What a great thread this has turned out to be. I know it's obvious fact of life, but it's still fascinating how one man's garbage is another man's treasure.

erik319 said:

Replace Dig U Better Dead & I Rock, therefore I Am with Calhoun Square, Da Bang and Empty Room and you've got yourself a pretty consistent Rock-styled album. Since doing that, I play it loads

These are the only two tha need chucking and these replacements are spot on.

The range of opinion is amazing, but it goes to show there's something for everyone!

I don't like Chaos And Disorder particularly, but I'd rather listen to it than some of his more recent albums. 'Into The Light' is the standout track for me, but he could have done more with the melody and produced a mini-epic out of it.

For me, it is "Musicology" or "Planet Earth" - the first Prince albums I could barely listen to. Musicology is filled with the same old same old....the sound of P repeating himself, only a weaker version of himself. Didn't like.

Tremolina said:

excited said:

with the exception of 3 songs, emancipation is terrible. i love chaos & disorder, one of my faves

"Blasphemy"! Emancipation contains at least 1 disc of superb material

u are far too generous!

daPrettyman said:

Every time there is a "worst" album thread, I'm surprised at what some of define as horrible. It's one thing to not like a song or 2, but to classify albums like , TRC, Lotus, MPLSound, Emancipaion, etc. as the WORST is just a crime. Albums like these may not be greatness, but they all have great moments. ALL Prince albums have highs and lows.
-
I can see how people can say PE is the worst (because it probably is), but it still has some good songs.

Just a matter of taste , mate! And I am completely serious saying that I can't find ONE song on Emancipation that has my total support. The production just totally ruins everything for me

switters said:

For me, it is "Musicology" or "Planet Earth" - the first Prince albums I could barely listen to. Musicology is filled with the same old same old....the sound of P repeating himself, only a weaker version of himself. Didn't like.

Totally agree!

BELL6983 said:

Prince album The rainbow children is Mozart's Beethoven, Leonardo da vici's The Mona Lisa .A master piece. [Edited 8/25/13 16:33pm]

You, sir, are right! TRC is my most listened to Prince-album of the last 10 years. It is also his strongest album since TGE (love me some One night alone...live! though, now and then).

funkaholic1972 said:

switters said:

For me, it is "Musicology" or "Planet Earth" - the first Prince albums I could barely listen to. Musicology is filled with the same old same old....the sound of P repeating himself, only a weaker version of himself. Didn't like.

Totally agree!

I agree, too. Musicology was such a weak effort. I only dig Dear Mr. Man on that CD.

^ I like some of the songs from the first half off Musicology.. -- this album is not among his best, also not among his worst:

After all Musicology is the "best" off the 3 "bad 00' - albums":


Musicology is somehow better than Planet Earth & 3121. (Imho).

Nightcrawler said:

SpiritOtter said:

Well, I absolutely DIG Planet Earth and The Rainbow Children. To me, Planet Earth was a semi-welcome-return to the more organic sound he was exploring prior to Musicology-3121, with songs such as Lion of Judah, All The Midnights In The World, Somewhere Here on Earth, Guitar, Chelsea Rodgers and the title track, Planet Earth. As a whole, the album also felt more "fluid" than the sometimes stop-start forced sound of Musicology-3121. It was like his mojo wasn't quite in motion with these two, but came stronger with Planet Earth and then tore the hinges off with the original incarnation of Lotus Flower.

YES. I have the same perspective exactly.

funkaholic1972 said:

switters said:

For me, it is "Musicology" or "Planet Earth" - the first Prince albums I could barely listen to. Musicology is filled with the same old same old....the sound of P repeating himself, only a weaker version of himself. Didn't like.

Totally agree!

Me too!

Superconductor said:

Wildboy said:

I'm going to make a blanket statement here, ANYONE who thinks TRC is better then Purple Rain has got to be some kind of religious nutball or something

LOL I am not a religious nutball, I don't share his religious views, and to me TRC is one of his musically most coherent and funkiest albums.

