These are the post-2004 songs I listen to most, with my favorites bolded (as PhukdNtheHead said, every orger will have a different answer):

-S.S.T.

-3121

-F.U.N.K.

-Resolution

-Dance 4 Me

-Dreamer

-Crimson and Clover

-Colonized Mind

-Laydown

-Let's Go Crazy Reloaded

-Funknroll

-Time

-Wow

-Stopthistrain (I'm in the minority on this one, but I like it)

-Funknroll (different than P's AOA version, I love 'em both)

-Hardrocklover

-June

-Big City

Have fun discovering new stuff!

[Edited 5/12/16 10:32am]

If something like "Future Soul Song" had been relasesed in 1986, hell, in 1996, it would be an undisputed Prince classic. So timing has a lot to do with it.

AlexHahn said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

Absolutely nothing vital at all.

I posed this question in another thread and it's been great to get people's thoughts on this. I was a strong critic as early as Rainbow Children, and I didn't find enough in Musicology or 3121 to get me thoroughly back on board. With that said, posters on these threads have opened my eyes to some great stuff. It's hard to find amidst the mass of confusing releases, but it's there. "Essential" is a tricky word, but something like "Colonized Mind" has a meaningful place in the canon. Some of his guitar work on post-2007 work is stronger and more expressive than anything on earlier records. So my eyes have been opened to the value of exploring the later catalog, and it's helpful to be pointed to individual songs.

KingSausage said:

Don't listen to: Purple & Gold

Ooooh, good call. Imagine someone wanting to get reacquainted with Prince, and that's the first song they listen to!

emesem said:

Good suggestions above but dont sleep on 20ten. It has three of the best tracks Prince has put out in forever:

.

Future Soul Song (100% Prince classic)

Sticky Like Glue and Lavaux (80s sounding very fun tracks)

This was the first and last time he would revist that classic 80s minniapolis sounds since 1984.

.

I also love his cover of "What if". You can find it on the youtubes.

[Edited 5/10/16 10:44am]

-

wow, I had no idea this was a cover, and had even been released. He had me produce a full blown orchestration of this in August. horns, strings, woodwinds, the whole deal.

KingSausage said:

Don't listen to: Purple & Gold Do listen to: Everything else Regardless of whether or not this material is "vital," you will probably have a good time exploring it. Enjoy!

Funnily enough, I finally got round to listening to Purple & Gold for the first time ever this morning. I feel a little bit sick now. There was me thinking just how bad could it be. Well...

I'd like to respect everyone's opinion, but the earlier comment stating there's absolutely nothing vital at all post Musicology is just plain ridiculous to me. Prince in the 80s is obviously a different Prince to the last ten years or so, but that doesn't mean there is no great material to found in there. It can be a bumpy ride, but everyone is surely able to uncover something of value.

I really like the entire Art Official Age album, and a lot of the HitNRun Phase 1.

What Top 20 Songs since 2005 or so do I need to listen to??

Help a Purple Brother out!

Would love to hear someday but love this "arena rock version". Yes, I think it was aired with permission on a few Christian radio stations.

MrMoops said:

emesem said:

Good suggestions above but dont sleep on 20ten. It has three of the best tracks Prince has put out in forever:

.

Future Soul Song (100% Prince classic)

Sticky Like Glue and Lavaux (80s sounding very fun tracks)

This was the first and last time he would revist that classic 80s minniapolis sounds since 1984.

.

I also love his cover of "What if". You can find it on the youtubes.

[Edited 5/10/16 10:44am]

-

wow, I had no idea this was a cover, and had even been released. He had me produce a full blown orchestration of this in August. horns, strings, woodwinds, the whole deal.

PhukdNtheHead said:

My personal list (In no particular order)

3121

1. 3121

2. Te Amo Corazon

3. Black Sweat

4. Love

5. The Dance

6. The Word

Planet Earth

7. Guitar

8. Chelsea Rogers

L0tusFlow3r (This whole album is solid IMHO)

9. Boom

10. Crimson and Clover

11. COLONIZED MIND (In my top 3 P songs of all time)

12. Dreamer

Couldn't stand 20Ten...

