Alrighty. Now we've had some time to digest "3121", where does it rank all-time amongst Prince's studio albums? For me, it's very very high.

I always waver between SOTT and Lovesexy as #1, but i'm going with SOTT because I think that period - with all the SOTT/Dream Factory/Camille/Crystal Ball material - is the strongest of his career.

Anyways, here is my list. If other people will post their rankings, when we have a bunch I will compile them and see where "3121" ranks among Prince's albums among the fans here on the Org. [note - Crystal Ball not included, as it's more of a random compilation and not an album. The same could be said for The Vault, but to me it sounds like Prince tried to make it more of a coherent album, so it's included. Same w/ The Chocolate Invastion and Slaughterhouse]



1. Sign O' the Times
2. Lovesexy
3. Purple Rain
4. 1999
5. Parade
6. The Gold Experience
7. 3121
8. Dirty Mind
9. The Black Album
10. Come
11. Around the World in a Day
12. Musicology
13. Diamonds & Pearls
14. Controversy
15. Batman
16. Prince
17. Emancipation
18. The Rainbow Children
19. Graffiti Bridge
20. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
21. Love Symbol
22. The Chocolate Invasion
23. Chaos & Disorder
24. One Nite Alone
25. The Vault: Old Friends for Sale
26. The Slaughterhouse
27. The Truth
28. New Power Soul
29. For You
30. Xpectation
31. N.E.W.S.
32. Kama Sutra

wow. sure, we are all entitled to our own opinions, but subjectivity aside, there is no way in hell 3121 is a top 10 Prince album.

higher than Controversy? higher than ATWIAD?!? HIGHER THAN DIRTY MIND!!!! WTF!!!!!

I'm sorry, but your placement smells of desperation for a Prince album that is enjoyable, and has confused enjoyable with great because of the drought of greatness from Prince.

but that's just my opinion.
[Edited 4/9/06 16:52pm]

it's good but it's not great. i wouldn't put it in the top ten. top fifteen? hmmm, perhaps.

Anx said:

I'd like to see your ranking

wait a minute! Musicology and D&P's are both higher than Controvery?!? mods, please lock this, this guy is obviously trolling. nobody could say those things seriously.

NorthernLad said:

it's difficult because my favorites today will be totally different a month from now. i ought to try to rank my favorites...it's been a while.

Bottom of the pile, just above the New Master-bater.

Anx said:

Yeah mine change as well. I've never had "The Black Album" this high before, but lately it's been getting alot of play, and I have a new respect for it.

Likewise with "Controversy" being so low.. Apart from the title track and Sexuality, the rest of the material seems very average by Prince's standards when listened to objectively.

It seems there is a bias toward P's earlier material by alot of fans. That's probably understandable, since we all know the earlier albums so much better. It takes time for an album to really "sink in", and many of us have been listening to "Controversy" for 20+ years. I love it, but for me it's marred by a couple weak tracks (in particular "Jack U Off", which should have been a b-side.)

For me, I'd rank "3121" in his top ten albums of all time

1. Sign O' the Times
2. 1999
3. Purple Rain
4. Dirty Mind
5. Controversy
6. Parade
7. Around the World in a Day
8. Diamonds and Pearls
9. The Gold Experience
10.3121


phunk

I dont think i could rate all of Prince's albums on any 2 different days and get them in the same order , but looking at the list , here the albums I definitely like more than 3121 :

Sign O' the Times
Purple Rain
1999
Parade
The Gold Experience
Dirty Mind
The Black Album
Come
Around the World in a Day
Diamonds & Pearls
Controversy
Batman
Prince
Emancipation
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
Love Symbol
Chaos and Disorder

thats 17 albums ,so I guess that puts 3121 as a top 25 album maybe .

OK.... here's my list (at least that's how it looks like today):
1. 1999
2. Sign O' the Times
3. Purple Rain
4. Lovesexy
5. Parade
6. Dirty Mind
7. The Black Album
8. Controversy
9. Gold Experience
10. 3121
11. Around the World in a Day
12. Love Symbol
13. The Rainbow Children
14. Batman
15. Chaos & Disorder
16. Prince
17. Diamonds and Pearls
18. The Vault: Old Friends for Sale
19. Graffiti Bridge
20. Musicology
21. For You
22. Come
23. The Truth
24. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
25. Emancipation
26. One Nite Alone
27. The Chocolate Invasion
28. Xpectation
29. The Slaughterhouse
30. New Power Soul
31. N.E.W.S.

Worse than his 80s output, better than a couple of his 90s stuff, I'd say between #20-25.

Bottom 10 for me, but it's all just taste. Has little replay value for me.

I love 3121, but to say it's better than Dirty Mind is a sin. 'Uptown' alone is better than 3121.

1. Sign of the Times
2. The Rainbow Children
3. Emancipation
4. Dirty Mind
5. 1999
6. Lovesexy
7. Parade
8. 3121
9. Controversy
10. Rave
11. Musicology

Something like:

1. Sign 'o' the Times
2. Purple Rain
3. 1999
4. Parade
5. The Gold Experience
6. Lovesexy
7. Dirty Mind
8. Around the World in a Day
9. Batman
10. Controversy
11. The Black Album
12. O+>
13. Come
14. Diamonds and Pearls
15. Graffiti Bridge
16. Emancipation
17. 3121
18. Prince
19. Musicology
20. Chaos and Disorder
21. Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic
22. The Rainbow Children


Don't own New Power Soul or For You, so I can't rank 'em. Crystal Ball and the Vault don't count, although CB would probably rank right above Emancipation. Also don't wanna rank 'The Truth', because I've never really given it much of a chance. The top 13 albums are all 4 or 5 stars, though, and the next few are probably 2.5 or 3 star CDs.

