** NOTE: Please read to the end of this thread as the below track lists have now been heavily modified thanks to feedback in this discussion **

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Prince released an incredible amount, over 25 albums and 400 unique songs, of quality music after 1993. And yet, how many people beyond the fans are familiar with this vast body of work? Imagine holding in your hands something that would finally celebrate Prince’s post-1993 output, raise its status among the general public, and provide a starting point to penetrate this overwhelming amount of music and discover its many gems. In short, we need a post-1993 greatest hits set.

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That’s what I’ve set out to achieve and I’d like your help. Luckily, we have a first-class template to follow: The Hits / The B-Sides. I propose a sequel to this collection: Prince 1994-2015: The Hits / The Rarities. Following its predecessor’s structure, this set would include 3 discs: The Hits 3 (1994-2002), The Hits 4 (2004-2015), and The Rarities (2000-2015). As with The Hits / The B-Sides, songs on each disc would be arranged stylistically and non-chronologically, allowing for a creative sequencing that would help listeners hear the tracks in a different way. Songs would be accessible and easily enjoyed by a general audience. There would be a well-chosen mix of commercially successful tracks, singles, fan/critic favorites, live favorites, and an unreleased gem or two.

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The post-1993 period was different to 1978-1993. There were fewer singles; few commercial hits; more controversial single choices (including a focus on ballads); and a greater amount of darker music, reflecting Prince’s struggles, especially in the 1990s. A compilation would need to reflect this.

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Embarking on this project a couple of months ago, I rejected the idea of this a casually-produced fan playlist of my personal favorite songs. Instead, I imagined myself as a record label having been tasked with producing an official 1994-2015 compilation (this set includes no 2016 material). I spent hours selecting and arranging songs, researching their histories on Princevault, and weeks went by as I listened to version after version of track selections, constantly changing and refining song sequences. Ultimately, the aim was to produce a mind-blowing collection that would demonstrate how much amazing music there was in this period.

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As hard as I tried to objectively produce the best possible collection, it's difficult to escape one's own tastes. That’s why, your input can help refine the current version. Of course, you could completely discard the below sequences and produce something radically different but it could be more rewarding to build on what's already been created. It’s up to you and I encourage you to listen to the below sequences for yourself to be able to start finessing them. We can’t exclude subjectivity from this project but multiple minds can produce new revelations.

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To begin, we’ll look at the track list for all 3 discs, before exploring each disc in detail.

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Here we go…

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THE HITS 3 (1994-2002)

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1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (single version)

2. Interactive

3. Baby Knows

4. The Work Pt. 1

5. Old Friends 4 Sale

6. Dolphin

7. What’s My Name?

8. I Like It There

9. Race

10. Come On (edit)

11. The Holy River (radio edit)

12. Journey 2 The Center Of Your Heart

13. A Case Of U

14. Circle of Amor

15. The One (edit)

16. The Love We Make

17. Gold

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THE HITS 4 (2004-2015)

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1. 3121

2. Chocolate Box (edit)

3. Clouds

4. Future Baby Mama

5. Groovy Potential (edit)

6. Musicology

7. Dance 4 Me

8. Black Sweat

9. Crimson & Clover

10. Anotherlove

11. Hardrocklover

12. Dear Mr. Man

13. Breakdown

14. Future Soul Song

15. Black Muse (edit)

16. 1000 X’s & O’s

17. Way Back Home

18. Free Urself

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THE RARITIES (2000-2015)

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1. Cybersingle

2. Glasscutter

3. When Eye Lay My Hands On U

4. Hot Summer

5. If Eye Could Get Ur Attention

6. Cause & Effect

7. F.U.N.K. (edit)

8. Rich Friends

9. Magnificent

10. Boyfriend

11. Da Bourgeoisie

12. Silver Tongue

13. When Will We B Paid?

14. United States of Division (edit)

15. S.S.T.

16. Same Page Different Book

17. Northside (edit)

18. In A Large Room With No Light

19. Empty Room

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DISCUSSION OF “THE HITS 3 (1994-2002)”

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A. Track list

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1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (single version)

2. Interactive

3. Baby Knows

4. The Work Pt. 1

5. Old Friends 4 Sale

6. Dolphin

7. What’s My Name?

8. I Like It There

9. Race

10. Come On (edit)

11. The Holy River (radio edit)

12. Journey 2 The Center Of Your Heart

13. A Case Of U

14. Circle of Amor

15. The One (edit)

16. The Love We Make

17. Gold

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B. Explanation of song choice and order

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1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (single version, 1994) - A sparkling gem and one of Prince’s biggest post-1993 hits. This world famous song grabs the general audience’s attention.

