I think it's fair to say that Prince won't be releasing any more new albums in the 2000s. That said, how would you rank his output of this decade? There's quite a bit of variety in the material in both style and scope. I can even tally results if this gets enough buzz. I'm not going to count the live albums, as they consist of older tracks as well.

Your candidates:

The Rainbow Children (2001)
One Nite Alone (2002)
Xpectation (2003)
NEWS (2003)
C-NOTE (2003)
The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
The Slaughterhouse (2004)
Musicology (2004)
3121 (2006)
Planet Earth (2007)
LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
MPLSoUND (2009)

Planet Earth made a nice beer coaster

Here's my take:

4.5 stars:

1. 3121
2. One Nite Alone

4 stars:

3. LOtUSFLOW3R
4. Planet Earth
5. MPLSoUND

3.5 stars:

6. Musicology
7. The Rainbow Children

3 stars:

8. The Chocolate Invasion
9. The Slaughterhouse
10. C-NOTE
11. NEWS

1.5 stars:

12. Xpectation

LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
MPLSoUND (2009)
Musicology (2004)
Planet Earth (2007)
One Nite Alone (2002)
The Rainbow Children (2001)
3121 (2006)
The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
The Slaughterhouse (2004)


actually, i can never remember which tracks are on those last 2

and these... i dunno. they're all about the same for me, because i can never remember which tracks are which:


Xpectation (2003)
NEWS (2003)
C-NOTE (2003)

1. Lotus FLow3r
2. 3121
3. MPLSoUND
4. One Nite Alone
5. Rainbow Children
6. Chocolate Invasion
7. Musicology
8. PLanet Earth
9.Slaughter House
10. NEWS
11. Xpectation
12. C-note
[Edited 4/1/09 22:52pm]

MPLSound
3121
Lotusflow3r
The Rainbow Children
Planet Earth
Musicology
The Chocolate Invasion
One Nite Alone
Xpectation
Slaughter House
C-Note
News

from favorite to least favorite

LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
The Rainbow Children (2001)
MPLSoUND (2009)
3121 (2006)
Planet Earth (2007)
One Nite Alone (2002)
The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
Musicology (2004)
Indigo Nights (2008)
The Slaughterhouse (2004)
C-NOTE (2003)
Xpectation (2003)
[Edited 4/1/09 23:13pm]

01. the rainbow children
02. lotusflower
03. one nite alone
04. the chocolate invasion
05. 3121
06. c-note
07. mplsound
08. news
09. xpectation
10. the slaughterhouse
11. musicology
12. planet earth

C-NOTE (2003)
LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
One Nite Alone (2002)
MPLSoUND (2009)
Planet Earth (2007)
Xpectation (2003)
The Rainbow Children (2001)
NEWS (2003)
The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
The Slaughterhouse (2004)
Musicology (2004)
3121 (2006)

It's too soon to judge Lotusflow3r and MPLSoUND (for me at least) so my evaluation could change thruout time.

The Rainbow Children (2001)
LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
3121 (2006)
One Nite Alone (2002)
MPLSoUND (2009)
Planet Earth (2007)
Musicology (2004)
C-NOTE (2003)
Xpectation (2003)
NEWS (2003)
The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
The Slaughterhouse (2004)

Results through 8 ballots show that the users are so far pretty happy with the new albums! Of course, that could be confounded with the fact that those likely posting here at the moment are interested in the new albums.

