I think Sign has better songwriting on it. PR is a blast to listen to, and it flows better than Sign, but on the other hand, Sign has more diversity and better songwriting IMO. I love PR but other than "When Doves cry", none of the songs are particularly amazing, lyrically speaking. On Sign, there are atleast a few that are brilliant lyrically

Here's how i rank each song on both albums

Purple Rain: SOTT:

Lets go crazy- 9/10 Sign of the times- 10/10 UGTL- 9.5/10

Take Me With U- 9.5/10 Play in the sunshine-9/10 IFIWYGF- 10/10

The Beautiful Ones- 8/10 Housequake- 9.5/10 Strange R-10/10

Computer Blue-10/10 The Ballad of DP- 10/10 ICNTTPOYM- 10/10

Darling Nikki- 9/10 It- 7.5/10 The Cross- 9/10

When Doves Cry- 10/10 Slow Love- 9.5/10 IGBBBN- 9/10

I Would Die 4 U- 8/10 Hot Thing- 8/10 Adore- 10/10

Baby I'm a Star- 10/10 Forever in My Life- 10/10

Purple Rain- 10/10 Starfish and Coffee- 10/10

Total: 9.3 out of 10 Total : 9.5 out of 10

As to which i prefer, I prefer sign, just slightly. Sign is #1 with PR #2 for me. PR is great to listen to, flows togethar better. I think the mood matters too, sometimes i prefer one and on other days its different.

hhhhdmt said:

Purple Rain

1. Let's Go Crazy - 10/10

2. Take Me With U - 10/10

3. The Beautiful Ones - 10/10

4. Computer Blue - 10/10

5. Darling Nikki - 10/10

6. When Doves Cry - 10/10

7. I Would Die 4 U - 10/10

8. Baby I'm A Star - 10/10

9. Purple Rain - 10/10

Sign O The Times

1. Sign O The Times - 10/10

2. Play In The Sunshine - 10/10

3. Housequake - 10/10

4. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker - 10/10

5. It - 10/10

6. Starfish And Coffee - 10/10

7. Slow Love - 10/10

8. Hot Thing - 10/10

9. Forever In My Life - 10/10

10. U Got The Look - 10/10

11. If I Was Your Girlfriend - 10/10

12. Strange Relationship - 10/10

13. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man - 10/10

14. The Cross - 10/10

15. It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night - 10/10

16. Adore - 10/10

It's a tough one, but I'll go for SOTT.

its really tough. PR is solid all the way through (but its only 9 songs), while there are some songs on SOTT that i dont need (but its 16 songs!). i think PR is my #1 and SOTT is my #2.

Neither are my favourite, but both are amazing albums. I'd probably go with Purple Rain, simply because of its consistency - every song on there is a classic in more ways than one. It's also more a true 'concept' album with a thematic sound and purpose, whereas Sign is really just a collection of ultimately unrelated songs. There's also a couple of songs on Sign that I really don't care for - I almost always skip "Slow Love" and "It", though they're not necessarily "bad" songs.

Purple Rain came out my senior year of high school, when I was SO NOT a Prince fan.

It took me a long time to appreciate Purple Rain...

The very first time I heard the title track of Sign 'O' the Times on the radio, I loved it.

That album was my first real admission that I was becoming a Prince fan.

It remained my favorite Prince album until The Rainbow Children grabbed me after the ONA concert.

Sign 'O' the Times gets my vote.

Purple Rain

Let's Go Crazy: 8/10

Take Me with U: 7/10

The Beautiful Ones: 9/10

Computer Blue: 7/10

Darling Nikki: 8/10

When Doves Cry: 9/10

I Would Die 4 U: 8.5/10

Baby I'm a Star: 7/10

Purple Rain: 10/10



Total Score = 82%



Sign “☮” the Times

Sign “☮” the Times: 8/10

Play in the Sunshine: 6.5/10

Housequake: 7/10

The Ballad of Dorothy Parker: 8/10

It: 8/10

Starfish and Coffee: 9/10

Slow Love: 8/10

Hot Thing: 7.5/10

Forever in My Life: 9/10

U Got the Look: 8/10

If I Was Your Girlfriend: 9/10

Strange Relationship: 7/10

I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man: 9/10

The Cross: 7/10

It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night: 7/10

Adore: 10/10



Total Score = 80%

[Edited 3/28/11 5:19am]

PR. I don't really connect much with SOTT these days.

I consider Sign o the Times to be his best work.

NEVER really connected to PR (7/10). Therefore SOTT (9/10). To me the REAL masterpiece is the follow-up to PR, ATWIAD , which is definately a 10 (especially considering the accompanying b-sides)

...Purple Rain is Prince's best album,

but Sign o' the Times is a better album than Purple Rain,

but Purple Rain is Prince's best album,

but Sign o' the Times is a better album than Purple Rain,
but Purple Rain is Prince's best album,

but Sign o' the Times is a better album than Purple Rain...

