vitriol said:

Any of the turds he released since Musicology (included).

3121 was my shit for a minute. still got love for it . the whole lotus joint was okay too, save a song or 2. i even fucks with most of bria's cd . musicology and planet earth i can even deal with every so often

I was disappointed with Gold because of the strength of the 1st single I Hate U set me up to hope for tones of strong songs like it...

Musicology, it was pushed as a 'return 2 royalty' and I just didn't see the album as such

LotusFlow3r-MPLSound-Elixer & 20Ten

I was a bit disappointed with Dirty Mind, because I just thought it was going to be 'pornographic'

When I bought the tape, I came straight to my room and hid it under my pillow and didn't open it until no one was home

That LotusFlow3r mess and New Power Soul (under the name of New Power Generation). He should have just released "The One" as a single and kept them other awful tracks in the vault.

Emancipation hands down.

If I can count it as an album, the original NPG Music club. That first year was just pathetic. All he had to do to get it right was post a bunch of high-quality Prince mp3s. Instead we got crappy video clips, the Fonky Baldheads, etc..

[Edited 9/17/12 12:48pm]

PurpleMedley122 said:

OzlemUcucu said:

20Ten. Everytime I decide to listen that album, I skip every damn song after few seconds, and it takes overall about 8 minutes to finish listening the whole thing.

Overall MplsSound is much better than LotusShit, and Emancipation is far underrated by everyone. It's one of my top albums.

You all need to re-listen to Emancipation, there is something severly wrong with your deaf ears!!!

This. Once you cut out the filler, it's a solid double disc album.

Disc 1:
Jam Of The Year (6:09)
Right Back Here In My Arms (4:42)
Somebody's Somebody (4:43) 1
Get Yo Groove On (6:31)
Courtin' Time (2:46)
Face Down (3:16)
Joint 2 Joint (6:52)
White Mansion (4:47)
I Can't Make U Love Me (6:37) 3
Mr. Happy (4:46) 4
Sleep Around (7:41) 8
In This Bed I Scream (5:40)

Disc 2:
Sex In The Summer (5:56)
Soul Sanctuary (4:41) 5
Slave (4:51)
New World (3:42)
Curious Child/Dreamin' About U (7:53)
The Holy River (6:55)
Let's Have A Baby (4:07)
My Computer (4:36)
One Of Us (5:19) 9
The Love We Make (4:38)
Emancipation (4:12)
Goodbye (4:35)

[Edited 9/16/12 16:35pm]

[Edited 9/16/12 16:35pm]

Two more CDs of filler to cut!

Emancipation by a mile. He was "free" from the shackles of WB. He was releasing a 3-disc magnum opus, something fans had been craving for ages. After the "slave" and name change craziness, finally the promised land was here.

Sadly it was a mess. Some good material but it was hampered by a truly awful, soulless, plastic production that was far too sterile and clean. Also some truly embarrassing moments that should have been locked away in the vault forever.

NoVideo said:

Emancipation by a mile. He was "free" from the shackles of WB. He was releasing a 3-disc magnum opus, something fans had been craving for ages. After the "slave" and name change craziness, finally the promised land was here.

Sadly it was a mess. Some good material but it was hampered by a truly awful, soulless, plastic production that was far too sterile and clean. Also some truly embarrassing moments that should have been locked away in the vault forever.

the most DISAPPOINTING Prince album?

NEWS,

Indigo Nights

One Nite Alone.. Live

3121,

Planet Earth

20Ten,

Rave Un2,

The Vault,

and the list goes on...

1996 to 2010 has been pretty weak, Prince-album wise..

I like pretty much all of his albums, but there are a few standouts that disappointed me when I

1. Batman--stylistically cool, but sounded unfinished and hurried

2. Diamonds & Pearls--sounded like Prince making crappy pop music, which is exactly what it is! I could at least take this as a timely, self aware, calculated, commercial step, not realizing that it would define the rest of his career

3. Emancipation--Is this really the sound of freedom? Definitely sounds like restraint to me.

4. Rave--"Prince" returns to make waves in 1999 with this retro sounding album for with a big exciting name...and it sounds like a still pond full of depression fish.

