This happens throughout the albums, but the question always remains which I prefer more. On the one hand, commercial albums are the ones most people know and can openly discuss. They’re always better than decent, but aren’t always extraordinary compared to the opposition. There are also albums that are more experimental, more raw and dive into multiple genres in one set of songs.

It always seems like when Prince has released a commercial album or two, he usually follows them up with something that isn’t “playing it safe” and takes on a lot of risks. Most of the time, those risks do pay off, but usually for the true Prince enthusiasts. People not quite as familiar with him might not get into the music as much or finding it as welcoming as his more commercial material.

The above is a little hard to explain, so comparing examples might make it easier to understand my point.

For You/Prince vs. Dirty Mind

In the beginning, Prince had just gotten his record deal, but he was more/less showing what he was capable of as a musician in the first two albums. Though his lyrics remain touchy if you go into them, the music is relatively listener-friendly with very little shock value.

Then when Dirty Mind comes out, all of that goes out the window. He trades playing it safe and relatively clean to the complete opposite direction. His entire personality comes out and I guess you could say that was when he started to show his Gemini characteristics. The first half of the album appears tame, the lyrics a little touchy, but otherwise, nothing too shocking. Then when “Head” comes on, you start to enter uncharted territory: raunchy, explicit material. This continues for the next two songs and it ends with another safe track.

It’s early to say for sure which comes off better because this is Prince just starting out. One thing’s for sure: Dirty Mind went so far down the spectrum from For You/Prince that it caught the attention of critics and listeners alike.

1999 vs. Purple Rain

1999 is slightly commercial in nature, but in comparison to Purple Rain, it really isn’t. “Darling Nikki” is the only track in the latter that gives it that edge.

In 1999, you get a whole variety of music from 80’s pop to funk to ballads to bare-bones works and a couple of tracks that I have no idea what genre they fit into (“Lady Cab Driver” and “All the Critics love u in NY”).
What removes 1999 from commercialism is all in the lyrics. Most notably is “Let’s Pretend We’re Married.” If the content weren’t bad enough, the language is even worse, depending on the individual, of course. Most enthusiasts get a kick out of the infamous lyric (which I’m not going to repeat). Certain songs also go into genres that Prince is known for, his raw bare-bones genius, which shows in two tracks, “Something in the Water (Does not Compute)” and “All the Critics love u in NY.” That marks experimentation, music he tinkers with and tries to use to see if he can get anywhere with it. The likes of the latter have yet to be seen again, but the first helped set up for some bare-bones tracks in the Sign o’ the Times set.

The question is which one is better. Do I prefer more music that goes into different subjects, genres and sides of the musician at work? Or something that’s sort of playing it safe and pretty much is a lot of extraordinary music of similar genres put together to make an impression on new audiences?

Purple Rain vs. Around the World in Day

Coming right off Purple Rain, Prince did the exact opposite of what most people expected. He put out an album nothing like its predecessor where he experiments with his newer, larger Revolution line-up and new genres that he adapts to the albums that follow. Very few tracks bare resemblance to its predecessor. Though the music sounds different, the subjects he goes into really aren’t that different from what he’d addressed beforehand.

Ballad about unrequited love: The Beautiful Ones à Condition of the Heart
*both written with the same inspiration, no less

Enjoying life/society with no rules: Let’s Go Crazy à Paisley Park

Search for salvation: Purple Rain à The Ladder
*The latter didn’t get the same praise or hype as its predecessor, nor have any later attempts to produce another momentous power ballad
**Nothing can compare to an original, especially if it was portrayed in a movie

Wrestling with Sex/Temptation/Lust:
Computer Blue/Darling Nikki à Tambourine/Temptation
*Something Prince wrestles with for years in his music because its his favorite subject. Therein lies the question: how much truth do those songs have?
**Prince has an overactive imagination

The album moves away from 80’s pop with the exception of “Raspberry Beret” and starts a trend of psychedelic albums thanks to input from Wendy & Lisa.

This album was one of many tests Prince set up for his listeners. A lot of people who jumped on the bandwagon with Purple Rain probably jumped off because such an album was a one-time thing. As for the people who’d been with him longer, those who gave him a chance to be his own musician would later be rewarded with years and years of material from his truly.

The Black Album vs. Lovesexy

This is one case where a commercial album was released after an album more experimental in nature, but also one that didn’t sell much. In the case of The Black Album, it didn’t sell at all because Prince had it pulled before it could hit the record store shelves. To make up for the amount of money he cast the label, he released the more commercial, listener-friendly Lovesexy.

The Black Album was edgier, raunchier and as funky as an album can get. Very experimental sounding in nature, the songs were simply dance music with very little lyrical substance. The lyrical content was explicit at best, but it was more/less an attempt to win back the black audience that Prince lost over the past couple of years when he supposedly “sold out” to the white community.

Lovesexy is generally a pop album with a psychedelic flare. It didn’t go over quite as well as some of his previous albums (the nude cover was no help).

In this case, though, I’d have to go with the commercial album simply because that’s the type of music I listen to. I get more out of lyrical works than plain dance music that serves only one purpose. I also like material that’s more than skin deep and has more than one mean of interpretation.

Diamonds & Pearls vs.

Diamonds & Pearls was another commercial album released to make up for previous “failures.” After the tanking of the Graffiti Bridge project, Prince released another listener-friendly pop album that has very few peaks and pretty much stays on the same plane. Playing it safe. He goes into pop, rock, ballads and jazz, but all the material blends together.

is a completely different story because it goes into almost everything. A lot of the songs are strong enough to stand on their own and segue into one another to tell Prince’s story. The majority is a division between up-beat dance numbers and love songs in the form of ballads. Such a division gives off a lot of character and probably is the album that has shown more distinct sides to Prince since Sign o’ the Times. It doesn’t have the same polished production and doesn’t have a consecutive storyline that runs through, but otherwise, it’s probably one of my favorite albums because of the different sides of Prince it exhibits.

Come vs. The Gold Experience

All of the music was written in the same time period and Prince even attempted to release them at the same time, but they have very distinct differences.

Come has more of an edge to it and is probably as explicit as he can get, the majority is seen in the title track. It’s more raw and experimental in nature where he tries new sounds and genres, though most of which aren’t seen after the album that follows. It more/less encompasses the final days of Prince under his given name before the name change and spiritual rebirth.

Prince made the following album, The Gold Experience commercial on purpose just to show how superior his new material is to his old material, where he’s ultimately trying to set himself apart from his past. It has a lot of great music. That can’t be denied, but they’re really a mix of songs and genres that have little to do with one another in most cases. Its referred to as The Gold Experience, which is a little misleading because there are multiple experiences, unless he’s talking about the last song that he’s ultimately leading up to with all of the tracks that come before it. The last song not only stands out the most, but its greatness stands alone for me personally. Not just from the album itself, but from nearly all of Prince’s music before and after its creation.

Both albums show multiple sides to Prince, though one is more bitter and sad while the other has instances of anger that he sheds to achieve the enlightenment he’s seeking. When it comes down to it, I prefer the latter because it has more impressive pieces and doesn’t have the same air of sadness surrounding it.

DreamyPop-I unerstand that you are making comparisons between albums, however I do not believe your statements are easy to clarify.

A commercial oriented song can suit the year it is born. Prince was unique in 78' walking into the music scene, and the early 80's music scene became enhanced with video's.

2008, thirty years later in music, Prince has proven to produce music that has been accepted as both commercial and unique to his presentation. I don't believe that Prince has been experimenting, I believe that Prince just plays.

Only Prince can be Prince.

Tame said:

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