Prince – The 15 best albums!

Prince – The Black Album (Edward)

Edward’s top 15 Prince albums

1. 1999
   A giant step for mankind… to start off small. A fantastic and daring experiment: a record with a dominant role for synthesizers and drum machines, especially the Linn LM1. It produces a very bare production but oh, so effective. And yet it remains super funky! Music that grabbed me by the throat. In my opinion, there is really not a single mistake on this record. Party theme # 1 of all-time: 1999, poppy hit Little Red Corvette, rockabilly Delirious (listen to the unreleased full-length 6 minute version on 1999 Deluxe… damn!). I went completely mad with Let’s Pretend We’re Married, a 2nd party song D.M.S.R., two particularly sexually tinted trax Automatic (bondage) and Lady Cab Driver (discover for yourself!), the phenomenal mysteriously sterile Something In The Water (Does Not Compute), the critically new-wavy All The Critics Love U In New York and 2 ballads Free (on the piano!) and Prince-once-again-as-the-vocal-acrobat with International Lover as a closing statement. “Welcome aboard flight Seduction 747!”
   Ultimately intended to make the crossover to the general public. In the USA this worked, in Europe not quite yet, but MTV made up for a lot because 1999 and Little red Corvette were played purple. The cover (of the original double LP) is controversial to say the least and certainly reason for a closer inspection: the 1 of “1999” in the shape of a cock, the emblem in the I of Prince with ‘and the Revolution’ in mirror writing (a first reference to his backing band) and the Rude Boy button in the second 9 of “1999”, referring to his previous record Controversy.
   Although already a fan of Prince since 1981’s Controversy, I only bought this double LP a week after the release of Purple Rain, so in July 1984 (because it was quite expensive for a student, buying records). I immediately loved it, everything on this record was fantastic. Period! So I now had 2 of them within one week of a luminous world class and at the same time startling and eyebrow rising for me. I was finally given full access to the astonishing world called Prince. And once I got there, I immediately shot into space. And that would last for decades ….
   Nice anecdote: Years later, when I met Bram (in 2003), he told me that he had joined Prince much later, at Lovesexy. 1999?! Never bought it, way too disco! Hahaha, that’s a joke which, 18 years later, still lives on when we listen to music.
2. The Black Album
   Yes, The Black Album aka The Funk Bible should be really high on my list. It will soon become obvious why. If you had to name one Prince album which is driven, it is this one! From opener Le Grind it is all funk & party with When 2 R In Love as the only resting point. Cindy C, an ode to Cindy Crawford, features a rap by Steve Silk Hurley, one of the most influential house producers at the time. That also caught my attention because I bought everything concerning the Chicago House in 1987. Dead On It is an ironic dig to the rap and hip-hop scene of that moment (rappers can’t sing, was his approach, and I think he had a point there). Bob George is without a doubt the strangest and at the same time iconic song Prince ever recorded and for me one of the main reasons why this is such a great album. It has a lot of accelerated and delayed use of the voice, to confirm the anonymity of the record (black cover without any markings of the artist). We weren’t supposed to hear that it was Prince (duuuh!). Bob George hosts a monologue recited by a very slowed-down, virtually unrecognizable voice of Prince, assuming the identity of a man with a richly blasphemous vocabulary who suspects his girlfriend is having an affair. The weapon-wielding alter ego then fires a multitude of gunshots in an emerging manic episode including confrontational booty-bass schizophrenia only eventually, to be raided by the police. Some say the song is a response to the increasing glorification of violence and misogyny in gangsta rap. Truly an extraordinarily formidable criminal track. Anyway, after that it’s back to top funk with Superfunkycalifragisexy. Really delicious! 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton is a frantic, instrumental funk jazz jam. The album concludes with the infectious Rockhard In A Funky Place including delicious honking from saxophonist Eric Leeds. Rockhard is, indeed, referring to the condition of his mowing tool because, as the lyrics explain, he hates when a woody is wasted.
