In the wake of Dirty Mind's 30th birthday, I hear a lot of people discuss it as a "180" turn from P's previous work and how it revolutionized music and such. I can't agree or disagree with much of that because I wasn't alive to see it. However, this celebration of Dirty Mind has also brought a lot of the disdain for the previous album that i've seen before on the org to the forefront once again. This is something I simply never understood. Everytime a "p's greatest albums" thread pops up, I always see 'Prince' rated far below the usual suspects such as 1999, Purple Rain, SOTT, Dirty Mind and Parade. Ive even seen it get scores like 6/10 while Dirty Mind almost alwaaays gets 10/10. Well here's my opinion:

1999, Purple Rain and SOTT are simply the best. I can't argue with that. But I honestly believe that 'Prince' is AT LEAST just as good as Dirty Mind. I think it is a shame that the album that carries P's namesake is so underrated. It is by far a more versatile album than Dirty Mind, containing elements of hard rock (Bambi), soft rock (Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad), plenty of RnB and funk (Sexy Dancer). Dirty Mind seems to have a very similar sound throughout, which isn't a bad thing, but to me versatility always wins, which is why SOTT is in my opinion is his greatest work. The individual songs on 'Prince' are utterly beautiful. I personally don't think any song on Dirty Mind is as good as Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad. His voice, the words, the composition, all make for a masterpiece, which is topped off by one of P's more legendary guitar solos. Prince is a guitarist first and foremost, but Dirty Mind does not have any profound guitar work, whereas 'Prince' has plenty of it. Speaking of which, I always wondered how 'Dirty Mind' was a "180" turn because of its more blatant sexual references, but 'Bambi' has an incredibly raw, pierecing sound that fits with its theme of "Bambi, I know what you need, Bambi, baby you need to bleed." That's a pretty sexual song if you ask me. The eponymous album also contains two of the most beautiful and underrated ballads i've ever heard, Still Waiting and It's Gonna Be Lonely. The vocal work on Still Waiting is not matched by anything on Dirty Mind (vocally 'Prince' is far superior to 'Dirty Mind) with the exception of maybe 'When You Were Mine'. It's Gonna Be Lonely is once again just a beautiful composition that has more of pop to it, and fuller sound than anything on Dirty Mind. I find that the use of the synth in Dirty Mind makes it sound very thin at times and harkens back to For You songs like 'Just s Long As We're Together' and 'In Love', which are good songs but don't pack the punch of P's best. And let us not forget that 'Prince' had P's most successful single up until '1999', 'I Wanna Be Your Lover'. Dirty Mind's singles made almost no noise and the album didn't go gold until four years and the release of two superior albums later. 'Do It All Night' didn't chart at all and Dirty Mind peaked at 101 on Billboard (according to our reliable wiki page). The critics adored 'Dirty Mind' but it seems the people weren't so quick to call it a masterpiece (just an assumption, correct me if i'm wrong). The one thing I will say is that 'Dirty Mind' has a far more cohesive sound and is paced perfectly. In other words, as a single entity, Dirty Mind is somewhat better, however if broken down song by song i believe 'Prince' is the superior.

Just to put it into perspective:

Purple Rain: 10/10

Sign O' The Times: 20!!/10 (probably the best album i have ever heard from any artist)

Around the World in a Day: 8/10

1999: 9/10

Parade: 7/10 (sorry i just dont understand the love this album gets..it's good, not great)

Controversy: 8.5/10 ('Prince'+'Dirty Mind', good singing & a bit more guitar work+synth and sex)

DIRTY MIND: 8/10 (Still an absolutely great album)

PRINCE: 8.5/10

Interesting thread to say the least ... One point of interest:

I never thought S.O.T.T. was such a great album until I heard 'Dream Factory' then I got it. I've been on the hunt to listen to and or hear the ORIGINAL concept albums of so said albums. I've read and heard some music has been removed from this or that album then you find a boot that was the original configuration of so said album. I find myself listening to fan made album configurations of a lot of the albums you just mention 'plus' more. There's always an interesting way to keep P's music in heavy rotation.

(Listening to Prince at the Coachella, great performance with Little Red Corvette sounding better then I've ever heard it and 'Creep' ... All I can say is 'WoW' about the guitar work). [img:$uid]http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/77.gif[/img:$uid]

My scores:

Purple Rain: 10/10

Sign O' The Times: 7.5/10

Around the World in a Day: 7/10

1999: 10/10

Parade: 9.5/10

Controversy: 8.5/10

Dirty Mind: 9.5/10

Prince: 7.5/10

... as you can see all my scores are about 5, if I put it about 7, then I consider it a really good album[img:$uid]http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/3.gif[/img:$uid]

For You & Prince (1979) are both great and solid albums,

but I can't give more than 8/10.

Dirty Mind is a 10/10.

