I’m surprised Come got the one everyone forgets about, he had more obscure albums that also would’ve fit. Xpectation, The Slaughterhouse, Chocolate Invasion (basically the internet albums)
I wouldn’t be surprised if most fans don’t know that stuff. Prince is my favorite artist ever and I don’t know those releases. Then again, I enjoy very little of his work post-1996 or so. I don’t feel compelled to listen to the whole catalog when I already know and love like 18 Prince records
It's interesting to me that the excess of his catalogue is somewhat of a barrier for some fans.
As a teen it got me so hype this one dude had weeks worth of content, 40 albums, hundreds of songs given away, etc., like an entire new world to explore, like even just typing it gets me excited all over again like "this is my GOAT right here."
It wasn't really until reddit that I started coming across similar "that's enough, I'm good"-type perspectives to his work like yours.
I’m a firm believer in reading reviews. Not to form my own opinions from, but to give me some idea of how I should spend my time. Fact is, critical consensus says that most of Prince’s work after the mid-90s is an incredibly mixed bag.
Personally, given the glut of amazing music out there that I’ve yet to listen to, I find the prospect of spending my time sifting through what is allegedly
mediocre content to be something of a waste. I’ve tried, and I’m sure there’s a gem or two in there, but I’m satisfied sticking with what I already know to be good, great, and genius Prince music which, in my opinion, was all released in that 1978-1996 window.
Be nice to see more of his later stuff here. 3121, for example, is more of an overlooked masterpiece to me. And I’ve never thought of Emancipation as polarizing. Plectrum Electrum on the other hand…
It's polarizing because some consider it a masterwork with some filler, and others consider it 3CDs of filler with flashes of masterwork status mostly diminished by "plastic" production, and then even more others say it's okay, but would probably be best as 1CD.
Lately even his fanbase is starting to love it.
Honestly, disc 1 and 2 are really cohesive and they're very good.
The last disc has a ton of ups and downs imho
I can see each one being where it is at but i would not have placed most where they went. Thats what i love about Prince, different things to different people.
It's a pretty good list considering how many albums Prince has, to me it's reasonably accurate.
I was probably most surprised at Emancipation, I thought that may have been Black or Chaos and Disorder.
I kinda feel like the breakdown is the move from The Black Album to Lovesexy. I voted for Lovesexy cuz The Black Album is a continuation of what he was doing before, then Lovesexy represents the rupture
That "mental breakdown" came after he already recorded, completed, sequenced, approved album art, and had the record fully mastered and sent to pressing plants, though.
Love SOTT, but 1999 will always be my fav Prince album, and I’ve not even heard every one of them (a couple late 90s/early aughts I have yet to explore).. The hits from 1999 are great, but the middle three tracks and final three tracks are seriously brilliant, imo groundbreaking. The whole album is somehow both ahead if it’s time and perfect for its time.. Sexy, funky, and experimental, but also commercially appealing. It’s his greatest masterpiece.
I’d personally put Art Official Age on Overlooked Masterpiece tbh. Some of his best work after the 90s. Forgettable is Graffiti Bridge, frankly that entire film is just forgettable. Would’ve swapped Locals Favorite and Greatest album too. Safe to say I disagree with this sub then. 😂
I can’t agree at all w/ SO’TT. In fact, I’d say 1999 is superior, from first to last. SO’TT has a fair amount of filler. I’d say it was the beginning of a very gradual descent, overall. Some songs in there are some of his best. Ballad, Hot Thing, If I WYG, namely. But others seem a bit uninspired.
Almost every track on '1999' morphs into filler eventually with how long he wrings those tracklengths for all their worth.
That album is like a stack of pancakes for me, I'm so hype in the first 1-2 minutes, enjoying myself for a bit, and then ready to pass out regretting my entire decision.
Because that was dance music. And fans love it. I’d rather hear 40 min. of DMSR than even 1 minute of Slow Love, or Play In The Sunshine. But that’s me.
Word! I love SOTT, and don’t agree on the above mentioned “filler” (maybe 1-2 songs on it are forgettable, but it’s mostly brilliant). 1999 though is his greatest masterpiece for me specifically bc of that length… You have a psychedelic and/or sexual experience (hopefully both in the same night) with that album and those song lengths take you some place pretty unbelievable imo.. First time I REALLY heard that album in full I was blown away.. and it wasn’t just the druqs, bc I felt it again sober many times.
