Adorecream said:

Not all of them, but a good 75% of his studio albums are perfectly listenable ( 3 stars or more). And of the ones that are not, there are at least 1 or 2 decent or very good tracks that I will listen to anytime.

About half of his albums and all of his 1980s output bar one album (Batman) I could listen through in entirety and its this high level that he maintained through the 80s that leads me to making him my favourite artist.

Pretty much all of his music to Lovesexy I really enjoy (For You is still enjoyable, if not very good)

From Batman to Chaos and Disorder its generally good too, but there are high points (Gold Experience) and Low points (Kamasutra, Batman)

Emancipation to Musicology was his low point quality wise, none of the albums in this period raise above the mire except Crystal Ball and then that's mostly older stuff. Some better albums are The Vault and better songs on Emancipation. TRC and NEWs on the other hand are virtually unlistenable, and Newpowersoul is his weakest album ever and TRC his most offensive, his nadir.


Musicology to now, the quality level is average, respectable and polite, but no real excitement, cookie cutter albums, with a good overall sound and one or two great songs like Dreamer, Black Sweat etc. Best of this period are 3121 and Lotusflow3r. Planet earth is not that bad and 20Ten is the worst from this period, but its still okay overall. 3rd eye girl is similar, nothing new or exciting beyond curiosity and a few decent songs like Groovy Potential.

But for me it was that first decade that will always endear me to him and the Gold Experience, because that album was excellent.

I can't say disagree with much of what you feel about Prince's studio output, except that for me (personally) I grew up on Batman, so aside from holding a slightly special place within my own fan experience, I also have come to later appreciate that particular soundtrack as a stand-alone, sometimes brilliant (Vicky Waiting, The Future and Scandalous), sometimes freaky (Electric Chair, Lemon Crush, even The Arms of Orion) and sometimes addictively throbbing/pulsating groove machine (Batdance, Partyman and Trust). So, whilst I also view Batman as a different beast to the quality of the superior Dirty Mind-Lovesexy run of albums, I also enjoy it as something incredibly unique within the cannon, which certainly bridges the organic musicality of the aforementioned run with the more hip-hop, early house, rnb and beat-heavy sounds of Graffiti Bridge until Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic. Also, unlike these later albums, Batman carries with it some brilliant B-side and extended version efforts, including I Love U In Me, Feel U Up, The Scandalous Sex Suite, The Mark Moore remixes of The Future and Electric Chair and the unreleased 12 inch of Trust. So, I personally find the quality of that particular Batman era (and, of note, the superlative execution of the videos for Batdance, Partyman and Scandalous) to still remain of a consisently higher quality.

For me, it is really with Graffiti Bridge (again, another soundtrack I still particularly enjoy, as a whole) that the quality control and consistency of greatness begins to waver, especially beyond the album. A case in point, whilst the extended version of Thieves In The Temple remains rightfully so within the pantheon of Prince's great 80's b-sides, it starts to get decidedly murky with the early 90's attempts at other avenues for remixes (Get Off, Brotha With a Purpose, Things Have Gotta Change, as well as all the numerous dub and house remixes, which don't quite add upto the sum of their parts). That said, I still find the actual albums (Diamonds and Pearls and Love Symbol) to be of an astonishingly high quality in terms of musicality, craftsmanship and sense of newness, even if "innovation" are no longer part of Prince's ouevre at that point. I think the difficult relationship, contractually and financially, with WB started to reach its peak during this early 90s era, where rightly or wrongly Prince disowned the apparent failure of these albums to reach the possibly unreachable heights that he/WB had set. Alongside the monumental success of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, it appears Prince had his eureka moment to disown his past, his recording gear, his name, his record label and venture once again into decidely rebellious territory. And you can feel it in the pulse of all of those early Come, and Gold-era, recordings, where he once again goes prolific in the studio.