   As already mentioned, the “black” refers to the anonymity with which Prince wanted to release the album (all black sleeve, sticker Warner Bros., nothing else, no artist name), as well as to the color of the cover. The album was apparently intended in response to the growing criticism, particularly in the USA, he was becoming too pop-oriented (with Sign O’ The Times) and denying his black roots. He had something to prove which is reflected in the fanaticism of the album. We know the story by now: in the first week of December 1987, angry Spooky Electric had created this album, the record spews depravity… everything had to disappear in a flash, Prince decided, at the very last minute. Half a million vinyl records in Germany, woppa into the destruction mill. A handful were saved and are therefore proudly present in a few selective purple households in the world. However, that mystical fire just ignited a worldwide explosion: 33 years later, the The Black Album still is, with many hundreds of thousands of copies, the best-selling bootleg album of all-time. During 1988, when I still had a bootleg of it, many nights were lost due to the recording of a huge amount of cassette tapes, because everyone in my circle of friends / acquaintances wanted to get a piece of this phenomenon… in those days, there were no MP3s and burning a CD within 2 minutes. The prices for an original LP from 1987 have skyrocketed after his death in April 2016. In recent years these were sold for resp. $ 27,500 and $42,298. On a personal note, the album has a much deeper meaning for me than just the music and the mysticism. Exactly in that same first week of December 1987, I was in the deepest darkest valley I ever experienced in my life, with only 21 years on the counter, so the ‘black’ of the album is, at least for me, multi-interpretable. Also for me a week that I wish to delete ….
3. Around The World In A Day
   Quite a bit different from the commercial sound of his previous release, and clearly no appetite for a Purple Rain part II, this album sees Prince experimenting with psychedelic styles, unconventional instruments and lucious, sometimes cryptic textures. The beautifully colorful cover refers to the equally vibrant picturesque musical content that can be listened to on this record. For all these reasons, it is often cited as Prince’s Sgt. Pepper. It all served as a future template, as the rest of the world would soon learn. I thought it was wonderfully eccentric, quirky, yet accessible, with poppy tracks like Raspberry Beret, Pop Life (both of which served nicely as singles), the critical staccato America, the beautiful 7-minute piano ballad Condition Of The Heart with a lush 2.5 minute instrumental intro: very sincere and profound. The Ladder can be seamlessly connected to the end of the song Purple Rain (and thus the only connection to its predecessor). A wonderfully colorful collection of tracks, however my two favorites are the wonderfully light and trippy Tamborine, in which the lyrics serve as a series of thinly veiled commentaries on the joys of masturbation, with a burst of multi-track harmonies halfway through the song, ecstatic and spontaneous sounding, almost like gospel. Second favorite is closing song Temptation: 8 minutes of heavily exaggerated bombast of guitars and drums – say Prince as Hendrix, vocals that go in all directions uncontrollably, the dialogue with God about the difference between love and sex, and that mystique again at the end: “I don’t know when I’ll return” …. indeed: the Prince we hear on this record has never returned in this form.
4. Purple Rain
   Purple Rain, the album why everyone in the world knows who Prince is. This time a full band effort, with The Revolution. Musically fuller than previous albums, multiple layers of guitars, keyboards, electronic synthesizer effects, drum machines and other instruments. And with a touch of psychedelic shine to the production in the mix. Every genius was used to make the purple rain flow worldwide. And even though it has now turned completely purple, sometimes to the point of being annoying, with 25 million copies sold and at 8 in the Top 500 best albums of all-time, it remains an absolute milestone. We cannot ignore it. And neither can I, in this top 15.
   The record has an enormous drive, it kept my full attention from start to finish, maybe as well because I loved it so much, that purple colored record spinning on my record player (the very first pressing was on purple vinyl). With a first trendsetter Let’s Go Crazy, the opener, rightly so. What energy this track emits. With that great guitar solo at the end… pure magic! Followed by an obligatory pop duet with Apollonia, his female opponent in the film of the same name. The ballad The Beautiful Ones gives us a deep look into the Prince psych, in a heartbreaking and very convincing way. Computer Blue and Darling Nikki: Prince at the top of his game. Raw, vulgar, just delicious. He never sounded like that again afterwards. Music critics also often referred to the experimental aspects, f.e. the innovative When Doves Cry, without bass. And an exceptionally energetic trio to close, just like in the movie: I Would Die 4 U, the very exciting and playful Baby I’m A Star and ending with the majestic Purple Rain. 9 minutes of monumental Purpleness. A fun fact about the latter: he reportedly offered Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks the chance to write the lyrics for an early instrumental version of the song. “It was so overwhelming when I listened to it and I just got scared,” Nicks recalled. She called him back and said, “I can’t. I wish I could. It’s too much for me. In retrospect, I’m so glad I didn’t.”
