I have purple rain and have played like crazy and now i have neough money to get two more which should i get

1999

sign o the times

Around the world in a day

Controversy

beacause i don't have those albums and they might be just as good if not better!

controversy
sign o the times

I say start from the beginning. Go back to For You and The Prince album and work your way back to Purple Rain, then beyond.

Dirty Mind

Sign O' The Times

Sign 'O' The Times

The Gold Experience

Do u have The Hits/ B-Sides? This one is highly recommended as long as u don´t have all

the albums up to 1992.

Besides that, there are many albums that are great, depending on your taste.

I´d choose one of those:

1999

Parade

Sign O The Times

Lovesexy

The Gold Experience

Emancipation

Most of people I've met and seen on the org seem to have the same review for all the albums, and they're the people who listened to his 80's albums first and then his 90's, 2000's stuff. I love talking to people who got to listen to his albums not in a chronological order. They seem to have more open-minded point of view about his recent albums for some reason. Why don't u mix it up a little..Musicology would definitely be an album to listen to if it's not favorable it's intriguing at least..if you like rock music you'll love Chaos and Disorder...Parade or The Hits/B-Sides are albums you will just fall in love...

Musicology for more recent Prince

Sign O the Times for the good shit

New School: Lotusflow3r

Old School: Around The World In A Day

unique said:

1999

sign o the times

Yes those 2 are classics.

In my opinion it is mandatory for every fan to have 1999 (especially the LP version, if you have a record player) lol. So that and Sign 'o' The Times or Lotusflow3r . Good luck growing you Prince collection.

Since you liked Purple Rain , I would definatly go back one (1999) and maybe forward one - ATWIAD.

In my opinion - the more important one is 1999. Prince was hitting his stride with that one !

ColAngus said:

Since you liked Purple Rain , I would definatly go back one (1999) and maybe forward one - ATWIAD.

In my opinion - the more important one is 1999. Prince was hitting his stride with that one !

I was going to say the same, these 2 were directly under the Purple Rain umbrella

get all the B sides as well

then any boots u can

I honesly think to fully apprieciate Prince they way those of us do(or did) you whould attempt to do several of the albums in sequentiual order.

Go back and get 1999 first.

Then (in this order):

Around The World in a Day

PARADE

Sign of The Times (when he went 'solo' again)

LoveSexy

After that you can skip to The Gold Experience ( or listen to , then the Gold Experience)

But with each album, listen to it until you 'get' it. The albums released above were done during a period of time that Prince reinvented himself ferociously. This often meant listening to an album would have one scratching their heads in confusion--and eventually delight. Try to imagine that time period too while you're listening to the album--his genius becomes even more stark in contrast to the wasteland of creativity on the air during much of that time.

unique said:

1999

sign o the times

Correct.

Not saying they're necessarily my favourites - but alongside Purple Rain, these are the two big hitters.

1999--this is mandatory

then you could take a number of different directions. I say Controversy, because it completes that era fairly nicely

But Sign o the Times is a good suggestion too, for a more well-rounded approach

1999

Chaos & Disorder

unique said:

1999

sign o the times

Correct.

And when you get SOTT: don't worry if it's a bit much the first time. There's so many different styles of music on it, that it might take a while to hit in.

At least, that's how it was with me. But when it hit, damn. The next song you start to play is your favourite one

jenst said:

unique said:

1999

sign o the times

Correct.

And when you get SOTT: don't worry if it's a bit much the first time. There's so many different styles of music on it, that it might take a while to hit in.

At least, that's how it was with me. But when it hit, damn. The next song you start to play is your favourite one

An absolute must for any Prince fan. Then get the Hits

If you live in Europe, you may get the next one free with a newspaper. So you could just wait for that.

If you live in the U.S., your local Target may pay you to take a copy of Lotusflow3r, just to help them unload some of their stock.

Carmen Electra.

Madhouse 8.

Emancipation89 said:

Most of people I've met and seen on the org seem to have the same review for all the albums, and they're the people who listened to his 80's albums first and then his 90's, 2000's stuff. I love talking to people who got to listen to his albums not in a chronological order. They seem to have more open-minded point of view about his recent albums for some reason. Why don't u mix it up a little..Musicology would definitely be an album to listen to if it's not favorable it's intriguing at least..if you like rock music you'll love Chaos and Disorder...Parade or The Hits/B-Sides are albums you will just fall in love...

They are more open-minded because they don't understand that music does not come from nowhere. It's a product of time and evolution. Art has its certain place in history. That's why it's totally absurd, if people claim that a new album would have done as good as an old one in the past.

The Black Album.

Box Of Chocolates.

