottom.

― ah ah oh ooh ooh oh ah ah ah ah ah oh ah ah aha ooh (HI DERE), Friday, January 8, 2010 7:14 PM (13 minutes ago)

Pretty much this, although on certain days I may be inclined to stick Dirty Mind above SOOT. Lotusflow3r/MPLsound was quite heartbreaking in how weak it was ;_;

1999
Sign O The Times
Purple Rain
Parade
Dirty Mind

The first album and the rest of the 80's stuff are tied for 6th.

1 Black
2 Sign
3 1999
4 Purp
5 Contro
6 0->
7 World

I'm ashamed at how little I know of the post 80's stuff.

I know I like "7" and "Pink Cashmere"

Oh yeah, I forgot to rate the Black Album, I guess I'd put it between Parade and AtWiaD.

highly controversial:

1) dirty mind
2) purple rain
3) sign o' the times
4) 1999
5) disc 3 of the hits/the b-sides
6) 3121
7) love symbol
8) lovesexy
9) parade
10) controversy
11) emancipation
12) rainbow children
13) lotusflow3r
13) planet earth

shamefully, although 'i wanna be your lover' is one of my fave prince jams, i've never heard the debut album as a whole

i have some 94 East shit if that makes up for it

Oh yeah, if there was proper double-disc compilation that would collect the 12" versions of Prince's B-sides (instead of the 7" versions that appear on The Hits/The B-Sides), that would rate quite high on my list. Sadly such a thing does not exist.

These are the one's I own

1.Dirty Mind
2.Sign O' the Times
3.Purple Rain
4.Parade
5.1999
6.Controversy
7.Around the World In a Day
8.The Gold Experience
9.Lovesexy
10.Musicology
11.Prince
12.The Black Album
13.Symbol
14.Planet Earth
15.Diamonds & Pearls
16.3121
17.For You
18.Batman
19.Graffiti Bridge
20.Come

The B-sides disc of the hits would probably be around six in my list.

I gave it a go.

Ah hell why not

Dirty Mind
Sign O' the Times
Purple Rain
Parade
1999
Prince
Controversy
Around the World in a Day
Lovesexy
Batman
Diamonds and Pearls
the rest

I'll rank the WB albums (and Emancipation) ...

Sign o' the Times
Purple Rain
Lovesexy
1999
Dirty Mind
Batman
The Gold Experience
Controversy
Come
Prince
Parade
Love Symbol
Empanciation
Diamonds and Pearls
Around the World in a Day
Chaos and Disorder
For You
Graffiti Bridge

Batman, TGE abd Come above Parade is dunderheaded madness.

I wouldn't say that, more that it's the case that those three albums are far likelier to make it onto my stereo over Parade, which I still like.

omitting records I still haven't heard (rave un2) or can't remember (planet earth beyond "chelsea rogers" and "guitar"

parade
sign o the times
1999
dirty mind
purple rain
lovesexy
the gold experience
come
the truth
the love symbol album
around the world in a day
controversy
prince
emancipation
3121
black album
the rainbow children
batman
art official age
musicology
chaos and disorder
for you
diamonds and pearls
graffiti bridge
lotus flower/mplsound

I did this on here in 2010. My list would be quite different now.

1. Dirty Mind
2. Parade
3. Purple Rain
4. Sign "O" The Times
5. 1999
6. Controversy
7. Prince
8. The Gold Experience
9. Around The World In A Day
10. Lovesexy
11. Musicology
12. Come
13. The Love Symbol Album
14. The Black Album
15. For You
16. Diamonds & Pearls
17. HitNRun Phase Two
18. Lotusflo3er
19. Planet Earth
20. 3121
21. Graffiti Bridge
22. Art Official Age
23. The Rainbow Children
24. Batman
25. 20Ten
26. Emancipation
27. HitNRun Phase One
28. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
29. Chaos & Disorder
30. N.E.W.S

Nineties edition

Christgau's overview is pretty good, though he seems to skip a few towards the end - can't blame him because it gets dire.

