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Thread started 05/10/18 11:50am

Anthoknee

"Mixed Bag" or "Eh" albums

I'm sure this has been talked about in the past but I'm really curious about what Prince fans consider his "eh" or "mixed bag" albums. We all know the classics and the outright bad albums he was capable of but what about those that fall between the cracks? The ones you don't exactly love but yet can't find yourself writing off completely. This is my own personal list of albums that come across to me as rather patchy but I cannot turn down: 5) Controversy - The reason I picked this album is pretty obvious: things like Ronnie, Talk To Russia and Annie Christian co-existing on the same record as with Private Joy or Do Me, Baby is perversely facinating and sheer weirdness nearly makes me LOVE it. But I said nearly: it doesn't really work for me as a completely solid listening experience. Bi-polar, yes... 4) Batman - Some write this off completely but it's the definition of a "mixed bag".Trust, Partyman and The Arms Of Orion are actually awesome and don't drag the album down at all. But when you add Lemon Crush and the rather dated title theme...not really the best listen. But good songs are slightly in the advantage. 3) Graffiti Bridge - Yes, if you take off the guest tracks it's actually alot better but you'd still have that godawful title track to contend with. But there are very intense moments here (Joy In Repetition, The Question Of U). 2) Crystal Ball (1998) - The ultimate missed opportuntity of his career. Like a sack filled with candy and electric eels, listening to it all is VERY disorientating. It was a comp and not intended to be a "real" Prince album but it seems the tracks were thrown together with little rhyme or reason, sequencing be damned. Cloreen Baconskin is a very nimble Morris/Prince jam but then comes redundant remixes of already released material! What? Utterly confusing... 1) Around The World In A Day - I've tried to love this record. Really tried hard. Yeah, it has classic songs on it. But when I get to the final "goodbye", I guess I just feel, I don't know...just kind of "so what"? I read a blurb somewhere this was intended to be a double album but WB didn't approve it...it explains ALOT. Now add the 21-minute version of America and She's Always In My Hair...that's the beginnings of an album, full on. Anyway, these are just my impressions of Prince recordings that have affected my life, all of our lives. And yeah, there's imperfections but perfect is boring anyway!

[Edited 5/11/18 3:11am]

[Edited 5/11/18 11:31am]

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Reply #1 posted 05/10/18 12:36pm

TheEnglishGent

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No.

RIP sad
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Reply #2 posted 05/10/18 12:42pm

TheFman

Batman - first mixed bag album. Half good, half below standards

Graffiti Bridge - obviously the third-party music spoiling the party

Love symbol album - actually not mixed bag, as i dislike the whole cd besides 1 or 2 songs

The Gold Experience - only 'Gold' is superweak, so it's not really a mixed bag.

post-Warners: everything besides 3121

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Reply #3 posted 05/10/18 4:26pm

fen

avatar

Anthoknee said:

Controversy - The reason I picked this album is pretty obvious: things like Ronnie, Talk To Russia and Annie Christian co-existing on the same record as with Private Joy or Do Me, Baby is perversely facinating and sheer weirdness nearly makes me LOVE it. But I said nearly: it doesn't really work for me as a completely solid listening experience. Bi-polar, yes...

I agree that Controversy doesn't have quite the same satisfying cohesion as Dirty Mind, but I still love it. Annie Christian is actually a highlight for me. smile You’re never going to find consensus with a question like this. Much of his best work has that daring and eclectic quality – Sign O’ The Times teeters on the edge of disaster deftly.

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Reply #4 posted 05/10/18 6:26pm

rdhull

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Don't disrespect Controversy.

"Climb in my fur."
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Reply #5 posted 05/10/18 8:18pm

recordmanben

Controversy is probably the one album I don't listen to that often. However, I love most of the material.
1999, I get tired of after the first LP.
Batman, I love this album a lot! I just find Arms Of Orion throws the flow of the album off.