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2. Interactive (Interactive CD-ROM, 1994 / Crystal Ball, 1998) - This upbeat rocker from a similar time period to TMBGITW keeps the energy up and is one of Crystal Ball’s best cuts.

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3. Baby Knows (Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, 1999) - A promotional single in The Netherlands and played live around this time. The song maintains the upbeat energy set up by the previous tracks. It’s an overlooked quality song and quite funky. It’s interesting to juxtapose a 1999 song to a 1994 track. Arguably, it reflects better upon the Rave album than the stiff The Greatest Romance Ever Sold released as a single.

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4. The Work Pt. 1 (The Rainbow Children, 2001) - Released as its album’s only single and played live around this time. Maintains a similar tempo to Baby Knows and is another positive song.

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5. Old Friends 4 Sale (The Vault… Old Friends 4 Sale, 1999) - Arguably the best song off of its album. Continues the previous track’s jazz genre and starts this disc’s entry into darker music.

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6. Dolphin (The Gold Experience, 1995) - A fan favorite and one of Prince’s best power ballads. It deserves more general public attention.

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7. What’s My Name? (Crystal Ball, 1998) - Performed live a few times later in Prince’s career and a Crystal Ball highlight. It fits well next to Dolphin. Could be seen as an important part of The Hits 3 given how it touches on the name issue so central to Prince’s 1990s career. The third and final darker song in a row.

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8. I Like It There (Chaos And Disorder, 1996) - A great rocker, one of Chaos And Disorder’s best songs, and regularly performed live later in Prince’s career. The song brings The Hits 3 back into brighter territory.

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9. Race (Come, 1994) - Performed live around this time. One of Prince’s best raps and one featuring a positive message.

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10. Come On (edit) (New Power Soul, 1998) - A single, often performed live during this period, and a highlight from its album. Although Come On appeared on an album not attributed to Prince (even though it’s a Prince album in all but name) but we’ll stretch a little to include this gem because it’s clearly a Prince song and one he performed live many times. I don’t have the official edit so this is a home-made edit, fading out at 4:35.

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11. The Holy River (radio edit) (Emancipation, 1996) - A song that encapsulates Emancipation’s prominent love theme. The Hits 3 largely avoids the sugary ballads released as singles in the 1990s, settling for just this and TMBGITW to keep a reasonable balance. This song begins The Hits 3’s romantic section.

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12. Journey 2 The Center Of Your Heart (unreleased, 1996) - There’s not a lot of vault songs to pick from post-1995. This is one of the best and is available in good quality.

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13. A Case Of U (One Nite Alone, 2002) - Released on a Joni Mitchell tribute album and Prince performed it occasionally across his career. This track is a reminder of Prince’s great respect for Joni and highlights the little-known One Nite Alone album.

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14. Circle of Amor (The Truth, 1998) - One of the best songs on this album and one that continues this disc’s mellow section. It’s satisfying to hear two songs back to back from two sibling albums, One Night Alone and The Truth.

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15. The One (edit) (New Power Soul, 1998) - Released as a single, performed live throughout the years, and one of the best songs from its album. I don’t have the official edit so this is a home-made version, fading out at 5:07.

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16. The Love We Make (Emancipation, 1996) - One of Emancipation’s highlights, lyrically and musically, and a song that Prince revived later in his live career. It’s a song that deserves more attention. Highlighting this side of Emancipation helps refocus attention away from the divisive 1990s R&B sound the project is often associated with. The song flows well into Gold.

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17. Gold (The Gold Experience, 1995) - The Purple Rain of the 90s, this is a soaring epic and a perfect closer, ending this disc just like Purple Rain ends The Hits 2.

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C. Other notes

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Total running time: 73 minutes

This disc begins where The Hits 1 and 2 left off. It ends in 2002 because a new chapter of Prince’s career clearly started in 2004 with his leap back to mass appeal..

