...by listening to a different Prince album each day for the next 30 days culminating in his first death anniversary on April 21, 2017. It's my way of remembering him, honoring his life, and thanking him for his life and his music and his significant influence in my life. Thank you Prince!

Feel free to join me by posting your list each day when you can (and it's okay if you miss some days) and would love to read your thoughts, if any, about each album as you listen to them. I'll leave the first post blank so you can copy and paste the dates. Btw, it can be any album-- official releases or otherwise, greatest hits compilation, live concert albums, etc.

Day 1: March 23
Day 2: March 24
Day 3: March 25
Day 4: March 26
Day 5: March 27
Day 6: March 28
Day 7: March 29
Day 8: March 30
Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

I'll post my Day 1 album in a couple of hours. Just got up and getting ready for breakfast. Gotta have my coffee first.

luv4u said:

Hello luv!

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day.

Day 2: March 24
Day 3: March 25
Day 4: March 26
Day 5: March 27
Day 6: March 28
Day 7: March 29
Day 8: March 30
Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21
[Edited 3/23/17 8:40am]

rainbowchild said:

luv4u said:

Hello luv!

Hey you

I will celebrate with you rainbowchild. The album that made me a Prince fan was 1999. That was my very first Pince record and I made me a cool kid. All the teens wanted that record but my grandpa bought it for me so to listen to Prince, you had to let me in the room. Prince became the end all be all for me-he played piano-I started my lessons over again, he wrote his own music that was my goal, I wanted to be just like Prince.

My favorite album cuts were 1999, Automatic and All The Critics Luv U in New York back then, now may favorite cuts are Free, All the Critics Luv U, and Something in the Water.

I was a tad obsessed with album cover and tried to relate everything that was in the picture back to Prince-the Rude Boy pin, the shoulder stud, the eyes, and the revolution in the Prince I.

March 23 - I just saw this but luckily I was listening to a Prince album yesterday. I decided to whip out my reissue of Dirty Mind. Listening to it again reminded me of why I like Prince. He's one of the only people that can make sleeze cool and not cheesy. The album seems like a raw sexual message from Prince to the world saying, "this is what I like". The raw message also gets helped out by the minimalistic sound of the songs that are funky as heck. Dirty Mind is a great track to start off with and Partyup? man oh man what a way to end what I think is one of Princes underrated songs, at least to the causal Prince fan. The only kind of underwhelming track I think is Gotta Broken Heart Again. Other than that the Title track is a banger, When you were mine is a great ballad, Do It All Night is a nice dance track. Then the second side is just funky all around. I love this album and can really never get enough of it.

What a great idea Rainbowchild! I would love join in on this celebration!

Day 1: March 23

"Hit N Run-Phase 2"

Since I listen to Prince pretty much daily, I will start with what I listened to yesterday, 3/23. This is the last Prince album I purchased. I ordered it from the Digital Gardens in January 2016 and I was so excited because it was not available widely at that time. I love this album so much. As time has gone on and each time I listen to it, there is a song I didn't give much of a chance to when I first got it, that I end up really enjoying on here. My favorites right now are "Groovy Potential" and "Xtraloveable".

Day 2: March 24
Day 3: March 25
Day 4: March 26
Day 5: March 27
Day 6: March 28
Day 7: March 29
Day 8: March 30
Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
Day 4: March 26
Day 5: March 27
Day 6: March 28
Day 7: March 29
Day 8: March 30
Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

tish9311 said:

Great having u and the others celebrating Prince's life through his music. Just added my day 2 album and was inspired to listen to "1999" today because of your post.

March 24 - I decided to listen to Around the World in a Day and boy what a trip it was. I absolutely love the title track with the synth line at the end. It really feels like we're taking a trip in Prince's world of music. Then we go to Paisley Park which really paints the picture of a Utopia some sorts. Then you have Condition of the Heart which is a nice little song and then of course Rasberry Beret.

What can I say about that song that hast already been said. Everything just goes well together, it's a prime example of Prince in his creative element. Then there's Tambourine which I've grown quite fond of over the past year. I think the Drum Machine is just wonderful in the song.

Next is the dreaded side 2. Now I've seen a lot of criticism on this Side but I actually like it quite a bit. It starts off with America, a song tackling things such as Communism and Patriotism. The guitar on this is sharp and I honestly think this is another time showing Prince just at his absolute best. Pop life follows and this song is still amazing. The delay with the vocals between the left and right side is still a little trippy but genius and fits the song.

The closers are The Ladder and Temptation. The Ladder is a good song, and Temptation I love because it reminds me of the middle of the Purple Rain concerts. "The type of Temptation that makes you wanna do THAANNGGS" Overall love this album and give it a 7.5/10

mrdxw1213 said:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the album. I decided to listen to the album today as well. Will write my thoughts on the album shortly.

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
Day 5: March 27
Day 6: March 28
Day 7: March 29
Day 8: March 30
Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). Saw many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
Day 6: March 28
Day 7: March 29
Day 8: March 30
Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28
Day 7: March 29
Day 8: March 30
Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song. :)

Day 7: March 29
Day 8: March 30
Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song. :)

Day 7: March 29
"Come"
One of Prince's most underrated albums, I felt the "Come" album would have been a bigger hit had it not been released during the most tumultuous time in Prince's career during the '90s when he had the public dispute with Warner Bros and changed his name to a symbol which, sadly, took the spotlight away from his music but the attention was geared toward the name change and Prince was the butt of jokes as to what to call him. Even the album cover for "Come" announced the death of Prince (the name anyway with the years 1958-1993 on it). I thought this album was conceived better than his last couple of albums released before it-- "Diamonds and Pearls" and . I love how it was intimate and personal, with songs like "Papa", "Dark", and "Solo", and I love the other songs in it, too-- from the jazz-infused lead single, "Letitgo", to the dance grooves of the first four songs of the album beginning with the seductive 11-minute title track to the manic "Loose!" Vanity's uncredited moans in "Orgasm" ending with Prince saying "I love you" sealed the deal for me.

Day 8: March 30
Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day.

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude.

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song.

Day 7: March 29
"Come"
One of Prince's most underrated albums, I felt the "Come" album would have been a bigger hit had it not been released during the most tumultuous time in Prince's career during the '90s when he had the public dispute with Warner Bros and changed his name to a symbol which, sadly, took the spotlight away from his music but the attention was geared toward the name change and Prince was the butt of jokes as to what to call him. Even the album cover for "Come" announced the death of Prince (the name anyway with the years 1958-1993 on it). I thought this album was conceived better than his last couple of albums released before it-- "Diamonds and Pearls" and . I love how it was intimate and personal, with songs like "Papa", "Dark", and "Solo", and I love the other songs in it, too-- from the jazz-infused lead single, "Letitgo", to the dance grooves of the first four songs of the album beginning with the seductive 11-minute title track to the manic "Loose!" Vanity's uncredited moans in "Orgasm" ending with Prince saying "I love you" sealed the deal for me.