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Reply #6 posted 05/10/18 8:43pm

Krystalkisses

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Yes Diamonds and Pearls

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Reply #7 posted 05/10/18 9:39pm

Mikado

Stuff like Private Joy on Controversey also seemed to indicate where he was going, and then half of it was more of what he was doing. The title track bridges the gap between both past and future.

A certain kind of mellow.
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Reply #8 posted 05/11/18 1:26am

Nasalhair

"Controversy" - the first side is fantastic, but the second half doesn't work for me.

"Lovesexy" - I think the first half is great - "I No" through "Anna Stesia" - but the second side is a mess. Really like "When 2 R In Love" and think "Positivity" is OK, but the rest is pretty awful.

And then, after "Lovesexy", everything was patchy as hell to be honest.

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Reply #9 posted 05/11/18 2:36am

Anthoknee

fen sa

I agree that Controversy doesn't have quite the same satisfying cohesion as Dirty Mind, but I still love it. Annie Christian is actually a highlight for me. smile You’re never going to find consensus with a question like this. Much of his best work has that daring and eclectic quality – Sign O’ The Times teeters on the edge of disaster deftly.

Actually, you are right...I guess I knew deep down there would be no clear consensus, but I've been intrigued with which records come up multiple times for differing reasons...you seem to have read my mind with Sign O' The Times though...I'd say the moment on it that embodies this is the coda of If I Was Your Girlfriend, just the insane randomness of it all.

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Reply #10 posted 05/11/18 2:40am

Anthoknee

TheFman said:

Batman - first mixed bag album. Half good, half below standards

Graffiti Bridge - obviously the third-party music spoiling the party

Love symbol album - actually not mixed bag, as i dislike the whole cd besides 1 or 2 songs

The Gold Experience - only 'Gold' is superweak, so it's not really a mixed bag.

post-Warners: everything besides 3121

Really? I thought that was a highlight...I think TGE as a whole is pretty solid actually except for 319 and Shhh

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Reply #11 posted 05/11/18 2:57am

Nasalhair

Anthoknee said:

TheFman said:

Batman - first mixed bag album. Half good, half below standards

Graffiti Bridge - obviously the third-party music spoiling the party

Love symbol album - actually not mixed bag, as i dislike the whole cd besides 1 or 2 songs

The Gold Experience - only 'Gold' is superweak, so it's not really a mixed bag.

post-Warners: everything besides 3121

Really? I thought that was a highlight...I think TGE as a whole is pretty solid actually except for 319 and Shhh

Same here. I love "Gold" - main ones I'm not keen on on there are "Billy Jack Bitch", "Now", and "We March". And the segues of course.

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Reply #12 posted 05/11/18 5:13am

gandorb

Plectumelectum and Planet Earth
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Reply #13 posted 05/11/18 5:38am

TheFman

Nasalhair said:

Anthoknee said:

Really? I thought that was a highlight...I think TGE as a whole is pretty solid actually except for 319 and Shhh

Same here. I love "Gold" - main ones I'm not keen on on there are "Billy Jack Bitch", "Now", and "We March". And the segues of course.

imo Gold is as cheesy as they come. Even Grafitti Bridge the song was less cheese lol

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Reply #14 posted 05/11/18 6:06am

purplerabbitho
le

Nah, I can’t say I agree with this. Graffiti bridge is so cheesy it’s blue cheese. Gold, in my opinion, is cheesy for mostly the keyboards
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Reply #15 posted 05/11/18 11:09am

Identity

Batman - unremarkable

Diamonds and Pearls - overrated

Symbol album - Meh

New Power Soul - stinks

3121 - boring

Planet Earth - dreadful

20Ten - sucks

Art Official Age - album title is better than the songs

Plectrumelectrum - sleep inducing

Hit N Run Phase One - missed opportunity

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Reply #16 posted 05/11/18 11:10am

jaawwnn

gandorb said:

Plectumelectum and Planet Earth

Yeah! Damn, Plectrumelectrum has some seriously strong songs, but then it also has stopthistrain.
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Reply #17 posted 05/11/18 11:43am

Anthoknee

Identity said:

Batman - unremarkable

Diamonds and Pearls - overrated

Symbol album - Meh

New Power Soul - stinks

3121 - boring

Planet Earth - dreadful

20Ten - sucks

Art Official Age - album title is better than the songs

Plectrumelectrum - sleep inducing

Hit N Run Phase One - missed opportunity

These two have better sales figures than actual material deserving them... prince in particular feels like a slog to get through once you get to the later songs...but I still think there is a few glimmers, I just wish the production was far, FAR less slicked up than it is on those.

