every prince album has at least one great song.....yes even rave has two imo.....i love you but...and prettyman are great songs to me....do you agree there is always something on each of his albums that are keepers ?...

Absolutely. There is always at least 1 great song on an album. For me, personally, there tends to be more like 3-4 great songs (I can think of 3-4 great songs off every album in the 2000s, for example).

It's true.

Considering how many albums he has, the fact that I almost agree with this is amazing enough considering how diverse his material has been over the years.

That being said, I personally don't think there are any songs on NPS, 3121 and Planet Earth I would call great. There are some OK/listenable tunes, but none that are great to my ears.

(I also imagine Karmastura is exempt from this discussion as well).

Outside of those, I totally agree. I can find a gem (or two or three) on every other album in the catalog.

Definitely agree

I agree

DEFINITELY

Good point...

Yes, every Prince album except The Rainbow Children. In my opinion there's not a single good song on there.

[Edited 9/2/10 6:00am]

scififilmnerd said:

Yes, every Prince album except The Rainbow Children. In my opinion there's not a single good song on there.

[Edited 9/2/10 6:00am]

The Work.Pt 1 !!!!!

JoeTyler said:

scififilmnerd said:

Yes, every Prince album except The Rainbow Children. In my opinion there's not a single good song on there.

The Work.Pt 1 !!!!!

No, because the lyrics make me think about Jehovas running from door to door with their Watchtowers, doing The Work. That association ruins the song for me.

Fenwick said:

Considering how many albums he has, the fact that I almost agree with this is amazing enough considering how diverse his material has been over the years.

That being said, I personally don't think there are any songs on NPS, 3121 and Planet Earth I would call great. There are some OK/listenable tunes, but none that are great to my ears.

(I also imagine Karmastura is exempt from this discussion as well).

Outside of those, I totally agree. I can find a gem (or two or three) on every other album in the catalog.

I loved your criticisms of 20TEN on Ernest's show.

But I'm gonna call your bluff on those 3 albums.

"The One", "Wasted Kisses", "3121", "Love", "The Dance", "The Word", "Black Sweat", "Planet Earth", "Future Baby Mama", "Mr. Goodnight", "Guitar", and "The One You Wanna See" are all great songs. They might not be in his top 5 tier or anything, but they are still great songs.

Spinlight said:

Fenwick said:

Considering how many albums he has, the fact that I almost agree with this is amazing enough considering how diverse his material has been over the years.

That being said, I personally don't think there are any songs on NPS, 3121 and Planet Earth I would call great. There are some OK/listenable tunes, but none that are great to my ears.

(I also imagine Karmastura is exempt from this discussion as well).

Outside of those, I totally agree. I can find a gem (or two or three) on every other album in the catalog.

I loved your criticisms of 20TEN on Ernest's show.

But I'm gonna call your bluff on those 3 albums.

"The One", "Wasted Kisses", "3121", "Love", "The Dance", "The Word", "Black Sweat", "Planet Earth", "Future Baby Mama", "Mr. Goodnight", "Guitar", and "The One You Wanna See" are all great songs. They might not be in his top 5 tier or anything, but they are still great songs.

Thanks my friend.

Of all the ones you listed, I consider The One, The Word, Black Sweat and 3121 to be OK, (I would upgrade 3121 to "very good" when performed live as it has the extra dose of energy the song needs), again my personal taste.

The others, not so much. All the fluff on Planet Earth the track took what could have been an interesting song and turned it into a carnival. It felt like they were trying to take a song half as good as All My Dreams and make a 2007 version of it.

The other tracks you listed on Planet Earth are actually dreadful to me. I can take The One You Wanna See in small doses, but the lyrics just destroy my ability to truly derive enjoyment from it.

Very true...and lots of times that one song helps me get into others. Perfect example...The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale...my one song on that set is 5 Women. LOVE that tune. The rest was kinda forgettable at the time.

I played that one song enough to where I would leave the CD on...the next thing you know I am REALLY getting into When The Lights Go Down, then Extrordinary...then most of the other tunes (still not a fan of that newer version of OF4S or my little pill). The album is not a masterpiece by any means, but I consider it a nice little collection of songs...with 5 Women STILL being the jam.

scififilmnerd said:

JoeTyler said:

The Work.Pt 1 !!!!!

No, because the lyrics make me think about Jehovas running from door to door with their Watchtowers, doing The Work. That association ruins the song for me.