4 singles (tracks from albums released 1994-2002) from this period included on this disc (The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, Gold, The Holy River, The Work Pt 1).

8 singles from this period not included (Letitgo, Space, Eye Hate U, Dinner With Delores, Betcha By Golly Wow!, NYC, The Truth, The Greatest Romance Ever Sold).

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D. Songs/albums considered but not included

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The Black Album (1994) - This was made too long before 1994 and wouldn’t fit stylistically on The Hits 3.

Space (Come, 1994) - A great song and a single but it doesn’t fit stylistically on this disc.

Letitgo (Come, 1994) - This was a single, but a weak one and also doesn’t fit on this disc.

Dark (Come, 1994) - Even though many people might prefer this (and Space) to Race, The Hits 3 already has a lot of darker songs. One more seems too much.

Dinner With Delores (Chaos And Disorder, 1996) - This was a single but not a great one.

Betcha By Golly, Wow! (Emancipation, 1996) - To add this to TMBGITW and The Holy River would place too many sugary ballads on this disc.

Acknowledge Me (Crystal Ball, 1998) - A great song but Interactive is more concise.

Animal Kingdom (The Truth, 1998) - A strong track, donated to PETA. I personally feel Circle of Amor is a little better.

The Greatest Romance Ever Sold (Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, 1999) - A weak, stiff single and it doesn’t hold up well to other Prince ballads.

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E. Possible weak points of this disc

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Not many upbeat songs - This is definitely a more low beat disc than The Hits 1 and 2, with few dance numbers. This reflects this period’s darker material.

Not much from Emancipation - Only 2 songs are included, plus an Emancipation outtake. If another song were to be added, it makes sense for it to be from the otherwise unrepresented Emancipation Disc 1, but which song lives up to the quality on the rest of The Hits 3?

Not much from The Rainbow Children - The Hits 3 only includes one song from this fan favorite album. But the album did only produce one single and is little known in wider circles.

Very little R&B - This was the hardest personal preference of mine to overcome. The R&B featured on Emancipation and Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic isn’t personally my cup of tea. Should more music of this type be added to the disc?

There’s only 17 tracks, one less than on The Hits 1 and 2, so another song could be added.

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DISCUSSION OF “THE HITS 4 (2004-2015)”

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A. Track list

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1. 3121

2. Chocolate Box (edit)

3. Clouds

4. Future Baby Mama

5. Groovy Potential (edit)

6. Musicology

7. Dance 4 Me

8. Black Sweat

9. Crimson And Clover

10. Anotherlove

11. Hardrocklover

12. Dear Mr. Man

13. Breakdown

14. Future Soul Song

15. Black Muse (edit)

16. 1000 X’s & O’s

17. Way Back Home

18. Free Urself

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B. Explanation of song choice and order

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1. 3121 (3121, 2006) - This song was a return to a long-dormant nasty Prince. It’s a great danceable opener to the chart-topping 3121 album.

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2. Chocolate Box (edit) (MPLSound, 2009) - A single off its album, Chocolate Box maintains the previous track’s upbeat danceability.

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3. Clouds (Art Official Age, 2014) - Prince’s last promo-only single, a strong song, and one with a message that clearly meant a lot to Prince. Energy-wise, it’s a good step between Chocolate Box and Future Baby Mama.

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4. Future Baby Mama (Planet Earth, 2007) - This 2008 Grammy award winner is a highlight on Planet Earth, a sweet ballad but not too sugary.

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5. Groovy Potential (edit) (Hitnrun Phase 2, 2015) - Continues the previous track’s love theme. Its jazzy instrumentation fits next to Musicology. This homemade edit fades out at 3:18.

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6. Musicology (Musicology, 2004) - A single, one of Prince’s most well known songs from this period, and performed regularly in concert.

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7. Dance 4 Me (MPLSound, 2009) - This received a rare maxi-single release and is one of Prince’s best post-1993 dance numbers.

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8. Black Sweat (3121, 2006) - A single and one of this period’s better-known and occasionally-performed songs.

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9. Crimson And Clover (Lotusflower, 2009) - A single and a fantastic cover. This starts the 3 song rock portion of this disc.

