"N.E.W.S." would deserve it.

Too much people see it as a minor achievement only because of the fact that P doesn't sing on it.

Musically talking, it is probably the best of the new millenium with "The Rainbow Children" and "AOA".

2 b honest theres has been so many albums subpar and average that i actually need to sit down think and re listen to everyone of them to come to a complete judgement...

however, in terms of songs that match his 80's work and sound, FUTURE SOUL SONG and STICKY LIKE GLUE hands down in my opinion are some of his finest work.

KingSausage said:

Now that Prince has sadly passed away, which "lesser" album do you think stands the best chance of being critically reassessed? Is there an album (or two) that you think will come to be acknowledged as a classic, even if not quite in the same league as his 80's work? I mean "lesser" from the POV of critics who wrote him off way too early, and also based on what seems to be the prevailing sentiment many many Orgers. So I chose post-TGE because that's the last supposed peak that appears to have some consensus. After all, how often did we say such-and-such album was "his best since TGE"? All the time. Clearly that peak/milestone meant something. I'm not looking for replies like "all Prince albums are classic/great" or "there are no lesser Prince albums." I like nearly all Prince albums (sorry, MPLSoUND). But I'm trying to separate myself from my own tastes a bit to try to put on my critic hat. Do you know what I mean? You *know* many people think Prince lost it after a certain point. Well, pretend they were correct and draw the line at the point when he supposedly lost it, even if you strongly disagree. And tell us what album on the other side of that line has the best chance to be better appreciated in the future and why.

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i think all his post-TGE albums will continue to be seen as patchy - only due to the huge variety of styles each one covers which makes it difficult to obtain a 'critical consensus'. and the ones that are consistent in style (rainbow children, one nite alone, maybe AOA) have elements which people aren't going to agree on to make them classics for all.

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for example, i would say 3121 is a great record but i've seen people on here say songs like get on the boat are filler. for me that's a party classic and i love the funk/latin influences. but not everyone agrees and some people are going to only like black sweat or satisfied etc. or even nothing at all from it.

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i also rate AOA but there are parts that i skip over (mr nelson spoken bit, this is what it feels like). and for someone else they will love those parts and skip over the tracks i love. i always appreciated the volume of stuff though because every album had killer tracks - even if there is no consensus on what they are

Planet Earth, that album gets far too much disrespect around here. It is a very solid album with some great tracks and no real rubbish. I would say 3121 and 20Ten too, but people respect those much more.

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Seriously the hate for Planet Earth is ridiculous, Planet Earth, Guitar, Somewhere here on earth, Mr Goodnight, The 1 u wanna c, Lion of Judah are classic songs. And how can you not love that cover.

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Musicology is much worse and it does not get anywhere near the amount of shit that Planet Earth does. I bet you some troll ass mofo will dis that album in the next few posts

Not sure there's any album with zero filler, or just a bad song or two, in that period. Realistically imho he needs a Star Time style box set covering it, that could be 10/10.

feeluupp said:

2 b honest theres has been so many albums subpar and average that i actually need to sit down think and re listen to everyone of them to come to a complete judgement...

however, in terms of songs that match his 80's work and sound, FUTURE SOUL SONG and STICKY LIKE GLUE hands down in my opinion are some of his finest work.

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yes these are just as good as anything else P put out... to me. lavaux too.

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but there are some people who reject the entire 20ten album. i would say the album is not a classic yet some of those songs are incredible and among the best he did/best released that year by any artist

feeluupp said:

2 b honest theres has been so many albums subpar and average that i actually need to sit down think and re listen to everyone of them to come to a complete judgement...

however, in terms of songs that match his 80's work and sound, FUTURE SOUL SONG and STICKY LIKE GLUE hands down in my opinion are some of his finest work.

Totally agree, Future soul song is incredible, its like tiramisu, so many fine layers to consume and dissect. Complex and beautiful. I want to be in a room with speakers blaring this song into my ears, while I meditate.