NouveauDance said:

erik319 said:

Replace Dig U Better Dead & I Rock, therefore I Am with Calhoun Square, Da Bang and Empty Room and you've got yourself a pretty consistent Rock-styled album. Since doing that, I play it loads

These are the only two tha need chucking and these replacements are spot on.

Nightcrawler said:

Jerz24 said:

funkaholic1972 said:

Jerz24 said:

I agree. TRC is the most funkiest and jazzy albums he put together. You can tell he had gotten better with his arragements.

To me TRC is the only 'classic' Prince album released after the WB years. You can feel he was really inspired to make that album.

Yep........

101 said:

Rainbow/Lotus and Emancipation cannot be rated as worse albums ofcourse..it's good too many great things on them..although dispersed..but honestly what good is on 20ten? I can't believe people actually like what is on Planet Earth..what is fresh or exciting new about it? Oh well...

Not sure whether you're agreeing or disagreeing with me lol. Though I can DEFINITELY say that Rainbow is worse then C&D. I think if you took 1,000 average people off the street and played both discs and let them walk away with one or the other, you'd end up with a box of 9,972 TRC cds still in their packaging.

IMO the Darth Vader voice is just silly, and undercuts the serious nature of the album. There are a handful of semi funky tracks, but even the strongest ones are sort of lame. 1+1+1=3 is just a lame rip off of Erotic City, Family Name is RUINED by the lengthy, Semi racist intro (clench your butt cheeks? Seriously Prince?), Muse to the Pharaoh is OK, but pales next to most of Princes 90s ballads. The rest is just drivel. She loves me for me? God that song is just embarrassing. It sounds so generic and amatuer-ish, like it's from an open mic night or something.

Rainbow is still light years ahead of 20ten, but it IS a stinker way lower on the food chain then C&D

Wildboy said:

101 said:

Rainbow/Lotus and Emancipation cannot be rated as worse albums ofcourse..it's good too many great things on them..although dispersed..but honestly what good is on 20ten? I can't believe people actually like what is on Planet Earth..what is fresh or exciting new about it? Oh well...

Not sure whether you're agreeing or disagreeing with me lol. Though I can DEFINITELY say that Rainbow is worse then C&D. I think if you took 1,000 average people off the street and played both discs and let them walk away with one or the other, you'd end up with a box of 9,972 TRC cds still in their packaging.

IMO the Darth Vader voice is just silly, and undercuts the serious nature of the album. There are a handful of semi funky tracks, but even the strongest ones are sort of lame. 1+1+1=3 is just a lame rip off of Erotic City, Family Name is RUINED by the lengthy, Semi racist intro (clench your butt cheeks? Seriously Prince?), Muse to the Pharaoh is OK, but pales next to most of Princes 90s ballads. The rest is just drivel. She loves me for me? God that song is just embarrassing. It sounds so generic and amatuer-ish, like it's from an open mic night or something.

Rainbow is still light years ahead of 20ten, but it IS a stinker way lower on the food chain then C&D

Don't agree at all, TRC in my opinion is a far better/ more interesting album. I love me some C&D, but no way 9,972 people out of 10.000 would pick it over TRC.

funkaholic1972 said:

robertgeorgeakabob said:

robertgeorgeakabob said:

To me the whole point of being a Prince fan is being in the 28, not the 9,972. RC absolutely drenches C+D in urine, lyrically and musically. C+D is a thrown together pile of shite with nothing to say. It makes no statement whatsoever. It's not fit to be called rock, it's Tupperware Disney Rock. Nothing at all that smacks you in the gob. RC has vision, cohesion and focus. It's an amazing concept album, whether I endorse his politics is irrelevant to me. I always listen to RC as a musical, indeed when the opening track hits it's crescendo of harmonies it's almost Broadway. The 'Darth Vadar' narration perfectly lends itself to this view. It's also a nod to George Clinton who used the exact same effect on many Funkadelic tracks. It's not perfect. I agree it has a few too many twee songs, but it's a million times more an artistic creation than the childishness of C+D. Beavis and Butthead...purlease!!