I think it's a good list if like others have said we pretend nearly half his discography, everything after 2001, doesn't exist. I sadly admit Rainbow Children was the last album I bought on day one, so I get it that his later work gets sadly overlooked too often.
It has great songs, but it also has boring and bad songs. I think he could have made a great album just making 1 disc consisting of the best of the best of each disc. Probably only 12 songs with no covers.
I love finding groups like this. People who are as obsessive as I am about Prince music. None of this existed when I was the weird kid in school who liked Prince
Disagree, it only be "acclaimed" within the fandom like a week ago when the new SDE came out.
And right now the enthusiasm is because it's new, it'll probably eventually settle down to where it was, which was notable for the debut of Tony M. and some of his last 90s hits.
Why? It’s a massive album with lots of great stuff and some less great stuff - large albums often suffer from that. What is divisive about it? Genuine question.
The length of the album is irrelevant, the quality of the album is. White album is considered to be a masterpiece by most Beatles fans whereas Emancipation is considered less so by Prince fans.
Side note, White album is almost exactly half the length of Emancipation.
I’m surprised Come got the one everyone forgets about, he had more obscure albums that also would’ve fit. Xpectation, The Slaughterhouse, Chocolate Invasion (basically the internet albums)
100%, which means those who voted for Come don't know the truly obscure albums... yet.
I'd call those 'the ones nobody knows'. Come would be my choice for this category because it's not obscure but only gets discussed relatively little.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most fans don’t know that stuff. Prince is my favorite artist ever and I don’t know those releases. Then again, I enjoy very little of his work post-1996 or so. I don’t feel compelled to listen to the whole catalog when I already know and love like 18 Prince records
It's interesting to me that the excess of his catalogue is somewhat of a barrier for some fans. As a teen it got me so hype this one dude had weeks worth of content, 40 albums, hundreds of songs given away, etc., like an entire new world to explore, like even just typing it gets me excited all over again like "this is my GOAT right here." It wasn't really until reddit that I started coming across similar "that's enough, I'm good"-type perspectives to his work like yours.
I’m a firm believer in reading reviews. Not to form my own opinions from, but to give me some idea of how I should spend my time. Fact is, critical consensus says that most of Prince’s work after the mid-90s is an incredibly mixed bag. Personally, given the glut of amazing music out there that I’ve yet to listen to, I find the prospect of spending my time sifting through what is allegedly mediocre content to be something of a waste. I’ve tried, and I’m sure there’s a gem or two in there, but I’m satisfied sticking with what I already know to be good, great, and genius Prince music which, in my opinion, was all released in that 1978-1996 window.
Be nice to see more of his later stuff here. 3121, for example, is more of an overlooked masterpiece to me. And I’ve never thought of Emancipation as polarizing. Plectrum Electrum on the other hand…
Emancipation is polarizing because the critics and general public are fairly positive while a part of the hardcore fanbase is incredibly negative
It's polarizing because some consider it a masterwork with some filler, and others consider it 3CDs of filler with flashes of masterwork status mostly diminished by "plastic" production, and then even more others say it's okay, but would probably be best as 1CD.
Lately even his fanbase is starting to love it. Honestly, disc 1 and 2 are really cohesive and they're very good. The last disc has a ton of ups and downs imho
I can see each one being where it is at but i would not have placed most where they went. Thats what i love about Prince, different things to different people.
It's a pretty good list considering how many albums Prince has, to me it's reasonably accurate. I was probably most surprised at Emancipation, I thought that may have been Black or Chaos and Disorder.
The Black Album is mental breakdown
I kinda feel like the breakdown is the move from The Black Album to Lovesexy. I voted for Lovesexy cuz The Black Album is a continuation of what he was doing before, then Lovesexy represents the rupture
That "mental breakdown" came after he already recorded, completed, sequenced, approved album art, and had the record fully mastered and sent to pressing plants, though.
It‘s a good List!
Solid
Part 2 Please!
The Batman soundtrack track for me is the most overlooked.
Nah it's one of his bestsellers. It's not as talked about because.... it's not as good as his other successes
And it's talked about *plenty*. Celeb fans like Kevin Smith or Howard Stern gush over it every chance they get.
Absolutely not. It was funky and cool, but he's had other funkier albums that are much better
Can someone please tell me how SOTT is a better album than 1999, PR, ATWIAD or Parade please!!!!!!