Day 8: March 30
"Sign O' The Times"
I can't believe it's been 30 years since this album was released March of 1987. How time flies! And yet, this album, like wine, gets better with time. It's definitely Prince's masterpiece and most diverse album covering many genres of music. This was the last Prince vinyl album I bought in the Philippines before my family moved to the U.S. and I remember it fondly. This album introduced us to Prince's alter ego, Camille, and the first time I played this album and heard the Camille voice, I thought there was something wrong with my record or the turntable because of the sped up voice. Took me a number of listens to get used to it. It's one album where each song could potentially have been a hit song. I can honestly say I love every song of this album and the album with the most number of my all-time favorite Prince songs-- the title track, The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Starfish and Coffee, If I Was Ur Girlfriend, Adore, U Got the Look, Hot Thing, and I Could Never Take the Place of Ur Man.

Day 9: March 31
Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21
[Edited 3/31/17 20:08pm]
[Edited 3/31/17 21:00pm]

Day 8 March 30

Musicology

This is one of my favorite albums!! I loved the energy and the passion. It was wierd or strong. It was Prince-not Purple Rain Prince but a more sophisticated funkdified Prince. I got the impression that he was in a good space and happy. His musice and tour showed that.

The title track Musicology reminded of the funk my uncle use to listen to{Dont' you ever touch a black man's stereo}. Love the bass in Illusion COma, A Million Days was a classic love song, Life of the Party was a great Party song, Call My Name is a smooth groove classic, a flip on the Say My Name songs. Cinnamon Girl and Dear Mr. Man was Prince tackling social issues and the world we live it in a brilliant manner.I like the flow of What do You want me to do, The Marrying Kind, IF I was the Man in Ur Life just perfect. I love the On the Couch because that meant he watched and loved Love Jones like me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This album is just the best and I got it for free by going to the concert. He came to Dall as twice and didn't disappont!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Best Concert in support of one the Best Albums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tish9311 said:

Thanx 4 sharing ur thoughts on the Musicology album-- one of my favorite Prince releases in the new millennium. I hope 2 listen 2 the album again soon!

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song. :)

Day 7: March 29
"Come"
One of Prince's most underrated albums, I felt the "Come" album would have been a bigger hit had it not been released during the most tumultuous time in Prince's career during the '90s when he had the public dispute with Warner Bros and changed his name to a symbol which, sadly, took the spotlight away from his music but the attention was geared toward the name change and Prince was the butt of jokes as to what to call him. Even the album cover for "Come" announced the death of Prince (the name anyway with the years 1958-1993 on it). I thought this album was conceived better than his last couple of albums released before it-- "Diamonds and Pearls" and . I love how it was intimate and personal, with songs like "Papa", "Dark", and "Solo", and I love the other songs in it, too-- from the jazz-infused lead single, "Letitgo", to the dance grooves of the first four songs of the album beginning with the seductive 11-minute title track to the manic "Loose!" Vanity's uncredited moans in "Orgasm" ending with Prince saying "I love you" sealed the deal for me.

Day 8: March 30
"Sign O' The Times"
I can't believe it's been 30 years since this album was released March of 1987. How time flies! And yet, this album, like wine, gets better with time. It's definitely Prince's masterpiece and most diverse album covering many genres of music. This was the last Prince vinyl album I bought in the Philippines before my family moved to the U.S. and I remember it fondly. This album introduced us to Prince's alter ego, Camille, and the first time I played this album and heard the Camille voice, I thought there was something wrong with my record or the turntable because of the sped up voice. Took me a number of listens to get used to it. It's one album where each song could potentially have been a hit song. I can honestly say I love every song of this album and the album with the most number of my all-time favorite Prince songs-- the title track, The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Starfish and Coffee, If I Was Ur Girlfriend, Adore, U Got the Look, Hot Thing, and I Could Never Take the Place of Ur Man.

Day 9: March 31
"Controversy"
This album has a special significance to me. The title track, one of my favorites, asks "am I straight or gay?" and it was a question I struggled for many years. Growing up in a devout Christian household didn't help either as I grew up believing being gay is a sin and an abomination. Listening to Prince's music helped me deal with those struggles-- not to be ashamed-- "Sexuality is all u'll ever need" he declares in one of the tracks. And while my beliefs (or non-belief) and Prince's beliefs have differed in the coming years, I thank Prince for giving me the courage to finally come out to myself, my family and friends and be true to myself.

Day 10: April 1
Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song. :)

Day 7: March 29
"Come"
One of Prince's most underrated albums, I felt the "Come" album would have been a bigger hit had it not been released during the most tumultuous time in Prince's career during the '90s when he had the public dispute with Warner Bros and changed his name to a symbol which, sadly, took the spotlight away from his music but the attention was geared toward the name change and Prince was the butt of jokes as to what to call him. Even the album cover for "Come" announced the death of Prince (the name anyway with the years 1958-1993 on it). I thought this album was conceived better than his last couple of albums released before it-- "Diamonds and Pearls" and . I love how it was intimate and personal, with songs like "Papa", "Dark", and "Solo", and I love the other songs in it, too-- from the jazz-infused lead single, "Letitgo", to the dance grooves of the first four songs of the album beginning with the seductive 11-minute title track to the manic "Loose!" Vanity's uncredited moans in "Orgasm" ending with Prince saying "I love you" sealed the deal for me.

Day 8: March 30
"Sign O' The Times"
I can't believe it's been 30 years since this album was released March of 1987. How time flies! And yet, this album, like wine, gets better with time. It's definitely Prince's masterpiece and most diverse album covering many genres of music. This was the last Prince vinyl album I bought in the Philippines before my family moved to the U.S. and I remember it fondly. This album introduced us to Prince's alter ego, Camille, and the first time I played this album and heard the Camille voice, I thought there was something wrong with my record or the turntable because of the sped up voice. Took me a number of listens to get used to it. It's one album where each song could potentially have been a hit song. I can honestly say I love every song of this album and the album with the most number of my all-time favorite Prince songs-- the title track, The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Starfish and Coffee, If I Was Ur Girlfriend, Adore, U Got the Look, Hot Thing, and I Could Never Take the Place of Ur Man.

Day 9: March 31
"Controversy"
This album has a special significance to me. The title track, one of my favorites, asks "am I straight or gay?" and it was a question I struggled for many years. Growing up in a devout Christian household didn't help either as I grew up believing being gay is a sin and an abomination. Listening to Prince's music helped me deal with those struggles-- not to be ashamed-- "Sexuality is all u'll ever need" he declares in one of the tracks. And while my beliefs (or non-belief) and Prince's beliefs have differed in the coming years, I thank Prince for giving me the courage to finally come out to myself, my family and friends and be true to myself.

