I personally like both albums. They're obviously no where near Prince's best, but I think he's made worst albums. But which do you think is better out of these two "outtake" albums & why?

Tough decision. I immediately loved about half of each album right out the gate and it took a while to appreciate the rest. However, Chaos' weaker material (Dig U Better Dead, I Rock Therefore I Am) is worse than The Vault's (My Little Pill, When The Lights Go Down).

I'd go with The Vault over Chaos.

Chaos & Disorder, no question. I know it gets bagged on a lot, but I actually like all of it. And I love a substantial portion of it.

All these years later, The Vault still has not grown on me. A couple songs are good, but for the most part it's just a blah album for me.

I would give the slight edge to 'The Vault' only because I'm not sure if I like every song off of 'Chaos'...btw Being that these songs were from the infamous "Vault", how exited could you be for more tracks like these????

This is a little tough, because I LOVE ''When The Lights Go Down'' and just the whole blusey vibe of 'Vault', but I give the nod to 'Chaos' though. Think it's better as an overall album (although they both were throwaways).

I like both and they are completely different albums, musically. Both have their moments of absolute brilliance, but I'm in the mood to listen to Chaos more often, because of the gritty, dirty, but still polished mid-90s sound that I'm so in love with.

Easy, The Vault.

The Vault.

Because I really don't like Chaos&Disorder, sorry.

Chaos and Disorder.....4 The Same December Alone!!...never mind Dig U Better Dead or I Like It There!!

Spinlight said:

Tough decision. I immediately loved about half of each album right out the gate and it took a while to appreciate the rest. However, Chaos' weaker material (Dig U Better Dead, I Rock Therefore I Am) is worse than The Vault's (My Little Pill, When The Lights Go Down).

I'd go with The Vault over Chaos.

Completely agree.'I Rock Therefore I Am' gets more embarrassing with every listen.

gunner82 said:

They both have some great stuff with a couple of duffers each. I think the bad tracks on C&D outweigh the bad tracks on The Vault though.

The Vault, easily. but I look at them as companion pieces.

When they were released...Chaos by far...but now?? The Vault by a mile. Chaos got old fast, while The Vault is aging like a fine wine.

When the Lights Go Down is turning into one of my fave tracks ever from the guy. Did I see someone on here calling it a weak track? Really? It's all a matter of opinion, but this track is anything but weak.

Poplife88 said:

When they were released...Chaos by far...but now?? The Vault by a mile. Chaos got old fast, while The Vault is aging like a fine wine.

When the Lights Go Down is turning into one of my fave tracks ever from the guy. Did I see someone on here calling it a weak track? Really? It's all a matter of opinion, but this track is anything but weak.

Your comment was right on point! I absolutely agree. I never really saw why 'The Vault" was dogged so hard, honestly. We all [Prince Fans at least] knew it was outtakes from the very beginning. And when you think about it, Prince kept [mostly] all of his best unreleasd stuff for himself. None of his best boots got released at all [outside of "Old Friends For Sale"] under WB.

"Chaos And Disorder" sounds like a real album. "The Vault" sounds like a compilation.

The weakest song on "Chaos And Disorder" is "I Rock, Therefore I Am", IMHO. I've always loved "Had U". It's a fantastic "outro" track. Even the "Walt Disney" songs ("The Same December" and "Right The Wrong") are okay.

There are probably more songs I would skip on "The Vault". I prefer the unreleased versions of "5 Women" (no horns) and "Old Friends 4 Sale" (more passionate). To me, "My Little Pill" is the least interesting "song" from the I'll Do Anything sessions. "Sarah" is another throwaway song. "Extraordinary" sounds like "Damn U", only way less interesting.

On another hand, "When The Lights Go Down" is one of my favorite songs by Prince. I'm with you on that one, Poplife88.

Poplife88 said:

When they were released...Chaos by far...but now?? The Vault by a mile. Chaos got old fast, while The Vault is aging like a fine wine.

When the Lights Go Down is turning into one of my fave tracks ever from the guy. Did I see someone on here calling it a weak track? Really? It's all a matter of opinion, but this track is anything but weak.

Right, When The Lights Go Down is so good that I feel bad for the ones that just don't get it!

I always liked Chaos for the rawness.

But lately The Vault has been sounding great.

There's some good shit on both.

I'm on the fence just now

IstenSzek said:

Still convinced that prince should have given warners just two or three more good songs and "chaos and disorder" would would have been one of his best rock albums.

You can easily make C&D a solid LP by just adding the tracks from CB that date from the same period any way - errr, just like you did above! I was just agreeing

Calhoun Square, what a song!

Poplife88 said:

When they were released...Chaos by far...but now?? The Vault by a mile. Chaos got old fast, while The Vault is aging like a fine wine.

When the Lights Go Down is turning into one of my fave tracks ever from the guy. Did I see someone on here calling it a weak track? Really? It's all a matter of opinion, but this track is anything but weak.

Chaos & Disorder

"chaos and disorder"........can't remember the last time i listened to "the vault". "sarah" is the only song i like. that's just me.

i like the vault... better, but chaos isn't that bad either (the first few tracks kick much ass )

The Vault by some distance. When The Lights Go Down, There Is Lonely and Extraordinary are awesome.

Chaos and Disorder for sure. That album will always be special to me because that was the first Prince album I ever heard. I bought it (along with The Hits 1/2) in the summer of 1996 and my love of Prince was instantly ignited. I still think that the first side is the best "rock" music that he has ever released.

I quite like The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale and it does hold together as an album better than it should but it's not quite as cohesive as Chaos and Disorder. As a relatively new fan it was disappointing that I was getting much more enjoyment out of a contractural obligation album than I was from Prince's new albums the were released around the same time (Newpower Soul and Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic).

Dont hate either, but their defintley the worst, next 2 GB sorry

But i'll go with Disorder & Chaos, it had a few good finds on it.

I'll go for The Vault, as I prefer the light and airy feel to the album, and I think it flows better.

It also has IMO the best intro ever to a Prince song, in When The Lights Go Down.

i gave chaos and disorder to a charity shop. i have the vault but rarely listen to it. both were lazy, uninspired contract fillers.

robertgeorgeakabob said:

i gave chaos and disorder to a charity shop. i have the vault but rarely listen to it. both were lazy, uninspired contract fillers.

but ironically better than the major albums that were released by him in those same 2 years.