5. Controversy
   Here lies the origin of why I became a Prince fan! The innovative part, pushing boundaries, his androgynous appearance at the time. Continuing this gender bending idea which started the album before, Dirty Mind. And thus, the reason why this album crashes so high in this top 15. In 1981 the full album version of the song Controversy was often played in the Soul Show on Thursday evenings, as one of the few places at the time where Prince was regularly passing by. When I saw the video, I was completely sold. A man in purple stilettos, matching trench coat and make-up?! Wow! Not so much that I found him attractive, but pushing and exploring boundaries was very intriguing for me. In addition, the album is riddled with speculations about Prince at the time, such as his sexuality, gender, religion and racial background, and how he couldn’t understand all that curiosity about him, fueled by all those headlines on the cover. Prince tries to shift the attention to the music, with more important themes at hand such as the cold war that was raging at the time (Ronnie, Talk To Russia), the murders of Afro Americans and John Lennon (Annie Christian, meant as a pun for the anti-christ). Obviously, unrestricted sexuality is also preached in abundance as the foundation for a more loving society (Sexuality, Private Joy, Do Me Baby,Let’s Work, Jack U Off). In addition, this is Prince’s first album with an association to the color purple and also the so-called sensational spelling (U, 2, 4 as in: you, to, for). And with this album, I also found an introduction to Prince’s 12″ catalog, namely Let’s Work with a longer version of no less than 8 minutes b/w Gotta Stop Messin’ About, the first real B-side (an outtake of the Dirty Mind sessions); today this is a much sought after 12-inch. There was a lot of more excitement to come ….
6. Come
   It is etched in my memory: on March 6, 1994 Prince sent a tape with eight new songs to Dutch radio stations including Interactive, Pheromone, Loose, 319, Endorphinmachine and an 11-minute version of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, containing different mixes that appeared subsequently on the maxi EP. I felt that a new Prince era was dawning. What great songs these were! And a few weeks later, it was already all available on CD (albeit a bootleg: Now!). These were wonderful times. By the way, for the sake of clarity, many of the above mentioned tracks (unfortunately) did not end up on the Come CD. The title track of course did: the original Poem (a.k.a. Come) was split up, the last part of which became Orgasm. The guitar sound on Orgasm is a sample of a guitar solo with feedback from Private Joy from his 1981 album Controversy. The moaning on Orgasm is that of Vanity, recorded in 1983 for the unreleased track Vibrator.
   The overall tone on Come is dark and experimental in nature as Prince kept the up-tempo and more commercial material for The Gold Experience. Prince dissed the record as “old material”. It is Warner Bros.‘s very last album under the name Prince, hence his “death” on the cover, 1958-1993. The fight with Warner Bros. and no promotion from Prince whatsoever made this record somewhat obscure at the time. Prince wanted Warner Bros. to release the Come and The Gold Experience records at the same time, so that the Prince material (Come) could compete with The Gold Experience (which Prince considered superior), under his new temporary name, an unpronounceable symbol. Warner Bros however, refused to release both albums at the same time, fearing that the market would be flooded.
   Ok, that said: Come, it’s a great album! The bare production and almost claustrophobic sound fits in well with the somewhat somber tone of the songs. Even the cover has been adapted to its contents, black & white, and dark. Though it contains very strong songs and sounds much more coherent and powerful than The Gold Experience. Sorry, Prince. Pheromone, Loose, Race, Papa, Dark, Solo, Space are all little gems. As well as the single Letitgo. A well-deserved high position in my top 15.