Adorecream said:

feeluupp said:

2 b honest theres has been so many albums subpar and average that i actually need to sit down think and re listen to everyone of them to come to a complete judgement...

however, in terms of songs that match his 80's work and sound, FUTURE SOUL SONG and STICKY LIKE GLUE hands down in my opinion are some of his finest work.

Totally agree, Future soul song is incredible, its like tiramisu, so many fine layers to consume and dissect. Complex and beautiful. I want to be in a room with speakers blaring this song into my ears, while I meditate.

I think those 2 songs dont get the credit they deserve just because it was on 20TEN and it didn't even get a proper major release worldwide besides the carrier's in those few Europe countries....

Man STICKY LIKE GLUE did what MPLSSOUND couldn't do with the whole album, bring the 80's sound back. That song sounds like a PARADE era song!!

Probably Emancipation.

Just because it was one of his last "statement" albums and people are usually able to pick their favourites from so many songs on it. The album cover art being "a product of its time", mid-90s computer stuff, probably doesn't help when people are shopping for Prince albums they haven't heard yet though.

Musicology was accompanied by the tour, the RNRHF induction and all that, so I think he made a lot of new fans back then that are fond of the record for that reason. That's kind of when he started getting better reviews for his albums after a "slump" too.

I've seen 3121 being featured on "recommended releases" in the articles that were published after his death. It's not a personal favourite of mine, but I can sort of see why it was perhaps his "best pop record".

TRC - I can only hope more people would get into it.

I think they we all be mined for the moments of brilliance in them, rather than seen as seprarate works the way earlier albums were.

TRC if any, because of its unique subject matter and how organic it was compared to most of the other stuff. It was more of a statement album than any he made post 80's.

TRC - possibly a little biased here because I already consider it a Prince classic and rank it alongside the likes of SOTT, Parade, DM, PR, 1999, TBA.

It's his most cohesive (yet the music is all over the place) and adventurous album since the 80s, and musically, it might be the best of his career. The production is first rate. The last 4 songs form perhaps the greatest sequence in his discography - one of his loveliest and most sincere sounding ballads, followed by perhaps the greatest amalgamation of funk and rock he's ever done, followed by the incredibly funky Everlasting Now, and the anthemic Last December which I think is every bit as good as Purple Rain (and obliterates trash like Gold). The lyrics are the source of some controversy, but they're interesting, (for example, who gives a fuck about any of the lyrics on 3121 or Planet Earth?). Prince completely abandons pop/chart ambitions on this album, and seemingly does exactly what he want to do and has interest in, and his sheer enthusiam alone (listen to Everywhere) is enough to hold this album together.

Other contenders: ONA Piano, Lotusflower.

[Edited 6/1/16 5:03am]

Yeah I hope that TRC one day does get some kinda of critical re-assessment as I think it's his most adventurous album musically post-Lovesexy, although I admit that many people might have understandable difficultly getting past the iffy lyrics. I would also love it if more people discovered One Nite Alone as I find it really quite beautiful, although again its current obscurity is somewhat understandable given its limited release. Maybe N.E.W.S. is also ripe for rediscovery given that it continues the musically exploratory atmosphere of TRC. Whether any of these albums will ever gain a wider release is another matter I guess though.

I have got to go with 'Lotusflower' on this. For my money, there's no filler on that album - I find it a joy from start to finish. I kinda wish it had been released as a stand-alone disc. Might've been more appreciated in that case? Who knows. Seems like a lot of critics and fans alike preferred 'MPLSound' (at the time anyway) for reasons I still don't understand.

Oops, I forgot about an important one - well, to me anyway - 'Chaos and Disorder.' Maybe I'm crazy (or just blinded by my own love for the album, in spite of its reputation) but I think it's might catch more people's ears as they look back on the "lesser-known" works.

[Edited 6/1/16 5:35am]

"Come".

It's in my Top 10 Prince albums and I'd argue his most underrated. I find it damn near flawless.

Militant said:

"Come".

It's in my Top 10 Prince albums and I'd argue his most underrated. I find it damn near flawless.