It's too tough to simply rank Prince's albums because too many of them in the second half of his career are basically a single or an EP of keepers buried in chaff

How I'd break them down using Christgau's grading system:

For You - ("For You," "Soft and Wet") *
Prince - A
Dirty Mind - A+
Controversy - A
1999 - A
Piano and a Microphone 1983 - choice cut: "Mary Don't You Weep"
Purple Rain - A+
Around the World in a Day - B+
Parade - A
Sign o' the Times - A+
The Black Album - A
Lovesexy - A-
Batman - B+
Graffiti Bridge - B
Diamonds and Pearls - B+
The Symbol Album - A-
Come - choice cut: "Loose!"
The Gold Experience - A
Chaos and Disorder - B+
Emancipation - A-
Crystal Ball (1997) - B+
The Truth - B+
Newpower Soul - choice cut: "Wasted Kisses"
Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic - choice cuts: "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold," "Baby Knows," "Prettyman"
The Rainbow Children - choice cuts: "The Work," "She Loves Me 4 Me"
One Nite Alone - choice cut: "A Case of U"
One Nite Alone...Live! - B+
Musicology - B+
3121 - B+
Planet Earth - choice cuts: "The One U Wanna C," "Guitar," "Chelsea Rodgers"
Lotusflow3r - choice cuts: "Colonized Mind," "Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful," "$"
MPLSound - choice cuts: "(There'll Never B) Another Like Me," "Chocolate Box," "Dance 4 Me"
Elixer - Dud
20Ten - choice cuts: "Future Soul Song," "Laydown"
Plectrumelectrum - Dud
Art Official Age - B+
Hit n Run Phase One - choice cuts: "1000's of X's & O's," "June"
Hit n Run Phase Two - B+
Originals - A-

We are mostly on the same page. Parade is an A+, Come is a B+ and there needs to be more space between HnR pt 2 which is a strong finale and AOI which is kinda lame (think I’d give the latter a C)

I love "Parade" so I don't want to knock it to explain why it wasn't an A+. If the great B-side "♥ Or $" had replaced one of my less favorite tracks, I might've considered it. I never got into "Come," a lot of it just didn't work for me, but I know other Prince fans who love it. "Art Official Age" is underrated, I actually gave up on Prince by that point, but two glowing reviews - in the New Yorker and from Greg Kot in the Tribune - piqued my curiosity, especially when others were kind of down on it. I think the most common dismissal I heard was that it was Prince doing Janelle Monáe, and to an extent they're right - Prince saw how she used sci-fi concepts to explore the personal. But while he took that approach from her work, it was remarkable to hear how raw and exposed some of the lyrics were. There is plenty of levity, but on the more personal cuts like "Way Back Home" and the final affirmation, I think we got the clearest glimpse of how Prince really saw himself. Musically, this is where Prince really started to sound like an older man to me, but it works in his favor - the hint of fragility creeping into his singing gives the material more weight. So in a lot of ways, I think it's actually a key album if you want to understand Prince himself, and a B+ doesn't feel too generous in that respect.

I admit that the timbres themselves put me off AOI... it just sounds so incredibly DAW-y, with some weird stereo widener plugin sapping the color out of everything

I should try it another time though, sometimes these gustatory issues just disappear

I played every album from Prince to Lovesexy today with the caveat that Around the World in a Day was a different sequence I pieced together (per Questlove's suggestion in his epic album-by-album review of Prince's catalog into the '90s). It's pretty awesome to hear them back-to-back in order - his talents and what he was capable of seem to expand and grow with each release. This was even true for The Black Album which I put on after Sign 'O' the Times - for some reason it played even better at the tail end of this run. (Even the jokey anti-rap sentiments were smoothed over by the hard, lean music accompanying them.) Every single album up to this point came off great, but unfortunately that seemed to end with Lovesexy. I liked it enough to rate it an A- upthread, but after hearing it in this context, I can definitely see why detractors are down on it and why Questlove and Alan Leeds said this marked the end of his peak years. Every other album seemed to add up to something greater than the sum of its parts, and there was a forward momentum that ran through each one. That wasn't the case here - there are some great moments, and the musicianship is never less than first-rate, but it's lacking a coherent vision that either brings everything together or takes it all to another level. The "weakest" stretches are still enjoyable, but they feel like they're missing something. Unlike Questlove, I think Prince rights the ship later on, but I get the impression Prince simply had few worthy ideas during these few years and more or less relied on his talents to make listenable but lightweight music.

FWIW, Around the World in a Day was this - each addition was a B-side to a single, and I used the full-length 12" mixes in each case. "Hello" is a cheat because it was recorded after the album came out, but otherwise this was a solid A to me:

Side A:
1. Around the World in a Day
2. Paisley Park
3. Girl
4. Raspberry Beret
5. She's Always in My Hair

Side B:
6. America
7. Hello
8. Pop Life
9. Condition of the Heart

Man I love the 12” of paisley park

I'm going to create this sequence with the 12" mixes for myself. I assume/hope you're using the 9:07 Extended Version of Pop Life, and not one of the US remixes.

I meant the 12" versions of the B-sides - that was enough to bring the album to a full LP length, so I didn't want to go beyond that, but if you want to turn the album into a double, using ALL 12" mixes would definitely do it.