Actually, I have to agree. 3121 is top 10 for me too!


1. Purple Rain
2. Sign O' the Times
3. The Gold Experience
4. 1999
5. Around the World in a Day
6. Parade
7. Love Symbol
8. 3121
9. Diamonds & Pearls
10. Lovesexy
11. Come
12. Controversy
13. Dirty Mind
14. The Black Album
15. Graffiti Bridge
16. Prince
17. Chaos & Disorder
18. Batman
19. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
20. Emancipation
21. The Rainbow Children
22. New Power Soul
23. For You
24. The Vault: Old Friends for Sale
25. The Slaughterhouse
26. The Chocolate Invasion
27. One Nite Alone
28. Xpectation
29. The Truth
30. N.E.W.S.
31. Musicology
32. Kama Sutra

I was glad to do this, was curious where 3121 went myself ...my top five, by the way, is meaningless... I can never sort those five into an order. All my favorites.

1. Sign O' the Times
2. 1999
3. Purple Rain
4. Lovesexy
5. Parade
6. Dirty Mind
7. Controversy
8. The Gold Experience
9. The Black Album
10. Prince
11. Around the World in a Day
12. 3121
13.
14. For You
15. Come
16. Diamonds & Pearls
17. The Rainbow Children
18. Emancipation
19. Graffiti Bridge
20. One Nite Alone
21. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
22. Musicology
23. Batman
24. Chaos & Disorder
25. The Vault: Old Friends for Sale
26. New Power Soul

...turns out it's #12. Yes, I do like it better than whatever I put below it. At the moment.

hmm... let's see where 3121 winds up for me...

1. 1999
2. Lovesexy
3. Purple Rain
4. Prince
5. Parade
6. The Rainbow Children
7. Sign O' The Times
8. Dirty Mind
9. Controversy
10. Graffiti Bridge
11.
12. The Gold Experience
13. Emancipation
14. The Black Album
15. Around the World in a Day
16. Come
17. 3121
18. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
19. Diamonds & Pearls
20. For You
21. Chaos & Disorder
22. The Truth
23. The Vault
24. Batman
25. Xpectation
26. Musicology
27. N.E.W.S.
28. New Power Soul
29. Kama Sutra
[Edited 4/9/06 23:39pm]

Below everything except Rave, Kamasutra, NEWS and Musicology.

I think it's rather useless to do this at this point in time. Ofcourse all Prince-purists will claim it's a hideous crime to place 3121 above albums like Controversy or Dirty Mind. Truth is however, that if 3121 was made 20 years ago it would have been hailed as a classic today, and if he had made Controversy now, there would be an equal amount of hatred towards it, in the same way there is towards 3121 now. In other words, completely pointless. Also, we're talking about subjective views regarding Prince's albums; who is to say that one can't put 3121 in the top 10?? I like 3121 a lot better than Controversy for example, so what? That's my opinion. You can disagree with it, but don't think you can ever change it by just crying like a baby.

skip said:

Sorting thru my Prince section, these are the ones I'd definitely keep.

Sign O The Times
The Gold Experience
Lovesexy
Parade
Purple Rain
Symbol
Around The World In A Day
1999
The Black Album
Grafitti Bridge
Controversy
Rave
The Rainbow Children
One Nite Alone
Dirty Mind
Chaos & disorder
Musicology
The Vault
Emancipation
3121
Come
D & P
Batman
New Power Soul
Prince
News
Xpectation
Karmasutra
For You

My rankings are always somewhat different, but I think that I'll need to give 3121 another month or so to digest and reflect on before ranking it with the others.

I can say for certain, however, that I feel that 3121 is a far better record than any of these albums:

Controversy
Around the World in a Day
Lovesexy
Diamonds and Pearls
Symbol
Emancipation
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
Musicology
[Edited 4/10/06 2:05am]
[Edited 4/10/06 2:06am]

Gomp said:

I don't think anyone was trying to change your opinion were they?

Parade
Sign o' The Times
Purple Rain
1999
The Gold Experience
Dirty Mind
The Black Album
Musicology
Chaos & disorder
Around The World In A Day
Symbol
Controversy
The Chocolate Invasion
Come
Prince
Grafitti Bridge
Lovesexy
Batman
For You
Crystal Ball/Truth
One Nite Alone
The Rainbow Children
The Vault
D & P
3121
Emancipation
The Slaughterhouse
New Power Soul
Rave
Xpectation
News
Karmasutra
[Edited 4/10/06 7:35am]

Wouldn't put it in the top ten that's for sure. There's a few songs on there that are real nice...but as a whole...? Doesn't fit into MY top ten.

how much of it is really a studio album? wasn't much of it recorded live at the Wearhouse or at 1St Ave?

Sadly, not even in the top ten. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE it! But like dumbass said, we are judging it by the drought he has put us through since the mid 90s.

Here's my stab at a top 10, but as time goes by, so does preferences:

1. Sign O' the times (hands down, this will never change, I'm certain)
2. 1999
3. Purple Rain (but ATWIAD was close)
4. Around the World in a day
5. The Gold Experience (the last great album he released, imo)
6. Controversy
7. Dirty Mind
8. Parade
9. Lovesexy (but I love diamonds & pearls just as much)
10.Diamonds & Pearls

3121 would probably come next, ranked in the company of Emancipation and Musicology, give or take a spot...

Anx said:

co sign on this...Ive been listening to the gold experience for two weeks now, after not having played it for a year...