Ok, Vision? Absolutely. But cohesion and focus? Not even close. Are people really so unversed musically that they think Prince is the first musician to try and make an album a big valentine to jesus? What's so funny, is that Prince has two separate concept albums about religion, maybe one of the best ever written (Lovesexy) and possibly one of the worst ever written by a talented musician (Rainbow Chi).

The Vision is there for sure, Prince knew exactly the message he was trying to get across. The problem lay in the delivery. I'm not sure what the message in TRC is exactly. That we should put more of an emphasis on religion in politics (cause that's working great in the middle east btw)? That white people and Jews are bad? That women aught to listen to there husbands or be killed? This is Prince verbally diarrhea ing random bible-isms while totally missing the 'let he who without sin cast the first stone' message that actually dominates the new testament. The akashik records? That's not in any Jehovah's Witness scripture. Cohesion and focus are present no where in the narrative of this album. As for the actual album flow and quality of the music? The songs flow together like bricks.... of wait, bricks don't flow AT ALL! This album is clunky, the music is low quality, and worst of all it's not that original.

Just putting a darth vader voice in a couple of different songs doesn't mean the tracks tell a story or fit together. Purple Rain told the story of a relationship. From flirtatious first meeting (Let's Go Crazy), to excited first dating (Take me with U), deepening emotions (The Beautiful Ones), when the honeymoon stage is over and you start second guessing if you've chosen the right person (Computer Blue), heartbreak at feeling that your lover isn't as invested in this relationship as you are (Darlling Nikki), Introspection about yourself and your lover (when doves cry), Realising that you still care deeply for a person regardless and that you want to have them in your life (I would Die 4 U), but by the flip side of the same coin if they left you have your own life to lead and your job and calling may not be just them (Baby, I'm a Star), and finally, acceptance that the other has a 50% say in things, and can leave when they want, you hope they choose not too, but you still care regardless (Purple Rain). Purple Rain is a FUCKING CONCEPT ALBUM the likes of which most musicians wish they could make! It's a dynamo, as it doesn't only tell a story that is somehow really complex and yet universal, but the music is pleasing to the ear, and was even highly charted.

The problem I have with TRC is the same problem I have with 'hipsters.' Just because something is trying to be artistic and obscure or 'underground' (whatever that means) doesn't mean it's GOOD art. Prince is a super talented musician, but if he decided to record himself making fart noises for 55 minutes and put it on a cd, it's not 'genius' just because people 'don't get it.' It'd still be bad. That's TRC. Prince did have a grand plan for RainChi, definitely more grand then C&D, but those plans didn't pan out to anything even remotely listenable. If someone barely tries to tie their shoes, using one hand and doesn't even bother looking at what they're doing, but ties a knot that stays for 3 weeks, then later they try as hard as they can to tie another knot, but can't get the knot to stay together, that MAKES IT WORSE, NOT BETTER. I care not what Prince's intent was with each album, only that C&D is better. If Prince 'tried' more with TRC then that's sad because it is so much worse then a cast off album he wasn't even trying to make a hit.

Some people who read my post are posting as if I don't like obscure music, or only like Prince when he's writing pop, nothing could be further from the truth. I just think this album misses the mark by a mile.

Wildboy said:

khemseraph said:

robertgeorgeakabob said:

Absolutely it has cohesion. It is not a spiritual open book like Lovesexy, Lovesexy has no cohesive religious context. Which religion promotes sexuality as a form of worship? RC is a narrative story of a journey through the JW dogma. The voice segues every song accordingly. With just a little research into idiosyncratic JW beliefs the whole album becomes clear.

Do the Jehovah's Witnesses believe in the Akashic Records? Then I wouldn't say it's that coheasive. Furthermore, a simple google search reveals that the JW faith went through some VERY racist points in regards to blacks, and a centeral point of TRC being race, it seems VERY strange that Prince never brings it up.

As for Lovesexy, it has 1,000 times more clear a message then RainChi. "God is Love" "LoveSexy is the feeling that you get when you've fallen in love......with the Heavens above"

That seemed a VERY strange arguing point. I mean, it seemed like you were setting yourself up to fail on that one