1. Purple Rain

2. 1999

3. Black Album

4. Around The World In A Day

5. Controversy

6. Dirty Mind

7. Sign 'O' The Times

8. Chaos & Disorder

9. Graphitti Bridge

10. Symbol

Honorable mention: B-Sides

in no particular order
1.dirty mind
2.o(+>
3.3121
4.new power soul
5.purple rain
6.sott both disks
7.arond the world in a day
8.parade
9.graffiti bridge
10.

1.SOTT
2.Parade
3.Lovesexy
4.Diamonds and Pearls
5.Purple rain
6.Dirty mind
7.Around the world in a day
8.3121
9.Controversy
10.1999

Apart from number one and two the rest are not in order, but SOTT is definately my fave and PARADE is definately my 2nd fave.

1. Purple Rain
2. Controversy
3. 1999
4. Sign O The Times
5. Parade
6. Lovesexy
7. Come
8. 3121
9. Dirty Mind
10. The Gold Experience

1. 1999

2.SOTT

3.The Gold Experience

4. Purple Rain

5. Prince

6. The Vault

7. The Black Album

9. Lovesexy

10. 3121

1. Sign O The Times
2. 1999
3. Purple Rain
4. Parade
5. Dirty Mind
6. The Gold Experience
7.
8. The Rainbow Children
9. 3121
10. Around The World In A Day

I just don't know!

This is too hard!

1- Dirty Mind
2- Controversy
3- 1999
4- Purple Rain
5- Around The World In A Day
6- Sign O The Times
7- Lovesexy
8- Gold Experience
9- Rainbow Children
10-One Night Alone Live

At this moment i go for:

1. Sign of the Times (his 'classic': a great scope, charming flaws, layered, era-reflecting, some of his best lyrics - thanks to camille)
2. Diamond and Pearls (enjoyable from beginning to end, great singles, very underrated by the prince fans, and: lets not forget Michael Blands drums)
3. Lovesexy (not for every moment, but his opus when it comes to arrangements and blending of musical styles, and his best 'mindblow' musically, sound- and productionwise his most cohesive effort)
4. Parade (a beautifull mess, not flawless, sometimes too whimsical, but the record still sounds fresh, it echoes the joys of prince and the revolution creating new music, and, despite off all the strings, hornriffs, vaudeville, folk and chansoninfluences, definitely not sounding pretentious, but charming)
5. Around the world in a day (a both brilliant and careerkilling choice after the succes of Purple Rain. Prince, the walking contradiction, adn his mates trying to incorporate psychedic pop and world music into their funk-rock hybrid, in retrospect the blueprint for all prince music to come after that, sounding a bit dense and claustrofobic sometimes, but in retrospect also more off a punk-record (going against expectations, the music around that time) then it was seen as at the time of its release)
6. The Gold Experience (as generally enjoyable as Diamonds and Pearls, Prince isnt distracting too much with quirky experimentation and quasi-religious lyrics, but instead puts the focus on the songwriting and the tight musicianship of the NPG. A bit more samey when it comes to the dynamics of the different songs, and less playfull then Diamonds and Pearls, but still very good)
7. Graffiti Bridge (some good to very good tracks by his protegees, some very underrated tracks by the maestro himselve, tracks which combine different elements he tried in the eighties, but this time the experiments are fuelly incorporated in the songs, they might sound relatively simple at first, but they could only be created by a man with 20 years of musical experience behind him. The Question of You, Elephants and Flowers, Joy in repitition, We can Funk, Thieves in the temple, Still would stand all time, are all topnotch material in his catalogue. And, oh yeah, the title track might have corny lyric, and is hated for that by many of you, but its got a brilliant arrangement, a dearing melody, and some of the mans best guitarwork, yes another topnotch cut on this record)
8. The Symbol album (probably the most eclectic Prince-record ever. I could do with the interludes, but songwise this record is all over the place: the way underrated My name is Prince, a funky punch up, Ice T meets James Brown on sexy MF, The Morning papers is beautifully sung and arranged, There is some reggae, some house, some typical not-to-describe Prince song in the form of The Continental, Night club balladry, Rock-opera en Gospel-funk, and some surprising return to the soft balladry (sweet baby, god created woman) which can be heard on his debut record For You.
9. 1999 (one of the most influential records of the last 25 years: the hybrid of electro, funk, pop, rock (indirectly) influencing Jam-Lewis in the eighties, some hit-producing swedish producers in the nineties, NERD and the electrofunk-movement (Daft Punk, Peaches). Apart from that its showing Prince finally giving 'body' to his arrangements by the use of synths, linndrums and - not at least - the man singing in real register, instead of using his falsetto all the time)
10. Purple Rain (i know, many of you place this one at nr. 1, and when you look at the overall quality of the songs, the energy of the music and the cohesiveness, i understand that completely. Personally i like the forenamed records more because they have a richer musical scope, have charming flaws and offer lyrical and musical subtleties that i can relate to more. Nonetheless, the record that made him a star, and a record to be damn proud off, i mean: look at the Britneys, Destiny Childs and Limp Bizkits who became stars with crappy music)

