As the title says^

I've recently become a hardcore fan but I've been hesitant to try and get any of the myriad of Prince-related album such as The Time or Madhouse or The Family or whatever, etc. etc.

Basically, I'm not too keen on anything that isn't a Prince vocal, but I'm open to anything and I just have no idea what is really essential to hear/get and what is just kind of "filler", ya know?

So, got any suggestions for me?

the most essential is THE FAMILY ... it could have been a prince record it's so good

todesm said:

i d say essentials are : All 4 the time albums sheila e romance 1600,the glamorous life, eponime jill jones eponime 87 ingrid chavez album mazarati taja sevelle eponime and npg exodus, goldnigga and nps madhouse albums U could add vanity6 and appolonia6 which do have a few classic tracks.

I agree with these, except I'd consider the NPG stuff (Exodus, Goldnigga) pretty forgettable.

I'd also add The Family's 1985 project.

todesm said:

i d say essentials are : All 4 the time albums sheila e romance 1600,the glamorous life, eponime jill jones eponime 87 ingrid chavez album mazarati taja sevelle eponime and npg exodus, goldnigga and nps madhouse albums U could add vanity6 and appolonia6 which do have a few classic tracks.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Prince pretty much wrote/recorded most of these, no?

Lammastide said:

todesm said:

i d say essentials are : All 4 the time albums sheila e romance 1600,the glamorous life, eponime jill jones eponime 87 ingrid chavez album mazarati taja sevelle eponime and npg exodus, goldnigga and nps madhouse albums U could add vanity6 and appolonia6 which do have a few classic tracks.

I agree with these, except I'd consider the NPG stuff (Exodus, Goldnigga) pretty forgettable.

I'd also add The Family's 1985 project.

The NPG stuff is the only "related" material I've gotten in to so far mainly because they are pretty much Prince albums in all but name. I mean, NP Soul freakin has him on the cover, lol

I will agree about them being forgettable though. Exodus has its moments tho, imo

101 by Sheena Easton : go find it NOW!

http://www.princevault.co...ed_Artists

Start with the albums Prince actually wrote, performed and produced - i.e. most of the Starr Company, Paisley Park, NPG Records albums. Then go from there to find the ones where he just produced a few songs, then the odd tracks he wrote/produced here and there. If you're still hungry for more after all that the artists themselves have careers outside their work with Prince that still has that same sound - for example the individual Time members own solo albums and production work.

warewolf95 said:

As the title says^

I've recently become a hardcore fan but I've been hesitant to try and get any of the myriad of Prince-related album such as The Time or Madhouse or The Family or whatever, etc. etc.

Basically, I'm not too keen on anything that isn't a Prince vocal, but I'm open to anything and I just have no idea what is really essential to hear/get and what is just kind of "filler", ya know?

So, got any suggestions for me?

Don't lie 2 yourself u'll need to put your hands on goddamn everything in the end

.

Side-projects that entirely or almost entirely composed, recorded and per4rmed are:

.

The Time, What Time Is It? and Ice Cream Castle by The Time

Vanity 6 by Vanity 6

Apollonia 6 by Apollonia 6

The Glamorous Life and Romance 1600 by Sheila E.

The Family by The Family

8 and 16 by Madhouse

Jill Jones by Jill Jones

Times Waits For No One by Mavis Staples

Times Squared by Eric Leeds

Carmen Electra by Carmen Electra

Gold Nigga, Exodus, Newpower Soul and The War by New Power Generation

Child Of The Sun by Mayte

Kamasutra by The NPG Orchestra

Come 2 My House by Chaka Khan

GCS2000 by Graham Central Station

Elixer by Bria Valente

Superconductor by Andy Allo

.

I believe most if not all of the above is nothing BUT essential, they're for the most parts very interesting albums that also "fill the gaps" in 's creative process in between "regular" albums, ignoring them would be like skipping a third of his discography or his entire unreleased but circulating studio catalogue (which itself includes several more or less finished but unreleased albums recorded for/with other artists, such as the 2 unreleased Madhouse albums, the Margie Cox album, the Tamar Davis album, The Time's Corporate World, The Rebels and The Flesh.

.

Other albums he was involved a lot with include Sheila E. by Sheila E., Pandemonium by The Time, I Am by Elisa Fiorillo, May 19 1992 by Ingrid Chavez and The Voice by Mavis Staples. Though they are excellent albums in their own right, Mazarati and Taja Sevelle, quoted above, contained minimal input by .

