So, far I only own Emancipation (which, I absolutely hated for a while but it's grown on me a bit), but I haven't heard really anything from this decade aside from the two Come singles I accidentally bought off itunes. I will say as a starting point for suggestions, I'm really not a way into Prince's ballads (I think they're way too many on Emancipation) and prefer his upbeat stuff.

Thanks guys. :]

1991

You need the whole Come album, IMO.

See section 4 http://prince.org/msg/7/145050

I very much like the Chaos and Disorder album.

zaza said:

You NEED to own The Gold Experience.

You should start with the 90s Holy Trinity: Come/Gold/Exodus

The symbol album is pretty darn good, too.

Stay clear of New Power Soul until your absolutely ready.

Actually, it's pretty much all good until 1996 (the post-WB years), then it's a bit more hit-or-miss.

I agree on the Gold Experience and Maybe NewPowerSoul

Gold, Come, Symbol are probably the best 3 for you, I agree (and Exodus if you can lay your hands on it - it's credited to NPG I think),

Diamonds and Pearls gets bad press here and it's not one of my faves (one of the only records I no longer own) but it's accessible and got some classics - Gett Off, Cream, Willing and Able (less classic, but I like it).

You should start buying these 6 albums

1) 1995: THE GOLD EXPERIENCE 10/10

[img:$uid]http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/6742/princethegoldexperience.jpg[/img:$uid]

2) 1994: COME 9.5/10

[img:$uid]http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/4425/princecome.jpg[/img:$uid]

3) 1992: 9/10

[img:$uid]http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/5206/lovesymbol92.png[/img:$uid]

4) 1991: DIAMONDS & PEARLS 9/10

[img:$uid]http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6273/dpblue.jpg[/img:$uid]

5) 1990: GRAFFITI BRIDGE 8/10

[img:$uid]http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/8053/princegraffitibridge.jpg[/img:$uid]

6) 1996: EMANCIPATION 8/10

[img:$uid]http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/3023/princeemancipation.jpg[/img:$uid]

THE FIRST HALF OF THE 1990'S WAS ACTUALLY QUITE GOOD,

but take your time, take a lot of listenings - and the music will reward you.

[Edited 7/6/10 14:51pm]

billymeade said:

You should start with the 90s Holy Trinity: Come/Gold/Exodus

The symbol album is pretty darn good, too.

Stay clear of New Power Soul until your absolutely ready.

Actually, it's pretty much all good until 1996 (the post-WB years), then it's a bit more hit-or-miss.

Just skip the 90's, they were fucking shit.

Not liking his ballads is close to purple treason. Rethink.

His best 90s album is the Truth, but since this person hates the soft side of Prince, I'd say Gold wins hands down.

And I am tired of hate when it comes to New Power Soul. That is a kicking dance album.

Don't start with the Gold Experience, because you'll be disappointed afterward. take them in the order they were released starting in '91 and move forward, so you can hear the evolution (and later, the de-volution, I guess).

MikeyB71 said:

Just skip the 90's, they were fucking shit.

sorry: I disagree.

Joy In Repetition,

The Question Of U,

Thieves In The Temple,

Gett Off,

Sexy MF,

7,

Come,

Papa,

Race,
Dark,

Count The Days,

Return Of The Bump Squad,

Big Fun,

Love Sign,

Gold,

Eye Hate U,

The Love We Make,

The Truth,

Don't Play Me,

.

.

.

>>>>> Excellent songs imo.

The Symbol album.

Then, The Gold Experience (slightly better than the symbol album).

The Gold Experience sounds like a sequal to the symbol album musically. It's in the same vein--very fierce vocals/performances, and all the tunes are designed to get your attention.

When Emancipation was released (I do like Emancipation alot), I was really hoping that Emancipation would be a 3 hour version of the Gold Experience.

thedance said:

MikeyB71 said:

Just skip the 90's, they were fucking shit.

sorry: I disagree.

Joy In Repetition,

The Question Of U,

Thieves In The Temple,

Gett Off,

Sexy MF,

7,

Come,

Papa,

Race,
Dark,

Count The Days,

Return Of The Bump Squad,

Big Fun,

Love Sign,

Gold,

Eye Hate U,

The Love We Make,

The Truth,

Don't Play Me,

.

