Prince ranks as a top 5 Prince album, It's Gonna Be Lonely, Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad are highlights, but a lot of other great top shelf material that is varied.

Controversy has Sexuality, Controversy, and Private Joy but geez, I enjoy the varied shorter songs, though they are weird, love Annie Christian, Jack U off , and yes, even Ronnie Talks to Russia, great singalong quality to it.

Dirty Mind has Uptown, Partyup and When U Were Mine, but the rest of the material in my opinion does not quite rank with other tracks on Prince and Controversy. I know it got all the critical accolades, and had a unique sound to it, with daring lyrics, but Do It All Night, Dirty Mind and Head are all quite repetitive and don't measure up in variety compared to lesser tracks on other 2 records.

Also Dirty Mind must be shorter than the other 2, feels like it is over too quick, guess a good album should leaving you longing more, but Prince and Controversy groove longer leaving more overall satisfaction, all 3 albums are great but If I had to rank

1 Prince

2 Controversy

3 Dirty Mind

Am I off my rocker, or can others relate? Of course all opinions!

Haven't listened Prince but Controversy is a very good album. But i love the most Dirty Mind; for me Head, Dirty Mind and GBHA are great songs. Isn't Gotta Stop Messin from DM sessions?

[Edited 3/17/16 19:16pm]

well, imo Dirty Mind is a pop-funk-soul masterpiece, no less..

Controversy was more of a continuation, and is excellent as well...

Hard to grade these amazing albums.

But if I should,

1. Dirty Mind 10/10
2. Controversy 9.5/10
3. Prince (the '2nd' album) 8.5 or maybe 9/10

The only problem with Dirty Mind is it's only 32 minutes long (or so).

So many great outtakes from this: isn't "Extra Lovable" & "Purple Music" from the DM era?

(Sorry if not..)

Dirty Mind could have done with a kick ass guitar solo somewhere. After 'Bambi' on Prince. The album lacks one of those.

Might sound simplistic, but i always thought that.

[Edited 3/17/16 19:57pm]

"Dirty Mind" turned into a rebel & got rid of the teeny bopper/bubble gum fans. Kinda of like what ATWIAD did after Purple Rain. The real fans only bought it..

^ Stop using that silly symbol in every post, he is PRINCE now since year 2000,


and, the " " Prince-symbol wasn't around during the Dirty Mind era....

thedance said:

^ Stop using that silly symbol in every post, he is PRINCE now since year 2000,


and, the " " Prince-symbol wasn't around during the Dirty Mind era....

NO!!

Dirty Mind gets and got a lot of critical attention in 1980/81 because it was perceived as the first 'soul' artist to get into guitars and the new-wave rock aesthetic.

.

Prince is basically soul-pop (though still a bit of good guitar on it), and Controversy was after Dirty Mind, and didn't break down any new barriers; actually, it was more like a sequel to the previous album.

.

So, Dirty Mind got a lot of attention, which it deserved, I think. Another way to put it is: while Prince and Controversy may or may not be better albums depending on your personal taste, Dirty Mind was more "important".

ThePanther said:

Dirty Mind gets and got a lot of critical attention in 1980/81 because it was perceived as the first 'soul' artist to get into guitars and the new-wave rock aesthetic.

.

Prince is basically soul-pop (though still a bit of good guitar on it), and Controversy was after Dirty Mind, and didn't break down any new barriers; actually, it was more like a sequel to the previous album.

.

So, Dirty Mind got a lot of attention, which it deserved, I think. Another way to put it is: while Prince and Controversy may or may not be better albums depending on your personal taste, Dirty Mind was more "important".

Without "Dirty Mind" it definitely wouldn't have been a "Controversy" ...

No Dirty Mind dont need a guitar solo.and btw i am a guitar player.

how lame is when every song have guitar solos.

second so wjat if some of the stuff on album is reptitive isnt funk supposed to be repetitive

thebanishedone said:

iZsaZsa said:

Dirty Mind was demo tapes.

WBR also offered his contract back after hearing "Dirty Mind". I think The Time's debut album was actually originally 's backup album if WBR wouldn't accept "Dirty Mind". Then after giving Steve an ultimatum 2b his manager if he convinced WBR to accept it(which eventually they did). came up with the idea of dubbing Morris's vocals over his(U can clearly hear 's lead & background vocals under Morris's) & giving Morris his own band in exchange for the anti-war song "PartyUp"...

runningbear said:

1 Prince

2 Controversy

3 Dirty Mind

Am I off my rocker, or can others relate? Of course all opinions!

