electricberet said:

I started a Condorcet poll. The link is in this thread:

http://prince.org/msg/7/357438

This will produce an overall ranking based on the preferences of all who participate. The results may be interesting if enough people actually vote.

Voted!

This is a regular topic on prince.org (top X albums, bottom X albums, etc.). If you start that kind of threads, you should at least give a list of possible answers.

What I would personally do would be to start from the "All Albums" list on "Prince Vault":

http://princevault.com/in...All_Albums

I would remove the "best of" compilations ("The Hits 1", "The Hits 2", "The Hits / The B-Sides", "The Very Best Of Prince", and "Ultimate").

Then I would probably remove "Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic" as it's a remix album and I just don't see it as a new album.

Finally, I would probably remove live albums as well ("One Nite Alone... Live!", "One Nite Alone... The Aftershow", "C-Note", and "Indigo Nights").

I would still keep instrumental albums ("Xpectation" and "N.E.W.S."). To me, they're "real" albums.

So, that's what remains ("real" studio albums by Prince):

• For You
• Prince
• Dirty Mind
• Controversy
• 1999
• Purple Rain
• Around The World In A Day
• Parade
• Sign 'O' The Times
• Lovesexy
• Batman
• Graffiti Bridge
• Diamonds And Pearls
• 
• Come
• The Black Album
• The Gold Experience
• Chaos And Disorder
• Emancipation
• Cystal Ball
• The Truth
• The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale
• Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
• The Rainbow Children
• One Nite Alone...
• Xpectation
• N.E.W.S.
• Musicology
• The Chocolate Invasion
• The Slaughterhouse
• 3121
• Planet Earth
• Lotusflow3r
• MPLSound
• 20TEN

My top 5 (no particular order):

• Sign 'O' The Times
• Lovesexy
• The Gold Experience
• The Rainbow Children
• Lotusflow3r

My bottom 5 (no particular order):

• For You
• Prince
• One Nite Alone...
• N.E.W.S. (replace with "The Chocolate Invasion" if instrumental albums not "allowed")
• The Slaughterhouse

And, yes, I'm bored.

I agree its a random 5 best and 5 worst poll, rather than a rank all the albums poll, as levels of best and worst vary, one persons worst maybe to them dreadful, to someone else the worst album maybe kind of okay. Still the person who ranked them did a good braometer feel. I wonder how he got that system worked out, scoring criteria etc.

SUPRMAN said:

NouveauDance said:

Veego said:

The people that think those 2 albums suck must be big fans of funk. That's my only guess. Because Emancipation has some of the best song writting he's ever done. Production is another thing had it been more raw it could have been top 3 easy!

Which tracks would you give as examples?

This is how I like my funk:

This is 3121 and Emancipation:

[Edited 4/21/11 14:51pm]

My Personal 5 Best r:

5. Emancipation

4. 1999

3. Controversy

2. For You

1. Purple Rain

The 5 Worst r:

5. Chaos and Disorder

4. The Rainbow Children

3. ElixerLotusFlowerMPLSound

2. 1-800-New-Funk

1. Rave

This is 3121 and Emancipation:

Nah. I kinda like the colour scheme and the overall design of that can. Something similar would have been an improvement over the cover art of Emancipation at the very least.

I think Emancipation and 3121 have some of the best pop songs he's written - the melodies are really good on many cuts -, but it is indeed the production that makes both a bit hard to swallow down. However, in the case of Emancipation it's a bit unrealistic to think that he would have done a record in the mid-90s with the same synths and drum sounds as he did "Controversy" and "1999". There's some of the 80s rawness present on tracks like "In This Bed I Scream", "Joint 2 Joint" or the title track. It's harder to come up with excuses for the production values of 3121, because by that time most everyone else had gone back to using 70s / 80s type of synths and drum sounds. It was almost as if Prince simply didn't listen to any of the newer bands that were taking influence from him.

[Edited 4/22/11 2:35am]

NouveauDance said:

This is 3121 and Emancipation:

[Edited 4/21/11 14:51pm]

Looks like Rave UN2

novabrkr said:

I think Emancipation and 3121 have some of the best pop songs he's written - the melodies are really good on many cuts -, but it is indeed the production that makes both a bit hard to swallow down. However, in the case of Emancipation it's a bit unrealistic to think that he would have done a record in the mid-90s with the same synths and drum sounds as he did "Controversy" and "1999". There's some of the 80s rawness present on tracks like "In This Bed I Scream", "Joint 2 Joint" or the title track. It's harder to come up with excuses for the production values of 3121, because by that time most everyone else had gone back to using 70s / 80s type of synths and drum sounds. It was almost as if Prince simply didn't listen to any of the newer bands that were taking influence from him.