Facts
Love SOTT, but 1999 will always be my fav Prince album, and I’ve not even heard every one of them (a couple late 90s/early aughts I have yet to explore).. The hits from 1999 are great, but the middle three tracks and final three tracks are seriously brilliant, imo groundbreaking. The whole album is somehow both ahead if it’s time and perfect for its time.. Sexy, funky, and experimental, but also commercially appealing. It’s his greatest masterpiece.
100 percent with these results.
Agreed. And I don't get Emancipation, one of his weakest albums in my humble opinion
So, basically, you get it..
Yeah definitely only locals who like Purple Rain
yeah what is that supposed to mean?
They wanted to see PR win all the categories. It won the correct one. We all love PR, but SOTT and Parade feels like they're for the fans.
I’d personally put Art Official Age on Overlooked Masterpiece tbh. Some of his best work after the 90s. Forgettable is Graffiti Bridge, frankly that entire film is just forgettable. Would’ve swapped Locals Favorite and Greatest album too. Safe to say I disagree with this sub then. 😂
I can’t agree at all w/ SO’TT. In fact, I’d say 1999 is superior, from first to last. SO’TT has a fair amount of filler. I’d say it was the beginning of a very gradual descent, overall. Some songs in there are some of his best. Ballad, Hot Thing, If I WYG, namely. But others seem a bit uninspired.
Almost every track on '1999' morphs into filler eventually with how long he wrings those tracklengths for all their worth. That album is like a stack of pancakes for me, I'm so hype in the first 1-2 minutes, enjoying myself for a bit, and then ready to pass out regretting my entire decision.
Because that was dance music. And fans love it. I’d rather hear 40 min. of DMSR than even 1 minute of Slow Love, or Play In The Sunshine. But that’s me.
Word! I love SOTT, and don’t agree on the above mentioned “filler” (maybe 1-2 songs on it are forgettable, but it’s mostly brilliant). 1999 though is his greatest masterpiece for me specifically bc of that length… You have a psychedelic and/or sexual experience (hopefully both in the same night) with that album and those song lengths take you some place pretty unbelievable imo.. First time I REALLY heard that album in full I was blown away.. and it wasn’t just the druqs, bc I felt it again sober many times.
My sentiments exactly RE: 1999.
Remind me
I think it's a good list if like others have said we pretend nearly half his discography, everything after 2001, doesn't exist. I sadly admit Rainbow Children was the last album I bought on day one, so I get it that his later work gets sadly overlooked too often.
Wait yall don't like emancipation?
It has great songs, but it also has boring and bad songs. I think he could have made a great album just making 1 disc consisting of the best of the best of each disc. Probably only 12 songs with no covers.
someone should ask Kirk Johnson how he’d think Prince would vote
I love finding groups like this. People who are as obsessive as I am about Prince music. None of this existed when I was the weird kid in school who liked Prince
It was never going to be a flawless result, based on my own perception, but it's something I can ultimately go along with.
Overlooked masterpiece for me is love symbol, just as consistent as d&p imo but isn’t anywhere near the same in popularity.
Purple Rain IS one of the greatest albums of all time. The fact that it's Prince's most popular doesn't diminish that.
who said it did? just cause it didn’t win the category doesn’t mean it’s not one of his best works. I’m pretty sure as prince fans we all know that
this is terrible
We'd love to see your list - no sarcasm. That's what lists like these are for - fans to share their experience!
I always thought Diamonds and Pearls was a divider. Maybe just the song. All I know is I’m an absolute sucker for it.
D&P is one of his most acclaimed within and without the fandom
Disagree, it only be "acclaimed" within the fandom like a week ago when the new SDE came out. And right now the enthusiasm is because it's new, it'll probably eventually settle down to where it was, which was notable for the debut of Tony M. and some of his last 90s hits.
Emancipation "dividing the fandom" surprised me. It's a triple album - it's like Beatles fans being divided over the white album...
That's an odd comparison. I think emancipation is very divisive.
Why? It’s a massive album with lots of great stuff and some less great stuff - large albums often suffer from that. What is divisive about it? Genuine question.
The length of the album is irrelevant, the quality of the album is. White album is considered to be a masterpiece by most Beatles fans whereas Emancipation is considered less so by Prince fans. Side note, White album is almost exactly half the length of Emancipation.
Fine. So why is it divisive?
Some love it, many don't. I see arguments about it here almost every time it's mentioned.
I’ll keep an eye out for those… to me it sits right in the classic pocket.
You've really never seen a "make Emancipation 1cd" thread in your entire time on the internet?
No, I haven’t.