EyeJester7 said:

He has continued in and ON after the 80's....LOVESEXY Is ranked like at number one for me though!

N.E.W.S.

One Nite Alone...Piano

Xpectation

The Rainbow Children

Lotusflow3r

The Truth

AND THE Gold Experience Of Course!..However I don't think it is ALLLLL THAT...Poeople make it seem as if it's just PERFECT...AND IT IS...But I like SilverChild will rank COME above it by a little, due to its raw and dark feel.

BUT I LOVE GOLD!

Fuck the latent haters!

Besides Lotusflow3r which I don't care for at all I think your list is something to think about.

They are all albums I wanted to be good, because I liked their promising direction. Problem: They are not as strong as they should be.

NEWS: too often too boring, the 14 minute nonsense, careless groove transitions etc.

ONA: too sketchy

Xpectation: too little highlights, often unconvincing poppy jazz-funk

TRC: lots of passion and musicianship, great sound, interesting album concept, songwriting not too stellar or interesting (my choice)

The Truth: songwriting not strong enough

BTW: I'm not a fan of TGE at all. But what to choose in the face of so many mediocre albums?

[Edited 10/8/12 1:58am]

IDK, its really hard to choose. For the 90's I think I would go with or Come. For the 00's its definitely 3121. I would probably pick 3121 as the overall best post Lovesexy album.

MPLsOUND cohesive, funky and a lot of fun

funkomatic said:

EyeJester7 said:

He has continued in and ON after the 80's....LOVESEXY Is ranked like at number one for me though!

N.E.W.S.

One Nite Alone...Piano

Xpectation

The Rainbow Children

Lotusflow3r

The Truth

AND THE Gold Experience Of Course!..However I don't think it is ALLLLL THAT...Poeople make it seem as if it's just PERFECT...AND IT IS...But I like SilverChild will rank COME above it by a little, due to its raw and dark feel.

BUT I LOVE GOLD!

Fuck the latent haters!

Besides Lotusflow3r which I don't care for at all I think your list is something to think about.

They are all albums I wanted to be good, because I liked their promising direction. Problem: They are not as strong as they should be.

NEWS: too often too boring, the 14 minute nonsense, careless groove transitions etc.

ONA: too sketchy

Xpectation: too little highlights, often unconvincing poppy jazz-funk

TRC: lots of passion and musicianship, great sound, interesting album concept, songwriting not too stellar or interesting (my choice)

The Truth: songwriting not strong enough

BTW: I'm not a fan of TGE at all. But what to choose in the face of so many mediocre albums?

[Edited 10/8/12 1:58am]

You really don't care for LotusFlow3r? It is creative to me, and outside of the realm of predictability from Prince.

I find it hard to determine what is considered 'Strong' because of the promise set before its release. I mean, I can think about a couple of things that 'Failed' because the hype created something outside of potential. When I think about Prince, I think of a guy who creates music within space and time. By the time he finishes one thing, he thinks about another which gives another idea!

N.E.W.S. Has been refereed to 'Snooze' by some...LOL. But It's exceptional. IMO Listen to 'West' again, and tell me, if your opinion changes if any. I think it takes many directions,and it manages to control its existence while falling into something else. When was the last time you heard these albums?

Xpectation I recently have been busting, Listen to Xpedition and Xogenous again, and tell me those songs don't take it by storm. The whole album really fulfills it's name to me. Just great...I think he would have convinced a lot people if he officially released in CD format, possibly in addition to N.E.W.S.

ONA, You really lost me there! LOL..Explain what you mean by sketchy, in what sense? lol

TRC..We agree totally..It's a well intended, crafted, and delivered album IMO!

I agree that The Truth lyricism often is undermined, but it manages to barely come together, and seems very spontaneous and it manages to come across good. BUT I totally see what you mean there...

I mean 'mediocre' goes so far. I can argue Prince having a co-producer in some aspect. So that he won't add things that really over does it. Sometimes he is guilty of having too many things going on...BUT what makes Prince great is using a little and doing a whole lot with a little!

They all r simply a "MasterPieces"............

[Edited 10/8/12 21:30pm]

His best album pre and post Lovesexy is The Gold Experience, in my opinion.

It's perfect. And yes, I even love We March and the newer, glittery Endorphinmachine mix. It's perfect from start to finish.

.

[Edited 10/8/12 22:09pm]

Someone stated here 'Grafitti Bridge'....

If you take aonly the songs sang by Prince, you got a mediocre but still a great album, with barely stad out tracks...

I'm listening to it lately a lot, trying to get into it, and find the feel he wanted to continue after 'Lovesexy'. Some recordings even do so

(Someone sayd...)

Vannormal said:

Someone stated here 'Grafitti Bridge'....

If you take aonly the songs sang by Prince, you got a mediocre but still a great album, with barely stad out tracks...

