I'm not kidding when I say I had a very hard time finalizing this list. Titles jumped on and off, but you have to make tough calls, so here we go:

8. Dirty Mind: No list would be complete without this on the list. It had graphic language, bending styles, and most of all, it wasn't afraid to break the rules. A must-listen for any fan of good music. ALBUM RANKING: B-

7. Lotusflower: Previous work from the 1980s tend to be the ones fans remember most fondly, but he has a few modern gems too. Enter the Lotusflower! By mixing old-school rock with futuristic R&B, Prince reminded us that he still has an ace up his sleeve. I was literally shocked at how much I liked this title. ALBUM RANKING: B+

6. Around the World in a Day: This is one that I've grown to love, thanks to repeated listens. Instead of viewing it as the "letdown sequel of Purple Rain," look at it as a salute to rock-and-roll greats from the '60s and '70s. With that frame of mind, perhaps you'll realize this is NOT a bad Prince album by any stretch of the imagination. ALBUM RANKING: B+

5. Parade: "Under the Cherry Moon" may have been a failure, but the soundtrack was anything but. Featuring a unique blend of jazz and orchestral elements, Parade is beloved by many fans in the Prince community. Such a shame that the Revolution broke up because they were at the top of their game here. ALBUM RANKING: B+

4. Lovesexy: One of those albums that you either love or simply don't understand. If you can look past the controversial artwork, you'll see that Prince's soul is in a spiritual tug-of-war between the characters Lovesexy (God) and Spooky Electric (Satan). If it's been a while since you've heard this record, give it another go. ALBUM RANKING: A-

3. 1999: With his star power on the rise, 1999 starts a whole new chapter for the Purple One – partially borrowing the brashness of Dirty Mind and the lust of Controversy by expanding upon it with an avant-garde soundscape of synthesizers and Linn Drums. This is arguably the funkiest album ever made. ALBUM RANKING: A-

2. Purple Rain: Any list of great Prince albums will mention this near the top and rightfully so. It took everything good and interesting from the first five albums and cranked it up to the max. No real weaknesses can be found here; however, I have one album that ranks above it slightly. ALBUM RANKING: A+

1. Sign o' the Times: As awesome as Purple Rain is – and it's freaking awesome – Sign o' the Times took everything we loved about Prince to the stratosphere! Not only is this my favorite of the bunch but it contains some of the greatest material ever recorded from the Dream Factory, Camille, and Crystal Ball sessions (No one man should have THAT much creativity – BUUUUCCCHHHH – That's the sound of a head exploding!) ALBUM RANKING: A+

So those are my thoughts and I want to hear yours. Did I put the right album in the top spot? Have I neglected to mention any hidden gems? Sound off below and keep it positive!

Emancipation (an abridged version) - everyone has their own version, no one agrees on the best tracklist.. only that there should be an abridged version and that pieces of this album are stellar.

LotusFlower (an abridged version) - same.. lose some of the garbage, sprinkle in a few gems from MPLSound and its a classic. Dreamer is just killer.

Controversy: private joy is SO damn under-rated!

Dirty Mind: van halen jacked the title track's riff for Jump. ROBBERY!

Purple Rain: WDC = his best song ever. and thats saying something.

1999 - the soul version of Gary Numan's Pleasure Principle. Incredibly influenced and Incredibly Influential.

Parade - wacked out, risky, funky and french. Girls & Boys is a #1 that just never happened.

SOTT - So sprawling but so focused. only his genius could accomplish this.

You just made me think of starting a thread called The Hateful Eight about his worst albums...

I agrees with -almost- all choices from OP C.Lacy'90:

8. Dirty Mind: ALBUM RANKING: 10/10, well just a 0,0000001 lesser than the rest on the list

7. The Gold Experince: ALBUM RANKING: 10/10

6. Around the World in a Day: ALBUM RANKING: 10/10

5. Parade: ALBUM RANKING: 10/10

4. Lovesexy: ALBUM RANKING: 10/10

3. 1999: 10/10

2. Sign "O" The Times: ALBUM RANKING: 10/10

1. Purple Rain: The ultimate pop-rock-funk Prince album imo. ALBUM RANKING: 10/10

1. Dirty Mind
2. For You
3. Sign O The Times
4. Purple Rain
5. Lovesexy
6. Symbol LP
7. Prince
8. Art Official Age

8 isnt enough though...its hard to leave out Controversy and Parade
[Edited 5/4/15 11:45am]

itsjustaroundthecorner says

Dirty Mind: van halen jacked the title track's riff for Jump. ROBBERY!

