I know Lotus was suppose to be Prince's attempt at a rock album,but not all the songs are rock songs. I believe Chaos and Disorder or Gold Experience are more rockish. In ur opinion,What is Prince's best rock album?

dance4me3121 said:

Yeah but the same can be said for those two albums. He's never released an album with only rock songs and he likely never will.

Purple Rain.....though as above he ain't got no rock album really.

The only one is The Undertaker album and that's not really an actual album....and it's unreleased.

The Gold Experience, combined with a few Chaos tracks.

He'll never do a complete rock album.

As for the "best", I would rank C&D as his best. Maybe that's because it has more rock songs than any of his other projects.

Prince can never stop himself over producing his "rock". He always ends up watering it down with cowbells, keyboards and falsetto.

His rock is always better live because he doesn't get to play around with it. I don't think he is capable of making a rock album while he insists on self producing.

he shouldn't try and go there, just look at what happened to Chris Cornell with Timbaland, granted he ain't the innovative talent that Prince is, but still.....

WetDream said:

Well, whilst not having a conventional cd release, it was released officially on video, so it was properly available to the masses.

And, I love it - what a raw album....direct to DAT, in one take, no overdubs and mostly rock!
[Edited 3/22/10 12:26pm]

Mindflux said:

This version of the Ride is my favorite and The Undertaker kicks ass!

Give or take one or two, here is my ongoing Prince "rock" playlist.

Let's Go Crazy
Temptation (Ernest's Edit)
Ronnie Talk 2 Russia
Computer Blue
Da Bang
Peach
Interactive
What's My Name?
Guitar
Chaos and Disorder
The Ride
Live 4 Love
Dolphin
Zanalee
Bambi
Fury (Live)
Endorphinmachine
3 Chains O' Gold
Gold

ernestsewell said:

nice list but i would replace 3 chains o' gold with Shhh

dance4me3121 said:

How does "Shhh" fit on a rock list??!!

Mindflux said:

Exactly. I thought about it because it does have a guitar solo, but every song w/ a guitar solo isn't a rock song.

I included a song like "Gold" because it's a slow building rock anthem with a blazing guitar solo that solidifies it's status as a rock song.

It's very interesting how people define "rock", "funk", etc.

daPrettyman said:

I'm actually interested to hear your list (and squirrelgrease's). I saw your wrote about C&D. But do you take that as a rock album in general (the best it's gonna get), or would you rather compile your own list of rock songs?

In some ways, I think C&D is not as much of a rock album as we think. Songs like "Into The Light", "I Will", "Had U", "Dinner With Delores", "Dig U Better Dead", "I Rock, Therefore I Am" aren't rock songs, unlike the others. It's half of a rock album at best. That's why I always said, whittled down, it'd make a great rock EP that should have been a bonus disk with The Gold Experience. I don't even mind the country-esque "Right The Wrong". I always dug those first 4 or 5 tracks.

ernestsewell said:

I agree with what you said about C&D. It is mostly a rock album, but not totally.

My list would be something like this (for a rock album)
Endorphinmachine
Bambi
Dolphin
Fury
Peach
Let's Go Crazy
Gotta Broken Heart Again
Gold
Little Red Corvette
Interactive

I don't consider most of the songs on "The Undertaker" as rock songs. Sure, the songs are guitar driven, but most of the songs are blues albums. "Poor Goo", "The Undertaker", "The Ride" etc are straight up blues.

Sure, some might say LRC is not a rock song, but it is a "pop-rock" song for sure to me.

Personally i think Chaos and disorder is the best Prince album, a lot of people didn't like that album but i did. Although it wasn't released as an official album, the Undertaker rates as my favorite Prince rock work, ill never tire of that stuff!

Mindflux said:

Yes if only he did something along those lines again, id have no complaints at all!

Mindflux said:

It was mostly blues. But raw, nonetheless.

ernestsewell said:

Well, yes, but I've never been keen on pigeon-holing music and, of course, with Prince its almost always a blend of styles anyway.

The Undertaker brims with blues, rock, funk....but presented in a raw, rocky style. I don't think any fan of rock would be disappointed with a listen

dance4me3121 said:

OMG don't touch "3 Chain's O' Gold"... A jewel of Purple/Glam/Rock !!!!!

Mindflux said:

No, they probably wouldn't. I do think that if it was released on CD, people would have thought quite different about Prince as a guitarist. I know critics and fans know his prowess on the guitar, but as we all know, the public and other hard rock critics are quick to dismiss him as a great guitarist. Let's face it, he didn't built 30+ years on playing chicken scratch guitar. The Undertaker was the worst mistake WB ever made with Prince's catalog.

ernestsewell said:

Agreed