[Edited 9/17/12 14:07pm]

I understand the disappointment over Diamonds & Pearls, but I like the album, A LOT, top10 for sure (number 10 though)

yes, it sounds commercial as hell, but the early-90s commercial sound was, by far, better than 94-96 or 97-99

in other words, D&P kills Emancipation and Rave, in my opinion

and when was the last time that Prince released F-O-U-R classic singles off one album (+ Insatiable) ?? that alone makes it great, add some strong album tracks like Thunder, Strollin', or Live4Love and there you have it,...

JoeTyler said:

I understand the disappointment over Diamonds & Pearls, but I like the album, A LOT, top10 for sure (number 10 though)

yes, it sounds commercial as hell, but the early-90s commercial sound was, by far, better than 94-96 or 97-99

in other words, D&P kills Emancipation and Rave, in my opinion

and when was the last time that Prince released F-O-U-R classic singles off one album (+ Insatiable) ?? that alone makes it great, add some strong album tracks like Thunder, Strollin', or Live4Love and there you have it,...

Agreed, and I have learned to like the songs, but it was NOT the direction I wanted him to go.

NDRU said:

JoeTyler said:

I understand the disappointment over Diamonds & Pearls, but I like the album, A LOT, top10 for sure (number 10 though)

yes, it sounds commercial as hell, but the early-90s commercial sound was, by far, better than 94-96 or 97-99

in other words, D&P kills Emancipation and Rave, in my opinion

and when was the last time that Prince released F-O-U-R classic singles off one album (+ Insatiable) ?? that alone makes it great, add some strong album tracks like Thunder, Strollin', or Live4Love and there you have it,...

Agreed, and I have learned to like the songs, but it was NOT the direction I wanted him to go.

do you at least like TheLoveSymbol album? that album always sounded like the wacko/epic version of D&P...

JoeTyler said:

NDRU said:

Agreed, and I have learned to like the songs, but it was NOT the direction I wanted him to go.

do you at least like TheLoveSymbol album? that album always sounded like the wacko/epic version of D&P...

yes, but I actually hated that one even more when I heard it. After many many listens I found it to be very interesting, and I still like it more than D&P

It's amazing to read the comments, and see so many people comment on such a topic like this...lol. Especially when you love 20Ten, and Lotusflow3r!

I personally, would have to say 'Diamonds & Pearls' in a sense? Not totally, but coming after 'Graffiti Bridge, (Which was sort of a disappointment itself..lol) It seemed Prince was really trying to appeal to the masses. When Prince writes about: The Computer being blue, Love in repetition, playing in the sunshine etc/.. A lot of these 'weird' songs..He is in his ZONE. But when Prince attempts to create something justified with the current trends of the day...it ends up not holding up to his point.IMO

I can't say I am fully 'Disappointed' but there has been times my hopes were let down, because of the HYPE. This is why you should not buy into the hype! His music is understood throughout time though...I mean..I disliked so many songs at one time, but you learn to grow from it. Or simply, I just did not listen to it anymore.

I was thinking about how Jerry Jam And Terry, talked about Prince's process making music.

That’s pretty unique that you’ve had opportunities to work with both Prince and Michael Jackson.

"It was great too, working with Prince and working with Michael, they were polar opposites in the way they worked. Prince would walk in the studio at the beginning of the day and he’d walk out with “1999,” done. Michael, we’d spend a day just on the volume of the handclaps. I mean, literally. And we’d turn them up and he’d say, “Okay, I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll listen to it again.” We come back the next day, and he’d go, “Can we turn that up just a little more?” Yes, we turn it up. “Okay, make me a tape.” Okay. “I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll listen again.” I mean, it was literally like that. But that was, you know, learning from people like Quincy Jones, people who were very meticulous about what they did."

I am not comparing the two of them, but I find it interesting in how Prince comes up with his music. He does not spend a lot of time, according to Jimmy and Terry on some songs. That is not to say he is like that all the time, but it seems to me, Prince sometimes does things more quickly, instead of detailing some aspects of his music, which of course effects the overall product.