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Reply #18 posted 05/11/18 12:35pm

67Cadillac

Graffiti Bridge

Diamonds and Pearls

Love Symbol (Prince's most bottom heavy record)

Chaos and Disorder

Emancipation (with three discs this was unavoidable)

Rave UN2 the Joy Fantastic (not as bad as some make it out to be but not great)

Planet Earth (some interesting tracks here and there)

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Reply #19 posted 05/12/18 9:31am

thedance

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this is by far the worst thread of the month.. sad sad

Controversy????? no no no!

and..................... Around The World In A Day is AMAZING as well..


omfg no no no!

Prince 4Ever. heart
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Reply #20 posted 05/12/18 9:32am

thedance

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this OP, he / she gotta be a newbie.... sad sad sad

Prince 4Ever. heart
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Reply #21 posted 05/12/18 4:30pm

Anthoknee

thedance said:

this OP, he / she gotta be a newbie.... sad sad sad

You know what's really the worst? Someone calling out a stranger in a public forum like you have some personal problem with them. I can assure you I'm no novice when it comes to Prince. I was not trolling anyone with this thread, they were simply honest opinions. If you don't care for what I said, fine...but there's no need for that kind of animosity.

[Edited 5/12/18 16:32pm]

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Reply #22 posted 05/12/18 6:25pm

26ten

Yeah - damn you guys haha

.
It's cool - I get it. Some people just don't like all the songs on an LP - it happens haha.
.
I am having trouble picking an album that I don't listen to a huge amount. I suppose as much as I love MPLSound when I'm in the mood I could understand why people might feel it's a weak album in general with a few killer songs (Valentina, Dance 4 Me) - or maybe Slaughterhouse (Chocolate Invasion is, to me, the better half by far).
.
Still - I love all those mentioned albums, so I might not have any place being in this thread haha

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Reply #23 posted 05/13/18 4:52pm

KoolEaze

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It took me a very long time to appreciate the Batman album, mainly because I couldn´t get into the hype surrounding the movie back then.

I can totally relate to your criticism regarding the Crystal Ball album. What a wasted opportunity. It was good for what it was but those remixes were really unnecessary and should´ve been replaced by proper unreleased songs.

But.....on every album there are always some real gems. I find something great in every single one of his albums but there are many albums where I can´t enjoy the album as a whole.

" I´d rather be a stank ass hoe because I´m not stupid. Oh my goodness! I got more drugs! I´m always funny dude...I´m hilarious! Are we gonna smoke?"
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Reply #24 posted 05/13/18 6:51pm

206Michelle

Krystalkisses said:

Yes Diamonds and Pearls

Mixed bag is a fair critique of D&P. It is my second favourite Prince album. However, I am personally inclined to like the styles of music on D&P (as well as prince) because I was born in 1986 and grew up hearing the House/dance music and hip hop of the early 90s. I also love slow jams and I developed an interest in New Jack Swing as a teenager. Therefore, I am strongly inclined to like just about every style on D&P.

.

While I feel that the album is quite strong lyrically, for those who are not so inclined to like the House/dance music and hip-hop of the early 90s, I can understand why the lyrics would be lost within the production style of songs like "Thunder", "Push", and "Live 4 Love". "Jughead" is, in my opinion, the worst track on the album and lyrically incoherent. "Daddy Pop" is a fun song to me, but if you don't like the production style, I could see why it would be obnoxious.

.

The best tracks on D&P are stellar:

Diamonds and Pearls

Insatiable

Money Don't Matter 2 Night

Willing and Able

Gett Off

.