TrevorAyer said:

the most essential is THE FAMILY ... it could have been a prince record it's so good

When in fact, it IS a Prince record.

Oh, except maybe for River Run Dry, but it suits the album perfectly. Thanks, Bobby.

databank said:

The Time, What Time Is It? and Ice Cream Castle by The Time

Vanity 6 by Vanity 6

Apollonia 6 by Apollonia 6

The Glamorous Life and Romance 1600 by Sheila E.

The Family by The Family

8 and 16 by Madhouse

Jill Jones by Jill Jones

Times Waits For No One by Mavis Staples

Times Squared by Eric Leeds > Meh...

Carmen Electra by Carmen Electra > Tell me you're kidding.

Gold Nigga, Exodus, Newpower Soul and The War by New Power Generation

Child Of The Sun by Mayte > Most crap, with 2~3 pure masterpieces

Kamasutra by The NPG Orchestra

Come 2 My House by Chaka Khan

GCS2000 by Graham Central Station

Elixer by Bria Valente

Superconductor by Andy Allo

.

> Databank :

How in hell could you forgot Good Question?

bonatoc said:

databank said:

The Time, What Time Is It? and Ice Cream Castle by The Time

Vanity 6 by Vanity 6

Apollonia 6 by Apollonia 6

The Glamorous Life and Romance 1600 by Sheila E.

The Family by The Family

8 and 16 by Madhouse

Jill Jones by Jill Jones

Times Waits For No One by Mavis Staples

Times Squared by Eric Leeds > Meh...

Carmen Electra by Carmen Electra > Tell me you're kidding.

Gold Nigga, Exodus, Newpower Soul and The War by New Power Generation

Child Of The Sun by Mayte > Most crap, with 2~3 pure masterpieces

Kamasutra by The NPG Orchestra

Come 2 My House by Chaka Khan

GCS2000 by Graham Central Station

Elixer by Bria Valente

Superconductor by Andy Allo

.

I absolutely agree that Carmen Electra and COTS are weak albums, the 2 weakies of the bunch alongside maybe Kamasutra (but at least that one was daring), however Carmen Electra really bridges the gap between (the album) and Gold Nigga, showing progressing thru his hip-hop phase and taking some disastreous "dance" detours in the middle of it (themselves reminiscent of Eye Wanna Melt With U). Child Of The Sun also in a way paves the way from Exodus and TGE to Emancipation (though C&D and TVOF4S came in the middle but were kind of side projects themselves, being contract fillers). Times Squared is GB's little brother in the sense that it's a "best of The Vault" album, I also agree that the way Leeds "embelished" the tracks took from them that wild vibe Madhouse had and made it sound more like ordinary smooth jazz, it's nonetheless a very interesting document when it comes to 's unreleased instrumental sessions from the second part of the 80's. I hope one day a rerealease will also include the tracks as they were before Leeds toyed with them, for the sake of History.

I don't really see all this from a "like/dislike" perspective anymore, to be honest, for I think my tastes as much are anyone else's are quite irrelevant: it's more getting the full picture of a creative process and trying to understand how went from point A to point B.

Now that everything can be downloaded for free in a matter of minutes I think the OP would do better by listening everything essential and making their own choices than by listening to our own personal, subjective opinions. Sure there will be a consensus that The Family is brilliant and Carmen Electra is weak, so The Family oughta be a priority, but should CE be skipped entirely for that very reason? IDK, besides even that one has a few brilliant moments on it, like COTS as you point out.

It really depends whether the OP is truly a fan of 's work as they say, or just someone who enjoys a very small part of 's overall career, as are many people here.

todesm said:

Good question did not age well... what about tc ellis album and its rap version of bambi ? (no need to get that one )

had NOTHING to do with Good Question and his contribution to True Confessions was minimal as well (and didn't include the Bambi cover according to Per Nilsen's research, though TC seemed to assume was responsible for it in a recent interview, so there may be something to dig here... or not - he wouldn't be the first Paisley Park artist who didn't know what was happening in his own album ).

databank said:

databank said:

Sure there will be a consensus that The Family is brilliant and Carmen Electra is weak, so The Family oughta be a priority, but should CE be skipped entirely for that very reason? IDK, besides even that one has a few brilliant moments on it, like COTS as you point out.

It really depends whether the OP is truly a fan of 's work as they say, or just someone who enjoys a very small part of 's overall career, as are many people here.

The problem is, he may like the Carmen Electra album.

It's like entering the A.A. :

— Hi, my name is Christian.