It's the Prince Paradox.

hhhhdmt said:

I think Sign has better songwriting on it. PR is a blast to listen to, and it flows better than Sign, but on the other hand, Sign has more diversity and better songwriting IMO. I love PR but other than "When Doves cry", none of the songs are particularly amazing, lyrically speaking. On Sign, there are atleast a few that are brilliant lyrically

Here's how i rank each song on both albums

Purple Rain: SOTT:

Lets go crazy- 9/10 Sign of the times- 10/10 UGTL- 9.5/10

Take Me With U- 9.5/10 Play in the sunshine-9/10 IFIWYGF- 10/10

The Beautiful Ones- 8/10 Housequake- 9.5/10 Strange R-10/10

Computer Blue-10/10 The Ballad of DP- 10/10 ICNTTPOYM- 10/10

Darling Nikki- 9/10 It- 7.5/10 The Cross- 9/10

When Doves Cry- 10/10 Slow Love- 9.5/10 IGBBBN- 9/10

I Would Die 4 U- 8/10 Hot Thing- 8/10 Adore- 10/10

Baby I'm a Star- 10/10 Forever in My Life- 10/10

Purple Rain- 10/10 Starfish and Coffee- 10/10

Total: 9.3 out of 10 Total : 9.5 out of 10

the Beatiful Ones Computer Blue Darling Nikki & Purple Rain are particularly amazing

As much as I like P.R., I look at it as, asking for directions. SOTT, is reaching your destination...

OldFriends4Sale said:

hhhhdmt said:

I think Sign has better songwriting on it. PR is a blast to listen to, and it flows better than Sign, but on the other hand, Sign has more diversity and better songwriting IMO. I love PR but other than "When Doves cry", none of the songs are particularly amazing, lyrically speaking. On Sign, there are atleast a few that are brilliant lyrically

Here's how i rank each song on both albums

Purple Rain: SOTT:

Lets go crazy- 9/10 Sign of the times- 10/10 UGTL- 9.5/10

Take Me With U- 9.5/10 Play in the sunshine-9/10 IFIWYGF- 10/10

The Beautiful Ones- 8/10 Housequake- 9.5/10 Strange R-10/10

Computer Blue-10/10 The Ballad of DP- 10/10 ICNTTPOYM- 10/10

Darling Nikki- 9/10 It- 7.5/10 The Cross- 9/10

When Doves Cry- 10/10 Slow Love- 9.5/10 IGBBBN- 9/10

I Would Die 4 U- 8/10 Hot Thing- 8/10 Adore- 10/10

Baby I'm a Star- 10/10 Forever in My Life- 10/10

Purple Rain- 10/10 Starfish and Coffee- 10/10

Total: 9.3 out of 10 Total : 9.5 out of 10

the Beatiful Ones Computer Blue Darling Nikki & Purple Rain are particularly amazing

Oh i like all of those songs, i just dont think they are lyrically amazing. See WDC is something i regard as lyrically excellent because of its imagery ("dream if you can a courtyard, an ocean of violets in bloom"). On Sott, there are several, the title track which covers so many issues, IIWYGF, Starfish and Coffee and ICNTTPOYM

SOTT is better to me because of the song-writing and song-composition throughout the album. Though Purple Rain is a more cohesive album thematically, SOTT showcases the various aspects of Prince's artistic abilities. Also, my all-time favorite Prince songs are on SOTT. To be honest, I actually prefer Parade to Purple Rain. But Purple Rain is part of my top five Prince albums.

That is a VERY hard question. But its hard for me to compare most of Princes 80s work.

Id say Purple Rain is slightly better because i can play it all the way through without skipping.

With SOTT...even though it has immense songs like Play in the Sunshine, It, Hot Thing, U Got The Look.

It has songs i find skippable like Adore.

PR is seriuously suffering from it's title track...

hhhhdmt said:

As to which i prefer, I prefer sign, just slightly. Sign is #1 with PR #2 for me. PR is great to listen to, flows togethar better. I think the mood matters too, sometimes i prefer one and on other days its different.

I'm the same way. It definitely depends on my mood. Although, SOTT definitely shows Prince's versatility more. If you want to give someone an example of Prince doing the perfect blend of funk/rock/jazz/soul (with ingenious lyrics to boot), hand them Sign 'O the Times!

This is so hard...I have to think

they are too totally different experiences i dont care prince music b/c they all do something different 4 me purple rain was commerical and was really a pop project while sign o the times was a musican album that explored musical depth. so i dont so either or they both do what they do

PURPLE RAIN, i don't like Housequke (but Lovesexy in Dortmund's version is cool), It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night, The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker, Forever in My Life and Strange Relationship. But Adore is exellent. I prefer dirty Prince in Darling Nikki.

Sign O' The Times 4 me, then 1999 & Purple Rain. Purple Rain is 2 short but if it included it's b-sides maybe, shit I don't know!

Can I take some tracks off of Purple Rain and some Tracks off of Sign O' the Times and make one album called Purple Sign O the Rain ? If so I'll go with Purple Sign O the Rain.

lPoeticl said:

PurpleChi said:

lPoeticl said:

Can I take some tracks off of Purple Rain and some Tracks off of Sign O' the Times and make one album called Purple Sign O the Rain ? If so I'll go with Purple Sign O the Rain.

Hey, no fair! You have to choose just like the rest of us!

I almost never play Purple Rain but SOTT makes it in my rotatation consistently.

SOTT and Im not even bothering to explain that. At this time in his career everyone here knows!