7. Sign O’ The Times
   Sign O’ The Times should, of course, not be omissed in this list. Generally regarded as his best work. And originated from the unreleased projects Dream Factory and Crystal Ball. The double album does indeed contain toppers: its committed minimalist title track, funk odysseys Housequake and Hot Thing, time-for-the-dance floor It, gospel Forever In My Life, the very strong sensual If I Was Your Girlfriend, the magisterial Strange Relationship (although I like the Wendy & Lisa mix even better), the uplifting U Got The Look (though I am missing the long uplifting intro of the film version here), the swinging It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night, and the majestic The Cross. It all comes together even better in the concert film. Unfortunately a grotesque mistake here: Personally, I think I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man is a terrible monstrosity on the record. While the rest sounds so innovative, this song gives the impression it was put together in 5 minutes; a really awful track in this context. Even the original outtake version from 1979 (on Sign O’ The Times Deluxe) is 10x more exciting than this one here. I simply cannot put my head around it why it appears on this album. And therefore probably less high than one would expect in this top 15.
8. The Gold Experience
   A great return to better days, this time in the mid-90s. There was a remarkable output of splendid material during the period 1993-1995 so when sessions for The Gold Experience were completed, a few possible configurations had already been discussed. Unfortunately, according to many, the eventual result is somewhat of a letdown. Days Of Wild and Interactive had since been eliminated, which is really incomprehensible! These two songs would have made The Gold Experience perfect for me. Full of energy, coherent and complete. The Gold Experience would be the next Purple Rain, Prince told the press. However, no second visit to highlights of conceptual art and commercial stardom such as the magnum opus from the mid-80s. But there are still a few diamonds to be found here: Endorphinmachine (although totally flat here, I miss the rawness of previous versions), Shhh, Now, Dolphin, 319, Hate U, Gold.
   By the way, did U know that this was my favorite concert tour of all-times? U can read all about it in my article Prince 1995 Ultimate Live Experience in Holland.
9. Dirty Mind
   A fusion of unpolished post-disco, new wave, funk and dance, 1980’s Dirty Mind is considered Prince’s most creative and certainly his most daring album. Not only questionable themes (oral sex, incest and ejaculation) drew attention, but also Prince’s high female vocals, along with his androgynous image during this era. He would expand it to a next level with successor Controversy. For me (and many others) it was certainly one of the most controversial 30 minutes in music. The trax sound very raw, being the intention; they just turned out to be virtually unedited demos. Strongest Tracks: When You Were Mine, Head, Uptown and the title track itself. This half hour is uninhibited enjoyment of the early Prince.
10. The Slaughterhouse
    Prince was plugged on early in the game with other ways of offering music, especially when Napster gained significant ground in the late 90’s. The Slaughterhouse and The Chocolate Invasion are both purely digital releases, material from 2001, available for download through his NPG Music Club. Although the complete digital release as CD in these configurations was not available until March 2004. There are some really delectable and inviting trax on this album: Silicon, S&M Groove, Golden Parachute, Northside, Peace, Daisy Chain to name a few. I think it paints a nice and spontaneous picture. And finally something from later Prince in this top 15.
11. The Chocolate Invasion
    (see also The Slaughterhouse) In fairness, The Slaughterhouse and The Chocolate Invasion are quite interchangeable for me. I like them both. The new tracks available for download for the 2001 NPG Music Club members were all equally entertaining. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to buy the 3 Hit ‘n Run tour CD-singles very quickly thru Ebay for a ridiculously low price, all 6 of these tracks are also on these 2 albums. The top trax on this CD are: Vavoom, My Medaillon, High, When Lay My Hands On U.
12. Lotusflow3r
    And even more later material from the 00 years. Lotusflow3r was finally a blissfully consistent guitar album again and is characterized by a mixture of guitar rock, psychedelia, and to a lesser extent funk and jazz. The instrumental From the Lotus… which starts off the album, with prominent guitar work, serves as a prelude of what is to come. Boom, Colonized Mind and the cover Crimson And Clover are all psychedelic rock songs. The Hendrix references are all over the place, also in Wall Of Berlin and Dreamer. Some funk is also added with $ (Money) in which Maceo Parker is blowing mighty a horn. Prince’s singing voice refers to his former alter ego Camille on this track. A pretty cohesive album and therefore in this list.
    NB: only concerns the Lotusflow3r CD, not the electronic I’m-doing-my-best-here-enormously-to-recreate-the-80s-yes-I-still-have-my-LinnLM1-is-it-coming-alive?-no-huh?-damn! MPLSound.