It's true that "Girl" and "She's Always in My Hair" are better than most of what made the LP; I'd have to include "The Ladder" in there somewhere.

I never liked "The Ladder" but to be fair, it's a tough track to cut - it's the center of the entire gatefold cover! I guess you could drop "Hello" to make room for "The Ladder." I have to concede there's no way "Hello" would've made it, not unless they delayed the album by a few months.

"Temptation" is his first lousy song.

xp I'd make room for "Tamborine" but that is definitely a superior version of the album you've assembled

I'd be happy to eliminate Tamborine, Temptation, and The Ladder from the album. They're all fairly unnecessary and minimally enjoyable.

Tamborine >>>>>>>>>

Is the Questlove reviews online anywhere anymore

"Tambourine" is the best album track.

like if Joni Mitchell played drums

Questlove's review:

Ok. i know reviews are subjective but i think I’m right when i say the only place to go after you sell 16 million units is…..”that a way”, prince’s muses’ wendy and lisa (see “computer blue” on PR) hipped him to the Beatles. and he presented a “see i can do that too” kinda head scratcher. as a die hard i was along for the ride but many got off of the trip with this album. when it came out: @@@1/2 (many head scratched, thought he was going hippie—hello De La) how does it hold up 30 years later? @@@@1/2 some say he turnt his back on the funk. i say he turned his front on his mind. a potpourri of sound and experiments. this caused concern but really? had he closed the album on anything BUT “Temptation” idda been with giving him a @@@@@. 82-87 was his most prolific in terms of songwriting and volume and Quality. over 300 songs made during this period. and 60 percent of em were life changing. “Condition Of The Heart” is as devastating now as it was 30 years ago. also worth fishing for are the B-sides from this era…some of my favorites “she’s always in my hair,” “hello” & his trippy “Girl”.

Here's a link to the cached webpage: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Np0Tdw4paOAJ:https://www.okayplayer.com/originals/questlove-prince-warner-bros-album-guide.html/3+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

still only a little part of it

Link rot on a piece that's like 4 years old, smh

I'd consider these his worst songs imo.

Stopping at 2001 is merciful, because ugh....

Was listening to Lovesexy yesterday. It’s been broken up into its component songs on streaming services.

Was it ever broken up on the U.S. CD? I know overseas it was. For some reason it was only available via import when Prince died, and the European pressing I got had the tracks separated.

I think it was always one track on CD in the US. I had it on cassette anyway. It was split into two sides.

It's supposed to be one song, like "Thick As a Brick".

I'm not saying it's the best, but Parade is the one I'm most likely to listen to today

honestly there are a lot of "Rank Prince Albums" out there

I'm not saying it's the best, but Parade is the one I'm most likely to listen to today

It's one of my very favorite Prince albums. It gets plenty of love now, but I was taken aback by how underrated it was back in the day. It underperformed for an '80s Prince album in the Pazz & Jop poll (at #25, only Around the World in a Day and the Batman soundtrack did worse, everything else from Prince to Graffiti Bridge placed in the top ten), Trouser Press hated most of it and The Rolling Stone Album Guide hated it in the 1992 edition before reversing itself (with a different critic) in the 2004 edition. Maybe that was due to the poorly received film - it didn't have much of the soundtrack in it, but the association alone may have predisposed music critics against the album.

I'm not saying it's the best, but Parade is the one I'm most likely to listen to today

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

This and Controversy.

parade is probably in my top three prince albums. does everyone just forget that it's the one with "kiss" on it???

Sometimes It Snows in April is my jam

I haven't listened to it since it was new; I remember "Kiss" being so much better than everything else that the whole rest of the album felt like filler. (The fact that half the songs are under three minutes long didn't help with that impression.)

quality over quantity. you should revisit; it's a very dense album with tons of things going on. even though it's way better overall, sign o the times seems needlessly lengthy in comparison.

neanderthal otm, per usual. probably p's best ballad.

Parade is one of my favorites as well. The only track i’ve never warmed to is Anotherloverholeinyourhead. Mountains and Boys & Girls are fabulous.

Yeah, I discovered "Sometimes It Snows in April" via Rock Lists. It was high up on the list of Prince's best songs, and I didn't it at all (or the album beyond "Kiss"). Great, great song, it's damn sad it took Prince's death to elevate in beyond "deep cut" status. Even before D'Angelo performed it as his tribute, I played the shit out of that song.