Day 10: April 1
"Art Official Age"
It's officially April. It was this month last year that Prince unexpectedly passed away. As his first death anniversary approaches it will be increasingly difficult for many, me included, thinking about his last days. I haven't listened to Prince's music this much since his death, as it had been difficult for me especially the first few months after his death which affected my personal life. I managed to make it through day 10 so far in my 30-day pledge of listening to a Prince album each day as my way of paying tribute to him and honoring his life through his music. I hope I can make it through April 21.

I haven't listened to "Art Official Age" album in months. Definitely one of the best albums he released in his last years. Other than the title track, which I'm not fond of, I love every song in this album and listen to it from beginning to end. The song, "Way Back Home", has taken on a new meaning for me after his death. Prince may already have known then when he recorded this album that his time on earth was almost up (a terminal illness perhaps, we may never know, as he was always a private person and I respect him for that, although it had been hard for many of us dealing with his sudden death). This song-- and album as a whole-- his last concept album-- may be his way of dealing with death and his way of saying goodbye to us. In "Way Back Home" he sings--

"So many reasons why I don't belong here but now I am without fear.
I am gonna conquer with no fear until I find my way back home."

He repeats that same sentiment on "affirmation III" repeatedly singing "until I find my way back home" while a female narrator describes his journey home--

"U've probably felt many years in ur former life, u were separate from not only only others, but even urself. Now u can see that was never the case. U are actually everything and anything that u can think of. All of it is U.

Remember there really is only one destination, and that place is U. All of it, everything is U."

Here's hoping Prince found his way back home.


Day 11: April 2
Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song. :)

Day 7: March 29
"Come"
One of Prince's most underrated albums, I felt the "Come" album would have been a bigger hit had it not been released during the most tumultuous time in Prince's career during the '90s when he had the public dispute with Warner Bros and changed his name to a symbol which, sadly, took the spotlight away from his music but the attention was geared toward the name change and Prince was the butt of jokes as to what to call him. Even the album cover for "Come" announced the death of Prince (the name anyway with the years 1958-1993 on it). I thought this album was conceived better than his last couple of albums released before it-- "Diamonds and Pearls" and . I love how it was intimate and personal, with songs like "Papa", "Dark", and "Solo", and I love the other songs in it, too-- from the jazz-infused lead single, "Letitgo", to the dance grooves of the first four songs of the album beginning with the seductive 11-minute title track to the manic "Loose!" Vanity's uncredited moans in "Orgasm" ending with Prince saying "I love you" sealed the deal for me.

Day 8: March 30
"Sign O' The Times"
I can't believe it's been 30 years since this album was released March of 1987. How time flies! And yet, this album, like wine, gets better with time. It's definitely Prince's masterpiece and most diverse album covering many genres of music. This was the last Prince vinyl album I bought in the Philippines before my family moved to the U.S. and I remember it fondly. This album introduced us to Prince's alter ego, Camille, and the first time I played this album and heard the Camille voice, I thought there was something wrong with my record or the turntable because of the sped up voice. Took me a number of listens to get used to it. It's one album where each song could potentially have been a hit song. I can honestly say I love every song of this album and the album with the most number of my all-time favorite Prince songs-- the title track, The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Starfish and Coffee, If I Was Ur Girlfriend, Adore, U Got the Look, Hot Thing, and I Could Never Take the Place of Ur Man.

Day 9: March 31
"Controversy"
This album has a special significance to me. The title track, one of my favorites, asks "am I straight or gay?" and it was a question I struggled for many years. Growing up in a devout Christian household didn't help either as I grew up believing being gay is a sin and an abomination. Listening to Prince's music helped me deal with those struggles-- not to be ashamed-- "Sexuality is all u'll ever need" he declares in one of the tracks. And while my beliefs (or non-belief) and Prince's beliefs have differed in the coming years, I thank Prince for giving me the courage to finally come out to myself, my family and friends and be true to myself.

Day 10: April 1
"Art Official Age"
It's officially April. It was this month last year that Prince unexpectedly passed away. As his first death anniversary approaches it will be increasingly difficult for many, me included, thinking about his last days. I haven't listened to Prince's music this much since his death, as it had been difficult for me especially the first few months after his death which affected my personal life. I managed to make it through day 10 so far in my 30-day pledge of listening to a Prince album each day as my way of paying tribute to him and honoring his life through his music. I hope I can make it through April 21.

I haven't listened to "Art Official Age" album in months. Definitely one of the best albums he released in his last years. Other than the title track, which I'm not fond of, I love every song in this album and listen to it from beginning to end. The song, "Way Back Home", has taken on a new meaning for me after his death. Prince may already have known then when he recorded this album that his time on earth was almost up (a terminal illness perhaps, we may never know, as he was always a private person and I respect him for that, although it had been hard for many of us dealing with his sudden death). This song-- and album as a whole-- his last concept album-- may be his way of dealing with death and his way of saying goodbye to us. In "Way Back Home" he sings--

"So many reasons why I don't belong here but now I am without fear.
I am gonna conquer with no fear until I find my way back home."

He repeats that same sentiment on "affirmation III" repeatedly singing "until I find my way back home" while a female narrator describes his journey home--

"U've probably felt many years in ur former life, u were separate from not only only others, but even urself. Now u can see that was never the case. U are actually everything and anything that u can think of. All of it is U.

Remember there really is only one destination, and that place is U. All of it, everything is U."

Here's hoping Prince found his way back home.

Day 11: April 2
"Batman"
While the film, "Batman", directed by Tim Burton is not the best Batman film (my vote goes to "The Dark Knight" film), it was a decent film with Michael Keaton playing the title character much better than George Clooney or Val Kilmer, and Jack Nicholson playing the demented Joker with gusto, I eagerly went to see "Batman" during the summer of 1989 mainly to hear Prince's songs featured in the film. "Batdance", of course, was a huge hit that summer and became Prince's 4th #1 song with the album spending six weeks at #1 in the album chart. And while I find the song, "Batdance", corny these days, it still is a guilty pleasure song for me, especially the music video which features Prince as "Gemini" (dressed as half-Batman and half-Joker). Prince seemed to relish the role and having fun in the video as well as in the the follow-up single, "Partyman", also one of my favorite songs in the album. The best line from the album, for me, was in the song, "Electric Chair"-- "If a man is considered guilty for what goes on in his mind, then give me the electric chair for all my futur crimes." Undoubtedly, the best track in the album is the seductive "Scandalous." Classic Prince! :cool:

Day 12: April 3
Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song. :)

Day 7: March 29
"Come"
One of Prince's most underrated albums, I felt the "Come" album would have been a bigger hit had it not been released during the most tumultuous time in Prince's career during the '90s when he had the public dispute with Warner Bros and changed his name to a symbol which, sadly, took the spotlight away from his music but the attention was geared toward the name change and Prince was the butt of jokes as to what to call him. Even the album cover for "Come" announced the death of Prince (the name anyway with the years 1958-1993 on it). I thought this album was conceived better than his last couple of albums released before it-- "Diamonds and Pearls" and . I love how it was intimate and personal, with songs like "Papa", "Dark", and "Solo", and I love the other songs in it, too-- from the jazz-infused lead single, "Letitgo", to the dance grooves of the first four songs of the album beginning with the seductive 11-minute title track to the manic "Loose!" Vanity's uncredited moans in "Orgasm" ending with Prince saying "I love you" sealed the deal for me.

