I have found that early prince songs in particular posess more depth emotionally than his later efforts. For example "girl", "doves", lady cab driver etc, they are mainly based around early drum machines and synth. But for me i think they have more substance in a way his work from 90s+ lacks. Dont get me wrong i love most of his albums but i dont think he realises that the rawness of his early work adds to the strengh of emotional content within a song. Less is more in my view, and although i appreciate his ever growing musical experimentation, i would love him to look back at his past gems and find a way of re-creating new material in an equally similar way.

Are you talking musical depth or lyrical depth??...I can think of many songs on Emancipation and The Truth that have tons of lyrical depth, far surpassing much of his earlier work...

As for musical depth, well, he was spotty there in between 1995-2000, but he seems to have come back to it as of late..

to me all lot of his older songs have more emotional depth like on Sign 'o' the times and Lovesexy. But maybe I just relate to those more because I am so young.
either way all the music sounds good!

i totally agree; i think most Prince fans do. the 80s will always hold his best work.