Composite results through newpowersoul's ballot:

1. LOtUSFLOW3R
2. MPLSoUND
3. The Rainbow Children
4. One Nite Alone
5. 3121
6. Planet Earth
7. Musicology
8. The Chocolate Invasion
9. C-NOTE
10. Xpectation
11. The Slaughterhouse
12. NEWS

NEWS (2003) *****
The Rainbow Children (2001) *****
MPLSoUND (2009) *****
One Nite Alone (2002) ****
LOtUSFLOW3R (2009) ****
Xpectation (2003) ***
The Chocolate Invasion (2004) ***
Musicology (2004) ***
C-NOTE (2003) **
The Slaughterhouse (2004) **
Planet Earth (2007) **
3121 (2006) *

Metacritic is a good source to find professional reviews. They come up with a composite score for albums. 6 of Prince's albums this decade are on the site. Here's how they stack up:

Musicology: 72
3121: 69
LOtUSFLOW3R: 69
Planet Earth: 65
MPLSoUND: 62
The Rainbow Children: 54

The Rainbow Children (2001) **
One Nite Alone (2002) ***
Xpectation (2003) **
NEWS (2003) **
C-NOTE (2003) *
The Chocolate Invasion (2004) **
The Slaughterhouse (2004) **
Musicology (2004) *** 1/2
3121 (2006) ****
Planet Earth (2007) ***
LOtUSFLOW3R (2009) ***
MPLSoUND (2009) *** 1/2

heebong said:

Should I count the albums with the same star rating as ties?

3121 (2006) *****
The Rainbow Children (2001) *****
LOtUSFLOW3R (2009) ****
MPLSoUND (2009) ****
Planet Earth (2007) ****
Musicology (2004) ****
NEWS (2003) ****
The Chocolate Invasion (2004) ***
The Slaughterhouse (2004) ***
One Nite Alone (2002) ***
C-NOTE (2003) ***
Xpectation (2003) **

3121 is one of my favourite P albums ever!

***** - 3121, MPLSoUND

**** - Planet Earth, LOtUSFLOW3R

*** The Chocolate Invasion, One Night Alone, The Rainbow Children, Musicology

** The Slaughterhouse, NEWS, C-NOTE

All lists with only star ratings will have albums with the same rating given tie scores. Keep the lists rolling in!

The Rainbow Children (2001)
LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
Musicology (2004)
MPLSoUND (2009)
3121 (2006)
Xpectation (2003)
NEWS (2003)
One Nite Alone (2002)
The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
The Slaughterhouse (2004)
Planet Earth (2007)
C-NOTE (2003)



Today.

Hey moonbeam! Here we go:

01. the rainbow children
02. one nite alone
03. mplsound
04. news
05. 3121
06. lotusflower
07. musicology
08. the chocolate invasion
09. planet earth
10. the slaughterhouse
11. xpectation
12. c-note

Both NPGMC albums, I've never considered them to be actual albums. It wasn't Prince that put them together like that, now did he?

I can't imagine people placing the instrumental albums all together. I think there's a world a difference between NEWS and Xpectation. NEWS sounds great, great melodies, inspired music, while Xpectation is bland, no vision. Oh well...

1. LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
2. MPLSoUND (2009)
3. Planet Earth (2007)
4. The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
5. The Slaughterhouse (2004)
6. 3121 (2006)
7. Musicology (2004)
8. One Nite Alone (2002)
9. C-NOTE (2003)
10. NEWS (2003)
11. Xpectation (2003)
12. The Rainbow Children (2001)

Update through Sander's ballot:

1. LOtUSFLOW3R
2. MPLSoUND
3. The Rainbow Children
4. 3121
5. One Nite Alone
6. Musicology
7. Planet Earth
8. The Chocolate Invasion
9. NEWS
10. Xpectation
11. C-NOTE
12. The Slaughterhouse

Sander said:

Yeah, they're not normal Prince albums, as they seem more like compilations to me. But Prince did release them through his online outlet, so they kinda count.

1 MPLSoUND (2009)
2 The Rainbow Children (2001)
3 3121 (2006)
4 The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
5 One Nite Alone (2002)
6 LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
7 Planet Earth (2007)
8 The Slaughterhouse (2004)
9 Musicology (2004)
10 NEWS (2003)
11 C-NOTE (2003)
12 Xpectation (2003)

Crikey that was harder than I though to rank them (in my current order of preference from favourite at 1 to least favourite at 12)
[Edited 4/2/09 3:49am]

Lotusflow3r
3121
MPLSound
Planet Earth
The Rainbow Children
Musicology
One Nite Alone
The Chocolate Invasion
Xpectation
NEWS
C-Note
Slaughterhouse

Lotusflow3r (Why oh why include the funk and jazz lite resturant musak, could have been a good album) ***

Planet Earth *** (Again has potential but the RnB shite gets in the way)
The Rainbow Children *** (The lyrics are god awful and offensive, the music is at times rather inventive and funky)

3121*** ( Title track is OK apart from the chipmunk, Fury, can anyone say "SNL". sums it all up.)