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10. Anotherlove (Plectrum Electrum, 2014) - This received a video and is a highlight from its album. It’s interesting to juxtapose this with Crimson And Clover and Hardrocklover, three rock songs but quite different from each other.

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11. Hardrocklover (single version) (Hitnrun Phase 1, 2015) - A digital single and a cool song with a Gold Experience vibe.

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12. Dear Mr. Man (Musicology, 2004) - A live version of this song was a Cinnamon girl b-side. This starts The Hits 4’s socially/personally conscious section.

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13. Breakdown (Art Official Age, 2014) - This single is one of Prince’s greatest post-1993 songs and was release to celebrate his reunion with Warner Brothers.

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14. Future Soul Song (20Ten, 2010) - Many people’s favorite cut from 20Ten, a strong song with dreams of the future. Breakdown looked back, this song looks forward.

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15. Black Muse (edit) (Hitnrun Phase 2, 2015) - Another socially conscious song and a highlight from its album. This homemade edit fades out at 4:32.

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16. 1000 X’s & O’s (Hitnrun Phase 1, 2015) - This song gained meme status online, danced to by many groups of women. It’s a touching track with a Lovesexy vibe.

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17. Way Back Home (Art Official Age, 2014) - This is an intensely personal but essential song which in hindsight could be seen as a goodbye from Prince.

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18. Free Urself (Single, 2015) - An exception to our general rule of album-only or unreleased tracks, this was only a single. But it may well have been intended for an album and it’s a fitting end to The Hits 4. Way Back Home is about Prince, Free Urself is Prince passing the torch to us.

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C. Other notes

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Total running time: 75 minutes.

5 singles (tracks from albums released 2004-2015) from this period included on this disc (Musicology, Black Sweat, Dance 4 Me, The Breakdown, Hardcocklover).

13 singles from this period not included (Cinnamon Girl, Te Amo Corazon, Fury, Guitar, Extraloveable, Rock And Roll Love Affair, Screwdriver, Fixurlifeup, Breakfast Can Wait, Pretzelbodylogic, Fallinlove2nite, Baltimore, This Could B Us).

1 non-album single included (Free Urself).

Like The Hits 3 and The Rarities, The Hits 4 covers a much wider span of time than any disc of The Hits / The B-Sides but this is understandable given that 1978-1993 was Prince's most commercially successful and, in many eyes, most creative period.

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D. Songs/albums considered but not included

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Expectation (2003) / NEWS (2003) / CNOTE (2004) / The Slaughterhouse (2004) / The Chocolate Invasion (2004) - In contrast with all other albums, these were internet-only albums (the 2004 albums could also be considered more compilations or EPs than new albums) and are so little known that tracks from them (apart from NEWS and Expectation) are included on The Rarities disc.

Call My Name (Musicology, 2004) - It won a 2005 Grammy award but is a weaker ballad than other Hits 3 and 4 tracks.

Dreamer (Lotusflower, 2009) - A great song but there are already enough other guitar tracks on The Hits 4.

Pretzelbodylogic and Plectrumelectrum (Plectrumelectrum, 2014) - Either of these songs would have been good to include but there are just so many other great rock tracks from this period.

Baltimore (single, 2015 / Hitnrun Phase 2, 2015) - A song which got attention and has a strong message but it’s one of fans’ least favorite cuts from Hitnrun Phase 2.

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E. Possible weak points of this disc

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There’s only one track from Lotusflower.

There are no vault tracks. This period is light on known vault songs.

This compilation uses a minority of singles.

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DISCUSSION OF “THE RARITIES (2000-2015)”

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The Rarities is this collection’s equivalent of The B-Sides disc and may be of most interest to fans, many of whom may not have heard some of these songs. This period saw a shift from releasing non-album tracks as b-sides toward remixes (in the 1990s) and eventually online distribution (in the 2000s) and so is entitled The Rarities rather than The B-Sides.

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A. Track list

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1. Cybersingle

2. Glasscutter

3. When Eye Lay My Hands On U

4. Hot Summer

5. If Eye Could Get Ur Attention (2015)

6. Cause & Effect

7. F.U.N.K. (edit)

8. Rich Friends

9. Magnificent

10. Boyfriend

11. Da Bourgeoisie

12. Silver Tongue

13. When Will We B Paid?

14. United States of Division (edit)

15. S.S.T.

16. Same Page Different Book

17. Northside (edit)

18. In A Large Room With No Light (2009)

19. Empty Room (2003)

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B. Explanation of song choice and order

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1. Cybersingle (2000) - A short rousing song with a stirring message to “take back your consciousness”. In this disc’s context it announces Prince’s intention for his music to make a difference.

