...for me: This song has everything what defines a Prince-song!
together with Joy In Repetition(ONA Live), She's Always In My Hair (12"), The Beautiful Ones and If I Was Your Girlfriend

it's not in my top 10, but i agree that it's in the top region
of the prince songs catalogue. very cool song.

and i love that he's been playing it live more since he dusted
it off for the tokyo harbour fest. great song on the setlists!

It certainly is a stand-out effort during the chaos of the 90's

Everything is as close to perfection as you can get.

Drums: solos kick ass, but can chill in the background for other instruments (voice included)
Keyboards: add dimension
Guitar: need I say more... has some of the best guitar work of his EVER
Vocals: beautiful, but somehow, the guitar does more justice to the emotion here than even Prince's voice at its best can manage on its own

mmm yeah its one of my favs tht song...
its so heavy and deep l love it how it plays ...the music good....

one of the best this song ...

Not top 5 but it's a killer fo sho I remember when he played at the Universal City walk during the NPGMC days and he played this song without singing a word. Actually did the whole 45 minutes totally silent. the crowd sang the words.

You should have seen the eyeballs popping out of the head of the girl next to me We looked at each other as that drum/synth solo launched and we just held each other in anticipation

Love that this thread got instant replies!

He did justice to this song. Its one of the songs I have on repeat because of the smooth delivery of the song. Everything messes together.

xtraloveable said:

Definitely!!!!! One of my favorites!!

In retrospect, you never quite do a Top 5 with Prince.

It's literally impossible
So much music will mean a lot of ties and I change favorites every week if not every day

If I could narrow it down to my top 50, it definitely would be there somewhere
Definitely one of my favorite 90's tracks and it stands well on its own compared to the entire catalogue as well

maybe a track to convert ignorants...?

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Off the top of my head my top 5 is quite easy for me to define:

Housequake
Power Fantastic
In a Large Room with No Light
Joy in Repetition
This is Not Music, This is a Trip (Alphabet St. Remix)

That pretty much never changes for me.

xtraloveable said:

that's usually my term

It would be an interesting experiment
It doesn't sound quite like your typical Prince song, not what people generally expect when they hear something of his...

anything's possible, but I think this song has a good chance

xtraloveable said:

the tge version is good , but the live versions are better

myloveis4ever said:

Live at Hong Kong in 2003... I have the video of that one. Just incredible
That's the reason I love the babyblue Fender Stratocaster

It's one of my favorites!

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Not to long ago you were a newbie and now you sound like an expert!

xtraloveable said:

yes, yes, yes, and yes! Love your top 5.
Though i really wanna have 'when doves cry' and 'erotic city' as well

xtraloveable said:

It's def in the top 10 essentials. I wish they'd release a "best of " album, and do only symbol-named material. "Shhh!" would definitely be on there.

No.

Shhh: a classic and a truly great song from a masterpiece of an album,

but still Shhh is not in my Prince songs top 20.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I thought that version was incredible too, but the one from Coachella is just out of this world

xtraloveable said:

naa i think shes always in my hair is nothing more than a song written to impress Jill Jonas
but the songs that define Prince is 'When Doves Cry' 'The Beautiful Ones' 'Purple Rain' and yeah 'Shhh' defines him sexually
Just heard the song after a long time the other day and damn..that man was raw...

Its a perfect 10 Prince song. Music is solid. Every note splits me in two. Lyrics are sexy, playful, poetic.....vocal delivery....majestic. Perfect 10.I feel blessed that ive seen this song 4 times live. Rock n roll hall of fame aftershow...madison square garden 04....vegas....and on the roof of that hotel in nyc at like 3 in the morning

it is a fav

I like it, but there is a very long line of favorites ahead of this one.

I will say that there are probably only 10-15 prince songs that I strongly dislike. Too bad the list of neutral,so-so tracks is growing with each album.

Sure, why not? Although that 5 changes every so often. It's one of those special songs that make Prince beyond your ordinary musician/artist.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

True that. Michael B. kills on the drums and Prince is totally excellent on the guitar, dude.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Open Book
Adore
Thieves In The Temple (Extended)
Electric Chair (12" of course)
It's Gonna Be Lonely

My top five . . . . Pretty constant also.