Day 8: March 30
"Sign O' The Times"
I can't believe it's been 30 years since this album was released March of 1987. How time flies! And yet, this album, like wine, gets better with time. It's definitely Prince's masterpiece and most diverse album covering many genres of music. This was the last Prince vinyl album I bought in the Philippines before my family moved to the U.S. and I remember it fondly. This album introduced us to Prince's alter ego, Camille, and the first time I played this album and heard the Camille voice, I thought there was something wrong with my record or the turntable because of the sped up voice. Took me a number of listens to get used to it. It's one album where each song could potentially have been a hit song. I can honestly say I love every song of this album and the album with the most number of my all-time favorite Prince songs-- the title track, The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Starfish and Coffee, If I Was Ur Girlfriend, Adore, U Got the Look, Hot Thing, and I Could Never Take the Place of Ur Man.

Day 9: March 31
"Controversy"
This album has a special significance to me. The title track, one of my favorites, asks "am I straight or gay?" and it was a question I struggled for many years. Growing up in a devout Christian household didn't help either as I grew up believing being gay is a sin and an abomination. Listening to Prince's music helped me deal with those struggles-- not to be ashamed-- "Sexuality is all u'll ever need" he declares in one of the tracks. And while my beliefs (or non-belief) and Prince's beliefs have differed in the coming years, I thank Prince for giving me the courage to finally come out to myself, my family and friends and be true to myself.

Day 10: April 1
"Art Official Age"
It's officially April. It was this month last year that Prince unexpectedly passed away. As his first death anniversary approaches it will be increasingly difficult for many, me included, thinking about his last days. I haven't listened to Prince's music this much since his death, as it had been difficult for me especially the first few months after his death which affected my personal life. I managed to make it through day 10 so far in my 30-day pledge of listening to a Prince album each day as my way of paying tribute to him and honoring his life through his music. I hope I can make it through April 21.

I haven't listened to "Art Official Age" album in months. Definitely one of the best albums he released in his last years. Other than the title track, which I'm not fond of, I love every song in this album and listen to it from beginning to end. The song, "Way Back Home", has taken on a new meaning for me after his death. Prince may already have known then when he recorded this album that his time on earth was almost up (a terminal illness perhaps, we may never know, as he was always a private person and I respect him for that, although it had been hard for many of us dealing with his sudden death). This song-- and album as a whole-- his last concept album-- may be his way of dealing with death and his way of saying goodbye to us. In "Way Back Home" he sings--

"So many reasons why I don't belong here but now I am without fear.
I am gonna conquer with no fear until I find my way back home."

He repeats that same sentiment on "affirmation III" repeatedly singing "until I find my way back home" while a female narrator describes his journey home--

"U've probably felt many years in ur former life, u were separate from not only only others, but even urself. Now u can see that was never the case. U are actually everything and anything that u can think of. All of it is U.

Remember there really is only one destination, and that place is U. All of it, everything is U."

Here's hoping Prince found his way back home.

Day 11: April 2
"Batman"
While the film, "Batman", directed by Tim Burton is not the best Batman film (my vote goes to "The Dark Knight" film), it was a decent film with Michael Keaton playing the title character much better than George Clooney or Val Kilmer, and Jack Nicholson playing the demented Joker with gusto, I eagerly went to see "Batman" during the summer of 1989 mainly to hear Prince's songs featured in the film. "Batdance", of course, was a huge hit that summer and became Prince's 4th #1 song with the album spending six weeks at #1 in the album chart. And while I find the song, "Batdance", corny these days, it still is a guilty pleasure song for me, especially the music video which features Prince as "Gemini" (dressed as half-Batman and half-Joker). Prince seemed to relish the role and having fun in the video as well as in the the follow-up single, "Partyman", also one of my favorite songs in the album. The best line from the album, for me, was in the song, "Electric Chair"-- "If a man is considered guilty for what goes on in his mind, then give me the electric chair for all my futur crimes." Undoubtedly, the best track in the album is the seductive "Scandalous." Classic Prince! :cool:

Day 12: April 3
"Graffiti Bridge"
It's been awhile since I listened to the "Graffiti Bridge" album as a whole. I tend to skip some of the songs. Listening to the full album today, I forgot how good the album actually is. My opinion of the album was tainted over the years by how bad the accompanying film for it. Unlike the movies "Purple Rain" and "Under the Cherry Moon", both of which I enjoy watching regularly, I don't even remember the last time I watched the movie, "Graffiti Bridge." I decided to watch the movie again-- this time on Blu-Ray-- this afternoon. The acting, writing, direction and production of the movie was as bad as I remembered but it was good to see Prince and The Time perform some of the songs in the film again. There are two Prince tracks in the album that I really love-- "The Question of U" and "Joy in Repetition". I also like the songs performed by The Time-- "Release It", "Love Machine" and "Shake!" as well as Tevin Campbell's "Round and Round." While the critical and commercial failure of the movie may have ended Prince's film career, that didn't stop him from making direct-to-video vanity projects in the ensuing years (e.g. "Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection" and "3 Chains O' Gold"). :lol:

Day 13: April 4
Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song. :)

Day 7: March 29
"Come"
One of Prince's most underrated albums, I felt the "Come" album would have been a bigger hit had it not been released during the most tumultuous time in Prince's career during the '90s when he had the public dispute with Warner Bros and changed his name to a symbol which, sadly, took the spotlight away from his music but the attention was geared toward the name change and Prince was the butt of jokes as to what to call him. Even the album cover for "Come" announced the death of Prince (the name anyway with the years 1958-1993 on it). I thought this album was conceived better than his last couple of albums released before it-- "Diamonds and Pearls" and . I love how it was intimate and personal, with songs like "Papa", "Dark", and "Solo", and I love the other songs in it, too-- from the jazz-infused lead single, "Letitgo", to the dance grooves of the first four songs of the album beginning with the seductive 11-minute title track to the manic "Loose!" Vanity's uncredited moans in "Orgasm" ending with Prince saying "I love you" sealed the deal for me.

Day 8: March 30
"Sign O' The Times"
I can't believe it's been 30 years since this album was released March of 1987. How time flies! And yet, this album, like wine, gets better with time. It's definitely Prince's masterpiece and most diverse album covering many genres of music. This was the last Prince vinyl album I bought in the Philippines before my family moved to the U.S. and I remember it fondly. This album introduced us to Prince's alter ego, Camille, and the first time I played this album and heard the Camille voice, I thought there was something wrong with my record or the turntable because of the sped up voice. Took me a number of listens to get used to it. It's one album where each song could potentially have been a hit song. I can honestly say I love every song of this album and the album with the most number of my all-time favorite Prince songs-- the title track, The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Starfish and Coffee, If I Was Ur Girlfriend, Adore, U Got the Look, Hot Thing, and I Could Never Take the Place of Ur Man.