For me it's

Controversy
Prince
Dirty Mind

Never been over keen on DM.

1.Dirty Mind is a masterpeice to me , love , just love the funk and rawness

2. Controversy

3. Prince

[Edited 3/18/16 6:53am]

runningbear said:

Prince ranks as a top 5 Prince album, It's Gonna Be Lonely, Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad are highlights, but a lot of other great top shelf material that is varied.

Controversy has Sexuality, Controversy, and Private Joy but geez, I enjoy the varied shorter songs, though they are weird, love Annie Christian, Jack U off , and yes, even Ronnie Talks to Russia, great singalong quality to it.

Dirty Mind has Uptown, Partyup and When U Were Mine, but the rest of the material in my opinion does not quite rank with other tracks on Prince and Controversy. I know it got all the critical accolades, and had a unique sound to it, with daring lyrics, but Do It All Night, Dirty Mind and Head are all quite repetitive and don't measure up in variety compared to lesser tracks on other 2 records.

Also Dirty Mind must be shorter than the other 2, feels like it is over too quick, guess a good album should leaving you longing more, but Prince and Controversy groove longer leaving more overall satisfaction, all 3 albums are great but If I had to rank

1 Prince

2 Controversy

3 Dirty Mind

Am I off my rocker, or can others relate? Of course all opinions!

Dirty Mind has Head too

If that is what you like, then that is what you like. Art by definition is subjective. What you think is the best, that is the best as far as you are concerned. You aren't off your rocker.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

thedance said:

^ Stop using that silly symbol in every post, he is PRINCE now since year 2000,


and, the " " Prince-symbol wasn't around during the Dirty Mind era....

NO!!

You know I just noticed that. Why the hell if she calling Prince by a name he no longer goes by?

Something seems....off about that

...............

"Dirty Mind" is the only P CD I can listen all the way through w/out skipping a song...One of his finest moments....1) "Dirty Mind"...2) "Controversy"....3) "Prince"

ThePanther said:

Dirty Mind was more "important".

Agreed, but it's important to note that, without the commercially friendly 'Prince' album, Prince might not have had the chance to make DM. Just a thought, since 'Prince' is pretty underrated on here and its importance in the PrinceWorld (giving him his first hit) is often ignored.

Guitarhero said:

1.Dirty Mind is a masterpeice to me , love , just love the funk and rawness

2. Controversy

3. Prince

[Edited 3/18/16 6:53am]

Yep.

-

Dirty mind, Controversy and 1999 got me into Prince

-

Sitting in my Brothers's room when he was out.... listening and not really knowing what he was going on about...

-

Until a year or so later!

-

Gotta Broken Heart Again - to this day...takes me back to my girl across the road...

-

Just a raw album!

-

Damn!!!

CharismaDove said:

ThePanther said:

Dirty Mind was more "important".

Agreed, but it's important to note that, without the commercially friendly 'Prince' album, Prince might not have had the chance to make DM. Just a thought, since 'Prince' is pretty underrated on here and its importance in the PrinceWorld (giving him his first hit) is often ignored.

.

Oh, I totally agree with you. In fact, on the 'under-regarded' thread I nominated Prince (1979) as his most under-regarded album. I mean, it's the album that made his career, basically. By contrast, Dirty Mind was a turkey -- it sold nothing compared to Prince.

.

Maybe it's really those two LPs in sequence that are his most "important". One was his commercial breakthrough that saved his ass with Warners and gave him his first hit, and the next was his critical breakthrough in the sense that he was never again regarded as merely a soul-pop artist and had (white) rock critics slobbering over him ever after.

DM is my 2nd favorite joint

'nuff said

iZsaZsa said:

I consider Dirty Mind to be Prince's first "classic" album.The two albums that came before it are very good and showed alot of promise,but Dirty Mind took things to a whole new level! This was the first album that shows the world exactly what Prince is all about

1999 is Prince's second "classic" album.

For me, Controversy is his second classic.

elf9933 said:

I remember having to sneak in the store 2 buy this album. Then hiding it in my Mother's car. It was considered VERY vulgar & risque back then. It really didn't get much radio airplay either. Besides the lead single "Uptown". "Head" was a BIG club hit though. Only in the last few years have I heard it on the radio unedited.