-----

they sure did...
[Edited 5/4/15 4:25am]

1- Lovesexy
2 - 1999
3 - Come
4 - Sign O'the Times
5 - Parade
6 - Black Album
7 - Purple Rain
8 - The Truth
[Edited 5/4/15 6:00am]

8. Symbol - This is how I wanna be done

7. Purple Rain - Better than masturbating with a magazine

6. SOTT - It wants to do it to me all the time, alright

5. The Black Album - It plays with itself until it turns me on

4. Dirty Mind - Touches in places until youre burning up

3. 1999 - Owch! This is verging on the untouchable

2. Lovesexy - untouchable in most ways

1. Parade - untouchable in every way

Honourable mentions that made the list then got usurped:
AOA - its about time!

TRC - Everlasting now and always

Prince - This one dances close and slow

GB - Not everyone wants to find it, but glad I did

TGE - all that glitters is, in fact, gold

8. AOA

7. Lovesexy

6. 1999

5. The Black Album

4. Around the World in A Day

3. Purple Rain

2. Parade

***1. Sign o The Times ***

This is impossible I just can't but I will do dis:

2. Parade

1. Lovesexy

This is pretty easy for me. These are by far my favs and after Batman they really start to drop off fast for me.

1. the symbol album

2. chaos and disorder

3. the gold experience

4. diamonds and pearls

5. purple rain

6. 1999

7. lotusflower

8. batman

[Edited 5/4/15 7:00am]

1. SOTT

2. 1999

3. Purple Rain

4. Parade

5. Controversy

6. Dirty Mind

7. Around the World...

8. Lovesexy

-

1980 - 1988; to say anything else this man did ranks in his top 8 is just ridiculous

trax said:

This is pretty easy for me. These are by far my favs and after Batman they really start to drop off fast for me.

1. the symbol album

2. chaos and disorder

3. the gold experience

4. diamonds and pearls

5. purple rain

6. 1999

7. lotusflower

8. batman

[Edited 5/4/15 7:00am]

Chaos & Disorder as #2??????????????????!!!!!!!!!! My mind is blown!

UncleJam said:

1. SOTT

2. 1999

3. Purple Rain

4. Parade

5. Controversy

6. Dirty Mind

7. Around the World...

8. Lovesexy

-

1980 - 1988; to say anything else this man did ranks in his top 8 is just ridiculous

This is a close to my list as I've seen....I prefer the less commercial and more experimental at the top of my list as it takes a certian skill to KNOW you're going to blow the lid off the culture - do it, and then do full 'FU wrap your mnminds around this' AND GET AWAY WITH IT. and really people need to get off his jock about everything - this right here is a body of work that is entirely unique to Prince. he created sounds we hadn't heard before. NO ONE SOUNDS LIKE THIS. and no one ever will.

I hate to number them because they really, to me, are equal in their greatness.

1. SOTT - nothing has ever sounded like this, there's nothing that comes close. still.
2. LoveSexy - doing his own thing in an unexpeced way again.
3. ATWIAD - another instance of unrepentant unique
4. Dirty Mind - really dirty subversive and radical for the times.

5. Parade - again unique in the landscape of the times.
6. 1999 - brilliantly commercial
7. Contoversy - brilliantly commercial
8. Purple Rain - brilliantly commercial
------------------------------------------------------

9. Rainbow Children - so. well. done. imo princes last laser-focused brilliantly edited album that is so tight on every level and it fuses some disparate musical elements in ways that made them gel.

10. The Black Album - Angry Prince is funky and the stripped down sound was a perfect representation of the underground happening at the time.


-------------

The (support) system that allowed all his best work to come to fruition is long gone. He was contentious with it, but it really did yield some of the most distinct and unique sounds in pop music ever. TGE, Diamonds and Pearls, etc.....they all have their moments but theres no new ground being broken and thats fine. They just dont blwo the doors off everything like these did.