Day 9: March 31
"Controversy"
This album has a special significance to me. The title track, one of my favorites, asks "am I straight or gay?" and it was a question I struggled for many years. Growing up in a devout Christian household didn't help either as I grew up believing being gay is a sin and an abomination. Listening to Prince's music helped me deal with those struggles-- not to be ashamed-- "Sexuality is all u'll ever need" he declares in one of the tracks. And while my beliefs (or non-belief) and Prince's beliefs have differed in the coming years, I thank Prince for giving me the courage to finally come out to myself, my family and friends and be true to myself.

Day 10: April 1
"Art Official Age"
It's officially April. It was this month last year that Prince unexpectedly passed away. As his first death anniversary approaches it will be increasingly difficult for many, me included, thinking about his last days. I haven't listened to Prince's music this much since his death, as it had been difficult for me especially the first few months after his death which affected my personal life. I managed to make it through day 10 so far in my 30-day pledge of listening to a Prince album each day as my way of paying tribute to him and honoring his life through his music. I hope I can make it through April 21.

I haven't listened to "Art Official Age" album in months. Definitely one of the best albums he released in his last years. Other than the title track, which I'm not fond of, I love every song in this album and listen to it from beginning to end. The song, "Way Back Home", has taken on a new meaning for me after his death. Prince may already have known then when he recorded this album that his time on earth was almost up (a terminal illness perhaps, we may never know, as he was always a private person and I respect him for that, although it had been hard for many of us dealing with his sudden death). This song-- and album as a whole-- his last concept album-- may be his way of dealing with death and his way of saying goodbye to us. In "Way Back Home" he sings--

"So many reasons why I don't belong here but now I am without fear.
I am gonna conquer with no fear until I find my way back home."

He repeats that same sentiment on "affirmation III" repeatedly singing "until I find my way back home" while a female narrator describes his journey home--

"U've probably felt many years in ur former life, u were separate from not only only others, but even urself. Now u can see that was never the case. U are actually everything and anything that u can think of. All of it is U.

Remember there really is only one destination, and that place is U. All of it, everything is U."

Here's hoping Prince found his way back home.

Day 11: April 2
"Batman"
While the film, "Batman", directed by Tim Burton is not the best Batman film (my vote goes to "The Dark Knight" film), it was a decent film with Michael Keaton playing the title character much better than George Clooney or Val Kilmer, and Jack Nicholson playing the demented Joker with gusto, I eagerly went to see "Batman" during the summer of 1989 mainly to hear Prince's songs featured in the film. "Batdance", of course, was a huge hit that summer and became Prince's 4th #1 song with the album spending six weeks at #1 in the album chart. And while I find the song, "Batdance", corny these days, it still is a guilty pleasure song for me, especially the music video which features Prince as "Gemini" (dressed as half-Batman and half-Joker). Prince seemed to relish the role and having fun in the video as well as in the the follow-up single, "Partyman", also one of my favorite songs in the album. The best line from the album, for me, was in the song, "Electric Chair"-- "If a man is considered guilty for what goes on in his mind, then give me the electric chair for all my futur crimes." Undoubtedly, the best track in the album is the seductive "Scandalous." Classic Prince! :cool:

Day 12: April 3
"Graffiti Bridge"
It's been awhile since I listened to the "Graffiti Bridge" album as a whole. I tend to skip some of the songs. Listening to the full album today, I forgot how good the album actually is. My opinion of the album was tainted over the years by how bad the accompanying film for it. Unlike the movies "Purple Rain" and "Under the Cherry Moon", both of which I enjoy watching regularly, I don't even remember the last time I watched the movie, "Graffiti Bridge." I decided to watch the movie again-- this time on Blu-Ray-- this afternoon. The acting, writing, direction and production of the movie was as bad as I remembered but it was good to see Prince and The Time perform some of the songs in the film again. There are two Prince tracks in the album that I really love-- "The Question of U" and "Joy in Repetition". I also like the songs performed by The Time-- "Release It", "Love Machine" and "Shake!" as well as Tevin Campbell's "Round and Round." While the critical and commercial failure of the movie may have ended Prince's film career, that didn't stop him from making direct-to-video vanity projects in the ensuing years (e.g. "Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection" and "3 Chains O' Gold"). :lol:

Day 13: April 4
"For You"
Woah! I just realized Prince's debut album, "For You", will have its 40th anniversary next year since its release in April, 1978. Prince had been releasing an album almost every year since his debut album, some of which are double or triple albums. Quite an amazing output! And we hope to hear more in the years to come from his vault. After almost 40 years, his debut album still impresses me. Not many artists had the distinction of producing, composing, arranging and performing all the songs of their debut album, not to mention playing 27 instruments. Last month, while I was shopping for used CDs at Amoeba Music store in Hollywood, the store DJ was playing Prince's "For You" album to my surprise and delight. The song, "Soft and Wet", his first hit single from the album, remains one of his beloved classic songs. While the album is not often mentioned as a favorite among his fans, I can say it's a better album than many of the other albums he released over the years, some of which are quite uneven. This album, on the other hand, with its funky, old school vibe, I can listen without skipping any of the songs. It's one of my go-to albums when I just want to chill at home.

Day 14: April 5
Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day. :wink:

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude. :cool:

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song. :)

Day 7: March 29
"Come"
One of Prince's most underrated albums, I felt the "Come" album would have been a bigger hit had it not been released during the most tumultuous time in Prince's career during the '90s when he had the public dispute with Warner Bros and changed his name to a symbol which, sadly, took the spotlight away from his music but the attention was geared toward the name change and Prince was the butt of jokes as to what to call him. Even the album cover for "Come" announced the death of Prince (the name anyway with the years 1958-1993 on it). I thought this album was conceived better than his last couple of albums released before it-- "Diamonds and Pearls" and . I love how it was intimate and personal, with songs like "Papa", "Dark", and "Solo", and I love the other songs in it, too-- from the jazz-infused lead single, "Letitgo", to the dance grooves of the first four songs of the album beginning with the seductive 11-minute title track to the manic "Loose!" Vanity's uncredited moans in "Orgasm" ending with Prince saying "I love you" sealed the deal for me.

Day 8: March 30
"Sign O' The Times"
I can't believe it's been 30 years since this album was released March of 1987. How time flies! And yet, this album, like wine, gets better with time. It's definitely Prince's masterpiece and most diverse album covering many genres of music. This was the last Prince vinyl album I bought in the Philippines before my family moved to the U.S. and I remember it fondly. This album introduced us to Prince's alter ego, Camille, and the first time I played this album and heard the Camille voice, I thought there was something wrong with my record or the turntable because of the sped up voice. Took me a number of listens to get used to it. It's one album where each song could potentially have been a hit song. I can honestly say I love every song of this album and the album with the most number of my all-time favorite Prince songs-- the title track, The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Starfish and Coffee, If I Was Ur Girlfriend, Adore, U Got the Look, Hot Thing, and I Could Never Take the Place of Ur Man.

