does any body agree with me apart from n.e.w.s it has to be 20ten, it was so disappointing apart from sticky like glue and the hidden track, for prince it was poor you always get at least 5 decent tracks from an album, the whole thing sounded rushed, tinny and cheap

I like both N.E.W.S and 20TEN. So, no.

I will leave instrumental albums aside and my vote for worse album to date is Crystal Ball. Too long, no concept and a general mish mash off crappy filler songs.

nate87 said:

does any body agree with me apart from n.e.w.s it has to be 20ten, it was so disappointing apart from sticky like glue and the hidden track, for prince it was poor you always get at least 5 decent tracks from an album, the whole thing sounded rushed, tinny and cheap

First of all, N.E.W.S. cannot be taken into consideration as "worst album" simply because it was more of a project than a commercial endeavour. It's a JAZZ album, consisting of 4 tracks dedicated to the four cardinal points. How can you POSSIBLY lump that in with the pther fodder that he's put out?

Second; compare 20TEN to Planet Earth. Both are dissapointing, and both are fairly new. But at least 20TEN is an attempt to re-claim that 80's sound that made him what he is, as opposed to just mediocre tunes of "inspiration" and "eco-conscience" set to band music.

I'm not even touching Lotusflow3r.

PurpleJedi said:

nate87 said:

does any body agree with me apart from n.e.w.s it has to be 20ten, it was so disappointing apart from sticky like glue and the hidden track, for prince it was poor you always get at least 5 decent tracks from an album, the whole thing sounded rushed, tinny and cheap

First of all, N.E.W.S. cannot be taken into consideration as "worst album" simply because it was more of a project than a commercial endeavour. It's a JAZZ album, consisting of 4 tracks dedicated to the four cardinal points. How can you POSSIBLY lump that in with the pther fodder that he's put out?

Second; compare 20TEN to Planet Earth. Both are dissapointing, and both are fairly new. But at least 20TEN is an attempt to re-claim that 80's sound that made him what he is, as opposed to just mediocre tunes of "inspiration" and "eco-conscience" set to band music.

I'm not even touching Lotusflow3r.

Um, because it's an album and WAS released as a commercial endeavor.

And Planet Earth wasn't about eco-conscience...... lol.

[Edited 12/9/10 14:35pm]

I'd vote for MPLSound.

Worse looking album aswell

Rainbow Children

The Rainbow Children.

The mere mention of this album makes me cringe at how god awful it is.

If 'The rainbow children' Gets one more mention, I will fuck some people up...and not in the good way

I'm going to risk it a beat down and co-sign TRC

I don't know, I used to say Newpower Soul but lately I've been leaning towards Diamonds and Pearls. It just seemed like he was trying so hard to be popular on that one and it has not aged well. For me 20Ten is MPLSoUND done right. There may not be many extreme highs on 20Ten but, at least for me, there are no big lows either.

I agree, NEWS is very bad.

I like 20Ten, it's OK, about 7/10.

Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic.

The Rainbow Children for sure. Although, the title is pretty sweet.

Musicology

It depends, Prince has released so many crappy albums as a solo act or with the NPG, and, also, many of those crappy albums are so different/unique that you just don't know which is the worst of them all...

but I'm gonna choose one album that I found just wrong and completely unlistenable: n.e.w.s

I wish that album could be erased from my memory... surely his most boring and unessential work to date

so I partially agree with the OP...

JoeTyler said:

It depends, Prince has released so many crappy albums as a solo act or with the NPG, and, also, many of those crappy albums are so different/unique that you just don't know which is the worst of them all...

but I'm gonna choose one album that I found just wrong and completely unlistenable: n.e.w.s

I wish that album could be erased from my memory... surely his most boring and unessential work to date

so I partially agree with the OP...

You're so dramatic. It's an album. If you don't like it, how many times could you have listened to all 60 minutes of it? Surely if you're remembering parts of it, you listened to it enough.

Some of you people are so hung up on greed.