Agree with this too. Come is brilliant, and generally underrated, (though maybe not so much anymore, I keep hearing its praise crop up, for instance in the Slave Trade DVD).

[Edited 6/1/16 5:54am]

Each flavour is brilliant in their own way... You could make a case for each album depending on your taste and familiarity with the album.

thisisreece said:

Militant said:

"Come".

It's in my Top 10 Prince albums and I'd argue his most underrated. I find it damn near flawless.

Agree with this too. Come is brilliant, and generally underrated, (though maybe not so much anymore, I keep hearing its praise crop up, for instance in the Slave Trade DVD).

[Edited 6/1/16 5:54am]

Come on guys... King drew a line in the sand!

Militant said:

"Come".

It's in my Top 10 Prince albums and I'd argue his most underrated. I find it damn near flawless.

I like the album, but it is one of those records that suffers based on how great the live performances were compared to the studio versions that were released later.

For example, "Come" from the 1993 DNA show is better than the album version. "Dark" from the Stars & Bars release destroys any studio version we've heard. Even versions of "Race" performed from the Act II tour were better than the studio version(s), which to me suffered from every album from 1989 and beyond: overproduction. At some point Prince lost that ability to stop messing with a track in the studio. "Solo" is the only track on the record that doesn't feel overproduced.

Think how the performance of "Guitar" on Leno is so much better than the studio versions we've heard. "Fury" on SNL. "Screwdriver" on Fallon. That's for a different thread. A thread about disappointing album versions after you've heard/seen them live...

I think post TGE the albums that really deserve a second critical look by officiados and serious music critics as artistic statements are TRC and NEWS. I dont think anything else would get through an artistic critique unscathed. Even AOA, which I love and think is better than TRC and NEWS, wouldnt get through completely without critical atistic sceptisism.

Having said that, there are a few albums prior to TGE that wouldnt get through unscathed either if they were reassessed. [Sorry, crossed your line there KingS]

Rebeljuice said:

Rebeljuice said:

I'd vote for The Truth. It's one of his most under-the-radar albums, could only be bought upon release with a 3-disc set of outtakes, and is unlike any of his other albums, save maybe for One Nite Alone piano & voice. I could see a rediscovery of his "deep cuts" to include this album — while it's not the "acoustic" guitar album we were out for, it's his most understated and quiet, reserved, not-over-produced guitar-focused album, full of catchy, quirky songs (Don't Play Me, Man in a Uniform) and a media-darling type of song about social issues in Animal Kingdom, even though I'd vote it off the album if given a chance. There's a lot to love about The Truth. And there's a "don't fret death" track there in "Comeback."

TRC, easily. It is probably his most underrated and unknown work. NEWS got a fucking grammy nod. TRC sold like 8 copies (mine was the 7th).

The Rainbow Children. Its his most cohesive work since any of the 80's material.

Doozer said:

I'd vote for The Truth. It's one of his most under-the-radar albums, could only be bought upon release with a 3-disc set of outtakes, and is unlike any of his other albums, save maybe for One Nite Alone piano & voice. I could see a rediscovery of his "deep cuts" to include this album — while it's not the "acoustic" guitar album we were out for, it's his most understated and quiet, reserved, not-over-produced guitar-focused album, full of catchy, quirky songs (Don't Play Me, Man in a Uniform) and a media-darling type of song about social issues in Animal Kingdom, even though I'd vote it off the album if given a chance. There's a lot to love about The Truth. And there's a "don't fret death" track there in "Comeback."

I agree. After reading this post, I pulled out The Truth album again today and listened to it (a few times in a row) for the first time in years. It's a good time to rediscover this album. It has a lot of those songs that I had forgotten how much I liked, a relaxed mood, and it displays Prince's sense of humor.

I'd vote for NONE. Once a "new" Prince album is released via the Vault, no one will care anything about those "half good" albums post TGE.

impossible to say, no two fans can even agree on what is good or bad let alone the critics who overanalyze everything and have bias' all their own.