Day 9: March 31
"Controversy"
This album has a special significance to me. The title track, one of my favorites, asks "am I straight or gay?" and it was a question I struggled for many years. Growing up in a devout Christian household didn't help either as I grew up believing being gay is a sin and an abomination. Listening to Prince's music helped me deal with those struggles-- not to be ashamed-- "Sexuality is all u'll ever need" he declares in one of the tracks. And while my beliefs (or non-belief) and Prince's beliefs have differed in the coming years, I thank Prince for giving me the courage to finally come out to myself, my family and friends and be true to myself.

Day 10: April 1
"Art Official Age"
It's officially April. It was this month last year that Prince unexpectedly passed away. As his first death anniversary approaches it will be increasingly difficult for many, me included, thinking about his last days. I haven't listened to Prince's music this much since his death, as it had been difficult for me especially the first few months after his death which affected my personal life. I managed to make it through day 10 so far in my 30-day pledge of listening to a Prince album each day as my way of paying tribute to him and honoring his life through his music. I hope I can make it through April 21.

I haven't listened to "Art Official Age" album in months. Definitely one of the best albums he released in his last years. Other than the title track, which I'm not fond of, I love every song in this album and listen to it from beginning to end. The song, "Way Back Home", has taken on a new meaning for me after his death. Prince may already have known then when he recorded this album that his time on earth was almost up (a terminal illness perhaps, we may never know, as he was always a private person and I respect him for that, although it had been hard for many of us dealing with his sudden death). This song-- and album as a whole-- his last concept album-- may be his way of dealing with death and his way of saying goodbye to us. In "Way Back Home" he sings--

"So many reasons why I don't belong here but now I am without fear.
I am gonna conquer with no fear until I find my way back home."

He repeats that same sentiment on "affirmation III" repeatedly singing "until I find my way back home" while a female narrator describes his journey home--

"U've probably felt many years in ur former life, u were separate from not only only others, but even urself. Now u can see that was never the case. U are actually everything and anything that u can think of. All of it is U.

Remember there really is only one destination, and that place is U. All of it, everything is U."

Here's hoping Prince found his way back home.

Day 11: April 2
"Batman"
While the film, "Batman", directed by Tim Burton is not the best Batman film (my vote goes to "The Dark Knight" film), it was a decent film with Michael Keaton playing the title character much better than George Clooney or Val Kilmer, and Jack Nicholson playing the demented Joker with gusto, I eagerly went to see "Batman" during the summer of 1989 mainly to hear Prince's songs featured in the film. "Batdance", of course, was a huge hit that summer and became Prince's 4th #1 song with the album spending six weeks at #1 in the album chart. And while I find the song, "Batdance", corny these days, it still is a guilty pleasure song for me, especially the music video which features Prince as "Gemini" (dressed as half-Batman and half-Joker). Prince seemed to relish the role and having fun in the video as well as in the the follow-up single, "Partyman", also one of my favorite songs in the album. The best line from the album, for me, was in the song, "Electric Chair"-- "If a man is considered guilty for what goes on in his mind, then give me the electric chair for all my futur crimes." Undoubtedly, the best track in the album is the seductive "Scandalous." Classic Prince! :cool:

Day 12: April 3
"Graffiti Bridge"
It's been awhile since I listened to the "Graffiti Bridge" album as a whole. I tend to skip some of the songs. Listening to the full album today, I forgot how good the album actually is. My opinion of the album was tainted over the years by how bad the accompanying film for it. Unlike the movies "Purple Rain" and "Under the Cherry Moon", both of which I enjoy watching regularly, I don't even remember the last time I watched the movie, "Graffiti Bridge." I decided to watch the movie again-- this time on Blu-Ray-- this afternoon. The acting, writing, direction and production of the movie was as bad as I remembered but it was good to see Prince and The Time perform some of the songs in the film again. There are two Prince tracks in the album that I really love-- "The Question of U" and "Joy in Repetition". I also like the songs performed by The Time-- "Release It", "Love Machine" and "Shake!" as well as Tevin Campbell's "Round and Round." While the critical and commercial failure of the movie may have ended Prince's film career, that didn't stop him from making direct-to-video vanity projects in the ensuing years (e.g. "Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection" and "3 Chains O' Gold"). :lol:

Day 13: April 4
"For You"
Woah! I just realized Prince's debut album, "For You", will have its 40th anniversary next year since its release in April, 1978. Prince had been releasing an album almost every year since his debut album, some of which are double or triple albums. Quite an amazing output! And we hope to hear more in the years to come from his vault. After almost 40 years, his debut album still impresses me. Not many artists had the distinction of producing, composing, arranging and performing all the songs of their debut album, not to mention playing 27 instruments. Last month, while I was shopping for used CDs at Amoeba Music store in Hollywood, the store DJ was playing Prince's "For You" album to my surprise and delight. The song, "Soft and Wet", his first hit single from the album, remains one of his beloved classic songs. While the album is not often mentioned as a favorite among his fans, I can say it's a better album than many of the other albums he released over the years, some of which are quite uneven. This album, on the other hand, with its funky, old school vibe, I can listen without skipping any of the songs. It's one of my go-to albums when I just want to chill at home.

Day 14: April 5
"Dirty Mind"
When I was in college and studied Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche consisting of the id, ego, and superego, I thought of Prince's music and have always been drawn to him expressing the "id"-- his libido and sexual drive-- and the "Dirty Mind" album has a healthy (or unhealthy?) dose of that beginning with the throbbing beat of the title track as he described his state of mind, singing about his obsession with an ex in "When U Were Mine", his desire to "Do It All Night"-- including explicit acts of giving "Head" and having incestous relationship with his "Sister". And he loved to "Partyup" in "Uptown". He covered all the bases in the album and we can't get enough of it. It's Prince's leanest album-- at only 30 minutes long-- and yet his funkiest and most daring album. "Dirty Mind" was his first album in the '80s and he continued pushing the envelope throughout the decade-- definitely the most creative stage of his music career.

Day 15: April 6
Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21

Day 1: March 23
"Purple Rain"
Gotta start with the album that made me a Prince fan for life with its lead single, "When Doves Cry", the first Prince single I ever bought during my junior year in high school in 1984 and saved my allowance to buy the "Purple Rain" vinyl album when it came out months later. I don't think I knew anyone in my high school-- I grew up in the Philippines-- who was a Prince fan like me. I knew I was different then and it's the main reason that drew me to Prince's music. I can't believe I've been a fan for almost 33 years. Listening to the album now, the music still sound as fresh to my ears like it was just released. I can listen to the album beginning to end over and over. Definitely has my vote as the best opener, Let's Go Crazy, and the best closer, Purple Rain, in any Prince album, not to mention its title track one of the greatest rock anthem ever. Of course, after watching the charismatic Prince and his electrifying performances of the songs in the film, it makes listening to the album even much more enjoyable. Never in my wildest dreams then did I think I would get to watch Prince perform live in concert, but that was about to change when my family unexpectedly moved to the U.S. a few years later. But that's a story for another day.