Plectrum

13. Wow

14. Plectrum Electrum

15. Another Love

AOA

16. Clouds

17. Breakdown

18. Way Back Home

HnR Phase 1

19. Hardrocklover

20. June

Personally didn't like phase 2 much

Hope this helps! Every orger will have different responses haha

My favourite songs too

txladykat said:

PhukdNtheHead said:

My personal list (In no particular order)

3121

1. 3121

2. Te Amo Corazon

3. Black Sweat

4. Love

5. The Dance

6. The Word

Planet Earth

7. Guitar

8. Chelsea Rogers

L0tusFlow3r (This whole album is solid IMHO)

9. Boom

10. Crimson and Clover

11. COLONIZED MIND (In my top 3 P songs of all time)

12. Dreamer

Couldn't stand 20Ten...

Plectrum

13. Wow

14. Plectrum Electrum

15. Another Love

AOA

16. Clouds

17. Breakdown

18. Way Back Home

HnR Phase 1

19. Hardrocklover

20. June

Personally didn't like phase 2 much

Hope this helps! Every orger will have different responses haha

you stole my list

Okay...

I've thought about this, and applied some science to the question... The "science" being: "that song sort of sounds like."

So, everybody loves the Sign O' The Times album, right?

I decided to make a playlist of sound-alike songs from only the last decade (from 2007-2016).

Here it is:

01. Shut This Down

Nothing in the last decade really sounds like Sign O' The Times, but there's a sparse drum/synth/bass arrangement to this song which is a direct descendant of the earlier track.

02. $

No, it's not Play In The Sunshine, but it has the same jogging pace and a "live band" feel. It has similar chatter in the background at the start too.

03. Xtraloveable

I chose this as the Housequake substitute for its danceability alone. It's the purest "party" song he produced over the last ten years. Yes, I know that he basically re-produced it from the earlier version, which possibly explains how it has that feeling he somehow lost in later records.

04. Sticky Like Glue

Now... There may have been more obviously "jazzy" ballads, to put in place of The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker, but I chose this for the drums. That stoppy-starty drum pattern is so Prince, and so reminiscent of the drum programming on Dorothy Parker.

05. Dance 4 Me

Well, it's no IT, but nothing post his JW-conversion is going to be... It's the hollering vocals over the pounding Linn snares which sealed its place here.

06. Resolution

This was hard. There's barely any songs in Prince's catalogue which sound like Starfish And Coffee, even before 2007. I chose Resolution, because Wendy's backing vocals really sound like Susannah's. It's got a breezy west-coast pop feel which makes it feel a bit 1960s, if not totally psychedelic.

07. Somewhere Here On Earth

Slow Love was such a classic croon. Adding Somewhere Here On Earth in its place was a no-brainer.

08. Stare

As with IT, there's no direct substitute for Hot Thing. However, Stare is as nasty-sounding as he got in recent years - even if the lyrics weren't all that nasty at all. The juxtaposition between Somewhere Here On Earth and Stare feels a lot like the juxtaposition between Slow Love and Hot Thing. It just works somehow.

09. U're Gonna C Me

It's a slow romantic ballad with a tapping Linn drum pattern. It's my choice for a Forever In My Life replacement. It's a lot more produced and fuller-sounding than Forever In My Life was. Maybe other songs could fit here, but I went with my heart. I love this.

10. Guitar

Manic pop-rock. I know that U Got The Look is a lot more synth-laden, but there's a squealing quality to the lead guitar on this track which just screams U Got The Look somehow.

11. U Know

Again, it was very hard to think of a substitute for If I Was Your Girlfriend. I chose this for its sparse arrangement, distorted vocals, pensive feeling... I think it makes more sense as a Girlfriend substitute, as it fades out in the last ten seconds, and you're left with that bouncing drum pattern.

12. Look At Me, Look At U

No, it doesn't sound like Strange Relationship at all. It's roughly the same tempo as Strange Relationship though, and has the same plodding quality.

13. The One U Wanna C

This was an easy choice to replace I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man. It's jangly guitar power-pop - and the songs always reminded me of each other anyhow.

14. Crimson And Clover

Perhaps a controversial choice to replace the Jesus-frenzy that is The Cross. A cover too... I just think that in terms of Prince rockin' out like Jimi, this song fits the bill better than any other.

15. Chelsea Rodgers

It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night was a co-lead vocal with a woman; had the horns; was funky as hell... Chelsea Rodgers is such a good match.