Musicology ** ( quite good until on the couch then completely runs out of steam)
NEWS *
Xpectation *
One Nite Alone *
C-Note *
Mplsound (No more Candy is kinda cool) *
Chocolate Invasion *
Slaughterhouse *
[Edited 4/2/09 4:36am]
[Edited 4/2/09 4:37am]

I can't help but get in on the action. Even if I only own a few albums from this decade.

The Rainbow Children, Musicology, 3121 and Planet Earth are the only ones I have.
But if you count downloads, I also have MPLS Sound & Lotusflow3r.
I also have Indigo Nights, but haven't listened to it

Haven't heard MPLS yet so I can't comment.

The decade pretty much goes like this:

Planet Earth
3121
Musicology
The Rainbow Children

after another listen or two, Lotusflow3r might get second place at the best. Creating a BIG distance between 2nd and 3rd.

Last I heard it, 3121 was like a rollercoaster ride, very uneven. With a few peaks here and there and the rest "flirt" around the line of average.
For the reason you wouldn't think of, it sounded better when Planet Earth came out. Cuz it just made Musicology seem, not as "shiny" in comparsion. Fury sounded better after I heard Guitar because their structure is similar, but I'll take the latter over Fury anyday.
SNL did sound great... I just couldn't get around the orange outfit and odd headband

I guess my way of summing of my favorite albums ends with the following:
I like albums that have a consistency. Whether its in the sound or the quality of the songs. The 80's albums were great because nearly every track was as good as the others.
The 90's, I haven't quite figured out yet, so don't get me started.
This decade... its very confusing

TRC is consistent in that its overall strange with a few tracks I could call typical/regular Prince (musically, Digital Garden. thematically, Last December).
Musicology is consistent, but it's bland because almost every track flirts with the average line which separates the okay/not-so-good and the excellent (only A Million Days and a couple of the shorter tracks go beyond average).

Planet Earth, by this point I don't care what the overall opinion is, its still my favorite of the decade. The sound is consistant in that every song sounds current (Chelsea Rogers at least TRIES to sound like nouveau funk), it feels like it has life (compared to its 2 predecessors)... and I don't know, it has that little something extra.

To end the post, I'll just list my favorite tracks of each

TRC: Digital Garden, Last December... can't remember any other highlights, what a mess
Musicology: A Million Days, Cinnamon Girl, Reflection, The Marrying Kind and/or If I was the man in ur life
Planet Earth: Somewhere here on Earth, Guitar, Mr. Goodnight (I have my reasons ), Lion of Judah

Lotusflow3r... right now, I dig Dreamer, Back to Lotus and a few others that I can't remember the names of. If Morning After was on the actual album, I'd list it too

The Rainbow Children (2001) .5
One Nite Alone (2002)
Xpectation (2003)
NEWS (2003) .5
C-NOTE (2003)
The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
The Slaughterhouse (2004)
Musicology (2004) .5
3121 (2006)
Planet Earth (2007)
LOtUSFLOW3R (2009) .5
MPLSoUND (2009)

Rank as in best to worst?

1. The Rainbow Children (2001)
2. LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
3. NEWS (2003)
4. One Nite Alone (2002)
5. Planet Earth (2007)
6. Xpectation (2003)
7. C-NOTE (2003)
8. MPLSoUND (2009)
9. 3121 (2006)
10. Musicology (2004)
11. The Chocolate Invasion / The Slaughterhouse (2004)

3121 isn't that good