LotusFlow3r is probably old enough now for us to be able to assess all of Prince's work.

So, what do you think are his best and worst albums?

According to Rateyourmusic, these are Prince's best albums:

1. Purple Rain (#224 all-time, #3 1984)
2. Sign o' the Times (#335 all-time, #3 1987)
3. Dirty Mind (#1519 all-time, #31 1980)
4. 1999 (#1814 all-time, #33 1982)
5. Parade (#3598 all-time, #50 1986)

On the other side of the coin, these all rank among RYM's bottom 5000 albums ever:

1. Kamasutra (#1104 all-time)
2. Newpower Soul (#1999 all-time)
3. Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (#2063 all-time)
4. Chaos and Disorder (#2696 all-time)
5. For You (#2801 all-time)
6. Graffiti Bridge (#3191 all-time)
7. Come (#3237 all-time)
8. Planet Earth (#3291 all-time)
9. The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (#3356 all-time)
10. Batman (#3441 all-time)
11. Emancipation (#4205 all-time)

Also noted as bad albums:

Bria Valente- Elixer (#1095 all-time)
Carmen Electra- Carmen Electra (#1733 all-time)
Apollonia 6- Apollonia 6 (#3227 all-time)
Various- 1-800-NEW-FUNK (#4187 all-time)

Acclaimedmusic shows that the critics generally hold Prince in higher esteem than the general public.

These rank as Prince's critical darlings:

1. Sign o' the Times (#26 all-time, #1 1987)
2. Purple Rain (#49 all-time, #1 1984)
3. 1999 (#181 all-time, #3 1982)
4. Dirty Mind (#460 all-time, #13 1980)
5. Parade (#678 all-time, #13 1986)
6. Around the World in a Day (#1212 all-time, #21 1985)
7. Lovesexy (#2059 all-time, #43 1988)
8. (#2639 all-time, #54 1992)
9. Controversy (#2785 all-time, #51 1981)

Graffiti Bridge, Diamonds and Pearls and Musicology are all "bubbling under" the top 3000.

Also in the top 3000:

The Time- What Time Is It? (#2964 all-time, #60 1982)

Another user-rating site, besteveralbums, lists these as Prince's best:

1. Purple Rain (#76 all-time, #1 1984)
2. Sign o' the Times (#210 all-time, #3 1987)
3. 1999 (#466 all-time, #7 1982)
4. Parade (#648 all-time, #12 1986)
5. Lovesexy (#997 all-time, #21 1988)
6. Controversy (#1094 all-time, #14 1981)
7. Around the World in a Day (#1286 all-time, #20 1985)
8. The Gold Experience (#1498 all-time, #37 1995)
9. The Black Album (#1787 all-time, #54 1994)
10. Dirty Mind (#1849 all-time, #42 1980)

It appears that the consensus is that Prince's best work is on Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain, Parade and Sign o' the Times.

What's your take?

It's very difficult for me.
I became a Prince fan during 1999/Purple Rain so, the earlier albums I started collecting up until SOTT was released (though I bought the earlier ones in the order they were originally released).


I don't care for Dirty Mind. Never have. Listening to it now, I like it enough--but I wouldn't rank it in the top. Same as 1999. It sounds dated to me, even though it has great parts in it. 1999 the song itself is repitious as hell, and in Prince's 'update' and live recordings, he's made the song arrangement more complex--so it doesn't appear he's thrilled with it either.


But I'd say *my list* goes to:


Best:

1. Sign of The Times
2. Parade
3. The Gold Experience
4. Purple Rain
5.

(with Emancipation taking spot 6 almost tying with sometimes for me)




Worst albums:

1. For You (sorry, but he still sounds like he's playing disco catch-up)
2. Batman
3. Graffiti Bridge (if he cut out the non-Prince tracks and maybe added one or 2 better songs, it would be a terrific album)
4. Diamonds & Pearls
5. Planet Earth

Note: If New Power Soul was a proper "prince" album, it would ranks as #1 for me, bumping all the other items down a notch.



The problem is that even the albums I think are his weakest or 'worst' I often really enjoy listening to. COME for example, to me, was shocking in that it was so 'normal' sounding... boring even.. But I often spin it. Also, I think Planet Earth was a colossal misstep especially after such a stellar Superbowl performance--but I don't hate the album.. I've actually listenned to it front-to-back without skipping tracks (though not lately )

The "Rateyourmusic" list pretty much nails the best.

I think the worst list would include "The Rainbow Children" and MPLSOUND at the top if the general public still cared to have ever listened to his newer work. Luckily for them they may never know about them.
[Edited 10/16/09 19:16pm]

for me, his best is SOTT, and worst is NPS

Imago said:

http://prince.org/msg/7/321468

I definitely agree though that even the albums I like the least are wildly interesting and entertaining. Well, except for maybe Xpectation. Prince has such an interesting career.

Moonbeam said:

OMG, you are soooo moody!!!

Imago said:

I'm right, and you're wrong.