Day 2: March 24
"1999"
My favorite Prince double album. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are the best opening one-two punch tracks-- "1999", possibly the ultimate end-of-the-world party song and in "Little Red Corvette", the classic car metaphor for a woman with the line-- "baby, you're much 2 fast"-- says it all. The third track, "Delirious", a simple yet catchy Prince track where he sings one of my favorite suggestive lyrics -- "my temperature's running hot, baby u got 2 stop, cuz if u don't I'm gonna explode and girl I got a lot". The whole double album oozes with sex and that's just side one. My other favorite tracks of the album are what I consider four essential club tracks clocking at over seven minutes long each-- "Let's Pretend We're Married", DMSR, "Automatic", and "Lady Cab Driver." Casual Prince fans miss out on these hidden gems; one reason I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations.

Day 3: March 25
"Around the World in A Day"
Like many, I anticipated Prince's follow-up to "Purple Rain" album. When "Raspberry Beret", the lead single to "Around the World in A Day" came out, it sounded a lot different from anything he released up to that point. And I loved it! "Raspberry Beret" was the last Prince 7" (45rpm) single I bought. And it has my favorite B-side song-- "She's Always in My Hair". I remember listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every week back in the '80s and "Raspberry Beret" stalled at #2 with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" keeping it from becoming #1. I love the music video especially with the extended intro. When the album finally came out, like many, I, too, was surprised how much different the album sounds, from the intro to the title song-- the Beatlesque, psychedelic sounds and lyrics-- which I'm sure alienated a lot of his fans. Took me a number of listens to appreciate the album. While it's not one of my favorite Prince albums, I love some of the songs, namely, the aforementioned "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Ladder."

Day 4: March 26
"Lovesexy"
I have been playing the "Lovesexy" album on loop all day today. Couldn't skip the songs anyhow as Prince meant the album to be heard from beginning to end-- each and every time. This album has a special significance to me as it's the first Prince album I bought when my family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, and, coincidentally, it was around the time the Lovesexy Tour was going on and saw Prince in concert for the first time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (which, sadly, closed its doors March of last year and demolished this past September ). So many wonderful memories for me at that place. Growing up, I never thought I'd ever get to see Prince live in concert and looking back, it felt like a dream. It was a surreal experience! I actually bought tickets to see Prince for two consecutive nights but gave a pair of tix to my sister, who's just a year older than me, for one of the nights hoping to get her to become a Prince fan like me. It didn't work although she enjoyed the concert. I guess Prince fams like us are a rare breed, indeed. Back to the album, it has three of my all-time favorite Prince songs, namely, Alphabet Street, Glam Slam, and I Wish U Heaven. I also like the title track and Anna Stetia. More importantly, the album features my favorite album cover-- Prince in the nude.

Day 5: March 27
"Prince"
Prince's self-titled album-- his second studio album-- has become one of my favorite albums. It features my all-time favorite Prince song, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which I can listen on repeat all day. The whole album just flows well and I seldom skip any songs from the album whenever I listen to it although I especially crank up the volume whenever "Bambi" comes on. Kudos to Chaka Khan whose version of "I Feel For You" popularized the song and won Prince a Grammy for Best R&B song. I love the fact that Prince sings mostly in falsetto in all the songs of the album. This is definitely one album where I would have loved to have seen Prince perform all the songs live.

Day 6: March 28

I used to love the album when it first came out but the novelty of the "Segues" in the album has worn off over the years-- I find Kirstie Alley's voice increasingly annoying-- and I skip them now whenever I listen to the album. For the purposes of this tribute for Prince, I listened to the album uninterrupted today. The songs sound dated now especially "My Name is Prince" which has that '90's hip hop vibe that Prince tried to emulate but failed badly. The highlight for me during this period was the introduction of Mayte Garcia as Prince's muse. I still like a couple of songs in the album-- "The Morning Papers" and "7". I love the guitar solos in "The Morning Papers" while "7" especially reminded me of my U.S. Army days when I was stationed in Germany and one of my Army buddies used to play the song very loud in the barracks. It always made me smile hearing that song.

Day 7: March 29
"Come"
One of Prince's most underrated albums, I felt the "Come" album would have been a bigger hit had it not been released during the most tumultuous time in Prince's career during the '90s when he had the public dispute with Warner Bros and changed his name to a symbol which, sadly, took the spotlight away from his music but the attention was geared toward the name change and Prince was the butt of jokes as to what to call him. Even the album cover for "Come" announced the death of Prince (the name anyway with the years 1958-1993 on it). I thought this album was conceived better than his last couple of albums released before it-- "Diamonds and Pearls" and . I love how it was intimate and personal, with songs like "Papa", "Dark", and "Solo", and I love the other songs in it, too-- from the jazz-infused lead single, "Letitgo", to the dance grooves of the first four songs of the album beginning with the seductive 11-minute title track to the manic "Loose!" Vanity's uncredited moans in "Orgasm" ending with Prince saying "I love you" sealed the deal for me.

Day 8: March 30
"Sign O' The Times"
I can't believe it's been 30 years since this album was released March of 1987. How time flies! And yet, this album, like wine, gets better with time. It's definitely Prince's masterpiece and most diverse album covering many genres of music. This was the last Prince vinyl album I bought in the Philippines before my family moved to the U.S. and I remember it fondly. This album introduced us to Prince's alter ego, Camille, and the first time I played this album and heard the Camille voice, I thought there was something wrong with my record or the turntable because of the sped up voice. Took me a number of listens to get used to it. It's one album where each song could potentially have been a hit song. I can honestly say I love every song of this album and the album with the most number of my all-time favorite Prince songs-- the title track, The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Starfish and Coffee, If I Was Ur Girlfriend, Adore, U Got the Look, Hot Thing, and I Could Never Take the Place of Ur Man.

Day 9: March 31
"Controversy"
This album has a special significance to me. The title track, one of my favorites, asks "am I straight or gay?" and it was a question I struggled for many years. Growing up in a devout Christian household didn't help either as I grew up believing being gay is a sin and an abomination. Listening to Prince's music helped me deal with those struggles-- not to be ashamed-- "Sexuality is all u'll ever need" he declares in one of the tracks. And while my beliefs (or non-belief) and Prince's beliefs have differed in the coming years, I thank Prince for giving me the courage to finally come out to myself, my family and friends and be true to myself.

Day 10: April 1
"Art Official Age"
It's officially April. It was this month last year that Prince unexpectedly passed away. As his first death anniversary approaches it will be increasingly difficult for many, me included, thinking about his last days. I haven't listened to Prince's music this much since his death, as it had been difficult for me especially the first few months after his death which affected my personal life. I managed to make it through day 10 so far in my 30-day pledge of listening to a Prince album each day as my way of paying tribute to him and honoring his life through his music. I hope I can make it through April 21.