Black Sweat is a highlight because it showed Prince still has his 'unique' in him, and we saw with the ex's face that it's still there, it's whether or not we'll get a tightly focused album that goes there again.

after sitting here thinking about all this a thought just came up, Prince has always used the juxtaposition of sex and religion against each other as inspirational creatively opposing forces ....now that he's reigned himself in - it makes sense that the music is different in many ways and lacking that underlying tension .... as you get older you tend to live less in the craycray of youth and more in the stability of adulthood. stability is boring lololol but he's always exciting with a guitar and a grudge tho lololol

okay yeah and now i think i need ot get back to work lolololol

im gunna try and do this, but my list may change as soon as i post this. this is a rough compilation:

8- goldnigga
7- the vault: old friends 4 sale
6- chaos and disorder
5- the truth
4- the rainbow children
3- LotusFlow3r/MPLS♎UND
2- come
1- around the world in a day

1. Parade

2. Around the World In A Day

3. Purple Rain

4. The Black Album

5. Sign "O" The Times

6. Controversy

7. Lovesexy

8. Come

The list is always subject to change. I've probably posted 2 or 3 different versions of this list this year, but at the moment...

1. Sign 'o' the Times

2. Parade

3. The Rainbow Children

4. Dirty Mind

5. 1999

6. Purple Rain

7. Loutsflower

8. Around the World in a Day

1. SOTT
2. Lovesexy
3. 1999
4. Purple Rain
5. Controversy
6. Love Symbol
7. Musicology
8. ATWIAD

1. SOTT
2. ONA (studio version)
3. The Truth
4. Symbol
5. Rainbow Children
6. Lotus Flower
7. Parade
8. Crystal Ball

1. SOTT
2. 1999
3. Parade
4. Lovesexy
5. TRC
6. Symbol
7. Lotus flower
8. TGE

1.1999---This is Prince at his absolute best.

2.Dirty Mind

3.SOTT

4.Lovesexy

5.Purple Rain

6.Controversy

7.Love Symbol

8.The Gold Experience

1. Sign O The Times

2. Purple Rain

3. Parade

4. Around The World In A Day

5. Plectrumelectrum

6. Lovesexy

7. 1999

8. Dirty Mind

aaroncanderson said:

trax said:

This is pretty easy for me. These are by far my favs and after Batman they really start to drop off fast for me.

1. the symbol album

2. chaos and disorder

3. the gold experience

4. diamonds and pearls

5. purple rain

6. 1999

7. lotusflower

8. batman

[Edited 5/4/15 7:00am]

Chaos & Disorder as #2??????????????????!!!!!!!!!! My mind is blown!

Sorry to offend u bud. It is actually the only Prince album that I like every single song. I love it!! It was really hard not to put this number 1 honestly. The 90s were the best for me and Prince. I love the way people criticize others on this site for actually liking something by Prince. Its no wonder he has no fans anymore I guess. I guess I should give in and do like everyone else and say how everthing except Purple Rain 1999 and SOTT time just sucks ass. Anyway. I like what I like and you can honestly kick rocks. I don't give a damn!!

I've been a Prince fan for 31 years..
His best albums are all from the 80's..
AOA should never be on ANY of his best record lists.
It isn't that good of an album

UncleJam said:

You are 100% correct!!

ChrisLacy1990 said:

I take exception to this remark. Respectfully, that's a snobbish Prince-fan attitude

It's not like this album was "too complicated" to understand. Lyrics aside, it's whether sonically the songs are agreeable to one's tastes.

1)Parade
2)Purple Rain
3)Sign o the Times
4)1999
5)Rainbow Children
6)Controversy

Prince overall doesn't make great albums. He has great songs sprinkled over inconsistent ones.

warning2all said:

Prince overall doesn't make great albums. He has great songs sprinkled over inconsistent ones.

^ Prince used to make great albums: he made those fantastic albums in 1980 to 1988, an impressive string of 9 completely brilliant albums, (if you count the Black Album as an 87 album)...

His albums since/ after Lovesexy has been complicated to some fans, but imho. Come and The Gold Experience are fantastic as well.

And Art Official Age is actually the best album in a very very long time, again imo.....