My top 38 Prince albums,

from best album to worst:

01. Purple Rain (10)
02. Sign "O" The Times (10)
03. 1999 (10)
04. Lovesexy (10)
05. Parade (10)
06. Around The World In A Day (10)
07. The Gold Experience (10)
08. Dirty Mind (10)
09. Controversy (9)
10. Diamonds & Pearls (9)
11. Love Symbol Album (9)
12. Come (9)
13. Black Album (9)
14. The Rainbow Children (9)
15. Graffiti Bridge (8)
16. Prince (8)
17. For You (8)
18. Batman (8)
19. Crystal Ball (8)
20. Emancipation (8)
21. LotusFlower / MPLSound (8)
22. 20Ten (8)

23. Musicology (7)
24. Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (7)
25. The Truth (7)
26. Chaos & Disorder (7)
27. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (6)
28. The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale (6)
29. The Chocolate Invasion (6)
30. Slaughterhouse (6)
31. 3121 (5)
32. Planet Earth (5)
33. Newpower Soul (4)
34. One Nite Alone... Piano (3)
35. N.E.W.S. (2)
36. One Nite Alone... Live (2)
37. Indigo Nights (2)
38. Kamasutra (0)

thanks for watching this for the 117th time.

PurpleLove7 said:

Interesting thread to say the least ... One point of interest:

I never thought S.O.T.T. was such a great album until I heard 'Dream Factory' then I got it. I've been on the hunt to listen to and or hear the ORIGINAL concept albums of so said albums. I've read and heard some music has been removed from this or that album then you find a boot that was the original configuration of so said album. I find myself listening to fan made album configurations of a lot of the albums you just mention 'plus' more. There's always an interesting way to keep P's music in heavy rotation.

(Listening to Prince at the Coachella, great performance with Little Red Corvette sounding better then I've ever heard it and 'Creep' ... All I can say is 'WoW' about the guitar work). [img:$uid]http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/77.gif[/img:$uid]

My scores:

Purple Rain: 10/10

Sign O' The Times: 7.5/10

Around the World in a Day: 7/10

1999: 10/10

Parade: 9.5/10

Controversy: 8.5/10

Dirty Mind: 9.5/10

Prince: 7.5/10

... as you can see all my scores are about 5, if I put it about 7, then I consider it a really good album[img:$uid]http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/3.gif[/img:$uid]

It would be interesting if P with the remasters put out an "undiluted" and extended song configuration of albums that he had to rush to finish. With Blu-Ray, he easily could put out the entire multitracks and let the fans mix them, and send them back to him to listen to and judge. Would be a fun way of listening to one song 100 different ways.

i've always loved the "prince" album start to finish. great album.

"for you" i kinda like but only half of it. the rest is pretty much ok

but nothing i ever feel like listening to on it's own. i hear the tunes

whenever i feel like listening to the entire album and the always

sound a bit dull and sugary.

but "prince", now that's one great disc

I had no idea that 'Prince' wasn't really popular with the Prince fans. Straight from my first listen I was in love with this album. Maybe I'm weird if I say that I prefer it over Dirty Mind?

there is no way sign if 7.5 IMO, its atleast a 9 and probably a 9.5

For me Dirty Mind is clearly the superior album. I do agree that Prince is a great album and it's not really fair that it is often lumped in with For You as not really being a Prince album. The big advantage that Dirty Mind has is that it's the first album where Prince forges a distinctive sound that is his own. As good as Prince is it is still basically conventional late '70s R & B with some generic rock songs. I think that "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad" is a great song but it's not terribly distinctive. You mention that "versatility always wins" and again I have to disagree. I'll take quality over versatility and for me Dirty Mind features much better songs.

Song for song I think that Dirty Mind is vastly superior. The ballads on Prince really drag the album down for me with one notable exception. I've always felt that "It's Gonna Be Lonely" was the prototype for the classic Prince ballad. All the pieces are there but he doesn't quite put them together like he would with songs like "Do Me, Baby," "International Lover," "The Beautiful Ones," "Scandalous" et cetera. Unfortunately the other ballads are very sappy and in my opinion among the worst he has recorded. I do think the live version of "Still Waiting" from the early '80s tours is much better than the album version but "With You" and "When We're Dancing Close And Slow" are just bad.

I also disagree that the vocals on Prince are superior. If you are a big fan of Prince's soft vocals then, yes, Prince is a better album but I think Dirty Mind spotlights his rock/rough vocals better. I don't really see one as being better than the other rather just different examples of his vocals.

You also mention the commercial performance of Dirty Mind and the singles released from it. For me that is completely irrelevant. Diamonds and Pearls is one of Prince's best selling albums and I think it's a stinker.

I will say that both albums suffer from a similar flaw: the drumming. For You, Prince, Dirty Mind and Controversy all feature fairly pedestrian drums. Compare any song from those albums to something like "Tamborine" and it's night and day. That's the one minor quibble I have with Dirty Mind and something that elevates albums like 1999, Purple Rain and Sign 'O The Times above it.

this album got MAD spin in the 'hood!! set me up for life as a Prince fan. definitely his most underrated album IMO. grown ass pimp types, hustlers, drug dealers and just everyday folks loved this album. WYWTMSB, Sexy Dancer and Still Waiting got mad love. great childhood memories!

dalsh327 said:

It would be interesting if P with the remasters put out an "undiluted" and extended song configuration of albums that he had to rush to finish. With Blu-Ray, he easily could put out the entire multitracks and let the fans mix them, and send them back to him to listen to and judge. Would be a fun way of listening to one song 100 different ways.

Right, more interaction with 'us', I completely agree with you about that. Allow us the courtesy of doing the mix-down of an album of so said tracks.