I think that Walk Don't Walk, Cream, and Strollin' are also really good tracks. Cream, although it receives mixed feedback around the org, was a huge hit.

.

There seems to be a range of opinions on Thunder, Daddy Pop, Live 4 Love, and Push, depending on one's taste.

.

Jughead receives a lot of negative feedback on the org (which I feel is warranted). I feel that this song reduces the quality of the overall album.

Live 4 Love ~ Love is God, God is love, Girls and boys love God above
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Reply #25 posted 05/13/18 6:52pm

206Michelle

Emancipation is definitely a mixed bag. It's very inconsistent. It has some amazing songs, and some totally forgettable songs.

Live 4 Love ~ Love is God, God is love, Girls and boys love God above
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Reply #26 posted 05/15/18 11:29am

rusty1

recordmanben said:

Controversy is probably the one album I don't listen to that often. However, I love most of the material.
1999, I get tired of after the first LP.
Batman, I love this album a lot! I just find Arms Of Orion throws the flow of the album off.



“1999” is one of his Top 5 best albums.
You’re kidding me, right?
This is the album were he found his own
“ Minneaopolis Sound”.
The beats, synths, etc was the work of
A genius.
Just look how his sound changed from 1980 to 82.

Throw away or mixed bag albums are:
Come
Chaos & Disorder
2010
3121
Planet earth
Musicology

1999 will never be muxed bag or eh
album.
Some fans are unreal
[Edited 5/15/18 11:30am]
[Edited 5/15/18 11:31am]
[Edited 5/15/18 11:31am]
BOB4theFUNK
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Reply #27 posted 05/15/18 3:36pm

AnnaSantana

NO.
I don't argue with people about my opinions. Scram. I said what I said.
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Reply #28 posted 05/16/18 10:30pm

Krystalkisses

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206Michelle said:

Krystalkisses said:

Yes Diamonds and Pearls

Mixed bag is a fair critique of D&P. It is my second favourite Prince album. However, I am personally inclined to like the styles of music on D&P (as well as prince) because I was born in 1986 and grew up hearing the House/dance music and hip hop of the early 90s. I also love slow jams and I developed an interest in New Jack Swing as a teenager. Therefore, I am strongly inclined to like just about every style on D&P.

.

While I feel that the album is quite strong lyrically, for those who are not so inclined to like the House/dance music and hip-hop of the early 90s, I can understand why the lyrics would be lost within the production style of songs like "Thunder", "Push", and "Live 4 Love". "Jughead" is, in my opinion, the worst track on the album and lyrically incoherent. "Daddy Pop" is a fun song to me, but if you don't like the production style, I could see why it would be obnoxious.

.

The best tracks on D&P are stellar:

Diamonds and Pearls

Insatiable

Money Don't Matter 2 Night

Willing and Able

Gett Off

.

I think that Walk Don't Walk, Cream, and Strollin' are also really good tracks. Cream, although it receives mixed feedback around the org, was a huge hit.

.

There seems to be a range of opinions on Thunder, Daddy Pop, Live 4 Love, and Push, depending on one's taste.

.

Jughead receives a lot of negative feedback on the org (which I feel is warranted). I feel that this song reduces the quality of the overall album.

Yep I agree with just about everything you said. I too was born in the 80s and when I got into music "New Jack Swing" was big and popular and I still love it today even though it is dated ...still some of my favorite songs and style of popular music. D and P was smart for Prince commerically and I think it was a smart move on his part. And yes I remember Cream being very big back then, it was on the radio alot in the early 90s so was Gett Off (usually at night though). The album is just kinda ...eeh...I don't know, it has some really strong tracks (and yes I like Daddy Pop) and I still love Diamonds and Pearls (the song) but then the rest kinda bores me. Willing and Able I also like.

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Reply #29 posted 05/16/18 10:31pm

Krystalkisses

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206Michelle said:

Emancipation is definitely a mixed bag. It's very inconsistent. It has some amazing songs, and some totally forgettable songs.

Yes totally agree!

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