BUT that comes with the territory..I think he is an fantastic artist, and you are guaranteed few gems from each album! No doubt!

But back to disappointing..Now that I think hard, I would probably say 'NewPower Soul' as well..lol.

I think it is truly a disappointment, when hype is given at great length..If it wasn't for the hype..it would probably not be considered that bad..IMO.

I can't say that I've been disappointed many times by Prince, to be honest. Maybe NewPower Soul.

3121, Lovesexy or Batman

EyeJester7 said:

I was thinking about how Jerry Jam And Terry, talked about Prince's process making music.

I skim-read that as "Tom & Jerry" and thought "where the hell is he going with this metaphor!"

JoeTyler said:

and hey, I said DISAPPOINTING (not necessarily bad or the worst he has ever released), I'm talkin' bout a P album that left you cold, puzzled, confused, embittered, in other words, an album you WANTED TO LIKE but you couldn't...

for me, it's EMANCIPATION, hands down, I was only a 90s kid when it came out, but even then I could feel that something was not right about that album. The artwork, the song order, the singles, the production (ugh!), the lyrics, etc. everything was meant to be perfect and epic but the actual results were very poor, overall...damn, even the cds/booklet smell weird...

Prince was NOT meant to release a triple-cd of original material, more like a double, during his 80s peak...

discuss

EMANCIPATION is the most disappointing album, but ATWIAD was the first, followed by Batman for the reasons Imago stated, after Emancipation it was Rave and the Musicology and everything since then. I never even gave any of the NPG albums or The Vault and that shit any attention whatsoever...

Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic.

There was quite a lot of hype around about this album before it was released (about it being the best thing he's released in years, a return to his earlier sound, the material being "loud, crazy rock'n'roll"). In the end it was just a continuation of the sound of NPS just with the Linndrum utilized on several tracks. It also seemed to be an even more unfocused project stylistically as Emancipation, which was quite an accomplished considering it wasn't a triple CD-set.

TRC was a really nice surprise after it. I really thought he had lost it altogether.

Phillipg said:

3121, Lovesexy or Batman

I'm curious, what did you find disappointing about Lovesexy?

Dirty Mind was the most disappointing album for me. It was severely hyped up by the time I got around to hearing it and it was quite a let down. I don't mind it so much anymore, it sort of grew on me. But I wish I could have heard those early, pre-Controversy albums before I heard everything else. I'm certain I would appreciate them more.

rialb said:

Phillipg said:

3121, Lovesexy or Batman

I'm curious, what did you find disappointing about Lovesexy?

PurpleMedley122 said:

OzlemUcucu said:

20Ten. Everytime I decide to listen that album, I skip every damn song after few seconds, and it takes overall about 8 minutes to finish listening the whole thing.

Overall MplsSound is much better than LotusShit, and Emancipation is far underrated by everyone. It's one of my top albums.

You all need to re-listen to Emancipation, there is something severly wrong with your deaf ears!!!

This. Once you cut out the filler, it's a solid double disc album.

Disc 1:
Jam Of The Year (6:09)
Right Back Here In My Arms (4:42)
Somebody's Somebody (4:43) 1
Get Yo Groove On (6:31)
Courtin' Time (2:46)
Face Down (3:16)
Joint 2 Joint (6:52)
White Mansion (4:47)
I Can't Make U Love Me (6:37) 3
Mr. Happy (4:46) 4
Sleep Around (7:41) 8
In This Bed I Scream (5:40)

Disc 2:
Sex In The Summer (5:56)
Soul Sanctuary (4:41) 5
Slave (4:51)
New World (3:42)
Curious Child/Dreamin' About U (7:53)
The Holy River (6:55)
Let's Have A Baby (4:07)
My Computer (4:36)
One Of Us (5:19) 9
The Love We Make (4:38)
Emancipation (4:12)
Goodbye (4:35)

[Edited 9/16/12 16:35pm]

[Edited 9/16/12 16:35pm]

Sorry, but you're gonna need to cut more "filler" than that to convince me. Any album that opens with that ridiculous Jam of the Year is not a good album in my book: "I got a new Puerto Rican score and she's doing it on the floor..." Really? Ugh. And I noticed you snuck iin Goodbye, which is a great song but not actually on the album.

