My love for Princes' music has cooled down quite a bit after 1995, but from time to time i enjoy listening to his rich, diverse back catalogue. In retrorespect it seems that what attracted me to his music in the first place where his often very original, clever arrangements. Arrangements that make you think 'wow, how did he come up with that?', and are the same time often very catchy.

Looking at his back catalogue i recall my favorite arrangements that gave me that feeling, and still do unto this day, Im picking 3 (well...10) to limit myselve, but of course there are many more.

10- 4 Runners up:
Lovesexy (the title track), the 12-inch version of Mountains, If I was Your Girlfriend, Raspberry Beret (Those strings!), Around the World in a day (the title track), The extended version of She's always in my hair, Shockedelica.

3. Crystal Ball
I first heard this track on a bootleg-casette, the poor sound quality of that recording only enrichened my listeningexperience i must say: the way this song builts up, the eerie, creepy sounding vocals, the use of orchestra, the way the song goes trough several style-changes are things that make this 'track' one of the most exciting listening-experiences in popular music i ever heard. A shame he 'redid' the song for the release on the 3-cd set, the original version was close to perfect.

2. Sign of the Times
To me this song is the result of a proces that started with When doves cry, continueing with Kiss, ending in this track: letting out things, making the arrangement as sober as possible, with the goal to strenghten the effect it has on the listener. Its proof of the fact that you can create a modern 'classic' with the use of drummachine, vocals, bass and a little bith of synth.

1. Mia Bocca
I know, a song not sung by Prince but by Jill Jones, but its clearly written and produced by him. Untill this day the combination of a spare, electronic beat and orchestra (strings first, interluded by woodwinds) is able to thrill me everytime i listen to it, the final (with the horns coming in, and the beat going 'bezerk') is the icing on the cake. Probably my favorite song in his and his protegees entire collection.

I am curious about your views on this.