I don't see why you wouldn't include Emancipation on the list. It's the album that made me realise Prince is a genius.

I would probably go with The Gold Experience, although I suspect it would have been even better if the final configuration had been a bit different.

leecaldon said:

I didn't include it among the others I mentioned just because I haven't heard much good feedback on that album. I haven't spent enough time with it myself to really make a call on that

The only problem with the 90's album is that there's not one album that's consistantly good all around. There's at least one weak song in there that lowers the overall "value".

Artistically, "The Truth" sounds like a masterpiece, just so long as you toss aside Animal Kingdom... I can't stomach that one myself
Gold's problem is the NPG segues and maybe a song or two that goes against the grain of genius that runs through the rest of the tracks.
Come works well in just about every aspect... I wouldn't put it too high just because once I listened to it for 10 days cuz I was writing something about it, and it just got depressing after a while.

has maybe one or two issues and D&P does as well, but I'd put higher up because of the variety in music and in emotion. D&P is mostly on the contemporary level with not much excitement (the exception being "Live 4 Love" and possibly "Gett off"). I listened to the two back to back once. Towards the end of D&P, I was almost comatose cuz not much got my blood pumping. Then enters "My name is Prince" and bam... I'm awake

were there any?

on the other end of the spectrum i think "diamonds and pearls and "
are the weakest material from theh 90's. there are a handfull of top
tunes on there (gett off/cream/$ don't matter/7/and god created woman)
but as albums i NEVER listen to them anymore at all. they're the two
that aged the worst out of his entire catalogue.

leecaldon said:

I didn't include it among the others I mentioned just because I haven't heard much good feedback on that album. I haven't spent enough time with it myself to really make a call on that

The only problem with the 90's album is that there's not one album that's consistantly good all around. There's at least one weak song in there that lowers the overall "value".

Artistically, "The Truth" sounds like a masterpiece, just so long as you toss aside Animal Kingdom... I can't stomach that one myself
Gold's problem is the NPG segues and maybe a song or two that goes against the grain of genius that runs through the rest of the tracks.
Come works well in just about every aspect... I wouldn't put it too high just because once I listened to it for 10 days cuz I was writing something about it, and it just got depressing after a while.

has maybe one or two issues and D&P does as well, but I'd put higher up because of the variety in music and in emotion. D&P is mostly on the contemporary level with not much excitement (the exception being "Live 4 Love" and possibly "Gett off"). I listened to the two back to back once. Towards the end of D&P, I was almost comatose cuz not much got my blood pumping. Then enters "My name is Prince" and bam... I'm awake

were there any?

the whole gold/come project is hard to top. and if you'd be willing
to put it all together like on the fanmade comp "welcome 2 the dawn"
you've got a collection of songs that can stand up proudly against
most of his 80s material.

as a single disc unit of original material, my fav album of the '90s
has to be "the truth".

it would be either come or gold but i can't view that material from
any other angle but fused together and shifting between albums over
and over again until they finally appeared in the form we have them.

on the other end of the spectrum i think "diamonds and pearls and "
are the weakest material from theh 90's. there are a handfull of top
tunes on there (gett off/cream/$ don't matter/7/and god created woman)
but as albums i NEVER listen to them anymore at all. they're the two
that aged the worst out of his entire catalogue.

emancipation has it's moments and is a killer 1 disc album but it's
also the album that disappointed me most upon it's release since he
kept saying through 1994-1996 that he'd kept the best material for
this release and put aside 52 songs etc etc. so i kept thinking "oh
my god, better than the stuff on gold and come?"



then it was released and 1st there were "only" 36 songs, although
that was still a huge amount (though not the trumpeted 52) and all
of the songs had the same horrible production. it proved to be an
acquired and quite nice taste after a while but the transition from
all things "gold" to emancipation was too big and imo a big step
back for prince and his sound. still, after all these years i do
enjoy it. a whole lot more than i 'enjoy' diamonds n pearls or

lastly i can't really view grafitty bridge as a real album either
since it has so many songs by other people on it and the prince
songs are from 2 very different eras. first you've got the really
strong material (question of u/joy in repetition/still would stand)
that are from 1987/88 and then there are the newer tracks like the
New Power Generation (weak) and Thieves in the Temple (brilliant).
but it almost feels like a collection of outtakes that don't really
fit together that well.

still, as for individual songs "the question of u" & "joy in repetition"
are two of his very best songs e.v.e.r. on any album in any era.

1. Diamonds & Pearls - due to it's freshing sound, commercial success, videos, world tour & during a time when his albums were marketed properly.
2. The Gold Experience - musicially a very crisp & concise album. Conceptially works very well but plauged by his issues with WB that started with love symbol.
3. Symbol - Imagine if he kept the original 'Rock-Soap Opera' concept & didn't change his name which put radio & the industry off. Still it reached No.1 in countries than D&P.

3. Symbol - Imagine if he kept the original 'Rock-Soap Opera' concept & didn't change his name which put radio & the industry off. Still it reached No.1 in countries than D&P.

fabsossa said:

Well, it depends on what you think the "opera" involved. Personally, I think the album benefited greatly from having the majority of it's segues removed.

Yes, but apparently there were other songs considered (not making the final track list) that worked much better with the segues & not making them sound as 'messy' or confusing. There was also to be a bigger focus on the love story with Prince & the Egyptian princess (played by Mayte) for the album & videos.

fabsossa said:

Do you have info about these "rejected" tracks because I've never read about them.

Everyone knows that the 80's was a BIG era for Prince's music. A lot of his best work is here there and people are still talking about the likes of 1999, Purple Rain, even Dirty Mind and Sign o' the Times.
And I'm talking the people who aren't actually fans

But there's no clear favorite in the 90's. Not a single album everyone talks about that is brilliant and deserves masterpiece status.

Of these albums, what would you consider the masterpiece of the 90's?
-Diamonds & Pearls (1991)
- (1992)
-Come (1994)
-The Gold Experience (1995)
-The Truth (1998)

Nobody's going to accept Emancipation and Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, obviously, but if there's anything else you'd like to put into the running, go ahead.

Hell, I'll offer up "The Undertaker" as a possibility too because people rave about that one.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Great choices but I would add "Emanicpation" to that list and I even love the "Rave" and "Chaos and Disorder" albums as well.

3 Chains O' Gold - 7 - Sexy MF - Love 2 The 9's - Damn U - And God Created Woman - The Sacrifice Of Victor !!!!!



The Gold Experience
Endorphinmachine - Shhh - The Most Beautiful Girl In The World - Dolphin - Now - 319 - Billy Jack Bitch - Eye Hate U !!!!!



Diamonds & Pearls
Thunder - Diamonds And Pearls - Strollin' - Willing And Able - Gett Off - Insatiable - Live 4 Love !!!!!



Exodus
Get Wild - New Power Soul - Count The Days - The Good Life - Return Of The Bum Squad - Hallucination Rain - The Exodus Has Begun !!!!!



Chaos And Disorder
Chaos And Disorder - I Like It There - Right the Wrong - I Rock, Therefore I Am - Into The Light - I Will - Had U !!!!!


+ The hits / The B-sides
Pink Cashmere - Nothing Compares 2 U (Live W/Rosie Gaines) & Peach !!!!!


THESE R THE DAYS OF WILD !!!!!