Spinlight said:

JoeTyler said:

It depends, Prince has released so many crappy albums as a solo act or with the NPG, and, also, many of those crappy albums are so different/unique that you just don't know which is the worst of them all...

but I'm gonna choose one album that I found just wrong and completely unlistenable: n.e.w.s

I wish that album could be erased from my memory... surely his most boring and unessential work to date

so I partially agree with the OP...

You're so dramatic. It's an album. If you don't like it, how many times could you have listened to all 60 minutes of it? Surely if you're remembering parts of it, you listened to it enough.

Some of you people are so hung up on greed.

On greed? How did you get there?

I think despite one or two gems, Chaos and Disorder or The Vault are really pitiful compared to any of his other album concepts.

THE RAINBOW CHILDREN IS THE WORST ALBUM

THE RAINBOW CHILDREN =

This type of thread

andykeen said:

If 'The rainbow children' Gets one more mention, I will fuck some people up...and not in the good way

How about if I mention it more than once

The RAINBOW CHILDREN is the worst Prince album

The Rainbow Children

The Rainbow Children.

Seriously though it really sucks

lopez568 said:

I will leave instrumental albums aside and my vote for worse album(actually a compilation of bootlegs) to date is Crystal Ball. Too long(most compilations are extensive), no concept(compilations don't usually have a single theme or flow) and a general mish mash off crappy filler(bootlegged tracks that prior to their release most of us hunted down) songs.

I would like to add one more little tidbit for all you N.E.W.S. haters...

...about three years ago we had a summer party. Bunch of friends, BBQ, etc.

As the night wore on and people began to mellow out, I popped N.E.W.S. into the CD player.

I would say it was a HIT.

#1 - it was a group of people fairly indifferencial to Prince as a whole...kind'a like the way one of us may feel about Bruce Springsteen...and yet they mostly thought it was "cool".

#2 - one couple actually was "moved" by the music...so much so that they promptly left. The result is a beautiful little girl, named Emma.

So I can personally attest to the fact that N.E.W.S. is NOT his worst album ever.

PurpleJedi said:

I would like to add one more little tidbit for all you N.E.W.S. haters...

...about three years ago we had a summer party. Bunch of friends, BBQ, etc.

As the night wore on and people began to mellow out, I popped N.E.W.S. into the CD player.

I would say it was a HIT.

#1 - it was a group of people fairly indifferencial to Prince as a whole...kind'a like the way one of us may feel about Bruce Springsteen...and yet they mostly thought it was "cool".

#2 - one couple actually was "moved" by the music...so much so that they promptly left. The result is a beautiful little girl, named Emma.

So I can personally attest to the fact that N.E.W.S. is NOT his worst album ever.

no offence, but your pals get hot very easily; if you had used Erotic City I bet there would have been a nasty orgy...

so? does N.E.W.S work as a chill-out/ambient record? perhaps, but not for me... it's a self-indulgent, boring, overlong, nonsense pseudo-jazz album that nobody but the obsessed appreciated at that point of his damaged career.

I mean, there's a loooong downward spiral from 1999 to N.E.W.S

luckily, things improved with Musicology/3121...

The Rainbow Children

Wow, I am genuinely shocked by how many here hate TRC.

Is it beacuse of the narration and Wedding feast? If so, please get beyond that. Musically and artistically I think it is a stand out album. I love it. After the 80's there are few real gems. Gold Experience, TRC and to a lesser extend Lotusflow3r are in my opinion the highlights.

But that wasn't the question.

Slaughterhouse, Chocolate fatory if you count a DL only album is the weakest by far

If you want a commercial release then, Planet Earth and 20Ten are pretty weak. I want to like 20ten as it seems so popular , not sure what I'm not hearing that everyone else is. It's ok I spose.

lust said:

Wow, I am genuinely shocked by how many here hate TRC.

Is it beacuse of the narration and Wedding feast? If so, please get beyond that.

I can't speak for everyone, but I imagine for many it's the antisemitism, sexism, and religious dogma that bring it down.