I strongly agree with Joe here. Lyrics aside, I would cast a vote for The Work, Last December and She Loves Me For Me.

Minus the horrendous intro, Family Name is a monster in my book. The live versions of that song are almost always killer.

scififilmnerd said:

JoeTyler said:

The Work.Pt 1 !!!!!

No, because the lyrics make me think about Jehovas running from door to door with their Watchtowers, doing The Work. That association ruins the song for me.

Fenwick said:

Spinlight said:

I loved your criticisms of 20TEN on Ernest's show.

But I'm gonna call your bluff on those 3 albums.

"The One", "Wasted Kisses", "3121", "Love", "The Dance", "The Word", "Black Sweat", "Planet Earth", "Future Baby Mama", "Mr. Goodnight", "Guitar", and "The One You Wanna See" are all great songs. They might not be in his top 5 tier or anything, but they are still great songs.

Thanks my friend.

Of all the ones you listed, I consider The One, The Word, Black Sweat and 3121 to be OK, (I would upgrade 3121 to "very good" when performed live as it has the extra dose of energy the song needs), again my personal taste.

The others, not so much. All the fluff on Planet Earth the track took what could have been an interesting song and turned it into a carnival. It felt like they were trying to take a song half as good as All My Dreams and make a 2007 version of it.

The other tracks you listed on Planet Earth are actually dreadful to me. I can take The One You Wanna See in small doses, but the lyrics just destroy my ability to truly derive enjoyment from it.

I'm glad you agreed about "The One" because I think it gets a bad rap here on P.org. At least, I'd read long stretches of people saying how boring or monotonous it is. And it's funny because I hate the live version of "3121" cuz it's too fast. The studio (well, live studio) version has that steady, stank groove like other Power Trio collabs like "Peach", "What's My Name", and "Da Bang". (Albeit with little to no crazy solos like on WMN and DB.)

The track "Planet Earth", for me, revisits what I liked about songs like "Strays of the World", "Gold", "Crystal Ball", and "The Love We Make" in that it has that slow, haunting, epic feel to it. I wouldn't lump it with tracks like "Purple Rain", "The Ladder", or "Positivity" simply because it lacks key parts to those tracks' core. But it's still a solid track, I think, mainly because it elaborates on melodic and lyrical themes last seen (at that point) on TRC and I thought TRC lacked a real epic to it. Hell, I think "Planet Earth" borrows from things like "Open Book" and "Others Here With Us" too. But I really do just love the song a lot and it might all boil down to opinions.

blackbob said:

scififilmnerd said:

Yes, every Prince album except The Rainbow Children. In my opinion there's not a single good song on there.

[Edited 9/2/10 6:00am]

Geez, you don't even rate 'The Work'?...you're a tough audience!

"great" as in could fit on a "great"est hits record amongst other "great" songs of his? .. hmmmm

well "song" as in the actual "song" and not the actual "recording" of the song? ... hmmmm

so prince has some really really great songs that he butchered in the recording studio .. the most beautiful girl in the world being a good example .. the song was so good it didnt matter that it was recorded for lite pop radio formats only ... and there is good reason to classify many recent songs as great if there were to be a lyrical edit removing the cringe factor and perhaps using real instruments instead of stock keyboard sounds ...

but as is .. as recorded ... i'd have to disagree .. i would say we have at least one good song that i wouldn't mind hearing next to 7 great songs if there was an album full of 7 great songs with one or 2 good songs ... kinda like putting thunda in with dnp or money dont matter .. i like thunda but i love dnp and mdm ... i like chelsae rodgers but its not up there with shes always in my hair or shockadelica by a long shot and there is nothing else on the record that is even good and a lot that hurts to hear ... same with the work, fury, and the countless ballads that all kinda sound the same .. compassion reminds me of thunder but the production is so stale its hard to listen to .. songs like come on and the one are classics still dont get the hate for that record in general .. here and dance for me are classics but those are the first that reach that height in a long long long time ... much of the symbol album would be great with more interesting production and less rap ... gold exp chaos emancipation rave npgmusic club songs rainbow muscology 3121 planet earth news all profoundly mediocre all the way thru with a rare good song as the highlight but no truly great songs that i need to listen to 100 times and i still cant get enuf of .. pearls before the swine came close save the mediocre bridge ... arms of orion is mediocre the way walk in sand is mediocre ... but where is vicki waiting where is lemon crush or electric chair or the future .. those are all good if not great but even sticky like glue doesnt compare to his past "good" stuff

but all in all post warner bros there really isnt much in classic "great" territory .. just some good stuff hidden in between some really really bad stuff ..

