In my opinion, I think the best arranged album in terms of song flow is Lovesexy. It just flows seamlessly. The songs on the Rainbow Children also hang extremely well together.

I think the worst sequenced Prince album is Parade; don't get me wrong, it has alot of potential but the groove starts/stops all over the place and ends up going nowhere ultimately. I really wish he made it all over again because it could have been magnificent!

Wow, those are my two favorite albums. (Lovesexy and Parade)


I think the worst sequence is Rave, I skip around a lot on that one. Emancipation too. I have to burn my own version of Rave and include songs from the Special Edition. Then I'll be set.

Totally disagree with 'Parade'. that album is amazingly sequenced! i would say its one of his best. i don't like GB. that sounds a bit flung together in my opinion, as did Emancipation. Lovesexy, kinda irritated me because i loved 'Positivity' and 'Wish U Heaven' but they were at the end and you have to forward through the entire album. SOTT, the first three tracks are great. the sequence is brilliant.

I never thought Thunder was a good opening song for D & P. I thought it should have started off with Cream.
Also RAVE starting off with Rave. It seemed like an old chestnut that should have been paired with Pretty Man later in the sequence. Start off with Undisputed.

I agree with Lovesexy as one of the best, except that it ends with Positivity, when a better finale would probably be Anna Stesia. I actually pretty much think Prince has done a good job with song order for most of his albums.

Anji said:

It flows seamlessly because he only gave us one damn track. I think ATWIAD is done well.

I've never been big on Lovesexy.

Kiss, although it's a good track, seems out of place within the context of Parade.

Rainbow Kids...ahhh, those Rainbow Kids...

Best way to extract a new question about a thoroughly sifted topic?

Anji

I'll say Rave - skip button, all day...

jtgillia said:

I love "Positivity" as the closer because the ending sounds like it is "cleansing" the listener. "Hold on to your soul" seems like a perfect closing statement as well. I'd say that Lovesexy and 1999 are the best sequeneced albums. The worst sequenced album in my opinion is "Graffiti Bridge." I hate having to skip around for the Prince tracks.

With programable cd players a cds sequence becomes almost irrelevent.
Now back in the old days when all we had was record players & 8 tracks - sequencing was key. If the first song sucked that was easy - you started on the 2nd song. If the last song sucked you just jumped up before it played to far or you stood there by the record player waiting for the next to last song to end so you could quickly grab the arm.
8 tracks had to be damn good because you couldn't really skip songs on lots of players & if you didn't stop it the tape would keep playing on & on in an endless loop.
Things are good these days.

ZaZa said:

I'm not a D&P fan, but Thunder was one of the best openings ever!

Second only to...

Purple Rain! Good album, but THE best ever opening!

I totally agree with Moonbeam. Graffiti Bridge is fucked up. Why couldn't those assosciated artists' songs be part of their own albums? They each had one around that time. He knew enough to do that on Purple Rain. Can you imagine "Sex Shooter" and "Modernaire" wedged somewhere between "Darling Nikki" and "When Doves Cry"? Yuck.

I agree with everyone about Lovesexy. It's a perfect song cylce and the ending just makes you wanna start the whole thing over again. It's so seemless that the last song flows into the first one. Now that's a great album.

ZaZa said:

You make a good point but I was alluding to where Prince's artistic vision was most successfully translated into sequencing an album from a listener's point of view. Lovesexy is perfect in that sense.

TRON said:

Purple rain is his best sqeuenced. How can you beat an album that starts off with Let's Go Crazy, side 2 starts with When Doves Cry, and the album ends with Purple Rain-which was P's own Stairway to Heaven or Freebird.
[This message was edited Sun Sep 22 17:53:49 PDT 2002 by DMSR]

DMSR said:

Agreed, Purple Rain is a wonderful album but in terms of sequencing all the way through, Lovesexy's interchanges are far superior. Most of the songs seamlessly blend as opposed to just sound good next to one other.

Another segue I never tire of is We Can Funk into Joy In Repitition, I absolutely love that one! If only the rest of Graffiti Bridge lived up to those production skills...

Anji said:

Wow! That is my most hated seque!

Having had the bootleg of "Joy" for a few years, I couldn't believe Prince cut off the amazingly moody entrance for Joy, to mold it to a funk song.

The original build up to Joy was one of the best ever and I pray the "full" version of the song appears on a b-side or hits one day (I'm hoping he puts in on the best of symbol album).

Anji said:

Oh, yeahhh...Prince's segues are usually brilliant. But the majority of that album...

