So, which album (or albums) have you changed your mind about? Maybe on first listen you were indifferent to, didn't like much or even hated, but have grown to love?

For me, it's "Prince". I first heard it when I was 15 in 1985, the year I got "into" Prince and was buying everything I could from his back catalogue. I remember hearing it for the first time and being kinda let down, a little empty. I so loved "Purple Rain", "1999", "Dirty Mind" and "Controversy" and had not yet heard anything before 1980.

I was so used to Prince being "dirty", rocky and funky, that I was kind of unprepared for the more soulfull and, in many ways, traditional feel of the songs on "Prince". My freinds and fellow Prince fans asked me what I thought and I remember lying and saying how good it was, but not really meaning it.

However, as the years went by I grew to love it more and more and now seriously rate it very highly. I love pretty much every track on it, though find "I Feel For You" pretty weak compared to the rest of the set.

"Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?", "When We're Dancing Close and Slow" and "It's Gonna Be Lonely" are timeless classics. "I wanna Be Your Lover" is Pop genius (before "pop" became a dirty word). "Sexy Dancer" and "Bambi" are glimpses into the sleazy side of Prince which would be his trademark for so long and "Still Waiting" and "With You" are just beautiful.

If I ask myself why I think this, I think it was my age. I was 15 and part of me loved listening to grown ups saying "Fuck" and talking about sex... which I hadn't had at that time. However, as the years went by and I:
felt lusty ("I Wanna Be...");
got cheated on ("Why You Wanna Treat Me...");
put out ("Sexy Dancer");
smooched ("When We're Dancing...");
feel in love ("With You");
sat on the shelf ("Still Waiting");
snogged ("I Feel For You");
got dumped ("It's Gonne Be Lonely")
and discovered I was a lesbian ("Bambi");
the songs began to have more and more relevance to my life.

So, now I say "Prince" kicks ass. I take back everything I thought for the first couple of years of knowing the album and now treasure it alongside the rest of Prince's most loved output.

Anyone else got a tale to tell?

.


Um, I can't exactly say that I "LOVE" this album, but it's EMANCIPATION.

I originally could not believe that said that this was the album he was born to create. It just seemed very glossy and underwhelming compared to the likes of The Gold Experience and some of the bootlegs I had been listening to at the time.

But now, I actually dig the albulm. It has about 6 or 7 supremely aweful tracks, but 6 or 7 out of 36 songs is a solid album. I mean, most bands are lucky to have 3 or 4 songs off an album that I even like.

I find myself returning to EMANCIAPTION alot as well really trying love it as much as he loved making it. I remember the promo spots saying the was 'the album he was born to make'. When I heard it...my reaction was..'REALLY?????'...I figured it had alot to do with self-distribution and being free.

But I do love Disc 2 alot more now than I did then. (That was my least fav disc)

Probably Dirty Mind and . I didn't really get these when I first heard them, but now I love them.

For me its Emancipation.

i would 4sure have 2 say dirty mind...didnt like it AT ALL and now it's cool wit me

"1999".

I spent soooo much time hating on this album, saying it was "too long" and all that, but I listened to it the whole way through recently and O. M. G.!!

MrSquiggle said:

Whoa, u comin' 'round now, eh?!

For me, it's Prince's first two albums. I first bought them in '85 and it really wasn't what I was into. But I love them both now, and Prince is probably in my top 3 favs.

probably parade. i like it when it first came out, but now i put it in my top 5(and on any given day it could be #1)

I'm too old already to change my opinion about anything.

Lovesexy

On May 10, 1988... I listened to this album, and thought WTF?

After slowly going back to it over the next few months, I started to appreciate it more, but it wasn't until November 3, 1988, that I truly opened my eyes and had a spiritual revelation with the music.

Sometimes seeing Prince live, can have that affect on you.

Snap said:

Similar story to myself then I guess? May I ask how old you wee in 1985 and was it a case of sustaining a few emotoinal scars which made "Prince" appear more rosy in your eyes?

Very strange, for me it's EMANCIPATION also.

I wasn't so wild about it at first, loved some songs on it, but now I find it to be an almost completely good album and overall a nice P period!

It's great to listen to in the car; just startin with disc 1 and all the way through to the final song of disc 3.

I really think it is up there with 1999 and SOTT in terms of "benchmark P". I've grown to love it. How I wish he'd release another multi-disc set, but all songs in the vein of TRC and Glass Cutter or sumethin... FUNK all the way through with the new band!

Lovesexy

I only bought this album a few years ago and never really got into it until I managed to get a copy of the Livesexy show. The live setting really brought the album to life for me and now I love it.