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2. Glasscutter (2004) - A little-known dream-like rock song with a live feel and nastier than most of Prince’s other works from this period.

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3. When Eye Lay My Hands On U (The Chocolate Invasion, 2001) - One of its album’s best tracks and famously performed live at Montreux 2009.

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4. Hot Summer (2010) - An unabashed pop song with a bouncy summertime feel. It’s better than many people give it credit for. Considered for the unreleased Welcome 2 America album.

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5. If Eye Could Get Ur Attention (2015) - If Hot Summer is day time at the beach, this is cruising (on a purple bicycle) the coast at sunset in a wistful mood. The two tracks sit well together.

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6. Cause And Effect (2010) - Performed on several occasions, this is a great rock track and another song where Prince reflects on his life. An interesting contrast from the previous 2 songs’ pop.

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7. F.U.N.K. (edit) (2007) - An excellent diss track, performed a handful of times, which continues the previous song’s rock feel. This homemade edit fades out at 3:09.

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8. Rich Friends (2010) - This mellow relief after the two previous tracks recalls late 80s minimalist Prince.

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9. Magnificent (2004) - Continuing the low key vibe from Rich Friends, this little-discussed gem transitions the disc into a dream state.

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10. Boyfriend (2013) - This song contains further dream-like musical touches and adds horn elements. Prince obviously considered this song highly, including it on a draft version of Hitnrun Phase 2.

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11. Da Bourgeoisie (2013) - This song drops the dream touches but keeps the horns. Its meaning is hard to discern but an official Twitter post refuted allegations of it being a bigoted song.

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12. Silver Tongue (demo) (2004) - We switch to a more serious socially conscious part of the disc, an emotional piano ballad. This was only available as a demo, perhaps there’s a more complete version out there.

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13. When Will We B Paid? (2000) - Performed on numerous occasions since its recording, this is a powerful cover song with a message.

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14. United States of Division (edit) (2004) - “2004, we’re still at war and everybody hates Americans”. This is a very W Bush-era track. This homemade edit fades out at 3:53.

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15. S.S.T. (2005) - Another socially conscious track, released to raise funds for the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. It’s a softer song, similar to Song Of The Heart.

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16. Same Page Different Book (2013) - Considered for the Welcome 2 America album, this is a somewhat funky religious-referential song.

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17. Northside (edit) (NPGMC, 2001 / The Slaughterhouse, 2004) - More funk, this time from 12 years earlier, but a song that amps up the energy on this disc on last time. Northside was performed on a handful of occasions.

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18. In A Large Room With No Light (2009) - A good song, faster and lighter than, but perhaps inferior to, its 1986 studio version. It received a limited release before Montreux 2009.

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19. Empty Room (C-NOTE, 2003) - This classic, originally recorded in 1985, turns the guitar way up for a rousing end to this disc.

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C. Other notes

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Total running time: 77 minutes.

There’s a roughly 7 year gap between The B-Sides’s last recorded song and The Rarities’s earliest recorded song. This is because there were few unique (non-remix) non-album tracks released 1994-1999.

There may be a better title for this disc than “The Rarities”.

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D. Songs/albums considered but not included

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Rock 'N' Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis) (1995) - A solid song but it doesn’t fit in with this disc’s other tracks.

One Song (2000) - This song heads in the stirring direction of Gold but lacks originality and is over too soon.

Ain't Gonna Miss U When U're Gone (edit) (2013) - Unlike F.U.N.K., another diss track but one with a redeeming message (about great music), this song is purely negative and the disc benefited from its removal.

That Girl Thang (2013) - A cool little acoustic track but its rough quality doesn’t fit on this disc.

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E. Possible weak points of this disc

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The Rarities’s overall quality is much lower than any of the other discs. Pulling out some quality vault tracks to replace weaker songs like Glasscutter, Da Bourgeoisie, and S.S.T. is needed to improve this disc.