Here's what I would trim from that list:

Disc 1:
Jam Of The Year (6:09)
Right Back Here In My Arms (4:42)
Somebody's Somebody (4:43) 1
Get Yo Groove On (6:31)
Courtin' Time (2:46)
Face Down (3:16)
Joint 2 Joint (6:52)
White Mansion (4:47)
I Can't Make U Love Me (6:37) 3
Mr. Happy (4:46) 4
Sleep Around (7:41) 8
In This Bed I Scream (5:40)

Disc 2:
Sex In The Summer (5:56)
Soul Sanctuary (4:41) 5
Slave (4:51)
New World (3:42)
Curious Child/Dreamin' About U (7:53)
The Holy River (6:55)
Let's Have A Baby (4:07)
My Computer (4:36)
One Of Us (5:19) 9
The Love We Make (4:38)
Emancipation (4:12)
Goodbye (4:35)

jpnyc said:

If I can count it as an album, the original NPG Music club. That first year was just pathetic. All he had to do to get it right was post a bunch of high-quality Prince mp3s. Instead we got crappy video clips, the Fonky Baldheads, etc..

[Edited 9/17/12 12:48pm]

Good choice. It was a bit disappointing. But I will say that the club got better over time. I wasn't a member in the end, but the website was pretty user friendly at that point and you could buy some pretty cool tracks at that point. Xpectation and parts of Slaughterhouse & The Chocolate Invasion are cool.

Most disappointing ... that's a tough one.

I'll go with 20ten because for some reason I actually believed the hype, and it is tied for my least favorite Prince album (with MPLSound and TRC due to its lyrics).

Runner up for me is Come (which I actually like now). At the time, it seemed like he was chasing styles unsuccessfully. Sure, D&P, symbol, and later Gold were chasing styles to some extent but they were successful at incorporating other influences and had lots of great, unique Prince stuff. On Come, the only track I liked at first was the title track -- an absolute monster of a track. The rest was blah.

20Ten its just lame and flat, Prince by numbers, no edge to it what so ever, just boring old man R and B with a few catchy beats. Been done to death.

Very disappointing after Lotusflow3r and MPLSOUND which were proof he still had it in him. But 20Ten was just poor. Not as bad as Chaos and Disorder and TRC, but at least they had a theme, 20 Ten is a mishmash of similar sounding funk lite R and B. So below Prince its not true. Same with the new song, more 20Ten style, yeech.

most disappointing at time of release? most likely Purple Rain. I was expecting another BOMB like 1999 with some What Time is It thrown into the bag, full blown synth driven Minneapolis FUNK

but what I got was mainly some weird crossover Pop'n Rock... so the fist two spins of the album I just thought what the fuck is that?

but from 3rd spin onwards I quickly got used to the sound and the style, and I learned to appreciate the songs one after the other. simultaniously WDC and the album soared up the charts. so yes, he got me, and needles to say it's still one of my faves

[Edited 9/19/12 3:09am]

I'd say Kamasutra because it's corny. It was a bold move and I respect that but it just sounded, well, clumsy in comparison to many other similar works by contemporary composers. For once Prince should have listened to his contemporaries before just doing his thing without caring for what had been done before.

Then Carmen Electra and Child Of The Sun: both have really cool moments but there's a, I don't know, rushed aspect to them, a "we were too lazy to make a great album so here's what we came with, it's decent but not so great, deal with it" feeling. Compare Carmen Electra to Gold Nigga and , and Child Of The Sun to Exodus and The Gold Experience and it's kinda obvious that Prince didn't really take these 2 projects to their full potential.

I couldnt stand Chaos and Disorder.

Lawd knows I played that whole album maybe once in the last .......i dunno how many years.

I picked up the Remaster too (Foefur) and Even with Red House on it...couldnt save it..although it is better than it was when I first heard it as a 14 year old kid.