I haven't listened to "Art Official Age" album in months. Definitely one of the best albums he released in his last years. Other than the title track, which I'm not fond of, I love every song in this album and listen to it from beginning to end. The song, "Way Back Home", has taken on a new meaning for me after his death. Prince may already have known then when he recorded this album that his time on earth was almost up (a terminal illness perhaps, we may never know, as he was always a private person and I respect him for that, although it had been hard for many of us dealing with his sudden death). This song-- and album as a whole-- his last concept album-- may be his way of dealing with death and his way of saying goodbye to us. In "Way Back Home" he sings--

"So many reasons why I don't belong here but now I am without fear.
I am gonna conquer with no fear until I find my way back home."

He repeats that same sentiment on "affirmation III" repeatedly singing "until I find my way back home" while a female narrator describes his journey home--

"U've probably felt many years in ur former life, u were separate from not only only others, but even urself. Now u can see that was never the case. U are actually everything and anything that u can think of. All of it is U.

Remember there really is only one destination, and that place is U. All of it, everything is U."

Here's hoping Prince found his way back home.

Day 11: April 2
"Batman"
While the film, "Batman", directed by Tim Burton is not the best Batman film (my vote goes to "The Dark Knight" film), it was a decent film with Michael Keaton playing the title character much better than George Clooney or Val Kilmer, and Jack Nicholson playing the demented Joker with gusto, I eagerly went to see "Batman" during the summer of 1989 mainly to hear Prince's songs featured in the film. "Batdance", of course, was a huge hit that summer and became Prince's 4th #1 song with the album spending six weeks at #1 in the album chart. And while I find the song, "Batdance", corny these days, it still is a guilty pleasure song for me, especially the music video which features Prince as "Gemini" (dressed as half-Batman and half-Joker). Prince seemed to relish the role and having fun in the video as well as in the the follow-up single, "Partyman", also one of my favorite songs in the album. The best line from the album, for me, was in the song, "Electric Chair"-- "If a man is considered guilty for what goes on in his mind, then give me the electric chair for all my futur crimes." Undoubtedly, the best track in the album is the seductive "Scandalous." Classic Prince!

Day 12: April 3
"Graffiti Bridge"
It's been awhile since I listened to the "Graffiti Bridge" album as a whole. I tend to skip some of the songs. Listening to the full album today, I forgot how good the album actually is. My opinion of the album was tainted over the years by how bad the accompanying film for it. Unlike the movies "Purple Rain" and "Under the Cherry Moon", both of which I enjoy watching regularly, I don't even remember the last time I watched the movie, "Graffiti Bridge." I decided to watch the movie again-- this time on Blu-Ray-- this afternoon. The acting, writing, direction and production of the movie was as bad as I remembered but it was good to see Prince and The Time perform some of the songs in the film again. There are two Prince tracks in the album that I really love-- "The Question of U" and "Joy in Repetition". I also like the songs performed by The Time-- "Release It", "Love Machine" and "Shake!" as well as Tevin Campbell's "Round and Round." While the critical and commercial failure of the movie may have ended Prince's film career, that didn't stop him from making direct-to-video vanity projects in the ensuing years (e.g. "Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection" and "3 Chains O' Gold").

Day 13: April 4
"For You"
Woah! I just realized Prince's debut album, "For You", will have its 40th anniversary next year since its release in April, 1978. Prince had been releasing an album almost every year since his debut album, some of which are double or triple albums. Quite an amazing output! And we hope to hear more in the years to come from his vault. After almost 40 years, his debut album still impresses me. Not many artists had the distinction of producing, composing, arranging and performing all the songs of their debut album, not to mention playing 27 instruments. Last month, while I was shopping for used CDs at Amoeba Music store in Hollywood, the store DJ was playing Prince's "For You" album to my surprise and delight. The song, "Soft and Wet", his first hit single from the album, remains one of his beloved classic songs. While the album is not often mentioned as a favorite among his fans, I can say it's a better album than many of the other albums he released over the years, some of which are quite uneven. This album, on the other hand, with its funky, old school vibe, I can listen without skipping any of the songs. It's one of my go-to albums when I just want to chill at home.

Day 14: April 5
"Dirty Mind"
When I was in college and studied Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche consisting of the id, ego, and superego, I thought of Prince's music and have always been drawn to him expressing the "id"-- his libido and sexual drive-- and the "Dirty Mind" album has a healthy (or unhealthy?) dose of that beginning with the throbbing beat of the title track as he described his state of mind, singing about his obsession with an ex in "When U Were Mine", his desire to "Do It All Night"-- including explicit acts of giving "Head" and having incestous relationship with his "Sister". And he loved to "Partyup" in "Uptown". He covered all the bases in the album and we can't get enough of it. It's Prince's leanest album-- at only 30 minutes long-- and yet his funkiest and most daring album. "Dirty Mind" was his first album in the '80s and he continued pushing the envelope throughout the decade-- definitely his most creative period.

Day 15: April 6
"Diamonds and Pearls"
Another milestone for one of Prince's albums as 25 years have passed since the release of "Diamonds and Pearls" in October, 1991. Unlike most of his '80s output, however, time has not been good to it. Save for a few songs, the album sounds dated to me now, not to mention I never warmed up to Tony M's rapping. This release was Prince's attempt then to stay current with the increasing popularity of hip hop (especially gangsta rap) in the late '80s/early '90s, also drastically changing his look-- again-- compared to his image in the previous year's "Graffiti Bridge" album and film release. Listening to songs like "Daddy Pop", "Jughead" and "Push" again was torturous. Plus, the message of the album was conflicting-- Prince sings about Jesus saving your soul in the opening track, "Thunder", and then wanting to do "twenty three positions in a one night stand" in "Gett Off". I also find the title track to be quite cheesy these days although the music video for the song is a guilty pleasure with Prince being chased by the paparazzi before singing the song featuring his back-up dancers named "Diamond" and "Pearl". On the plus side, there are some "gems" (pun intended ) in the album. "Cream" has become a Prince classic and a staple song in his concerts over the years. I love the cool vibe of "Strollin'" and "Willing and Able" while "Walk Don't Walk" is whimsical. The sultry "Insatiable" is irresistible and a worthy addition in Prince's long list of explicitly soulful ballads. His social commentary on "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" is spot on. Lastly, the closer "Live 4 Love" was my inspiration when I decided to use the title of a Prince song to be my car's personalized license plate.

Day 16: April 7
Day 17: April 8
Day 18: April 9
Day 19: April 10
Day 20: April 11
Day 21: April 12
Day 22: April 13
Day 23: April 14
Day 24: April 15
Day 25: April 16
Day 26: April 17
Day 27: April 18
Day 28: April 19
Day 29: April 20
Day 30: April 21
[Edited 4/6/17 15:22pm]