I'm listening to it lately a lot, trying to get into it, and find the feel he wanted to continue after 'Lovesexy'. Some recordings even do so

Oh, 'The Truth' ! What a perfect unknown gem.

I'm happy it remains unknown. I so super love this album. This is the album Prince made, and everyone was screaming for, dying for to have in the late eighties. Especially over here in Europe, I remember well fr various interviews with other musicians who really wanted him to do something like this.

'One Nite Alone' (the piano album).

Also one of my favourit ones. A trem gem as well. Same argument as I stated here above. But less coherent as 'The Truth' though imho.

'Love Symbol'...but TGE would be a close second.

EyeJester7 said:

funkomatic said:

Fuck the latent haters!

Besides Lotusflow3r which I don't care for at all I think your list is something to think about.

They are all albums I wanted to be good, because I liked their promising direction. Problem: They are not as strong as they should be.

NEWS: too often too boring, the 14 minute nonsense, careless groove transitions etc.

ONA: too sketchy

Xpectation: too little highlights, often unconvincing poppy jazz-funk

TRC: lots of passion and musicianship, great sound, interesting album concept, songwriting not too stellar or interesting (my choice)

The Truth: songwriting not strong enough

BTW: I'm not a fan of TGE at all. But what to choose in the face of so many mediocre albums?

[Edited 10/8/12 1:58am]

You really don't care for LotusFlow3r? It is creative to me, and outside of the realm of predictability from Prince.

I knew that this kind of album was about to be released sooner or later. It's the castrated version of TRC. Guitar solos all over as if they could save his mediocre songwriting.

I find it hard to determine what is considered 'Strong' because of the promise set before its release. I mean, I can think about a couple of things that 'Failed' because the hype created something outside of potential. When I think about Prince, I think of a guy who creates music within space and time. By the time he finishes one thing, he thinks about another which gives another idea!

What I wanted to say was that I thought the ideas or concepts of those albums were promising and ambitious. But the result in the end left a lot to be desired.

N.E.W.S. Has been refereed to 'Snooze' by some...LOL. But It's exceptional. IMO Listen to 'West' again, and tell me, if your opinion changes if any. I think it takes many directions,and it manages to control its existence while falling into something else. When was the last time you heard these albums?

Haha, not this time. I've listened to N.E.W.S. a lot. I agree, it takes a lot of directions, but many of them end in boredom or in pedestrian groove changes.

Xpectation I recently have been busting, Listen to Xpedition and Xogenous again, and tell me those songs don't take it by storm. The whole album really fulfills it's name to me. Just great...I think he would have convinced a lot people if he officially released in CD format, possibly in addition to N.E.W.S.

You know that I do appreciate the highlights of this album. Nonetheless I can hear Prince's limited Jazz vocabulary which brings it kinda down.

ONA, You really lost me there! LOL..Explain what you mean by sketchy, in what sense? lol

It's written on the cover. It says demos for piano and voice. Nice but too unfocused to make it a strong artistic statement.

TRC..We agree totally..It's a well intended, crafted, and delivered album IMO!

I agree that The Truth lyricism often is undermined, but it manages to barely come together, and seems very spontaneous and it manages to come across good. BUT I totally see what you mean there...

Don't get me wrong all of these albums were glimpses of hope for me and I do appreciate them a lot more than the usual mediocre pop stinkers he gave us the last few years. Still they lack the focus it takes in order to create a really strong artistic statement.

I mean 'mediocre' goes so far. I can argue Prince having a co-producer in some aspect. So that he won't add things that really over does it. Sometimes he is guilty of having too many things going on...BUT what makes Prince great is using a little and doing a whole lot with a little!

In the end it's all about your standards which makes the difference.

[Edited 10/9/12 2:10am]

I think The Gold Experience is the best since Sign O' The Times, after that it's Love Symbol. Both very diverse and creative. Lovesexy is good but there are many better albums both before and after.

"Love Symbol' was a very well produced concept "MasterPiece" with the video that accompanied it also...

SoulAlive said:

'Love Symbol'...but TGE would be a close second.

The Black Album.

novabrkr said:

The Black Album.

Graffiti Bridge then Diamonds and Pearls.

the Rainbow Children

Definetely the Gold Experience

Emancipation: many tracks are realley good, i luv this intense and deep era ..because he was really inspired..

i'm torn

music wise the Rainbow Children, but for me some lyrics are disturbing

or Musicology, some good songs but don't like the production for some reason

but to be honest my attitudes towards 80's and 90's Prince are complete antipodes

Post-"Lovesexy", for me, it's:

1) Batman

2) The Gold Experience

...and then it goes to individual songs after that. None of the other albums came together as a complete ALBUM for me... they were chock full of filler ("Emancipation") or just flat-out boring ("Musicology").

[Edited 10/9/12 17:37pm]