PLANET EARTH.... Like I explained in the Planet Earth thread...

All his "bad" albums, have at least 2 to 3 enjoyable/listenable tracks on it. Even though MPLS Sound isn't good, it has at least more energy than Planet Earth... Planet Earth is just bland, boring and puts people to sleep.

Kamasutra by far in my case. I used to love it, then I discovered contemporary music and realized it made no sense at all.

Rave.

AOA

I listened to it twice, and will never do it again. Garbage.

RJOrion said:

Chaos and Disorder

I thought so for years.

Then I tried a fresh approach.

Chaos and Disorder is one hell of an album, the Peach and Black Podcast crew were not mistaken.
He does get close to the bone with this one.

I would say NPS: I was working in a record store when it came out, spun it in the store a few times and based on that, didn't even buy it. BUT, since I haven't heard it since, it wouldn't be fair to condemn it like that.

So, I'm gonna say Emancipation. For every song I like on that one, there's at least two more that are so annoying they actually make me kind of angry.

For me it's "The Rainbow Children". Listened to it when it came out, didn't get back to it for a few weeks, and I've never wanted to go back. I know a lot of people consider it experimental and genius and all that, but to me it's self-indulgent, misogynistic, misguided, and just plain boring.

eyewishuheaven said:

I would say NPS: I was working in a record store when it came out, spun it in the store a few times and based on that, didn't even buy it. BUT, since I haven't heard it since, it wouldn't be fair to condemn it like that.

So, I'm gonna say Emancipation. For every song I like on that one, there's at least two more that are so annoying they actually make me kind of angry.

I find myself feeling the same a lot. Especially when I'm working out and want to remain consistently entertained, then some of the P's sterile plastic tunes that come up on shuffle piss me off because they usually follow a kick ass track like Computer Blue or The Future

[Edited 5/3/15 12:13pm]

[Edited 5/3/15 12:13pm]

His least listenable album is TRC. I love that crazy, experimental record but it's too long a trip that I only spend time listening to it about once ever two months

Too many to list.. but if i had to oick 1 id say ...hmmm..?

Too Many to list!

CharismaDove said:

eyewishuheaven said:

I would say NPS: I was working in a record store when it came out, spun it in the store a few times and based on that, didn't even buy it. BUT, since I haven't heard it since, it wouldn't be fair to condemn it like that.

So, I'm gonna say Emancipation. For every song I like on that one, there's at least two more that are so annoying they actually make me kind of angry.

NPS is the clunker for me - just a middling of nothings.

databank said:

Kamasutra by far in my case.

dito

KingSausage said:

What Prince album do you find the least listenable? Is there a particular album that you have a hard time listening to? For me, it's MPLSound. I hate that album. I find almost nothing redeeming on it. Even the few songs that I can almost stomach (Dance 4 Me) sound like a shitty imitations of past songs, made all the worse by his attempt to give them the Mineapolis sound treatment. It just emphasizes how far he had fallen. Planet Earth comes close, but it's saved by the sublime Somewhere Here on Earth and All the Midnights in the World. At one point in time, for several years in fact, I thought NPS would be the album I found the least listenable. But Come On, The One, Wasted Kisses, and a couple others help elevate it a bit.

Favorite Albums:

Dream Factory/Crystal Ball Configuration

Sign of the times

Purple Rain

1999

Parade

Gold Experience

Least Favorite Albums:

For You

MPSound

Planet Earth

NewPower Soul

Plectrum Electrum

The worst era by far was the music made from 1999-2004.

I find most of the "High" era material that later found its way onto Slaughterhouse and the Chocolate Invasion to be some of the shittiest music Prince has ever recorded. And when you put those songs together to attempt to form albums out of them, their weakness gets even more glaring.

tollyc said:

KingSausage said:

What Prince album do you find the least listenable? Is there a particular album that you have a hard time listening to? For me, it's MPLSound. I hate that album. I find almost nothing redeeming on it. Even the few songs that I can almost stomach (Dance 4 Me) sound like a shitty imitations of past songs, made all the worse by his attempt to give them the Mineapolis sound treatment. It just emphasizes how far he had fallen. Planet Earth comes close, but it's saved by the sublime Somewhere Here on Earth and All the Midnights in the World. At one point in time, for several years in fact, I thought NPS would be the album I found the least listenable. But Come On, The One, Wasted Kisses, and a couple others help elevate it a bit.

Favorite Albums:

Dream Factory/Crystal Ball Configuration

Sign of the times

Purple Rain

1999

Parade

Gold Experience

Least Favorite Albums:

For You

MPSound

Planet Earth

NewPower Soul

Plectrum Electrum

The worst era by far was the music made from 1999-2004.

I think I might have to agree with MPLSound. I dislike the first track, so that's a turn-off straight up. Other than "Dance 4 Me", the rest is pretty forgettable and sterile.

I agree about 'MPLSound.'

I also don't listen to 'NEWS' or 'The Rainbow Children.' (Sorry, not sorry.)

'3121', 'Musicology', 'Planet Earth' & '20Ten' don't really get a lot of play either.

There are a couple songs each of those that I like, tho.

Man, Love Symbol is not unlistenable - it is the pinnacle of reverbaratory genius. Ok, maybe the guitar riff on Three Chains o' Gold does emote Pepsi Commercial and you wish you could set up a platform in the middle of the town center just for feedback purposes but otherwise it is as set in stone as the culmination of all Prince.

It's like all those people who underrate Final Fantasy VII because they were not there at the time - nice rocket, shame about the FMV sequence, and the fact all time spent together will go its own way and never stay in touch.

And of course MPLSound is like being trapped inside an infinite school with nothing but Naomi Klein essays for assistance. How's that for projection!

In conclusion, all music is unlistenable.

mrsquirrel said:

thedoorkeeper said:

KingSausage said:

thedoorkeeper said:

There was a book a few years ago that came with a cd. That cd is the least listenable. About once a year I put it on and end up turning it off about 2 or 3 songs in.

Indigo Nights. Yes! That's an album so shitty that I forget it even exists.

you have to hand it to him though, out of everything he performed at the O2, and he

did some stuff that was absolutely amazing, he chose that shitty sequence of tracks.

same with the book, it could have been so much more. another wasted chance to be

putting some of his brilliance across into markets that might not know hims too well

yet. oh well. at least we have the bootlegs. like 'the rock show'.

KingSausage said:

thedoorkeeper said:

There was a book a few years ago that came with a cd. That cd is the least listenable. About once a year I put it on and end up turning it off about 2 or 3 songs in.

Indigo Nights. Yes! That's an album so shitty that I forget it even exists.

So you refute the existence of Tanzinia then. I thought Tanzinia was an island just outside Australia but it turns out to be another slice of Africa

Tanzania! Repeat "Tanzania!"