Dirty Mind with more filler. But you can't beat the one-two-three punch of Dirty Mind, Controversy, and 1999, the latter-most being the first two on steroids. Essential Prince. Let's Work is the fucking jam.

I used to prefer Controversy over Dirty Mind, but I often skip tracks on Controversy these days. Not so with Dirty Mind.

Vintage Prince.

smoothcriminal12 said:

Vintage Prince.

Yes.

"Controvervy"..that's cute.

Cyra said:

Dirty Mind with more filler. But you can't beat the one-two-three punch of Dirty Mind, Controversy, and 1999, the latter-most being the first two on steroids. Essential Prince. Let's Work is the fucking jam.

I used to prefer Controversy over Dirty Mind, but I often skip tracks on Controversy these days. Not so with Dirty Mind.

While I do think that Dirty Mind is superior...name one song on Controversy that is filler.

And 1999 is not Dirty Mind and Controversy on steroids.

Harumph.

Great album. It took me a long time to appreciate it, as it really does seem like the bridge between Dirty Mind and 1999 without being as bold as either one.

But as time goes on, I really prefer Controversy to DM - There's a clear evolution in production, songwriting and just flat-out energy.

i like it alot except the political stuff falls flat on his face. It still deserves a 9/10 or an 8/10, havent decided yet. But i do consider it an underrated record.

If Ronnie Talk To Russia wasn't included, this album would be perfect.

Controversy, great sound and brilliant songs especially side 1 of the vinyl

thedance said:

If Ronnie Talk To Russia wasn't included, this album would be perfect.

All of his albums 1980-1992 (Graffiti Bridge doesn't count) were masterpieces or they had one inferior track - near masterpiece. It's extremely annoying that most albums have this one almost unlistenable track.

great album do me baby and lets work r my faves,fanfuckintastic.

BHD97 said:

Just want to know your opinion on Controversy, I personally think it's a great album

I like it very much since it was the first album I bought way back in 1981, I was 19 at that time and very into new wave, funk (still am).

thedance said:

If Ronnie Talk To Russia wasn't included, this album would be perfect.

Cover is fantastic. I fell in love, when i have heard Controversy. When i have heard this song, i was looking for his other songs. I was fascinated.

Fantastic album, like many many others of his. And I like RTTR and Annie Christian!

I pulled this out last week to do some decorating. I love his earlier work, but am enjoy some of the smoother delivery of these works.

Efan said:

While I do think that Dirty Mind is superior...name one song on Controversy that is filler.

Arguably.... "Ronnie Talk To Russia", "Jack U Off" and "Annie Christian".

Dirty Mind is far superior and more cohesive, but Controversy is still utter, utter genius.

High points for me would be the title track obviously, "Private Joy", "Let's Work" and "Sexuality". The whole album is stellar, but I certainly feel the three songs I mentioned at the top are slightly weaker than the rest.

The precursor to 1999 and the true Minneapolis sound imo.

Great album.

NouveauDance said:

thedance said:

If Ronnie Talk To Russia wasn't included, this album would be perfect.

Thank you.

Some people...

Efan said:

Cyra said:

Dirty Mind with more filler. But you can't beat the one-two-three punch of Dirty Mind, Controversy, and 1999, the latter-most being the first two on steroids. Essential Prince. Let's Work is the fucking jam.

I used to prefer Controversy over Dirty Mind, but I often skip tracks on Controversy these days. Not so with Dirty Mind.

While I do think that Dirty Mind is superior...name one song on Controversy that is filler.

And 1999 is not Dirty Mind and Controversy on steroids.

Harumph.

Simply put, there isn't one. Every track on Controversy owns its spot and deserves to be there.

People forget their opinions aren't facts around here.

Spinlight said:

Efan said:

While I do think that Dirty Mind is superior...name one song on Controversy that is filler.

And 1999 is not Dirty Mind and Controversy on steroids.

Harumph.

Simply put, there isn't one. Every track on Controversy owns its spot and deserves to be there.

People forget their opinions aren't facts around here.

And that's also an opinion

I wouldn't go as far as calling anything filler, which is why I said "arguably".... but I do feel that a few songs aren't up to par with the others. Which is something that can't be said about Dirty Mind.

I mean, if we were doing one of those threads where songs get voted out one by one, I couldn't begin to guess what people would remove from "Dirty Mind" in what order. But I'd probably put money on "Ronnie...", and "Annie Christian" being voted out first from "Controversy". That doesn't make it a fact that they're filler, of course not. But it would make it a general consensus that those are the weakest songs on the album.

Militant said:

Spinlight said:

Simply put, there isn't one. Every track on Controversy owns its spot and deserves to be there.

People forget their opinions aren't facts around here.

And that's also an opinion

I wouldn't go as far as calling anything filler, which is why I said "arguably".... but I do feel that a few songs aren't up to par with the others. Which is something that can't be said about Dirty Mind.