But I agree in this.... most albums after Lovesexy has been inconsistent, some with only 3 or 4 good song on.

This topic never gets old, always 3, 5, 10 or 20, so 8 is a refreshing number. I pretty much agree with the OP's list but would reverse the order a bit.

.

8. Controversy - 83/100 - 6 tight songs with two less great ones. This album is pure funk, contains some epic dance cuts and the sexiest song ever committed to wax, Do Me Baby.

7. Gold Experience - 86/100 - Mid 90s gem with only one less good track (We March). Dolphin his most epic song, Now and 319 great sexual ones, the powerful Dolphin and esoteric Endorphinmachine. Proof Prince can produce classics when he wants to.

6. Lovesexy - 87/100 - A spiritual and psychosexual masterpiece, if sex was a ballet, it would be Lovesexy, creamy sex cuts here and a lot of spirituality. Alphabet Street a funk bomb, When 2 R in Love, ballectic and Annastesia is ethereal.

5. Purple Rain - 90/100 - Epic pop and rock, magical sounds of When Doves Cry, Impassioned screams on beautiful ones, guitar dueling on Computer blue, just a great album, if heard one too many times.

4. Dirty Mind - 91/100 - His first classic, sexy, sleazy and stark, a great punk funk guitar and keyboard sound, excellent song writing, shocking lyrics and a fuck you attitude too boot, inshort the stuff of legends. It took Prince 3 albums in 2 years to achieve what most bands never do in a career, establish his own sound and stick to it.

3. Parade - 93/100 - Feel good funk and pop and his first truly tender and love filled ballads. Parade is the accessible genius of Prince, a supreme album and very funky. Plus he Frenches it up and proves his awesome drumming skills. Its also a great band album and captures a moment not again seen, as he dismisses the Revolution afterwards.

2. 1999 - 95/100 - The album that made Prince a star, he proved he could do it all, write hits for himself and other bands, tour his ass off, write music, play music and live the music. This album contains some of his most iconic and unforgettable work ever and has not dated. There would not have been Purple Rain or Sign o the Times without this vital album and Prince met his new best friend the Linn drum machine. Bought on to Controversy, it dominates here.

1. Sign o the Times - 97/100 - The apex of Prince, it was all down hill here, as one reveiwer said, Prince takes every style of popular and funk music known to man in 1987 and fuses them all into his own masterful and original style. No filler, no crap, just epic songs one after another. A steaming pile of musical genius. The stuff of musical dreams and the culmination of his art.

.

Just missed the cut

.

9. Around the world in a day

10. Art Official Age

11. 20 Ten

12. Diamonds and Pearls (There is a lot of great pop songs here)

13. Chaos and Disorder

14. 3121

15. Crystal Ball

16. The Black Album

Trax,

I meant no offense just sharing my thoughts. Everyone's opinion is equally valid. Prince creates such varied music that he is able to connect with people from everywhere. And I'm not in the camp that thinks Purple Rain and all his 80's stuff was the apex of his career I would take AOA and TGE over a lot of his 80's stuff. I just never really connected with Chaos. I like it but don't love it. Peace, be wild!

Ah sure why not:

1. Purple Rain - Come on now, lets not fool ourselves.
2. Sign O The Times - Works Like a best of of everything that came before but in the form of new tracks rather than previous hits. Also finds time to glimpe into future directions.
3. Dirty Mind - A short, concise, uncommercial but perfect album imho. Nothing drags it down and it's completely its own thing.
4. Parade - My favourite Prince album, I don't think its perfect but when I hear him stretching like this I'm willing to forgive any moments I find lesser.
5. The Rainbow Children - it's got all sorts of problems lyrically but musically I dig it start to finish, even if it's a little, uh, Sting... in places.
6. 1999 - Drags a little here and there but so much of it is prince at his uncompromising peak.
7. What Time is It? - As much a prince album as any, straight up minneapolis funk without any of his own psychosexual and spiritual meltdowns holding it back.
8. Jill Jones - I go back to this album more and more all the time. A perfectly sequenced album that I think marries the sophisto-pop of Parade with Prince's r'nb roots. Jill does a great job on it too.

With apologies to the 90's.

[Edited 5/5/15 7:54am]