— Hello, Christian!
— I love "Go-go Dancer". I love "Skin Tight". I even appreciate Tony M.

Holy crap, thanks for all the awesome replies and suggestions everyone!

NouveauDance said:

http://www.princevault.co...ed_Artists

Start with the albums Prince actually wrote, performed and produced - i.e. most of the Starr Company, Paisley Park, NPG Records albums. Then go from there to find the ones where he just produced a few songs, then the odd tracks he wrote/produced here and there. If you're still hungry for more after all that the artists themselves have careers outside their work with Prince that still has that same sound - for example the individual Time members own solo albums and production work.

This sounds like a great way to go about it. Thank you

Most essential in no order (All are basically Prince writes)

.

The Time - The Time 1981

The Time - What time is it 1982

Vanity 6 - Vanity 6 1982

Sheila E - The Glamorous Life 1984

Sheila E - Romance 1600 1985

The Family - The Family 1985

Jill Jones - Jill Jones 1987

.

Fairly Essential (Many of these albums contain other material and only a few Prince penned songs)

.

Ice Cream Castles - The Time 1984

Pandemonium - The Time 1990

Sheila E - Sheila E 1987

Martika's Kitchen - Martika 1991

Time waits for no one - Mavis Staples 1989

Apollonia 6 - Apollonia 6 1984 (All Prince but some hit and miss material)

.

Good albums with a Prince sound, but minimal or no Prince involvement

.

Sex Cymbal - Sheila E - 1991

Jesse Johnsons Revue 1985 (This is pretty awesome)

The original 7ven - 2011

The Family, Jill Jones self titled, What Time is It, 1600 Romance first and foremost (IMO)

Adorecream said:

Most essential in no order (All are basically Prince writes)

.

The Time - The Time 1981

The Time - What time is it 1982

Vanity 6 - Vanity 6 1982

Sheila E - The Glamorous Life 1984

Sheila E - Romance 1600 1985

The Family - The Family 1985

Jill Jones - Jill Jones 1987

.

Fairly Essential (Many of these albums contain other material and only a few Prince penned songs)

.

Ice Cream Castles - The Time 1984

Pandemonium - The Time 1990

Sheila E - Sheila E 1987

Martika's Kitchen - Martika 1991

Time waits for no one - Mavis Staples 1989

Apollonia 6 - Apollonia 6 1984 (All Prince but some hit and miss material)

.

Good albums with a Prince sound, but minimal or no Prince involvement

.

Sex Cymbal - Sheila E - 1991

Jesse Johnsons Revue 1985 (This is pretty awesome)

The original 7ven - 2011

Thank you for the clarifications. One reason I've been hesitant it getting any of this stuff is that I'm not really into funk or soul or dance music etc., so alot of the artists Prince is/was involved in I simply have no major interest in, hence wanting to stick to "Prince albums" with this lot.

At the risk of repeating all the previous responses that I haven't read....

• The Family. Really fantastic. As far as I'm concerned, these are all Prince songs.
• Jill Jones. One of my favorites. Prince vocals can be heard on some tracks. All Prince Songs
• Vanity 6. All prince songs, music performed by Prince, Vanity on vocal.
• The Time, What Time Is It? Ice Cream Castles. Prince songs, prince performs all music, Morris on vocals.
• Mazarati. Couple songs written by Prince, all songs sound like Prince songs.
• Martika's Kitchen. Almost all Prince songs, all songs sound like Prince songs.
• Apolonia 6. All Prince songs.
• Taja Seville. Some Prince songs, all songs sound like Prince songs.
• Mayte - Children of the sun. All prince songs.

These are the ones I like

All of The Time including Original 7

Vanity 6

Apollonia 6

Mazarati

The Family

Jill Jones

Sheila E self titeld and Romance 1600

Carmen Electra

Liv Warfield - Unexpected

Andy Allo - superconductor

Jesse Johnson - All of them but favorite is Bare My Naked Soul

Mavis Staples - the voice

Mayte - Children of the sun

Essential?

The first three The Time records.

The first two Sheila E. records.
The Family record.
The Vanity 6 record.
The NPG "Exodus" record.

Madhouse "8" if you want to hear his best "jazz" release

Let's not inflate the list too much.

novabrkr said:

Essential?

The first three The Time records.

The first two Sheila E. records.
The Family record.
The Vanity 6 record.
The NPG "Exodus" record.

Madhouse "8" if you want to hear his best "jazz" release

Let's not inflate the list too much.

Jill Jones is mandatory, I'm afraid.