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Hopefully this is a solid first step to producing a stellar collection to honor Prince’s post-1993 work and bring new listeners to this music. Of course, the dream is to one say see an official collection and perhaps our work might help that effort. Now it’s over to you… How could this collection be improved?

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Let's work!

[Edited 4/11/17 10:37am]

It's ok to go outside sometimes.

TheDigitalGardener said:

It's ok to go outside sometimes.

co-sign

I appreciate the effort that went into this, but it's such a different collection than the original it probably wouldn't work as a for-sale item.

Would be cool to publish these as playlists on Spotify though.

Great indepth study - but flawed. You said it wasn't a fan list - but is obviously exactly that. Your exclusion list is more than enough proof.

Betcha By Golly Wow

TGRES

Dinner With Delores

Space

Letitgo

These were all real legit releases which would easily be on these albums

maybe someone with authority to release tracks will consider this....otherwise yet another silly org thread

lynx said:

Great indepth study - but flawed. You said it wasn't a fan list - but is obviously exactly that. Your exclusion list is more than enough proof.

Betcha By Golly Wow

TGRES

Dinner With Delores

Space

Letitgo

These were all real legit releases which would easily be on these albums

The point of the post was to solicit input for improving this idea. So which of these songs would you add in and which of the songs I put in would you remove, and in what sequence would they be arranged?

Se7en said:

I appreciate the effort that went into this, but it's such a different collection than the original it probably wouldn't work as a for-sale item.

Would be cool to publish these as playlists on Spotify though.

So what are your specific suggestions for how this could be changed to make it a for-sale item?

luvsexy4all said:

....otherwise yet another silly org thread

Please could you point out the constructive purpose of this comment?

gubbins4ever said:

Se7en said:

I appreciate the effort that went into this, but it's such a different collection than the original it probably wouldn't work as a for-sale item.

Would be cool to publish these as playlists on Spotify though.

So what are your specific suggestions for how this could be changed to make it a for-sale item?

THIS IS A GREAT LIST OF SONGS!!! Well though out!!!!!!

One Hit/A Couple of Digital B-Sides

rusty1 said:

This thread is so unreal.. Prince's last Top 10 hit was in 1994.. His last run of hits was from 1990 to 94... 95 on where's the greatest hits?

A good question that I originally wanted to cover in the post but didn't to keep the already crazy length a little shorter. Clearly, the vast majority of Prince's commercial hits were before 1995. However, the original Hits collection does feature songs that were not commercial hits. So I took a cue from this that "hits" could mean a commercial hit or it could mean a hit from a quality point of view. For instance, Breakdown didn't top any charts but it's a hit from an excellence point of view. However, if it were collectively deemed that the word "hit" was ill-fitting for this set another title could easily be found while staying true to the goal of this being a spiritual sequel to the original The Hits, which is the most important thing.

soladeo1 said:

gubbins4ever said:

So what are your specific suggestions for how this could be changed to make it a for-sale item?

THIS IS A GREAT LIST OF SONGS!!! Well though out!!!!!!

Thank you!

Good attempt! We could argue about specifics all day but my 2 cents:

Replace Baby Knows with something better off Rave, blurgh i'd be turning it off right there; always one of my least fav songs songs. Greatest Romance, Prettyman, Title track, any of them preferable imho. Actually, i'd recommend strongly for replacing it with Beautiful Strange which is a much stronger rock song and a real highlight from that era.

I'd also argue for Endorphinmachine over Interactive, it was played a lot more, including in recent years, and was the prize unlock in the computer game. Interactive is great, don't get me wrong, find space for both if you can but I think Endorphinmachine is a better fit for a best of.

It's a looooooong track but space should be made for Days of Wild, don't ask me which version though.

Speaking of space, maybe add Space as well! I can see an argument for the universal love mix if you want to make a less easily accessed version available, although either version would do for me.

Finally, I think Chaos and Disorder or Dinner with Delores are preferable to I Like it There, one was a single and one was also played a lot in recent years. C&D vs. I Like it There might just come down to personal preference at the end of the day though.

[Edited 3/31/17 16:05pm]

How about a reissues of the Hits set. Add, The most beautiful girl in the world.