.

.

>>>>> Excellent songs imo.

I take back all i said, the 90's were brilliant.

.................................some of it.

MikeyB71 said:

thedance said:

sorry: I disagree.

Joy In Repetition,

The Question Of U,

Thieves In The Temple,

Gett Off,

Sexy MF,

7,

Come,

Papa,

Race,
Dark,

Count The Days,

Return Of The Bump Squad,

Big Fun,

Love Sign,

Gold,

Eye Hate U,

The Love We Make,

The Truth,

Don't Play Me,

.

.

.

>>>>> Excellent songs imo.

I take back all i said, the 90's were brilliant.

.................................some of it.

well said, everyone o' those is quality..n plenty more!! yaldi

Prince '90's albums are all good! Dive in and enjoy!

Here are but a few highlights from Prince's FANTASTIC 90's work!

So Far, So Pleased

The Holy River

Sexy MF

Get Your Groove On

Thieves In The Temple

Come On

The One

Jam Of The Year

Come

Dolphin

Chaos and Disorder

Girl 6

Emancipation

Space

Cream

I Like It There

Money Don't Matter 2nite

Where U Whatever U Do

Thunder

Letitgo

Dreaming About U

Diamonds and Pearls

Sarah

New Power Generation

Gold

It's About That Walk

Welcome 2 The Dawn

The Question Of U

Joint 2 Joint

Love Sign

Endorphin Machine

My Name Is Prince

Get Wild!

When U Love Somebody

The Same December

White Mansion

P Control

Tick Tick Bang

Somebody's Somebody

The Love We Make

The Greatest Romance Ever Sold

Wasted Kisses

Eye Hate U

My Computer

7

Gett Off

The Truth

Sex In The Summer

Fascination

319

Still Would Stand All Time

Right Back Here In My Arms

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World

I dig that the 90's albums are getting love.

In many ways, the 90's were a weird time to be a Prince fan. Besides the name change, and other publicity antics, the music was constantly hammered by a section of the fan base (sound familiar?) who dogged Prince for incorporating hip hop into the mix, but he had some really great music in that decade. Still, older fans were venomous at the time. They weren't hailing Come as a classic, and they could not (and some still won't) get over Tony M.

Seeing that people now look kindly at what was a turbulent Prince era, I cannot help but think that many of the same kind of folks are missing out on all the fun that's been going on since the 90's. Prince has been having a renaissance of sorts since 2004 and I have enjoyed it immensely.

I think that many people who are talking ill of Prince current output are going change their tune and will look back with fond memories of 2000-2010.

skywalker said:

I dig that the 90's albums are getting love.

In many ways, the 90's were a weird time to be a Prince fan. Besides the name change, and other publicity antics, the music was constantly hammered by a section of the fan base (sound familiar?) who dogged Prince for incorporating hip hop into the mix, but he had some really great music in that decade. Still, older fans were venomous at the time. They weren't hailing Come as a classic, and they could not (and some still won't) get over Tony M.

Seeing that people now look kindly at what was a turbulent Prince era, I cannot help but think that many of the same kind of folks are missing out on all the fun that's been going on since the 90's. Prince has been having a renaissance of sorts since 2004 and I have enjoyed it immensely.

I think that many people who are talking ill of Prince current output are going change their tune and will look back with fond memories of 2000-2010.

well, to be fair, most of those people that were doing that in the 90's picked up and moved on and it's the ones that got into him in the 90's and after that are posting on message boards, etc.

Symbol---Ecclectic but is a very enjoyable listen. The only time in his catalogue that the rap pieces were tolerable.

The Gold Experience----Absolutely fantastic. Still sounds good today

Chaos & Disorder---A "throwaway" but very good album

MikeyB71 said:

Just skip the 90's, they were fucking shit.

Yep

Thanks for the fantastic feedback guys. I'll definitely start with the Gold Experience (which is out of print, correct?) and Come.

He did a lot of great stuff in the 90s...I don't have to explain the internet to you, but I would say just start at 1990 and work your way forward, including any outtakes, etc. Don't skip around as there is no reason to.

Genesia said:

You need the whole Come album, IMO.

And the test pressing version of the album is 5x better than the released version.