13. One Nite Alone… Solo piano and voice by Prince
    No. 25 in Prince’s studio album series, released in May 2002 and a gift to NPG Music Club members. Prince sings and accompanies himself on the piano, only occasionally using other instruments. It includes a cover of the Joni Mitchell classic A Case Of You, for which Mitchell receives special thanks in the liner notes. Avalanche caused some controversy because Abraham Lincoln is praised as a racist; he supposedly was never in favor of more freedom for blacks. Best tracks, in my opinion, are also the most dramatic ones:One Nite Alone and Have A Heart. A lovely album for a quiet Sunday with some snow outside.
14. The Rainbow Children
    Musically, Prince once again pushes boundaries through experiments with jazz(funk) on this concept album from the winter of 2001. And it is certainly true, The Rainbow Children was an important musical and spiritual turning point in Prince’s career. However, it is also a reaffirmation of the creativity that Prince had always been known for. Spiritual evolution for Prince? Rightfully so. It’s just a pity that the album was clouded by the somewhat exaggerated references to the bible/Jehovah through the slowed down deep voice, which sometimes makes it all sound a bit pedantic. It is precisely the heavily distorted voiceover that forces me to listen more carefully to what he is saying exactly so I can no longer pay any attention to the music. By the third time you start to think: Shut up already, damn! The story in a nutshell: via the aforementioned biblical chronicles and various speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. a utopian society is rising, a new nation, built by the Rainbow Children, a group of people who have obtained some kind of spiritual enlightenment. Let’s just keep it at that for now. The story is quite complicated and by the 3rd sentence you already fall asleep. However, the album is a wonderful combination of sublime trax, that work wonderfully together, despite big differences. This album contains many diamonds: the mysterious Digital Garden, the funky The Work, jazzy Mellow, 1+1+1=3, gospel Family Name, the extremely danceable and compelling Everlasting Now…
    All Prince fans have very fond memories of the accompanying tour in 2002. Excellent concerts, phenomenal nightly aftershows. Unlike previous tours, Prince was humorous, provocative, and at times condescending on stage. During soundchecks, his biggest fans had access to the venue and he was outspoken about media outlets, the music industry, record companies, and even about people’s criticism of his decision to become a Jehovah’s Witness.
15. 20Ten
    “From the heart of Minnesota: here come the Purple Yoda”. A newspaper CD only from 2010, only in Europe however. Prince stated this method of releasing an album was “the best way… no charts, no internet piracy, and no stress”. Quite a nice disc with the necessary light-hearted funk, soul, pop and rock.
    Compassion and Everybody Loves Me beam you straight back to 1982, because they both sound suspiciously like Let’s Pretend We’re Married. Future Soul Song could be a Stevie Wonder song. The likable Sticky Like Glue is nice and funky. Act Of God forces you to the dance floor. Lavaux has some intonation from the track 1999. Then there are 67 tracks of silence ….. up to track 77, namely: Lay Down. There is some logic of separating the song from its nine siblings on this otherwise low-key and light-hearted album, as Lay Down has a louder sound and more attitude than the rest put together. And that of course, in a typical perverse Prince way.
    Half a year later Prince himself announced on French radio that a 20ten deluxe would be released, with extra songs (Cause & Effect, Rich Friends) and / or extended versions (Lay Down) of trax on 20Ten; and as was often the case with Prince, this never materialized however.

……
Yes I know.
No Parade.
No Lovesexy.
No Diamonds And Pearls.
WTF ?!
I use the Bram method here: what do I take out of the shelves if I want to hear a Prince disc? With these three unfortunately, I fail to notice them.
Parade: It’s not a bad album, by no means. However, side 1 (we’ll talk in LP terms for the moment), don’t get much out of it. Never understood it too. Side 2: sublime! Is that enough then? No!
Lovesexy: I never thought of it as being a special album, it is all too full, and overproduced for me, I can’t get into it, I can’t access it well enough. Of course there are some very good trax on it (Anna Stesia, among others).
Diamonds And Pearls: also an album with good tracks, even one of my favorites (Gett Off), plus: Cream, Money Don’t Matter 2nite, Willing And Able, Insatiable. However, around this time Prince began to surrender to the then prevailing music trend of rap… it is just not my cup of tea, with an absolute low point: Jughead. Indeed!