And if you want, add more tracks from that era like...Batdance, Partyman and Insatiable.

bonnie184 said:

How about a reissues of the Hits set. Add, The most beautiful girl in the world.

And if you want, add more tracks from that era like...Batdance, Partyman and Insatiable.

nah, we already had 4ever, that was bad enough. The world is in serious need of a post 1993-2016 Prince Best of.

Of course arguably it's all redundant in 2017; compilations are a bit of a dying art, people can just make their own playlists on Spotify. Course all that stuff is still tied up on Tidal which was amusing when he was alive but now a bit lame.

jaawwnn said:

bonnie184 said:

How about a reissues of the Hits set. Add, The most beautiful girl in the world.

And if you want, add more tracks from that era like...Batdance, Partyman and Insatiable.

nah, we already had 4ever, that was bad enough. The world is in serious need of a post 1993-2016 Prince Best of.

Of course arguably it's all redundant in 2017; compilations are a bit of a dying art, people can just make their own playlists on Spotify. Course all that stuff is still tied up on Tidal which was amusing when he was alive but now a bit lame.

but he had no hits past TMBGITW

bonnie184 said:

jaawwnn said:

nah, we already had 4ever, that was bad enough. The world is in serious need of a post 1993-2016 Prince Best of.

Of course arguably it's all redundant in 2017; compilations are a bit of a dying art, people can just make their own playlists on Spotify. Course all that stuff is still tied up on Tidal which was amusing when he was alive but now a bit lame.

but he had no hits past TMBGITW

I said "best of" not greatest hits. If they had been willing to fight for TMBGITW for 4ever they could have done that, the last thing we need is yet another compilation of the same tracks with 1 new additional hit.

[Edited 3/31/17 19:29pm]

jaawwnn said:

bonnie184 said:

but he had no hits past TMBGITW

I said "best of" not greatest hits

Public Enemy had a Greatest Misses

How about a Greatest Purple Misses lol

I also applaud the thought, time, knowledge and passion that you put into this idea.

Asenath0607 said:

I also applaud the thought, time, knowledge and passion that you put into this idea.

Agreed, that was pretty cool what all he came up with and described

I love this, but the lack of Come material is disturbing.

You put a lot of effort into this, but I think a third hits compilation would be quite a short collection, sadly, as much of it would be spent siphoning out the most marketable tracks from P's incredibly dated 90's output and his less-than steller material from the 21st Century. It's basically impossible to do a latter-day Best Of without it having an odd, lurching quality to it, so the best way to arrange the tracks is chronologically. I think it'd look more like this:

1. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
2. Letitgo
3. Space
4. Love Sign
5. I Hate U
6. Shhh
7. Gold
8. Somebody's Somebody
9. The One
10. Musicology
11. Black Sweat
12. Fury
13. Guitar
14. Future Baby Mama
15. Dreamer
16. Crimson and Clover
17. Clouds
18. This Could B Us
19. Breakdown
20. Breakfast Can Wait
21. 1000 X's & O's
22. Xtraloveable

[Edited 3/31/17 23:37pm]

Love it, great work!

This is much better: It feels like a good sale album. It's very colorful and tells a story being that it's in chronological order. I think lining up in chronological is very intriguing and lets us into Prince's world. Doing it this way is about the only way to begin to understand him. Because he varied so much from album to album. Thank U!

Shockedelicus said:

You put a lot of effort into this, but I think a third hits compilation would be quite a short collection, sadly, as much of it would be spent siphoning out the most marketable tracks from P's incredibly dated 90's output and his less-than steller material from the 21st Century. It's basically impossible to do a latter-day Best Of without it having an odd, lurching quality to it, so the best way to arrange the tracks is chronologically. I think it'd look more like this:

1. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
2. Letitgo
3. Space
4. Love Sign
5. I Hate U
6. Shhh
7. Gold
8. Somebody's Somebody
9. The One
10. Musicology
11. Black Sweat
12. Fury
13. Guitar
14. Future Baby Mama
15. Dreamer
16. Crimson and Clover
17. Clouds
18. This Could B Us
19. Breakdown
20. Breakfast Can Wait
21. 1000 X's & O's
22. Xtraloveable

[Edited 3/31/17 23:37pm]

bluegangsta said:

I love this, but the lack of Come material is disturbing.

