What was Prince's best album ever, 1999 (1982), Purple Rain (1984) or Sign O' The Times (1987)? For most its one of these albums. For me its 1999. That album is funky (DMSR),hypnotic (Automatic) and therapeutic (Something In The Water and Lady Cab Driver).One of the best seductive balleds ever International Lover. It dosent rock as hard as Purple Rain and there is not as much diversity as on Sign O' The Times, but 1999 is awesome. I dont have one favorite song on it.I love them all. My favorite song on Purple Rain is Computer Blue, on Sign O' the Times its Hot Thing. The double album 1999 gave Prince freedom to stretch, to really flex his musical muscles. All the hits on 1999 are all stacked in a row, (1999, Little Red Corvette and Delirious), almost as if Prince knew thay would take off, one right after the other. So whats the best Prince album ever for u?

sign 'O'the times with 1999 at a very close second. Purple Rain isn't even in my top ten.

In my opinion his best ever is "Parade"!

If I can choose from the three of those albums I say "Sign O' The Times"!

(The close third is "Purple Rain"! )

Well, my favorite one is "Sign O' The Times"

But I think his 'best' album is "Purple Rain".
It often gets pushed to one side because it was so successful,
and because it's been played to death. I expect it's one of the least
listened-to Prince albums in your collection. It's so faultlessly sequenced
it's untrue, and there's absolutely no filler. Every song on the album
could have been a hit single.

My favorite is "1999". "Sign O The Times" does not even come in my top three.

Here is my top ten:

1. 1999
2. Dirty Mind
3. Controversy
4. Purple Rain
5. Prince
6. For You
7. Around The World In A Day
8. Lovesexy
9. Sign O The Times
10. Come

BorisFishpaw said:

Co-sign that, this album is amazing, but it ain't my favorite album either. Can't pick a favorite album folks, sorry. They all have their specific charms.

vainandy said:

I want to have your babies

Purple Rain defines his brilliance. Specifically, The Beautiful Ones is the defining song in his catalog.

DarkKnight1 said:

This will make people look at me funny, but I'm not a big fan of the beutiful ones, and while I like Purple Rain, I don't think it comes close to his best (Parade or The Rainbow Children)

Of the albums listed I would easily say 1999. SOTT is his best collection of songs, but I think an "album" should have more continuity than just a collection of songs

Stripe said:

Parade is my favorite, too. but if i have to choose from 1999, sott, and purple rain I would have to pick 1999. This album stops my breath.

Purple Rain is incredibly well done and a very powerful and emotional album. It gets treated like the unwanted stepchild of prince albums by many prince fans because of it's mainstream appeal but i think that most casual listeners of the album may gloss over how dark and deep some of those songs are.

Of those 3, it's SOTT for me.

WHen I first heard Hot Thing and If I was Ur Girlfriend, I tripped.



though I liked Parade more.


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[Edited 12/5/04 16:08pm]

They're all great but 1999 just hasn't aged as well as the others and Purple Rain, while song for song his strongest album ever, has virtually no funk, which is the core of prince's music. SOTT best showcases everything prince is good at: psychedelic pop (play in the sunshine), superparanoid love/sex songs (If I was your girlfriend, strange relationship), complex dance/club songs (housequake, hot thing), spiritually uplifting power ballads (the cross), beautiful falsetto slow jams (adore), funk in all shapes and sizes (sott, it's gonna be a beautiful night), and just uncategorizable genius (ballad of dorothy parker, forever in my life).

Hard choice, but for me it would Purple Rain, Sign, 1999

1999...I have a soft spot for that album. That will always be my favorite, followed by SOTT and then Purple Rain.

This always comes up & it's always the same answer from the majority of people: SOTT is his "best" album. May not be everybody's favorite, but it's his best.

My personal fave is 1999...

Purple Rain, simply the BEST album of all time...by anyone, anytime.

If it's just based on the three choices here, then for me it's SOTT by a country mile. BUUUUUTTT, having a big change of mind & soul, I'll put PARADE: UTCM as my new NO. #1. Just to end it all, there's nothig at all wrong with 1999 or PR, they are classic on their own terms.

PR is my sentimental favorite, because when i got into that album, I GOT INTO THAT ALBUM. i'm so cosmically burnt out on that record, but it's always going to define a very important part of my life and my world is surely better with this album in it.

i feel like i missed the boat with 1999, but i love that album too. i kinda missed the zeitgeist of that album, but i think it's a work of genius nonetheless.

SOTT is way up there for me, too. i'd say i like it a little more than 1999 and a little less than PR...it really hit the fact home that this man is a genius on so many levels.

My fav is 1999 -- so fun, and the songs flow into each other pretty well. Never boring. I usually don't skip a thing. SOTT has me jumping tracks all over the place. And there's only a few songs on Purple Rain that I still haven't tired of.

CalhounSq said:

Will you have my babies?

Sign 'O' the Times, period.

DiamondGirl said:

Parade would win for me but from these 3 I'd have to go with Purple Rain.

They're all top tier albums, and they all need badly to be remastered to get a true aural picture of them in 2004. But I play 1999 the most. And I actually think SOTT is overrated.

yeah, I said it.

`
[Edited 12/5/04 22:37pm]

Purple Rain

[quote]

Supernova said:

And you said it very well.

Purple Rain, 1999, the Sign o the Times.

I also agree that people unconsciuosly "blow off" Purple Rain because it was such a commerical success. But that was a FANTASTIC album. Even my least favorite cuts (Take Me With U and Purple Rain) stood on their own as singles. When Doves Cry, alone makes the album one of the best of all time.

When it comes to 1999, I still feel like one of the "cool kids" because I have this album. Delirious, DMSR, Free, Somthing in the Water, Lady Cab Driver, International Lover.....Please. This album is a classic.

Sign O the Times, is Prince's most overrated album IMO, although the greatest song ever written is on there (Adore). I have always found the album enjoyable but it seems like something has always been missing. I don't know, maybe I wanted more funk or something, but with the exception of a few, it seemed like much effort wasn't put into the songs musically. I love TB of Dorothy Parker, If I Was Your Girlfriend, and of course Adore, and love the lyrics of most of the songs, but I am always left with a feeling of the album could have been better musically.

paintsprayer said:

@ you.