I have been listening to Prince albums in the last month. This is the first time i have listened to full Prince albums in a few years.

Am in the only one who rates Dirty Mind and Controversy as much better albums than Parade/ATWIAD?

To me, ATWIAD and Parade have some stunning songs (Raspberry Beret, America, Kiss etc), I do feel a number of the songs sound rather incomplete, especially the first few songs on Parade. I must confess i am not a big fan of Prince's psychedellic attempts, perhaps because i am not a big fan of psychedellia itself.

Dirty Mind and Controversy, to me, seem to be much easier albums to listen to. Their is hardly anything mediocre on these albums; even the lesser stuff is kinda fun and the best stuff (WYWM, Uptown, Controversy etc) is just as good as anything on ATWIAD/Parade.

I have always been a little surprised at how those two albums are generally rated as higher than Dirty Mind/Controversy among the Prince fandom. I am curious to see how you guys rate these albums in comparison to each other.

Theyr'e not rated higher.

Dirty Mind is present in all serious "Best Albums of All Time" series,

because usually rock critics believe in the dirty maverick (Ramones, Stooges, The Clash, Patti Smith...)

that comes out of nowhere and steals the show.

Dirty Mind is, as it's been said, the most radical 180 degrees turn in pop music.

Dirty Mind is 5 stars in pretty much everybody's book.

Controversy suffers from being stuck between Dirty Mind and 1999,

but it's almost a five. "Jack U Off" was done better later on,

and so was "Do Me Baby", even if it's the very first "sensual Prince song" in a long series.
But the album contains some of Prince's most extraordinary songs.

As for the eighties albums, well, first of all you need an analogic source,

or some .flac files derived from it.
A serious amp, and serious headphones or speakers.

Then we'll talk.

hhhhdmt said:

I have been listening to Prince albums in the last month. This is the first time i have listened to full Prince albums in a few years.

Am in the only one who rates Dirty Mind and Controversy as much better albums than Parade/ATWIAD?

To me, ATWIAD and Parade have some stunning songs (Raspberry Beret, America, Kiss etc), I do feel a number of the songs sound rather incomplete, especially the first few songs on Parade. I must confess i am not a big fan of Prince's psychedellic attempts, perhaps because i am not a big fan of psychedellia itself.

Dirty Mind and Controversy, to me, seem to be much easier albums to listen to. Their is hardly anything mediocre on these albums; even the lesser stuff is kinda fun and the best stuff (WYWM, Uptown, Controversy etc) is just as good as anything on ATWIAD/Parade.

I have always been a little surprised at how those two albums are generally rated as higher than Dirty Mind/Controversy among the Prince fandom. I am curious to see how you guys rate these albums in comparison to each other.

I cannot see them as better, or worse.
They are just too different, yet are a part of a continual unfolding of a vision

It starts before Dirty Mind, BUT Dirty Mind gives us the utopia of UPTOWN and by the time we get to ATWIAD we can get to this place called Paisley Park.
I believe in a 1985 interview maybe with MOJO, Prince connected it the Dirty Mind period/Uptown with Paisley Park. So I have this extreme appreciation of Dirty Mind Controversy 1999 Purple Rain ATWIAD Parade

.

I don't see Parade as psychedellic at all though. Parade is very different musically to ATWIAD. ATWIAD is more connected and likened to Purple Rain actually.

.

Parade is technically a film soundtrack. Set in a whimsical 1940 Nice France. Parade as lush rich and layered is still a much more 'stripped down' sound. So that might be where the 'unfinished' thought comes from. Because Purple Rain and ATWIAD are much more 'full' sounding. But Parade is like 1999 Controversy and Dirty Mind in that they have a more 'stripped' feel to them.

.

Parade to me feels like music that is very 'worldly' like music cultured people listen to. Or adult music that kids don't get until they become older. Like there was a lot of music that my parents listened to that I didn't get it for whatever reason, until I got into my mid-upper 20s and had fallen in love, lived on my own, travelled, then I got Al Green, Joni Mitchell and a lot of the music they were into. I was always taken by all things jazz though from a young age.