The Hits/Ultimate if you're fairly new I guess. Ultimate was the first album I purchased from the store.

if you wanted an order to get most of them in i'd suggest something like the following

purple rain - watch the movie, buy the album, wear the t shirt

1999 - came just before purple rain, double album so more music, more keyboard based but if you like PR you should like this too - this is a step back in time

sign o the times - another great double album, very varied which shows his versatility, and this is your step forward in time

parade - classic prince, again different from the previous albums, has some big hits like kiss, and some lesser known classics like sometimes it snows in april

around the world in a day - the follow up to PR that sounds nothing like PR. prince joins sgt peppers lonely hearts club band and makes a psychedelic rock/pop album

the gold experience - take a jump to the 90s for one of his best albums. very hard hitting lyrically, very sexualised. some great tunes

dirty mind / controversy - two amazingly great albums, but very short, and that's the reason i suggest you go for the above albums first, getting 2 of the best double albums so you get more bang for your buck, and what a bang you get. dirty mind and controversy are some of the most sexual lyrics put on record, with catchy tunes as powerful as the lyrics

lovesexy - the flip side to dirtymind/controversy, spirituality, god, sex, love, in a funky pop style

the rainbow children - a jump forward to a controversial jazzy concept album about jehova. fantastic music, but the jehova witness based lyrics might not be to your liking

one night alone - from around the same period, prince sitting at the piano unacompanied. with TRC and ONA we are taking you on a journey to the other side of prince from the pop and hits. a hard to find but great album

the truth - similar to ONA but prince and accoustic guitar. lyrics again are a bit on the JW side, but not like TRC - this album is part of the crystal ball multi disc set (3 cds of outtakes, plus the truth and some versions had the instrumental kamasutra ballet album)

the undertaker - strictly speaking not a realeased album, but it was released on vhs. it's prince plus drums and bass only, playing a live 40 minute take of rock and blues. prince showing off his guitar skills. this was supposed to be given away with a guitar magazine in 94 until warners stopped him. fortunately it was also filmed so we got a video/laserdisc instead (and 2 slightly different versions exist)

NEWS - this is a 4 x 15 minute jazz/funk/rock fusion instrumental album. you might not like it, but it shows a very different side to prince

emancipation - a triple disc set, patchy, but oh those patches! the second album has some of his best work on it arguably, but it also has some of his worst. it's 3 hours of all sorts of stuff and you can usually get it for £3

graffiti bridge - double album, has some great stuff, plus some related artists stuff that's good

diamonds and pearls - another double with a bunch of hits like gett off and cream. from here we are basically winding back to the start to fill in the missing albums

O{+> - the symbol album or whatever you want to call it. has my name is prince, sexy mf and other hits. not a mile away from d&p

the exodus has begun - prince isn't on lead vox on most tracks but it's a very funkadelic type album. only released on europe and credited to the NPG - as was the goldnigga album which was more rap oriented

batman - was the soundtrack to some movie. has great stuff like partyman

then just go to the first album and work forwards filling in the gaps. for you is a bit dated and stevie wonder mellow sounding, but the second album prince has some great stuff like bambi, i feel for you, i wanna be your lover, and shows the start of greatness. you will encounter some iffy stuff like newpowersoul and rave, musicology, planet earth, 20ten, but even the worst albums have at least one or two good tracks. oh, and with the hits set you get the b sides. prince is one of the few people who have b sides as good as if not better than the a sides. unfortunately they aren't the longer 12" extended versions but it's a good start

i'd also watch purple rain as a good start. it's the first thing i ask a new potential fan to watch. avoid graffiti bridge. it will turn you into a justin beiber fan. 98% of movie goers commited suicide after watching that movie. fortunately only about 43 people went to see the movie in the cinema, so disaster averted. the soundtrack is good though

and after that lot you have the related artists albums like the time, sheila e, family, madhouse, etc. basically prince albums with someone else on lead vocal. prince playing pretty much every instrument and even doing colead and backing vocals on a lot of it. madhouse is the jazz instrumentals in the style of miles davis tutu

and after that you enter the world of the bootleg. it's like a supermassive black hole. once you enter you will never ever come out. the prince bootleg world makes princes official releases seem like a 7" single in terms of quantity. outtakes of songs you've never heard, alternate versions of songs you know, live concerts, soundchecks, rehearsals, aftershow concerts, you name it. some completely amazing stuff. prince is one of the most bootlegged artists of all time, partly because he records so much in the studio, and partly because he plays so many gigs. and most of them are circulating on bootleg

funkomatic said:

Emancipation89 said:

Most of people I've met and seen on the org seem to have the same review for all the albums, and they're the people who listened to his 80's albums first and then his 90's, 2000's stuff. I love talking to people who got to listen to his albums not in a chronological order. They seem to have more open-minded point of view about his recent albums for some reason. Why don't u mix it up a little..Musicology would definitely be an album to listen to if it's not favorable it's intriguing at least..if you like rock music you'll love Chaos and Disorder...Parade or The Hits/B-Sides are albums you will just fall in love...

They are more open-minded because they don't understand that music does not come from nowhere. It's a product of time and evolution. Art has its certain place in history. That's why it's totally absurd, if people claim that a new album would have done as good as an old one in the past.

I'm a bit confused and I don't agree with the bolded. Some artworks take decades or centuries to be truly understood or appreciated. Just because something was famous and loved by many at certain period of time, doesn't necessarily make it 'good'