Well I wasn't suggesting the use of the same MPLS sound synths, never mentioned it even.

Still dunno what these best pop songs he's ever written are that are from Emancipation or 3121?

Best:

1999

SOTT

Dirty Mind

Purple Rain

Love Symbol

Worst:

Chaos & Disorder

New Power Soul

Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic

ATWIAD

Graffiti Bridge

novabrkr said:

I think Emancipation and 3121 have some of the best pop songs he's written

You mean some of the cheesiest songs? I don't think most of the songs are bad, but what songs are some of his best then?

My Best

1) Love Symbol

2) Purple Rain

3) 1999

4) Emancipation

5) Rain bow children

My Worst

1) New power soul

2) Musicology

3) Rave Un2 the joy fantastic

4) 3121

5) Planet earth

SoulAlive said:

Best:

1999

SOTT

Dirty Mind

Purple Rain

Love Symbol

Worst:

Chaos & Disorder

New Power Soul

Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic

ATWIAD

Graffiti Bridge

controversial, but I think you got a point , and I partially agree

top 4

best; dirty mind, lovesexy, the symbol, purple rain

worst; planet earth, 2010, 21 nights live cd, rave...

6 best in no particular order

Purple rain

Lovesexy

Parade

TRC

Lotusflower

3121

I'd probably have to add ONA if I had it. Plus I'd like to add 2010 coz I like it a lot but I'm over 5 already.

3 worst

NPS

The black album

The gold experience (I like 3 songs on there, & the gorgeous intro to endorphinemachine)

The Symbol album - only like 5 songs

[Edited 4/25/11 4:08am]

JoeTyler said:

SoulAlive said:

Best:

1999

SOTT

Dirty Mind

Purple Rain

Love Symbol

Worst:

Chaos & Disorder

New Power Soul

Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic

ATWIAD

Graffiti Bridge

controversial, but I think you got a point , and I partially agree

I think 'Love Symbol' is Prince's best album of the 90s.I know alot of fans disagree,mainly because of the Tony M. element,but I think the songs are excellent regardless.

I tried really hard to get into 'ATWIAD' but something about that album leaves me cold.'GB' has some good moments but as an album,it doesn't really hold together.A really good song is often followed by a mediocre one.

Best:

1999

lovesexy

purple rain

around the world in a day

sign o' the times

worst:

chaos and disorder

new power soul

graffiti bridge

20ten

planet earth

Best:

1. Purple Rain
2. Sign O' The Times
3. Dirty Mind
4. 1999
5. Around The World In A Day

Worst:

1. Batman
2. Newpower Soul
3. MPLSound
4. The Chocolate Invasion
5. The Slaughterhouse

Best (in no particular order):

1. SOTT

2. Parade

3. Controversy

4. 3121

5. Emancipation / ATWIAD

Worst (in no particular order):

1. Graffiti Bridge

2. Crystal Ball

3. MPLS Sound

4. Planet Earth

5. The Black Album

Top 5 Best (No order)

The Gold Experience

Purple Rain

Lotusflow3r

Chaos and Disorder

Planet Earth

Top 5 Worst (No Order)

Diamonds and Pearls

Graffiti Bridge

3121

N.E.W.S. (If that counts)

Rave un2 The Joy Fanstastic

SoulAlive said:

JoeTyler said:

controversial, but I think you got a point , and I partially agree

I think 'Love Symbol' is Prince's best album of the 90s.I know alot of fans disagree,mainly because of the Tony M. element,but I think the songs are excellent regardless.

I tried really hard to get into 'ATWIAD' but something about that album leaves me cold.'GB' has some good moments but as an album,it doesn't really hold together.A really good song is often followed by a mediocre one.

ATWIAD leaves you cold? I doubt you've listened to Condition of the Heart

not counting live, compilations or experiental stuff like Kamasutra

Best

1. SOTT

2. Purple Rain

3. 1999

4. Parade

5. 3121

Worst

5. Batman

4. New Power Soul

3. Graffiti Bridge

2. Rave Un2 The Joy

1.Chaos And Disorder

[Edited 4/25/11 13:25pm]

By replying i am with a doubt setting myself up, but oh well here goes nothing.

