We've had a good amount of musical work from our Minneapolis Genius. I feel that Prince has never created a bad album. Perhaps a few tracks here and there that may not be our favorites but over all I'd say P has had some great albums.

Keeping with that tone, do you believe Prince has it in him to make another great album not just in the so called "purple circle" but, could be recognized as great by his peers and the musical community?

Or have we seen the best he has to offer?

Yeah, all the vault stuff we'll get once he croaks it. That's if he hasn't burnt all the tapes to exorcise the evil from them first.

I agree with most of the negative posts here:
1. There is no secret vault stash - we've heard it
2. The days of completely great albums from start to finish are gone

as further evidence:

purple and gold (no, we will never stop taunting!)

prince's decline started with Emancipation. It was totally contrived to try and make an album exactly 3 hrs long and it sucked. Rave sucked. Rainbow Children was marginal, all other studio albums since have been extremely hit and miss. (Crystal Ball was a spring clean and the live stuff is interesting enough).

If we go back to 1995's Gold as the last truly great original work, that's 15 years. So he was spot on for about half of his career.

That said, look at an older artist (Bowie). Released classic albums every calender year during the 70s and made nothing but junk for more than a decade after.before finally (around 1995) getting really good again, and releasing five fantastic albums. Had I have been a 70s fan of his work, I would have long given up by the dawn of the 90s and I would have been wrong to do so).
I don't have confidence in prince doing a turn around.At least when bowie sold out it was only for 3 or 4 albums. rave and planet earth are pure drivel sell-out, try be radio-friendly...as are Newpower Sould etc etc. He's kept up the output with zero quality control. He needs to take a few years instead of dropping his latest stuff every month! And he needs to take on board other peoples ideas. not get someone to write for him, just coax something different out of him. he's made his money and he's had free artistic license, now time to chill a little and branch out.
[Edited 2/6/10 3:36am]

Bowie did it, yes.

But Bowie conquered his demons (let's call it) without selling out to God.

Prince is never, not NEVER, going to make another great album until he rediscovers the things that made him great in the first place.

And I'm not talking about his musicianship, or his ability to perform live.

I mean all the things that religion has now robbed from his music: his generosity of spirit, his trying to make of sense of matters of faith, and sex, and humanity in his own way, his searching for comprehension, his insecurity at now knowing the answers.

The man has avergaed at least 1 album a year for almost 32 years now. Some were even multi disc albums. This isnt counting the stuff he made exclusive for NPGMC and the Vaulted material. He has also had 3 movies, 4 if you count SOTT.

How can a guy put out "Great" albums every time?
Noone can or ever will put out greatness that much or that often.
BUT...lets look at it like this shall we...
Most artists put out an album once every 3yrs. And Average 10 songs per album.
Now lets look at his out put in 3 yrs intervals. We will start at 1985, Since 1978-1984 speak for themselves.

85-87...ATWIAD,Parade,SOTT. Any complaints? Didnt think so.
88-90... Lovesexy, batman, Graffiti Bridge. Lovesexy- Alphabet St, Anna Stesia, Positivity, Dance On, Lovesexy. Batman- Ill give it up for Electric Chair, Party man and Scandalous. Graffiti Bridge- Thieves in the temple, Joy in Repetition. I think theres enough "greatness" there
91-93... Diamonds & Pearls, , Come. Do I even need to point out enough songs to make one great album?
94-96...Gold, Chaos & Disorder, Emancipation. Gold Experience alone was greatness! So on to the next 3 yrs.
97-99...Crystal ball, New Power soul, Rave unto the Joy Fantastic. Crystal Ball-Hide the bone, She Gave her Angels, Ripopgodazippa, Crucial. New Power Soul- The One, Come on. Rave - Ok..well...I may need help on this one, Lol.
2000-2002..Now this may be the area that, in my opinion, lacked greatness.
2003-2005...NEWS, Musicology. Well, Musicology went double Platinum. Even with the giveaway, it would have still went platinum. So it must have had something great on it. NEWS- Had a couple of great tracks.
2006-2008...3121, Planet Earth. Ive heard mostly praise of 3121. So not much need for elaborating here.
2009- Lotus Flow3r... Now come on..you guys know that out of 30 songs there were at least 10 that made up a great album. Boom, Colonized Mind, Chocolate Box, Crimson and Clover, Dreamer..etc etc.
My point is, if Prince held back(like Warner wanted him to) and just put out his best material once every 3 years on one CD, we would all be salivating over his albums.
Just ignore the "just ok" stuff or the "bad" stuff and appreciate the great songs on each album. Who cares if its just 2 or 3 great somgs here and there. My God, the man has still given us greatness whether its all on one album or spread out over a few.
Show me an Artists that can release 32 GREAT albums in 32 years, and Ill show you my new favorite artist.