for you
dirty mind
controversy
1999
around the world in a day
parade
sign o the times
come
chaos and disorder
crystal ball
the truth
new power soul
rave un2 the joy fantastic
the chocolate invasion
slaughterhouse*
the rainbow children
one nite alone
musicology
3121
planet earth


in some cases (batman, grafitty bridge, emancipation, purple rain
and gold) he put them last.

the only 3 albums where he had a title track in the middle of an
album are Lovesexy, Diamonds & Pearls and Xpectation.

then there's 3 albums without title tracks (or tracks that in a
way reference to the title of the album): prince, the black album
and the 1992 "symbol" album.

it probably means nothing but did prince every mention something
about sequencing his albums?

another theme he often followed is titletrack/midtempo/ballad as
the first three tracks.

one person told me that its a formula he rarely strays away from.

And he almost always puts a ballad on the third track.

The Beautiful Ones
Diamonds & Pearls
Condition of the Heart
Te Amo Corazon
Somewhere here on Earth
A Million Days
Shh

...those are just a few examples

that's just Prince being Prince, though. And I like his way of doing things

* slaughterhouse doesn't really contain a track of that title, i know
but the song and thus the album starts out with the words "welcome 2
the slaughterhouse" and i think it was dubbed that at the beginning,
at least before people knew what it was called.

the same kind of applies to batdance which is clearly the titletrack
for the album eventhough the album is, for obvious reasons "batman".

A thesis statement always starts each paragraph.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

i think it's a very good formula to start an album off with something
pretty off key or weird that describes the overall feel of an album,
without being totally pegged down in one genre. then follow it up with
a mid tempo song and ease into a ballad before the rest of the album
continues. that way you sort of have a mini album experience in those
first three tracks alone.

Moonbeam said:

oh, that's clever! i like that

Maybe the "Prince" album, was intended to be titled, "I wanna be your lover."

Tame said:

good call. it always struck me as a bit weird that he'd call his second
album Prince when it would have made more sense to call the first album
that.

perhaps it's because he considered the first album such a pain to make,
what with all the meddling of other people in his recording and such.

so maybe that's why he called it "prince" as a sort of second debut, a
disc made on his terms 100%.

anyway, i think "I wanna Be Your Lover" would be a nice title for that
album.

and then fcuz there are the albums on which every single
tracks is kind of a title track

N.E.W.S.
C-NOTE

Cuz there's a theocratic order.

It seems like his title tracks are meant to sum up what the album is supposed to be all about or express what you're supposed to come away with the end of the journey, in the case of the title tracks placed at the end of the album.

Dirty Mind
Controversy
(Christopher Tracy's) Parade
Musicology

Those I know from experience and am more familiar with and they all agree with my initial statement. They represent what the whole is supposed to be all about. Dirty Mind, I think, takes a little while before it does get "dirty"... Head and Sister are towards the end of the record.

But pretty much everything in "Controversy" is controversial... Do me baby & Private Joy, not so much, but the fact it follows Sexuality... that's him mixing sex & religion... which are on opposite poles.

"Life is a Parade" is the theme of the Parade album and it sounds to me like it's about life, living life to the fullest and that it doesnt last forever.

Musicology represents in more ways than one "real music by real musicians"... the lyrics talk about the real musicians... and Prince, being the musician he is, is playing all of the instruments... that goes on throughout the album with a few exceptions... which Prince said he hadn't done in quite a while. He used to have a band behind him, he was taking control back into his own hands.

That's just a few of my insights

sexxydancer said:

Cuz it wouldn't make sense if it were any place else than first. Wouldn't you agree?

Seems like a good spot to put the title track to me....makes more sense then someplace in the middle.

luv4u said:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!