01. Parade
02. Lovesexy
03. Purple Rain
04. Camille
05. Dirty Mind
06. Sign O' The Times
07. Around The World In A Day
08. 1999
09. Musicology
10. Controversy

Here's my list in the opposite order that my initail, oops, I mean initial post:

10. Symbol
9.Graphitti Bridge
8.Chaos & Disorder
7. Sign Of The Times
6.Dirty Mind
5.Controversy
4.Around The World In A Day.
3.Black Album
2.1999
1.purple Rain

And here's my list horizontally:

10. Symbol 9.Graphitti Bridge 8.Chaos & Disorder 7. Sign Of The Times 6.Dirty Mind 5.Controversy 4.Around The World In A Day. 3.Black Album 2.1999 1.Purple Rain

Ooh...

Disregarding multiple posts and lists where members stated that there was no particular order, I've given each ranking a score. Your top-placed album gets ten points, whereas your bottom-placed album gets one point...

Here's the results up to now -

Sign O' The Times
Purple Rain
1999
Parade
Dirty Mind
Controversy
Lovesexy
Around The World In A Day
The Gold Experience
"The Black Album"
The Rainbow Children
"The Symbol Album"
3121
Come
Diamonds & Pearls
Batman
Prince
Musicology
Graffiti Bridge
For You
Camille
The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale
Chaos & Disorder
The Truth
The Undertaker
Emancipation
N.E.W.S.
The Chocolate Invasion
Exodus
One Night Alone, Live

1 SIGN 'O' THE TIMES
2 PURPLE RAIN
3 1999
4 DIAMONDS & PEARLS
5 PARADE
6 THE GOLD EXPERIENCE
7
8 MUSICOLOGY
9 RAVE UN2 THE JOY FANTASTIC
10 THE RAINBOW CHILDREN
[Edited 6/20/06 14:19pm]

SOTT, Purple Rain, 1999 or Parade (not sure now), Dirty Mind, Symbol, Lovesexy, TRC, C&D, maybe 3121 maybe Gold

1. Parade
2. Lovesexy
3. Around The World In A Day
4. The Black Album
5. Sign O' The Times
6. 1999
7. Purple Rain
8. The Rainbow Children
9. NEWS
10. Dirty Mind

NO PARTICULAR ORDER

PARADE
ATWIAD
DIRTY MIND
PRINCE
CONTROVERSY
PRINCE
1999
PURPLE RAIN
COME
3121

For You
Prince
Dirty Mind
Controversy
1999
Purple Rain
Around the World in a Day
Batman
SOTT
Gold Experience

1999
Purple Rain
Controversy
Sign 'O' The Times
Gold Experience
Dirty Mind
Prince
Around The World In A Day
The Rainbow Children
For You

In no particular order:

SOTT
For You
1999
Dirty Mind
Controversy
Prince
3121
Crystal Ball
Batman
Come

1.Purple Rain
2.Sign O' The Times
3.Parade
4.The Gold Experience
5.Lovesexy
6.Chaos and Disorder
7.Dirty Mind
8.ATWIAD
9.1999
10."symbol"

as of today:

1. sign of the times
2. dirty mind
3. the gold experience
4. 1999
5. controversy
6. parade
7. around the world in a day
8. chaos and disorder
9. new power soul
10 3121

1. Sign of the Times
2. 1999
3. The Truth
4. Purple Rain
5. The Rainbow Children
6.
7. Dirty Mind
8. 3121
9. Emancipation
10.NEWS