My 5 best

1. Prince 1979 album

2. Dirty Mind

3. Sign O' the times

4. Controversy

5. Purple Rain (yes i kno wat ur all thinking, sorry my opinion)

My 5 worst

1. NEWS (if it counts as an album, if not >>> New power soul)

2. 20ten

3.Chaos & Disorder

4. Around the world in day (yup thats wat i said)

5. Graffiti Bridge

NOTE:

i think Controversy could be interchangeable with Parade, and Purple Rain with Emancipation or Gold, im a 70's music lover, n 1979 album gets me dancing n puts me 2 sleep @ nite , not saying its his BEST work, jus stating its MY favorite

olb99 said:

This is a regular topic on prince.org (top X albums, bottom X albums, etc.). If you start that kind of threads, you should at least give a list of possible answers.

What I would personally do would be to start from the "All Albums" list on "Prince Vault":

http://princevault.com/in...All_Albums

I would remove the "best of" compilations ("The Hits 1", "The Hits 2", "The Hits / The B-Sides", "The Very Best Of Prince", and "Ultimate").

Then I would probably remove "Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic" as it's a remix album and I just don't see it as a new album.

Finally, I would probably remove live albums as well ("One Nite Alone... Live!", "One Nite Alone... The Aftershow", "C-Note", and "Indigo Nights").

I would still keep instrumental albums ("Xpectation" and "N.E.W.S."). To me, they're "real" albums.

So, that's what remains ("real" studio albums by Prince):

• For You
• Prince
• Dirty Mind
• Controversy
• 1999
• Purple Rain
• Around The World In A Day
• Parade
• Sign 'O' The Times
• Lovesexy
• Batman
• Graffiti Bridge
• Diamonds And Pearls
• 
• Come
• The Black Album
• The Gold Experience
• Chaos And Disorder
• Emancipation
• Cystal Ball
• The Truth
• The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale
• Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
• The Rainbow Children
• One Nite Alone...
• Xpectation
• N.E.W.S.
• Musicology
• The Chocolate Invasion
• The Slaughterhouse
• 3121
• Planet Earth
• Lotusflow3r
• MPLSound
• 20TEN

My top 5 (no particular order):

• Sign 'O' The Times
• Lovesexy
• The Gold Experience
• The Rainbow Children
• Lotusflow3r

My bottom 5 (no particular order):

• For You
• Prince
• One Nite Alone...
• N.E.W.S. (replace with "The Chocolate Invasion" if instrumental albums not "allowed")
• The Slaughterhouse

And, yes, I'm bored.

NO!!!!! joking i actually like how u sorted everything out, but man thats my Fav

NouveauDance said:

This is 3121 and Emancipation:

[Edited 4/21/11 14:51pm]

Yuk!!!!, you guys eat cheese out of a can, its wrapped in plastic here. What would processed cheese tainted with metal taste like?? Bleech!! Seriously can you tell what it tastes like?

The1592 said:

Best Albums: (Ordered Chronologically, 'cause I can't decide my favorite)

1. 1999
2. Parade
3. Sign O The Times
4. The Rainbow Children
5. 3121

Worst albums (Excluding NPG or NPG Orchestra)

5th Worst - Planet Earth (I love "Somewhere Here On Earth". The rest is decent, except "Chelsea Rodgers", which is really bad.)

4th Worst - The Slaughterhouse ("Hypnoparadise" saves this from being #1)

3rd Worst - For You (Might not be so bad if he rerecorded it)

2nd Worst - The Black Album ("Dead On It" is embarrasing; "Bob George" is barely music; "When 2 R In Love" is great; and the rest is just dull)

Worst - MPLSound (The first Prince album where I don't love anything. About 1/3 of it's good (not great), though)

[Edited 4/20/11 9:57am]

I don't think it's fair to put his 1st solo album on your worst album list (or his 2nd, for that matter). He had already been in the music business, but not everybody can establish a solid musical foundation on their first record; that sort of thing takes time. I think For You and Prince should get some slack for that reason alone.

best:

1. SOTT

2. Purple Rain

3. Batman

4. MPLSound

5. Lotusflow3r

worst:

1. 1999 remasters

2. rave

thats all I hate, I cant even think of 3 other albums

Top 5 no certain order

1. Purple Rain

2. Dirty Mind

3. SOTT

4. 1999

5 Gold Experience

Worst 5

1. Lovesexy

2. Emancipation

3. For You

4. Graffiti Bridge

5. New Power Soul