Now both of these lps are tight as ever, I think they are among his best. I think that SOTT is better, and my only reason for that is that it's 16 tracks compared to 8, and you can also consider that when 2 r in love was put on lovesexy after he decided not to released the Black Album, and you have the instrumental, so that leaves you with 6 tracks that you can really groove to. Black Album is great but could have been better. It would have been tight if he would have added the Rebirth of the Flesh on the lp. That was just thought. So what do you think?

It's too bad that WB decided not to remaster the album when they released it in 1994. Le Grind needs to be heard clearly... that's one great track !

Sign o' the Times is leagues better than the Black Album in my opinion. I'll have to go against the grain here and say that I think that the Black Album is vastly overrated.

They are both good albums, but The Black Album seems like just a novelty to me. The "hype" about it is what made it infamous. Prince supposedly pulled it because it was "too dark" . .. it's not THAT dark . . .

SOTT, on the other hand, is a masterpiece!

Is this a trick question? lol

SOTT is much, much, much better than the Black Album. I can barely bring myself to listen to anything on the Black Album. And for me, that makes it an extremely rare Prince album if I can't stand to listen to it.

SOTT is a masterpiece.

Moonbeam said:

as much as i like the black album, i would have to agree with you moonbeam, the black album is overrated, but there are some funky tracks.

The Black album is tighter, more focused, more conceptually coherent, and sugar to my ears. It's like candy to someone who was looking for creative, dense, funky, and very dark sonic imagery. Yes it is dark. just listen to that rhythm noise in Le Grind. Or Bob George. Has he ever released anything as midnight funknasty as 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton? Has any released album had so many buried dialogues and messages and bizarre noises? I mean just listen to what his submerged slowed down voice says at the beginning.

Sign o' the Times is a carefully arranged compilation that took a few listens to get, and has aged into a classic and immensely influentual album.

But... it does not have the overall impact as the black album on the first listen. I would play all sorts of stuff for people back in '87 - '89, and non prince fans always thought the Black Album was the most interesting.

Maybe not now, but definitely back then.

Moonbeam said:

I agree.'The Black Album' is nasty and funky,but it is NO masterpiece.It's more like a collection of "studio jams" that he hastily compiled into an album.I prefer 'Lovesexy'.

SOTT is the ultimate Prince album. Hands-down, no comparison.

That having been said, the "Black Album" is a funky, groovy lil' album that just jams! I wish Prince had combined it with Lovesexy when he finally got around to releasing it, thus echoing the darkness vs. light theme of the Lovesevy 88 tour. of course, if he had done this, he would have had to of removed "When 2 R In Love" from the "Black Album"'s track listing. Perhaps Camille2002's suggestion of replacing it with "Rebirth Of The Flesh" would have worked? just a thought.