for me it was the gold experience and nearly everything b4 it. what happened after that?

I agree. Gold Experience was the last great album.

What happened after that was he left Warner Bros. I think we've all heard the stories of WB telling him to scale down an album (Crystal Ball) or that they'd like to see at least one song with a more commercial appeal (Come). I believe Warner's had more involvement in his albums than we realize. The forced him to take a second look at what he'd done, to revise and edit and make things stronger and more cohesive. After he headed out on his own he lost that critique so his albums took on more of a first draft feeling and, in my opinion, rarely reached their full potential.

have 2 go with The Rainbow Children but 'm seriously considering One Night Alone (Solo Piano version).
Both are just complete stand alone projects while later albums have had moments
they have felt incomplete lacking the glue to bind the art, 3121,Musicology and Planet Earth have brilliant moments (and my moments might not match yours) but
they overall,have landed shy of been grerat.

The last truly great Prince album was The Gold Experience . . . but The Rainbow Children is a close 2nd. The appeal of those was that they're "concept" albums. Personally, I liked the NPG Operator and wish he would've used that more than just on that one album . . .

Se7en said:

Was the Npg Operator not also used briefly on Exodus

WB provided the necessary (sometimes unwanted) constructive criticism and control over Prince's output. They also had the marketing and PR handled, allowing Prince to focus on the music.

Some say he's not interest in hits anymore, which may be true -- but it's painfully obvious that one of his biggest driving forces at this stage of his life is "celebrity".

jfrost said:

Hmmm - going to have to check on that. I think there was a computerized voice on some segues (Prince's) but I don't think it was the NPG Operator (Rain Ivana).

I think MUSICOLOGY is solid all the way through.

David

"Sign O The Times"

jfrost said:

Hmmm - going to have to check on that. I think there was a computerized voice on some segues (Prince's) but I don't think it was the NPG Operator (Rain Ivana).[/quote]
The album starts of with the Operator Explaining That this is not the Paisley Park Record Label but rather the NPG

To be brutally honest, his last great album was Lovesexy, because it was the last to offer anything new and anything we did not already know about his genius.

Hes had a lot of good and very good albums but nothing that could be termed classic 5 star stuff or A grade.

Very good albums like 3121, Gold Experience and Come were very pleasing and you can respect them forever, theyre danceable and they rock, but they all sound like Prince putting through solid and predictable music but nothing truly innovative. Albums that are flawless but just not inventive enough to be called great. Like a university B+ grade, very passable, good and the rest but not exceptional like an A.
Good albums like PE, Muiscology, Rave, Emancipation and Diamonds and Pearls are like the very goods, but suffer from bad song positioning, weak or mediocre filler tracks amongst the nuggets. Why do we need Jughead, Mr Happy, Reflection and 4 Blank seconds in amongst the Saviours, Cream, Lion of Judah and Greatest Romance ever sold. With Lovesexy a great album, you can listen to it all the way through and still get a buzz.

Grading the albums I have heard

Great
Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, Sign (Greater than great), Black Album, Lovesexy

Very Good (Even an album here is a real highlight)
Controversy, Come, Gold Experience, 3121 (Its one of his best), Ultimate (The extended jams), The Hits 3 B sides (17 DAYS and Erotic City are great by themselves)

Good (Most albums fall into this category)
4U, Prince, ATWIAD, Batman, Grafitti Bridge (Some of it is great eg Joy in Repetition, still would stand all time, but its bogged down with filler like Elephants and Flowers and Melody Cool), Diamonds and Pearls, Emancipation, Rave, Musicology, Planet Earth, Indigo Nights, The Hits/1 and 2

So so
Symbol, TRC, Very best of Prince (Just hits and edited)

Poor
Newpower soul, Chaos and Disorder,

3121

you're gonna get as many answers to that question as there are prince albums.

IMO, his last great album was The Rainbow Children.

jfrost said:

The album starts of with the Operator Explaining That this is not the Paisley Park Record Label but rather the NPG[/quote]

Pretty sure that's Mayte - not the NPG Operator.

Se7en said:

who ever answer the fecking phone is the OPERATOR 4 the new label ie. NPG so there4 is the NPG Operator
p.s.

Someone wrote on another thread that if Prince's recent output had been released by anyone else, people wouldn't even listen to it.

Se7en said:

It wouldnt even get released

Anxiety said:

yup and it might get ugly too in here cause some folks seem to get annoyed at others if they like an album they don't like, some people go there with that.... *gets the popcorn now*

The last

I'd say Chaos and Disorder. Albeit flawed and publicized as a perfunctory exercise the messiness, the "fucked-up" mixing (which some major players in the performance had alluded to) and the general slapdeshery of the whole affair seem to draw me in rather than repel. Prince is the Fassbinder of the music world. If anything he is as prolific. But more importantly, all his albums which have gained classic status like Fassbinder's films are flawed in some way that's why they seem to resist canonization. But that's what makes them special.

I also think that Chaos and Disorder, Emancipation and New Power Soul are up for a fresh reevaluation. Personally, I find myself playing them more nowadays than all the Prince sacred cows from the 80s.
[Edited 12/26/08 22:13pm]

Fhunkin said:

I second that.

Se7en said:

Both The Gold Experience and Exodus albums credit Rain Ivana as the NPG Operator in their respective liner notes.

I would say Lovesexy but I think he's released some very good albums since.

I think the Gold Experience could have been great if it included, Interactive, Come and Acknowledge and left out We March.

Very Good albums release since Lovesexy.

Batman, Diamonds And Pearls, Symbol, The Gold Experience, The Rainbow Children, 3121, Planet Earth.

For You.

SPOOKYGAS said:

U DEAF OR WHAT

langebleu said:

Thanks Langebleu!

Romeoblu said:

The Gold Experience should've had Interactive, Acknowledge Me, Ripopgodazippa, Days Of Wild, and yes left off We March.

Se7en said:

told ye
told ye