herb4 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

R U saying you don't like the song Planet Earth?

I'm saying I hate the song and almost the entire album. Can't remember the last time I played it or even looked for it. But let's not de-rail the thread here.

Back on topic: I never really thought about it much, but Prince albums generally have strong openers as a whole (now the singles on the other hand...):

Good:

I Wanna Be your Lover

Dirty Mind

Controversy

1999

Let's Go Crazy

Around the World in a Day

SOTT

The Future

My Name is Prince

P Control

Come

New Power Soul

Chaos & Disorder

When Eye Lay My Hands on U

Silicon

3121

Musicology

Le Grind

One Nite Alone

Bad:

Christopher Tracy's Parade

Eye Know

Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic

North

Planet Earth

From The Lotus

The rest are sort of average. Anyone else notice that Prince's wikipedia discography page is missing 'New Power Soul'?

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...iscography

Of course many here would argue that that's a good thing but I think the disc is underrated and either way, it seems like an odd omission. Maybe someone here should get in there an edit that page?

Upon further reflection, I'm not so sure that 'Controversy' might not be his strongest opening track. It really thumps, has very provacative lyrics and is probabaly the best song on the album aong with 'Let's Work'.

No, I don't want to get into a discussion on the song Planet Earth, it was just that they way you responded I couldn't tell if you were talking about the song or album

The entirety of Planet Earth is horrible and,

It read like you were refering to the album

Christopher Tracey's Parade for an album soundtrack I think is a good one. 1 reason is that when you opened this black & white album the 1st song was extremely colorful, which for me helped put me in a different mindset for the rest of the music

Kiss is a very good song but it 'feels' black n white and it feels very different from the rest of the album, which as a starter single for Prince was awesome but it gave a different expectation for the album

I heard OF4S back in 1985 on the radio as a promo for the movie,

I'd say each of the opening songs from For You To Batman are favorites, with "Let's Go Crazy," "Controversy," and " No" the ones that stand out.

Worst opening song? "Thunder" is the one for me.

Best: Controversy. A funk masterpiece I always revisit once in a while.

Worst: From The Lotus... A yawn opening moment for me.

As for Jam Of The Year, I think it's a very good opening song. It's fun and catchy.

I enjoy From the Lotus quite a bit (experimental Prince makes me happy), but there's a hard clip in the first few seconds of that song that just drives me up the wall. Who engineered that album, anyway?

Best: Let's Go Crazy. We all take it for granted, but man... nobody had ever heard anything like that before. And when you heard that first synth chord hit out of the middle of nowhere, everybody knew it was time to PARTY!!!

Worst: Thunder. When 'Jesus' is the ninth word on the album, that's too much too soon for me. Plus, it's all too frantic and crazy. Like, imagine if began with The Flow... you gotta work up to that shit!

Fonkyman said:

Surprised no-one's mentioned For You. As a worst of course.

I love it.

controversy99 said:

Interesting. I always thought the song "For You" was a great way to open a career. "All of this and more is for you" with a multi-layered vocal. How cool is that?

Nice idea, yeah. Not sure about the sound of it though.

bigd74 said:

I love it.

Horses for courses I spose.

Best opening - There are so many from Dirty Mind to 1999, Controversy, lets go crazy and Sign o the times, but the winner is Around the World in a day, the sheer musicality of the track and how brilliant it sounds, just set the scene for his most adventorous album to date. The cowbells, darbukas and sitars I mean wow.

Worst - Jam of the Year is pretty much down there, but the worst has to be The Rainbow Children, 11 minutes of inconsistent noodling, Darth Vader voices and cut rate jazzicality vocals, its a yuk song for a yuk album. Way down too, is come, okay its funny in parts but the song is pretty silly and after 4 minutes of it, you want to hit the skip button.

Best: Come

Worse: Compassion

[Edited 11/26/12 10:20am]

Adorecream said:

Best: The Rainbow Children

Worst: Let's Go Crazy

Best: SOTT - because it's so unusual as an opener, sets the mood for the entire record perfectly and makes it clear what you're going to hear next is not standardized pop fluff.

Worst: I Wanna Be Your Lover - not because it's a bad song, but because it's obvious they just wanted to place the hit as the opener for the record.

Spanky said:

Worst: Let's Go Crazy

Really?

I'm interested: is it because you're tired of it, because you just don't like the song, or because you think it doesn't make a good album-opener?

eyewishuheaven said:

Spanky said:

Worst: Let's Go Crazy

Really?

I'm interested: is it because you're tired of it, because you just don't like the song, or because you think it doesn't make a good album-opener?

As much as I love Parade, I must admit Christopher Tracys Parade is not a good choice for a intro.

1999 is one of the best opening songs ever made. The intro has an epic feel to it. It makes you ready for a long adventure.

eyewishuheaven said:

Spanky said:

Worst: Let's Go Crazy

Really?

I'm interested: is it because you're tired of it, because you just don't like the song, or because you think it doesn't make a good album-opener?

Their choice of best opener is puzzling too. The fact it came just after I denounced may mean another troll.

I think this person my be stirring the pot.

Best- Controversy

Worst- Planet Earth

best: Let's Go Crazy, Christopher Tracy's Parade, Le Grind, The Future

worst: Rainbow Children, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, NewPowerSoul

Best: le Grind, Dirty Mind, the future

worst: Lets Go Crazy JOTY

I know I am late but nobody mentioned "Can't Stop this Feeling I Got" as worst. That song is HORRID

best is 1999

worst is new power soul

best 3; One Nite Alone and 3121

worst 3; Planet Earth and the Opening of mplsound

Rain is wet, and sugar is sweet...

Best: P Control

Worst: (by a country mile) There'll Never Be Another (Like Me) horrid song

SO HARD TO CHOOSE!!!

I would have to say 'The accurate understanding of God and his law they went about the work of building, a NEW nation, 'The Rainbow Children'. Hahahahaha..JK..But I love the song and the many directions it takes..SO good...lol

BUT 'Around The World In A Day' is one of my favorite openers...But

'Eye No' is hard to beat as my number one!!It's one the greatest openers..for me! Musicolgy is one of his best as well! Then there is, COME, etc

Then there is One Nite Alone...It's easy kind of for me to mention the good ones..But the worst for me..are not horrible songs but just bad openers...lol

'There'll Never Be Another ..Well that is one of his worst song for me so horrible opener..lol NO WAY!