I mean, if we were doing one of those threads where songs get voted out one by one, I couldn't begin to guess what people would remove from "Dirty Mind" in what order. But I'd probably put money on "Ronnie...", and "Annie Christian" being voted out first from "Controversy". That doesn't make it a fact that they're filler, of course not. But it would make it a general consensus that those are the weakest songs on the album.

I hate those vote threads because the songs I like tend to get axed first in favor of the status quo tracks. I saw the Controversy one and right from jump, people were tryna boot "Private Joy"... I said, oh no, cannot even do this thread. lol.

In the long run, Prince's vision for Controversy is the most important guide to go by, IMO! And the journey you take on the album is one of his most focused and effortless, to me. I feel the party vibe throughout almost every song.

I know Controversy and Dirty Mind get compared a lot because lots of people love DM and Controversy is such an important record (his intro to the Linn), but to me its just not a competition. Controversy, IMO, exists as the spark that created the Minneapolis Sound and he would go back to the archetypal song structures again and again and again.

Can someone really question if "Sister" is a better track than "Ronnie Talk To Russia"?

I dont understand all the Jack U Off hate, I honestly think its one of the greatest songs ever made

Spinlight said:

Can someone really question if "Sister" is a better track than "Ronnie Talk To Russia"?

These are my two all-time favourite P. tracks!

I think sometimes they get called filler because they're punkish/new wave rather than funky, and lyrically both cover individual ground at the time for Prince.

Spinlight said:

Militant said:

And that's also an opinion

I wouldn't go as far as calling anything filler, which is why I said "arguably".... but I do feel that a few songs aren't up to par with the others. Which is something that can't be said about Dirty Mind.

I mean, if we were doing one of those threads where songs get voted out one by one, I couldn't begin to guess what people would remove from "Dirty Mind" in what order. But I'd probably put money on "Ronnie...", and "Annie Christian" being voted out first from "Controversy". That doesn't make it a fact that they're filler, of course not. But it would make it a general consensus that those are the weakest songs on the album.

I hate those vote threads because the songs I like tend to get axed first in favor of the status quo tracks. I saw the Controversy one and right from jump, people were tryna boot "Private Joy"... I said, oh no, cannot even do this thread. lol.

In the long run, Prince's vision for Controversy is the most important guide to go by, IMO! And the journey you take on the album is one of his most focused and effortless, to me. I feel the party vibe throughout almost every song.

I know Controversy and Dirty Mind get compared a lot because lots of people love DM and Controversy is such an important record (his intro to the Linn), but to me its just not a competition. Controversy, IMO, exists as the spark that created the Minneapolis Sound and he would go back to the archetypal song structures again and again and again.

Can someone really question if "Sister" is a better track than "Ronnie Talk To Russia"?

I know what you mean, and I don't really like those sorts of threads either. They tend to encourage groupthink and I rarely agree with them.

But I do think Controversy is somewhat less accessible to your average listener, especially in comparison to Dirty Mind where most of the songs were 3 to 5 minutes in length.

The title track and "Do, Me Baby" are over 7 minutes long and then you've got "Ronnie Talk To Russia" which is under 2! It's stylistically more diverse in the production style and while that's a good thing in some ways, it also contributes to making the album feel less cohesive and making it somewhat less accessible, so on that basis I understand why some people may consider certain parts to be filler. To me it kinda sounds exactly what it IS - the halfway point between Dirty Mind and 1999. I find 1999 to be more cohesive, too.

There's a sort of lo-fi basement feel to "Dirty Mind" and a clean, almost cold, Kraftwerk machinesque vibe to "1999" and Controversy is slap bang in the middle which, if it weren't for the stellar songwriting might be somewhat jarring. I find that diversity sometimes means I can't listen to the album all the way through, because when I'm in the mood to hear the title track, "Sexuality" and "Private Joy", I may not be in the mood to listen to "Do Me Baby" because it's on a different page. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing because I can probably say the same about "Sign O' The Times" and that's one of my favorite albums. But consequently I listen to them less as entire works of art and end up just cherry picking songs one at a time.... whereas with "Dirty Mind", "1999" and even something like "Come" which I find very cohesive, I can just hit play and let the album run all the way through.

PurpleChi said:

Love Controversy with the exception of Ronnie Talk to Russia and Annie Christian. That album holds a special place for me because it was my first introduction to Prince. I don't think there's any filler at all. The aforementioned are just bad songs. But I think the rest are great.

With the exception of it being my first intro to P's music, After my first listen, I skipped those 2 songs everytime.

BHD97 said:

Just want to know your opinion on Controversy, I personally think it's a great album

Love this album. The title track is the first Prince song I remember hearing as a little kid. I'm lukewarm on "Ronnie Talk to Russia" and just see it now as a musical time capsule of 80s Cold War anxiety.

Can't believe "Controversy" is 30 years old! I feel ancient.

On one hand I think it's a weaker effort in his early catalog, but I love every track.

It really feels like a transitional piece between DM and 1999.

5/5

Love it . The title track was the first song I heard outside of the Purple Rain soundtrack. I was like "WOW" Prince is great . I actually like Annie Christian am I the only one? . Great album

[Edited 4/4/11 0:00am]