For some reason, and it still isn't entirely clear to me, that urgency left ironically with his freedom and the release of the Emancipation opus. I can only put it down to the probably reality that, up until that point, he had shot his proverbial musical load with everything leading upto Gold, leaving little else to rally against. Furthermore, it sounded like he had calmed down with Mayte, was starting to envisage married and familial life, and concurrently the pattern and themes of music become more homely, subdued, settled and, at times, tired. This tiredness continues with Newpower Soul and Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, where he seemingly loses that fire, edge, invention and urgency, which encapsulates the majority of his music until then. It is perhaps little to no surprise that this should have happened, given the demise and total collapse occuring throughout Prince's life as the 90s drew to a close. I think that is why to many, including myself, I was literally shocked into disbelief at the sheer ferocity of The Rainbow Children. Lyrics and questionable themes/beliefs aside, there was no mistaking that that Prince many of us knew in the 1980s, had returned in no uncertain terms when he literally tore the musical roof off with TRC, NEWS and the ONA era. It was as if he had had enough with being "tired" and the musicality was entirely rejuvenated. Long disbanded were the likes of Kirky J at al behind production/drums and now we had John Blackwell et al.

And this brings me to the point you make about the Musiclogy era onwards. In many ways, I now wonder whether these eras should be critiqued less as "albums" per se, but more in terms of Prince's musicianship, performances on stage, changes in business model etc, because for all intents and purposes, Prince became less an "album" artist (with everything that follows after the album e.g. b-sides, tours etc) and more a "live" artist (with everything else supporting the tour, such as albums as side-promotions). From that perspective, I would suggest that (even with setlists appearing remarkably similar), Prince's stand since 2004 continues the peaks he once again re-imagined with The Rainbow Children, the difference being though that, for one reason or another (and again, I have no idea really why), his superlative efforts and performance came out in live shows (and not on albums, as much as I enjoy Musicology-20Ten). Lotus Flower (the original standalone album and to some extent, 3121) appear to be slight exceptions to that rule where it is clear, deep down, he still wanted to produce "strong" albums. But I think there was a fundamental shift that I know I have taken some time to catch upon, which is that Prince changed as an artist somewhere after TRC to no longer really being an "album" artist anymore. And for those of us who grew up with such strong concepts, themes and ideas via them albums themselves, it is difficult not to feel slightly put out by the fact that the "album" platform has at least for some time not been close to Prince's heart.

Without an "album", there really is little left to Prince's "art", which at least for me was a significant part of my enjoyment of his artistic enjoyment. Of course, I enjoy "live" performances when I can truly experience them, there's something about Prince's "albums" which, for better or worse, I return to, time and time again. They aren't "in the moment" experiences, but rather become imprints in one's psyche that either coincide or not with one's own life outside of Prince. To that extent, Prince can no longer be as much the soundtrack to my own life, since he just isn't producing fully-fledged albums, with his entire being, behind their concept. And that, to me, is something I am still getting used to, even though Prince clearly appears to be long gone from those days.

He's really only just a live performer now. And to the hardcore fan, he only really comes on fire during certain aftershow performances. So, from my own point of view, without albums, there really is not much left to follow regarding Prince. I certainly can't afford the time, let alone the money, to follow Prince's "live" experiences. And as much as we have these recordings - on tap - via bootlegs, it's really just not the same as ONE supremly musical "ALBUM" experience from the man himself, where he himself puts his balls on the line.

Who knows, with 3 years away from any discernable album creation, he might surprise me yet, as he did with TRC, but the odds are growing less and less likely. And quite frankly, his artistic themes haven't exactly set me alight in the way they once did. It would be useful if he felt some genuine emotion again, that he felt he needed to record and encapsulate an album around. But, for that to happen, I imagine he needs to be surrounded by the "real" occurrences of "real life" and it just might be the case that he has walled himself off from real life for quite some time.

Religion, I would suggest, can sometimes do that certain individuals (especially artistic minded), where the realness of life AT ONE TIME threatens their existential meaning and they become lost in the more heartwarming reality of a proverbial story e.g. The Bible.

A mjaor falling out with the JW religion might just produce a brilliant Prince album, as little to nothing else seems to be conflicting with him. Certainly, none of the women in his life - who can compete with him - appear to be inspiring much in his artistic, other-worldly, realm.

We need a new Susannah.

Every album from For You to Lovesexy,I enjoy.The weakest album in that group is Around The World In A Day but generally,the albums from the first 10 years of his recording career are excellent.

IMO