LoveSexy has always been waaay over rated IMHO. There are only a few good tracks on LoveSexy with the only outstanding tracks being I Wish You Heaven, Anna Stesia, and Scarlet Pussy (maybe the funniest P song ever). LoveSexy to me lacked Prince`s funky creative edge and the message was too religious for my liking. Don`t get me wrong I do like parts of the album but I rarely listen to it because the little purple meat head decided not to track out the album (how stupid is that)?? In further defense of LoveSexy I did like the tour which revolved around the release of the album. I have numerous live bootleg CD`s from the era and I think most fans will agree that the LoveSexy tour was Prince the showman at this best.

However (again IMHO) the Black Album beats out LoveSexy by leaps and bounds. Every track is a non stop "tour-de-force" of funk, sound, and creativity. Period. Furthermore the discussion to pull the album at the last minute was a stroke of marketing geniuses on Prince`s part. If memory serves me correct, at the time wasn`t the Black Album the most heavily bootlegged album of all time??? I remember reading stories of people paying in the thousands of dollars for an original copy. I remember when I first got my Black Album bootleg (which was about 6 months after it surfaced on the "Black" market) I kept saying to myself that Prince released LoveSexy instead of this??? WTF!!! People talk about night/day aspects of The Black Album & LoveSexy, however I prefer to look at the link between SOTT and The Black Album. I have always thought that The Black Album was an extension of SOTT. A darker more mature side of Prince appeared during the SOTT era and I have always felt that he explored this creative mood by writing The Black Album. For me The Black Album was Prince`s last "Great" Album. Controversy, 1999, SOTT, & The Black Album. Nothing that P has released since The Black Album comes close his creative geniuses of that period.

And on a foot note if ANYONE dares to say that The Rainbow Children (AKA The Larry Graham Experience Album) deserved to be mentioned in the same sentence as Controversy, 1999, SOTT, and The Black Album; then you need to be taken out back, stripped, and be forced to listen to Michael Jackson albums for 30 days.


RAIDERS

the black album!!
i like lovesexy..but...never really loved it

:LUV::SEXY:

Black Album.I really dig 2Nigs and Bob George.

I dont think that the Black album would have been "career suicide" if released.Quite frankly,the Lovesexy album was the beginning of the end for Prince in America.The cover controversy was much more than "mainstreamers" could take and it took away the greatness of the album.

I waited for weeks thinking that the Black album would be released,only to be saddened with knowledge that the progect was shelved.

funkbible said:

i get 2 listen 2 MJ for 30 days? ?
cool!
I LOVE TRC!!!
:wOOt:

I never liked The Black Album. That and TRC are the only Prince albums that just really left me feeling disappointed.

Lovesexy is better by far.

Both albums are so special to me because of the personal memories associated with each, but I'd have to pick Lovesexy, no question.

Although, and I *know* this is an unpopular opinion, I have never liked 'When 2 R In Love'. I've tried and tried but I just can NOT get into that song. I'm not saying it's a bad song, just that I don't really like it.

Otherwise, Lovesexy is incredible.

(and the Black Album is AWESOME FUNKY..)

TRON said:

Although I love "The Black Album", I think "Lovesexy" is the stronger record. It has the better songs ("Alphabet Street", "Anna Stesia", "I Wish U Heaven"), but it couldn't have existed without its (then unreleased) predecessor. I don't think they would have made a great double album, but they should have been released together, on the same day, as two sides of the same coin Prince was flipping then.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

LoveSexy, easily.

This is really hard for me. I love them both very much. Lovesexy was a favorite of mine for a LONG time...however, lately I have been having a hard time getting through it. I don't know if I over-played it or what but it just isn't gettin the play it used to. I think it sounds very dated (more so than any of the other 80's albums). Now don't get me wrong, Anna Stesia will always be a top tune for me, and I also still love Alphabet St, Dance On, & Lovesexy...but the other tunes are kinda weak imo.