My top 37 Prince albums,

from best album to worst:

01. Purple Rain (10)
02. Sign "O" The Times (10)
03. 1999 (10)
04. Lovesexy (10)
05. Parade (10)
06. Around The World In A Day (10)
07. The Gold Experience (10)
08. Dirty Mind (10)
09. Controversy (9)
10. Diamonds & Pearls (9)
11. Love Symbol Album (9)
12. Come (9)
13. Black Album (9)
14. The Rainbow Children (9)
15. Graffiti Bridge (8)
16. Prince (8)
17. Crystal Ball (8)
18. Emancipation (8)
19. For You (8)
20. Batman (8)
21. LotusFlower / MPLSound (8)
22. Musicology (7)
23. Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (7)
24. 3121 (6)
25. The Truth (6)
26. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (6)
27. The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale (6)
28. Chaos & Disorder (6)
29. The Chocolate Invasion (6)
30. Slaughterhouse (6)
31. Planet Earth (5)
32. Newpower Soul (4)
33. ONA Piano (3)
34. N.E.W.S. (2)
35. ONA... Live (2)
36. Indigo Nights (2)
37. Kamasutra (0)

Best album would be difficult for me really as there are so many reasons and album can be good:

Diamonds & Pearls literally saved my life when it introduced me to a new friend.

Purple Rain was, like many people I suppose, when my ears first pricked up

If I had to keep just 1 though I suppose ut would be SOTT as it had a bit of everything to listen to.


Worst would be between Chaos & Disorder. And The Vault....maybe it's psychological because of the circumstances they were rleased under, but it's alway felt that they were imposter, much like Bootlegs that aren't real albums...therefore they do nothing for me

My top 5 would be:

1. 1999
2. Lovesexy
3. Sign o' the Times
4. The Gold Experience
5. Crystal Ball

My bottom 5 would be:

1. Xpectation
2. Kamasutra
3. Newpower Soul
4. NEWS
5. For You

Best

1. Sign O the Times
2. 1999
3. Dirty Mind
4. Parade
5. Crystal Ball (3CDS)

Worst (Kamasutra dosen't count)

1. The Rainbow children
2. The Rainbow children
3. The Rainbow children
4. The Rainbow children
5. Chaos and Disorder
[Edited 10/19/09 21:34pm]

For me I'd say:

"For You," is the best, and "NPS," is the weakest.

1. Sign O' The Times
2. Purple Rain
3. 1999
4. The Gold Experience
5. Batman (can't believe people don't dig it! I think it is classic Prince...Partyman? The Future?)

My bottom 5 would be:

1. Planet Earth
2. Chaos And Disorder
3. Newpower Soul
4. Crystal Ball
5. Slaughterhouse

I cringe whenever i see "The Gold Experience" listed on a top 10 list, mediocre at best.

after thinking hard about it the worst prince album is the bria valente disc on lotusflow3r.a lot of the songs sound the same and i shall stick with didc 2 &3 which had a lot more going for it.
[Edited 5/5/10 17:19pm]

I think Prince's best two albums are 1999 and Sign O The Times. They're pretty untouchable. I know Purple Rain gets a lot of love but for me i would place Lovesexy behind those two albums. I think after Lovesexy there was simply no place for him to go musically or lyrically. This would be my Top 10

1. Sign O The Times
2. 1999
3. Lovesexy
4. Parade
5. Purple Rain
6. Dirty Mind
7. The Black Album
8. The Truth
9. LotusFlow3r
10. Come

The reason i like them so much is because they all seem to have some sort of coherence about them. I really enjoy The Gold Experience but it's overproduced somewhat. His weakest albums are a no brainer for me and they are

Diamonds And Pearls
Emancipation
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic

Emancipation was so bland musically it's hard to believe it's the same person who created Lovesexy. The other two were just mishmashes of a couple of decent songs surrounded by utter dross.

Moonbeam said:

New Power Soul escapes my worst of simply because it's credited to an NPG album. It's pretty darn awful.

Won`t say the best/worst albums coz I think it`s a matter of taste.....

My favorites 10:
-Parade
-Lovesexy
-SOTT
-The Rainbow children
-Purple Rain
-1999
-The Truth
-3121
-Batman
-Come

My less favorites:
-Planet Earth
-Graffiti Bridge
-Prince
-For You
-Musicology

Moonbeam said:

The consensus on which his best albums are is close to my opinion, the exception being that I include The Gold Experience in my top 5 instead of Dirty Mind. But Dirty Mind is probably number six or seven on my list.

5 top albums:

1. Purple Rain (great songs and brilliant mix of styles)
2. Sign O' The Times
3. 1999
4. Parade
5. The Gold Experience

5 bottom albums:

1. N.E.W.S. (songs so boring and long-winded that it's in a leauge of its own)
2. The Chocolate Invasion
3. For You
4. Musicology
5. The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale
[Edited 10/19/09 14:36pm]

best: lovesymbol

worst: vault

best: lovesymbol

worst: chaos

emancipation ranked lower than elixer? Am i reading that right?

DesireeNevermind said:

OMG!!! this is crazy

DesireeNevermind said:

They are both on RYM's list of the all-time worst albums. So Bria's 1095th place makes it the worst Prince-associated album of all-time according to RYM, whereas Emancipation's perceived suckiness is only enough to warrant placement as the 4205th worst album.

Ok so some projects are not as good as others but in the grand scheme of things, Prince's music is better than what most acts put out either past or present. He should only ever be compared with other greats like Stevie, Sly, Parliament, Stones, Beatles, Mozart to name a few and even then it's not about what's best or worst....just great music overall

As for his protege projects....well let's just say those are moments when Prince is feeling kind of lazy.

The top five look about right to me as regards overall impact/quality, I'd have Emancipation and Gold Experience up there too as personal favourites.

Its flawed at the lower end though in having Batman and Emancipation as his worst two.