Without doubt, Chaos & Disorder is a great album, It was wedged in between The Gold Experience and Emancipation, and with little or no publicity, it almost went unnoticed at the time. But I want it to be known that it is truly a great album released in the WRONG order in his career. Wright the wrong, Had U, Wish you better dead, Same December, Zanalee, Like it there – all absolute classics….

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it would be one of his best albums ever if it had looked a
little bit more along the lines of this tracklist:

chaos and disorder
i like it there
dinner with delores
da bang
the same december
zanalee
hide the bone
into the light
i will
what's my name?
calhoun sq
empty room
had u

I agree, but only if the mix/production wasnt so muddy. I wish he'd spend more time finalizing his albums and not losing interest before they're finished...

If C and D had been released after Purple Rain, it probably would have killed his career. Around the World in a Day had it's faults but as a follow-up it's 1000 times better than Chaos.

I really don't 'get' threads like this.

Pretty much anything released right after Purple Rain would have almost been a guaranteed success. Generally, Prince's follow up to his larger hit records have been at least modest successes. I believe the following albums benefitted greatly from the success of the preceeding record:

1. Around the World in A Day (following the success of PR)

2. Graffiti Bridge (following the success of the Batman soundtrack)

3. (following the success of D&P)

4. 3121 (following the success of the Musicology album and tour)

Doozer said:

Very good point. Sadly, P could have released "Uptown visits Sesame Street" and it would have gone triple platinum in the first two days. P knew this too. He never would have released an album like ATWIAD BEFORE Purple Rain.

Biggest hit ever? Guess we'll never know.Chaos and Disorder is a great album,tho.

sexxydancer said:

I think had it been released after Purple Rain, and therefore been more more widely heard, it may have cemented his standing with rock fans more- instead there are still people running around saying, "gee, I didn't realize he played guitar so well"...

I really like this album. The year of release wouldn't matter to me, but it makes a big difference in sales, promotion, and marketing. He was held in much higher esteem in 1985 than in 1996. It's too bad really.

He never would have released any of the albums that came out after "Purple Rain" prior to it. He would have been history if he had.

Chaos And Disorder is an interesting album - but part of what makes it "work" at all as a compilation (and also NOT work elsewhere) is that it's fueled by the WB feud. At least half the songs on there are anti-record-label songs. Take it out of context and it falls apart.

If he had released these songs sprinkled thoughout other albums, most of them would've been mere filler.

UCantHavaDaMango said:

It's hard to believe that in only 11 years, he went from the Purple Rain Tour/ATWIAD album to Emancipation. And here we are another 11 years from that . . .

Se7en said:

oh my goodness...Chaos and Disorder? Just a horrible horrible albumn released any year. A cast off of a disgruntled super star. What is wrong with you people

Se7en said:

I think about that every once in a while. The biggest eye opener for me is looking at the 20 years between Purple Rain and Musicology. Talk about a journey! There was such a huge difference between the 10 period from 1984-1994, and the 10 year period between 1994-2004. The first 10 year period saw him rise to the heights fame, then smash it all to bits. The second 10 year period saw him picking up the pieces.

I doubt he sees it that way, but that's my observation...

Alexandernvrmind said:

Did you even read my original post? The one where I said the songs were filler, and that taken out of context the album falls apart?

vinx98 said:

In mind that reads: without a doubt, Chaos & Disorder is uninspired mess. The more I've listened to it, the more I hate it. Because it's a different sounding album, folks think it's interesting. Interesting maybe in the same way a car crash is interesting.

It would never be a hit in any era. The only thing it could possibly win is the competition for Prince's worst album.

Ok, I'm done.

UCantHavaDaMango said:

Yeah, I'd agree with that assessment. 1984-94 really was a slow, agonizing nervous breakdown. A pop star with his head up in the clouds refusing to come back to earth. I'm not sure if he's grounded now, but it's promising that his two most recent album were centered around the themes of 'school' and 'home.'

No way but if sott was after purple rain then yeah every song on that album would have made in in the to 10....Purple rain then he lost a bit from atwiad and parade like kiss kicked ass all over but not the album.. just what i think musically its the album of all time.. the ballad of dorothy parked wished everbody sat down and listened to it a few times...

Lovesexytegan said:

dont agree, i think the following songs would have made it to number 1 after PR.

- I like it there
- Dinner with Deloris
- Same December
- Zanalee

Marketed and produced properly it would have been huge!

No.

A hit, but not his biggest. My Opinion.

I have always seen the album as a "contract filler" with Warner Bros. I think the album lacks creativity, passion and uniqueness. There are some ok songs but the songwriting is rather week if you compare it to good and great Prince songs. Is it a bad album? No not really, it is a part of Prince's saga and compared to commercial music at the time it was pretty good. But...in my oppinion, compared to Prince's standards it's way below average. Best moments: "I rock therefore I am" and "I will"

It certainly wouldn't be his biggest hit, but it would have been much more well received by the masses that purchased PR.

jtfolden said:

If he would have put that out after PURPLE RAIN his career would have been over. That is a horrible lp released at any time period.No way the press would have ate him up. Around the World In A Day is one of the most underrated Prince lps. It's good stuff!

Thumparello said:

You have your opinion and I have mine. ATWIAD was NOT well received by the average rock/pop buyer that came on board with PR. He pretty much shook all the casual fans off with that one and was back down to 1999 like sales afterwards.

ZiggmanZoo said:

And that's why the answer is most definitely NO. Purple Rain was brilliant in terms of song writing and production. Chaos and Disorder isn't brilliant in any way.

wlcm2thdwn said:

that's the word I was looking for!
Nowhere near as accessable as PR, for casual fans.
PR is full of fantastic songs, nothing he would have done would be any bigger. Right time, right place. Half the people who bought it never touched another Prince record, it was just cool at the time.

jtfolden said:

He lost lots of fans with ATWIAD. Great songs, but Condition of the Heart, Tambourine, Temptation, America, just put lots of people off. Im not saying that C&D was a great album, in fact, its average compared to his greatest works, but its rock "feel" would make it more acceptable to the millions of fans he had going at the time and would have been a hit..

C&D is one of the worst Prince albums, and I love 'em all. It's an uninspired, plodding mess. I listen to "For You" and "Rave" 100x more than "C&D", and I know there's folks that dislike those two albums.

Meh, each to their own.