Now as for the black album, it was just the opposite...when I got a taped boot of it back in the 80's I wasn't crazy over it. It was ok but not near as good as his other stuff. But little by little that tape got more and more play. THEN I played it at a party in college (years before the official release came out) and people went nuts over Bob George & Le Grind...even Dead On It made people get up and jam. I think I made about 20 copies of the tape that night alone. I think everyone dancing & grooving to those songs put a really postive image in my mind, now, when I play them. Also, I discovered its rawer, bolder, more fun, and a hell of a lot more funky than Lovesexy. Those songs are just plain FUN. Now a days, The Black Album is one of my top 5 abums from him.

So my vote goes for The Black Album...

Musically, Lovesexy.

Black album is FUN. I love Superfunkycalifragisexy! Bob George makes me laugh and so does Dead On it.

They are two sides of the same coin. I like being able to listen to When 2 R in Love by selecting the track number.

For me, it's no contest: The Black Album is my favorite by a considerable margin. I just never really got into Lovesexy.

I love both albums but there is no song as bloody awful as "Dead On It" on any other Prince album. Ever.

Its like listening to your Dad attempting to rap. Its unspeakably awful.

Currently, the score is

Lovesexy 19
The Black Album 12

LaVisHh said:

Me too. It's nice to have it in perfect sound quality.

But it takes something away from the album.

Lovesexy, of course.
Keep the positivity up!

Great topic.

The Black Album and Lovesexy are my two favorite Prince albums of all time.

Not only that, they are my two favorite albums- period- of all time.

But I usually consider Lovesexy to be my favorite album of all-time. Funky and it's good for your soul, too.

Lovesexy!!!

...running home to play the Black Album again

it should have been a double album. White on one side and black on the other
___

I have said this for many years...

Finess said:

Ha coming on the heels of Sign of the Times, it would have overwhelmed people at the moment (who would have whined and opined that he has too much filler and should cut it down to a sold one album blah blah blah)... but in the long run it would have been hailed as a masterpiece of funk.

Tron - I can't do it! You've put me in a twist!

definetly Lovesexy...

no prince witout this album... although the thing wit the Black Album was pretty sad...

SnowQueen said:

Me neither - I love Prince ballads, and I remember reading a review of Lovesexy in the Controversy fanzine in which they described W2RIL as this album's Do Me Baby. I was so dissappointed when I heard it - It manages to sound both dry and drippy all at once - an achievement I suppose.

On the other hand - I still remember getting the bus into town to pick up Lovesexy from Red Records in Brixton, London. I was so excited and absolutely loved it. Although I don't think it has many examples of his songwriting at its best, it just had a feel to it, and in those days you always bought a new Prince album and thought what the fuck is he doing now! It was the last album he did from which I got that feeling - until TRC.

It kind of crowned a wonderful period - that started with Parade,then the '96 tour, then came SOTT, then the concert movie, then the Black Album boot, then Lovesexy, and finally the Lovesexy '88 tour - all within a couple of years! Bliss.

I don't think it is one of his best albums at the end of the day, but it was the last interesting/moving one he did, and the tour was an experience like no other.

Oh, sorry, I kinda forgot the question! Lovesexy of course. Black was funny,but there was too much parody going on there - he was trying to prove a point (as he admitted in the Lovesexy tour programme) and a 'petulant Prince' is no match for an 'I don't give a fuck Prince' - and Lovesexy was the last time we saw him until TRC.

I think it's interesting that you can literally say that without The Black Album there wouldn't have been Lovesexy.
Like without light, there's no shadow. It always comes together.

I would pick Lovesexy. If only for Anna Stesia.

He should've took off the crap from both albums and take the good stuff from both albums and made one album. It could've been some kind og good evil, light dark type concept album.

1)Lovesexy
2)Bob George
3)Alphabet Street (with cat glover removed)
4)Rock hard in a funky place
5)When 2 are in love
6)The Ball (instead of the weak I know)
7)Annastasia
8)Glam slam (only for the sake of variety)
9)superfunkycalifragisexy or Le grind
10)I wish u heaven

Some of these songs could be edited to fit on record format