.

During this period we were given all these 'place's to go in Prince music
Dirty Mind:Uptown
Controversy... I still cannot put my hand on where I go with Controversy

1999: (seemed like an album that was on the go, flying places and driving places... music on the move)

Purple Rain: (indirectly took us to 'this is the road that leads 2 where I live... Roadhouse Garden) very similar to 1999 in that way.

ATWIAD: Paisley Park, ATWIAD feels like a coming home from being on the go, and recording reminiscing about the adventures we previous experienced

Parade: took us to Nice France, Under the Cherry Moon and exotic location chic high culture

Dream Factory/SOTT/Crystal Ball/Camille album: would have been Dream Factory

the Black album : Sheila E's birthday party

Lovesexy: Alphabet St

.

But Dirty Mind Controvery ATWIAD and Parade all transport me places all interconnected by revealing different parts of life at different degrees.

Parade is better than any of the other albums you mention, but ATWIAD is the worst of the bunch. So, if you are grouping them together, it’s about split.

In terms of the trajectory of Prince’s career, Dirty Mind was a hugely risky record. But now, taken on its own, not much on it sounds like a risk. That’s not a criticism — it sounds ‘perfect’ and wonderfully constructed and planned to a T.

But Parade still, to this day, sounds risky and surprising but somehow also satsifying. There’s never been another record quite like Parade.

It depends what matters most to you when you listen: if you want the beats and articulations and form to always be there for you, Dirty Mind does that brilliantly (and to an extent Controversy). Parade is a wilder, looser record that still contains great warmth and somehow even unity (which ATWIAD misses).

paraded said:

It depends what matters most to you when you listen: if you want the beats and articulations and form to always be there for you, Dirty Mind does that brilliantly (and to an extent Controversy). Parade is a wilder, looser record that still contains great warmth and somehow even unity (which ATWIAD misses).

I would doubt that. ATWIAD was back in the day Prince's favorite record (as i can recall from all scribbles i read in last yrs) . All that fun and play, exteneded mixes, b-sides ,'girl', 'she's always in my hair'... come on, so much warmth and kisses.

I agree with you.I enjoy Dirty Mind and Controversy more than Parade and ATWIAD.I admit,I'm a huge fan of the pre-Purple Rain stuff Prince was more "raw" and wild in those days (lol) and it reflects in the music he was creating.I'll take "Private Joy" and "Head" over "Raspberry Beret" anyday,lol.

hhhhdmt said:

I have been listening to Prince albums in the last month. This is the first time i have listened to full Prince albums in a few years.

Am in the only one who rates Dirty Mind and Controversy as much better albums than Parade/ATWIAD?

Very different reading than my own, but of course, that's part of the beauty of his amazing canon -- how it brings out our different ideas of "fun." I know Prince was fond of ATWIAD more than he was Parade...but that doesn't stop me from preferring the latter!

Not taking into account the b-sides/extended mixes/videos for the album (I love his America performance), for me, it's the least played of the four records mentioned, one of the only times in his 1980s work in which it feels like a chore to listen -- much of the record (minus Condition of the Heart and Raspberry Beret) sounds tense and strident. But I'll give it another try based on your fondness for it

stpaisios said:

paraded said:

It depends what matters most to you when you listen: if you want the beats and articulations and form to always be there for you, Dirty Mind does that brilliantly (and to an extent Controversy). Parade is a wilder, looser record that still contains great warmth and somehow even unity (which ATWIAD misses).

I would doubt that. ATWIAD was back in the day Prince's favorite record (as i can recall from all scribbles i read in last yrs) . All that fun and play, exteneded mixes, b-sides ,'girl', 'she's always in my hair'... come on, so much warmth and kisses.

[Edited 9/23/17 21:58pm]