16. Future Soul Song

Slightly hard to pick one closing romantic ballad to replace Adore, but this won, because of the Linn drum sounds. No, it's not as good as Adore - but nothing is. It's a lovely song in its own right though, and deserves to be listened to more.

So, make up this playlist in your music player of choice, and let me know what you think.

I excluded some songs that I like more than some of these, because they didn't fit my "science" but listening to the songs in this configuration makes me love them more.

I tried to edit this post, as I have no idea why there are no line breaks between paragraphs. But I can't figure it out!!! Ugh.

[Edited 5/15/16 6:15am]

DarkKnight1 said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

Absolutely nothing vital at all.

Sure its nothing vital.....if you are not a fan of Prince.

If you really want "redemption" you have to listen to all of it. You won't like all of it but you will pick your own personal favorites and that is what it's all about, no?

This thread should prove that when it comes to Prince's music we all have different tastes, different favorites, different least favorites, etc... Prince was so much to so many that the only way to do this is listen to it all. You WILL find plenty of "keepers" to add to your list of favorites.

Just. Sayin'.

KingSausage said:

Don't listen to: Purple & Gold Do listen to: Everything else Regardless of whether or not this material is "vital," you will probably have a good time exploring it. Enjoy!

Okay, I know I said "Everything" but KS has me here... don't listen to Purple & Gold!!

Just buy those albums, cheapskate.

Askani said:

AlexHahn said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

Absolutely nothing vital at all.

I posed this question in another thread and it's been great to get people's thoughts on this. I was a strong critic as early as Rainbow Children, and I didn't find enough in Musicology or 3121 to get me thoroughly back on board. With that said, posters on these threads have opened my eyes to some great stuff. It's hard to find amidst the mass of confusing releases, but it's there. "Essential" is a tricky word, but something like "Colonized Mind" has a meaningful place in the canon. Some of his guitar work on post-2007 work is stronger and more expressive than anything on earlier records. So my eyes have been opened to the value of exploring the later catalog, and it's helpful to be pointed to individual songs.

I always loved the one-two punch of "The Marrying Kind / If I Was the Man in Your Life" from Musicology. Worth a listen for that alone!

GirlBrother said:

I tried to edit this post, as I have no idea why there are no line breaks between paragraphs. But I can't figure it out!!! Ugh.

Shift+Enter works pretty good.

Also, great list! Clearly I have to finally break down and go find 20Ten...

DarkKnight1 said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

Absolutely nothing vital at all.

Sure its nothing vital.....if you are not a fan of Prince.

Exactly. Well said.

eyewishuheaven said:

MrMoops said:

emesem said:

Good suggestions above but dont sleep on 20ten. It has three of the best tracks Prince has put out in forever:

.

Future Soul Song (100% Prince classic)

Sticky Like Glue and Lavaux (80s sounding very fun tracks)

This was the first and last time he would revist that classic 80s minniapolis sounds since 1984.

.

I also love his cover of "What if". You can find it on the youtubes.

[Edited 5/10/16 10:44am]

-

wow, I had no idea this was a cover, and had even been released. He had me produce a full blown orchestration of this in August. horns, strings, woodwinds, the whole deal.

Hmmm... what an unexpected idea. First, that anyone would pick this song for a discussion of "vital tunes" from recent years, but also that Prince still had interest in it years later. I really didn't expect to hear he'd done anything with this after the limited release (oh, and besides the radio play, ticket holders for a concert date with 3rdEyeGirl got a download link in their email. That's all the release it had). While I doubt we'll ever hear your work on this, Moops, I got to say I'[m curious what you did with it--and why he had you do it. What were his plans for it?

I'd just grab the albums one by one until you catch up, he always has gems imo...

sidenote: lots of you like Clouds, I'm gonna have to give it another listen, it's meh to me so I dismissed it almost immediately, but I'm noticing it mentioned lots

CalhounSq said:

I'd just grab the albums one by one until you catch up, he always has gems imo...

sidenote: lots of you like Clouds, I'm gonna have to give it another listen, it's meh to me so I dismissed it almost immediately, but I'm noticing it mentioned lots

I love Clouds. It does kind of seem like it tries to cram too many ideas into one song, but, I love the result...