I was just discussing this on another thread and it got me to thinking. What is the great album side of music Prince has ever recorded. By album side, of course I mean of course his material released on vinyl. Some of may not even remember.

As much as I love 1999, I would have to put my vote in for Sign O' The Times - side one. I honestly don't believe any of the tracks will ever go down as being Prince's greatest material. (However, 'The Ballad of Dorothy Parker' is a personal favorite.) But, when you consider the tracks as a whole, it's powerful stuff. Largely because 'Play In The Sunshine' works so well between the sonic blast that is 'Sign O' The Times' and the funk of 'Housequake'.

If I had to rank the Top 5, it would look something like this:

1. Sign O' The Times - Side One

Sign O' The Times
Play In The Sunshine
Housequake
The Ballad Of Dorthy Parker

2. 1999 - Side One

1999
Little Red Corvette
Delirious

3. Dirty Mind - Side Two

Uptown
Head
Sister
Partyup

4. Controversy - Side One

Controversy
Sexuality
Do Me Baby

5. Purple Rain - Side One

Let's Go Crazy
Take Me With U
The Beautiful Ones
Computer Blue
Darling Nikki

(this was a tough decision only because of 'Take Me With U' which is pure filler).

Anybody else?

Camille - Side Two

Shockadelica
Good Love
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Rock Hard In A Funky Place

That is as funky as Prince has ever been so it's my choice as greatest side!
[This message was edited Tue Sep 10 15:28:33 PDT 2002 by Anji]

Good choice. I really hadn't considered unreleased material.

1999. Easily.

I would have to say side one of Purple Rain.

Is this a question? 1999 of course! I remember not even hearing the rest of the album until at least 6 months after buying the record back in '83. I remembering one day flipping it over and hearing Let's Pretend We're Married for the first time and being absolutely SHOCKED. Hey, I was 13...never heard anything like "I wanna f**k the taste out of your mouth" before. Of course, I immediately taped it and had my friends listen to it.

5. Purple Rain - Side One

Let's Go Crazy
Take Me With U
The Beautiful Ones
Computer Blue
Darling Nikki

(this was a tough decision only because of 'Take Me With U' which is pure filler).

Anybody else?[/quote]

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Sorry, Take Me With U is filler!!!???

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Sign 'O' the Times (side one) followed closely by Purple Rain.

Um, yes. In comparison to the quality of the other songs on that side, definitely.

Perhaps it's Apollonia's vapid wallowing that devalues it for me. It's an okay tune and all. But it's really not in the same class as the other songs on side one.