I actually love "Anotherloverholenyohead," excellent cut. I should add Parade had great 12" singles. The 12" mixes, especially for "Mountains," were all great, and best of all was the full-length "♥ Or $" (which again I discovered via Rock Lists - it stood out because I think it was the one B-side they listed that wasn't on the The Hits/B-Sides which were my first Prince CD's). I wish "♥ Or $" had made the album, but it's still a great album.

agh, mistakes all over the place

cut/paste error
*I didn't know it at all

typo
*elevate it beyond

also upthread:
everything else from Dirty Mind to Graffiti Bridge placed in the top ten

Yeah Parade is amazing, probably the most ornate/baroque of his classic run with Clare Fischer’s arrangements. I think the psychedelic stuff is better executed than on Around the World too, especially on “Mountains” and “Life Can Be So Nice.” The only bum track for me is “Girls and Boys” which seems to be much loved but has always annoyed the crap out of me and goes on way too long

"Anotherloverholenyohead" is a marvelous album track and a failure as a single.

Let's give Wendy and Lisa considerable credit for "...April."

and another error - Lovesexy made #17 and The Black Album made #20 on the same P&J poll in 1988

Let's give Wendy and Lisa considerable credit for "...April."

Yes, absolutely. Does Wendy play the acoustic guitar on that track? I love how you can hear all the squeaks on the strings, and also the beat that precedes that first strum through the final chorus - it's right after the saddest part, and it's like the guitar kicks up the tempo because it's time to move on, not just with the song but with life.

How much of Sign 'O' the Times had input from Wendy & Lisa? I know Prince is credited with recording it all, but weren't a lot of those songs worked on before he disbanded the Revolution?

Believe so, but don’t remember for sure.

They wrote much of the music and arrangement for "April" and the airier psychedelic numbers

"Girls and Boys" is such an amazing song

has there ever been a poll of prince's 80s b-sides?

because we should do that, if not.

Just in case anyone in the next 2000 years polls his best end of side 1 track for the record ‘Gotta Broken Heart Again’ gets my vote…

Revisiting his trio of NPG albums, they really get better with each one. Diamonds and Pearls lays the blueprint, but the material's a little uneven and Tony M ain't so hot. The Symbol Album is better but needs some pruning - it's essentially another double LP, but take out the lousy skits, the weakest cuts, and there's a really strong album from maybe a dozen tracks. I just wish they had a better rapper - I could see someone like LL Cool J (following Mama Said Knock You Out) delivering what Prince needed to make it all work. Everything pretty much clicks on The Gold Experience. Love it, I think it's Prince's last truly great album though something like an 18-track/90 minute version of Emancipation could be up there too.

Prince always felt kind of awkward to me when he tried to incorporate hip hop into his thing

I don't think he was able to make it work until The Gold Experience. By that album, he's moved away from extended rap breaks, and instead of Tony M, it's mainly him. I think his laid-back style is pretty good - he's learned how to slip into a comfortable sing-speak flow that's fairly close to what Curtis Mayfield and Sly Stone had already done decades ago. The Gold Experience may be the only time Prince made the fusion with hip-hop feel organic to me, at least for a whole album. He never grew beyond that though - I can think of a few instances later on where he tries to rap more ambitiously and failed to pull it off. (One of the few weak tracks on 3121 has a poor rap break from Prince IIRC.)

Xpost Yea it seemed dated like...even at the time.

The production is quite ugly on those later albums; he stopped caring about arrangements, cared more about performance.

He would never have allowed a good rapper on a Prince album because he would never have allowed competition.

He would never have allowed a good rapper on a Prince album because he would never have allowed competition.

There's Chuck D, but I get your point - Chuck was a guest shot, which isn't the same as being potentially upstaged by a full-time member of the NPG.

I don't have a problem with the production or arrangements on The Gold Experience or the best parts of Emancipation, but Come (which I don't like) does feel pretty ugly and Chaos and Disorder (which I enjoy) is slapdash which I guess makes sense since they were just "private" recordings. Except for Chaos and Disorder I wouldn't say he stopped caring - even the bad cuts seem meticulous in their own way.

listening to mplsound this morning and I can see why people find it so disappointing -- I mean, it's prince; "this album is nice" won't really cut it, and, when I put "mountains" in the queue in the middle of it, the contrast was stark -- mainly compositionally, though: the actual production sound of the later album is good to my ear, there's a lushness to it that's fine and interesting -- and the songs, while, again, this isn't an icon riding the wave of his passion, it's a guy who likes to hang around the studio tinkering forever and is fresh out of lyrical concepts for the most part. but!! "U're Gonna C Me" is utterly lovely, and so is "Here" -- and as to Alfred's remark about arrangements two posts back, that's just not true -- the flutes on "here" fading into the synth funk of "valentina" (not much to recommend in the verses, but a terrific chorus with a great vocal and an uncharacteristic bgv arrangement).

kinda curious how good a "late prince that nobody reps for" mix would look.