Which is proof that his catalogue (released and unreleased) deserves the care, retrospectives, and tradition that companies have given to the Miles Davis career.

You would have Davis' fusion, electro, bop periods etc. Princes' music needs the same preservation.

I would add the following:

Dark

Betcha By Golly Wow - It's a great cover, better than his cover of "I Can't Make You Love Me."

Call My Name

Te Amo Corazon

Song of the Heart

Cool (live)

Animal Kingdom

Audio and/or video of the entire Super Bowl halftime performance

Somewhere Here on Earth

Audio and/or video of the While My Guitar Gently Weeps performance at the RRHOF

Audio and/or video of his RRHOF performance with Kiss

The Love We Make (live) (in addition to the studio version)

--

Maybe/Honourable Mention:

Let's Have a Baby - This song is absolutely stellar. It's SUCH a beautiful song, and I wish more people were familiar with it, but it probably wouldn't be appropriate to put on the album given the circumstances surrounding his son.

Shockedelicus said:

You put a lot of effort into this, but I think a third hits compilation would be quite a short collection, sadly, as much of it would be spent siphoning out the most marketable tracks from P's incredibly dated 90's output and his less-than steller material from the 21st Century. It's basically impossible to do a latter-day Best Of without it having an odd, lurching quality to it, so the best way to arrange the tracks is chronologically. I think it'd look more like this:

1. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
2. Letitgo
3. Space
4. Love Sign
5. I Hate U
6. Shhh
7. Gold
8. Somebody's Somebody
9. The One
10. Musicology
11. Black Sweat
12. Fury
13. Guitar
14. Future Baby Mama
15. Dreamer
16. Crimson and Clover
17. Clouds
18. This Could B Us
19. Breakdown
20. Breakfast Can Wait
21. 1000 X's & O's
22. Xtraloveable

[Edited 3/31/17 23:37pm]

Thanks Shockadelicus for the suggestion! If your track list had to fit on a single CD would it need any alterations?

.

My first stab at a hits collection actually arranged the tracks chronologically like you did. But I found the listening experience less interesting, which is the same reaction I had to the mostly-chronological 4Ever collection. A non-chronological collection allows a more creative track arrangement, allowing us to hear tracks in a new way by placing them alongside interesting choices. For instance, I really enjoy hearing The Love We Make next to Gold, a pairing I'd never thought of before. In addition, non-chronological arrangement helps avoid having to (in some people's eyes) slog through several years of less creative periods, instead spreading them out between tracks from better years.

.

On the other hand, there is also a case for your chronological approach. My premise was creating a sequel to The Hits / The B-Sides, a collection that went for the non-chronological approach. But one could argue there's not necessarily a reason why we should be shackled to any constraints merely on account of following The Hits / The B-Sides. We should have the freedom to create the best collection possible.

.

Another point that's been raised on this thread is what role previously released singles should play in a collection. Should a collection be all singles, ignore singles and go for the "best" tracks, or hover between these extremes? My track list opted for a middle-ish path but may not have included enough singles. The difficulty with the post-1993 singles is that few of them have remained lodged in the public consciousness. For instance, how many non-fans remember Space and would value its inclusion on a collection more as a result? The only benefit to including a song like that just because it was a single would be as a historical record. But I'm not sure that is a worthy enough reason for including it.

.

The problem as I see it is not that there isn't ample quality music to include on a post-1993 greatest hits set. There is! The problem is how to deal with the poor single choices. The singles off Come, Emancipation, Rave, and 3121, to name just some examples, were weak choices. Should a greatest hits set perpetuate these mistakes (if you agree that they were) or attempt to elevate new songs as representatives of these albums?

.

Thank you everyone for chiming in on this! This is a great intelligent, thoughtful discussion and is raising a lot of really good points.

[Edited 4/2/17 10:50am]

bluegangsta said:

I love this, but the lack of Come material is disturbing.

How would you specifically change the proposed track list or what Come tracks would you add back in?

.

Come is a tricky album because it's little known outside of the fan community and it had one weak single (Letitgo) and one stronger one (Space). With this one disc covering such a long time span it's hard to give much space to Come when its competing with so much other material, other more commercially successful albums. That said, if another Come track were to be added in I'd go for Space for sure.