speaking of bad prince music .. i take heart in the fact that even his older records had some cheezy clunkers and bad lyrics "we dont wanna fight no more gonna have to fight ur own damn war" kinda lames up that record and of course there is jack u off, temptation, and numerous other mediocre works that were fine as a fun in between mindblowing break but now we get no more candy 4 u as some kinda highlight ... what? um no

i'd say one "great" song per every 4 records at this point

Spinlight said:

Fenwick said:

Thanks my friend.

I'm glad you agreed about "The One" because I think it gets a bad rap here on P.org. At least, I'd read long stretches of people saying how boring or monotonous it is. And it's funny because I hate the live version of "3121" cuz it's too fast. The studio (well, live studio) version has that steady, stank groove like other Power Trio collabs like "Peach", "What's My Name", and "Da Bang". (Albeit with little to no crazy solos like on WMN and DB.)

The track "Planet Earth", for me, revisits what I liked about songs like "Strays of the World", "Gold", "Crystal Ball", and "The Love We Make" in that it has that slow, haunting, epic feel to it. I wouldn't lump it with tracks like "Purple Rain", "The Ladder", or "Positivity" simply because it lacks key parts to those tracks' core. But it's still a solid track, I think, mainly because it elaborates on melodic and lyrical themes last seen (at that point) on TRC and I thought TRC lacked a real epic to it. Hell, I think "Planet Earth" borrows from things like "Open Book" and "Others Here With Us" too. But I really do just love the song a lot and it might all boil down to opinions.

Totally agree with you regarding the first part of Planet Earth. When it starts, it feels like it's going to be something special. There's an eery hollow atmosphere that is very compelling.

It just turns from compelling to silly to me in the middle and it can't bring me back. And what's funny is, while the carnival totally works for me on All My Dreams and Crystal Ball, it doesn't on songs like Strays of the World and Three Chains of Gold. That's probably got more to do with the fact that I think the proper songs are far stronger to my liking though....

Fenwick said:

Minus the horrendous intro, Family Name is a monster in my book. The live versions of that song are almost always killer.

yes especially for us Jews

scififilmnerd said:

Yes, every Prince album except The Rainbow Children. In my opinion there's not a single good song on there.

Not even Everlasting Now or Last December?

Could somebody point me in the direction of the great song on 3121 and Musicology?

I think that used to be a given. (An old Rolling Stone article said something like, "Prince's chaff is better than most artists' wheat," which was easy for me to agree with at the time.) But I don't hear anything truly great on Planet Earth, MPLSound, or 20ten (some good things, sure, but not at the level of greatness). I hope that's not a trend that continues.

MattyJam said:

Could somebody point me in the direction of the great song on 3121 and Musicology?

Gladly. What Do You Want Me To Do is one of P's best songs of the past 20 years IMO.

I also think the title track and Call My Name are super solid.

3121 - I'm with you - nothing "great" on there.

Fenwick said:

MattyJam said:

Could somebody point me in the direction of the great song on 3121 and Musicology?

Gladly. What Do You Want Me To Do is one of P's best songs of the past 20 years IMO.

I also think the title track and Call My Name are super solid.

3121 - I'm with you - nothing "great" on there.

I think the two title tracks are great songs.

Agree!

Rave? Title track, Tangerine, Wherever U go, Prettyman

NPS? The One, Come On,

TRC? Everlasting Now, Last December

Planet earth? Title Track, Chelsea Rogers

And the list goes on...always gold in them hills.

Fenwick said:

MattyJam said:

Could somebody point me in the direction of the great song on 3121 and Musicology?

Gladly. What Do You Want Me To Do is one of P's best songs of the past 20 years IMO.

I also think the title track and Call My Name are super solid.

3121 - I'm with you - nothing "great" on there.

Ewww....I love The Word....Groovy smooth! I know the religious message might turn some people off to it, but the guitar in it - whoa! I am willing to overlook the message just so I can keep jamming to this one!

The night is calling you to act
Act upon every urge
You can’t get no satisfaction
If you ain’t got the courage
I don’t know what you’re afraid of
I don’t know what you’ve heard
Get up, come on let’s do something
Don’t you wanna know the word?