SquirrelMeat said:

Interesting, everyone says that. I've never heard the original so I'm just listening to what I've got, and it sounds ABSOLUTELY amazing to me! We Can Funk just builds and builds into this incredible intensity before brilliantly breaking down into Joy In Repitition, without a doubt my favourite segue. I'm sure I'll change my mind if I hear the original version of Joy in Repitition. Until then, as they say, ignorance is ...

CONTROVERSY MADE NO SENSE!

There shouldve been:

Controversy
Sexuality
Ronnie talk 2 Russia
Annie Christian
(here's where side 2 could've started)
Private Joy
Jack U Off
Lets Work
Do Me Baby

Songs with a message first followed by jamz

Supernova said:

WHAT?!!!

HOW CAN U LIKE PRINCE AND NOT LIKE LOVESEXY? LOVESEXY IS PRINCE!

nuthinbuttamuffin said:

Hows that for hitting the nail squarely on the head? Lovesey is Prince. I shall be stealing that one my freind.

Sequencing on Lovesexy is absolutely perfect. For instance, the way that Lovesexy,a mad Prince jam, is followed by the wonderful but opposite in terms of style, When 2 R in Love. Priceless.

The worst for me would have to be Emancipation, so much track skipping required IMO.

Some of you missed my point. I said that Graffiti Bridge should've taken its cue from Purple Rain and left off the assosciated artists. I think Purple Rain is exactly how it should be.

Crystal ball's sequencing kind of sucks.He could have at least put the songs earliest to latest.

I agree Lovesexy is just perfect.If you don't like ths record you're not a Prince fan IMO.

as for Joy in Repetition, i hate the beginning of it.I can't burn that track onto a 'guitar themed' CD cause of we can funk, which is a shame cause 'joy' contains my fave guitar solo.

RATS!

TRON said:

So,you're saying that 'GB' should have had two different soundtracks,one containing just the Prince songs and the other containing the associated artists? Let's see...


***"Graffiti Bridge" (Prince CD)---

"Can't Stop This Feeling I Got"
"New Power Generation"
"The Question Of U"
"Elephants And Flowers"
"We Can Funk"
"Joy In Repetition"
"Tick Tick Bang"
"Thieves In The Temple"
"The Latest Fashion" w/The Time
"Still Would Stand All Time"
"Graffiti Bridge"
"New Power Generation Pt.2"


***"Graffiti Bridge" (Associated Artists CD)

"Seven Corners" by Ingrid Chavez
"Release It" by The Time
"Round And Round" by Tevin Campbell
"Love Machine" by The Time
"Shake!" by The Time
"Melody Cool" by Mavis Staples
"Number One" by Robin Powers
"Jerkout" by The Time
"Blondie" by The Time

I think,at an early stage,Prince was considering releasing the albums this way.

Would love 2 have heard Come/Gold and the assorted tracks from the beautiful experience/Glam Slam Ulysses together in the original format instead of the way they were reshuffled and littered around the WB album release dates. By the time last ones popped up on the Crystal Ball, you could go and sequence / re-arrange them yourselves... (like we all do)

Savannah said:

What was the original format? That era had so much potential, especially after the success of the Most Beautiful Girl In The World. I have to say, it fucking pisses me off that he shelved Days of Wild for We March!!! I remember being in the NPG shop in Camden, London when I first heard the album; I also couldn't believe that Pussy Control was the first track, I'd always envisioned Endorphinmachine taking that position because of the concerts. Needless to say, it all made for one thoroughly depressing and confusing ride back home on the tube!

Anji said:

I was really pissed at all the great songs that were taken off 'The Gold Experience' CD! Back in spring 1994,the album included songs like "Days Of Wild","Acknowledge Me","Ripopgodazippa" and "Interactive".Those are all top-notch songs! Prince removed these tracks and added weaker songs like "P Control" and "We March".

Anji said:

I agree with all of that. Why did Days of Wild and Interactive get dumped to find space for Billy Jack Bitch or We March. At the time, I thought Prince was gonna be massive again, with a great album on the back of Beautiful. He missed his chance with Gold. Should've kicked off with Endorphin + Interactive. That album could've rocked. Anyone have any idea why Days got dumped? Makes no sense to me

dewmass said:

I've heard that the studio versions of Days of Wild pale in comparison to hearing it live. Still, I just can't believe Prince couldn't produce it to sound excellent in the studio. I mean c'mon, if he did it with Housequake then he could have done it with Days of Wild. There must have been some other reason; it wouldn't be surprising if the Warners struggle had anything to do with it.