I know some prince fans who dont like anything much he did after his "80s peak" I also know there are fans who love everything he did up till his death. Which album is it for you and why?

Hit'n'run Phase 2. Beautiful and romantic songs :heart:

I'd say 3121, with Lotus kinda sorta not really being a close 2nd. AOA after that.

[Edited 2/22/18 7:58am]

I really enjoyed Hit n Run Phase II

...last great album Rainbow Children

donnyenglish said:

jdcxc said:

In my opinion it was Phase 2. I was excited to finally hear Big City,Black Muse,2Y2D and When She Comes since he had been teasing us with them for a while.I think the musicianship on the album is impeccable and it has what has become one of my favorite love songs, Revelation.If he had replaced Screwdriver with Shades of Umber it would have been perfect to me. I also consider Lotusflow3r to be one of his best and I think The Rainbow Children,3121, 20ten and AOA are great as well.

[Edited 2/25/18 13:08pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

If we're talking great stuff front to back:

As Prince: Sign O The Times

As : The Gold Experience
As NPG: Exodus

That doesn't mean subsequent albums weren't solid pieces of work. I would love to list The Rainbow Children. Musically, it's great. Lyrically, it's obnoxious. I think you can whittle down Musicology, 3121, and Planet Earth into one great album. Lotusflow3r set is bloated.

I've long said that when Prince has had conflict in his life, he's made his best music. During the darkest point of his fight with WB (let's say 93-late 96) his output was so fucking masterful. When he started to lose some fans and wasn't as quickly lauded as a genius by the critics in the 80s, he made Sign O The Times (and remember The Black Album was during that time and was a direct answer to those critics). Color me peach and black all fucking day because SOTT is brilliant, with all its mistakes, errors, happy accidents. When we see the tracklists for Crystal Ball or Dream Factory, they're bloated. But when he was pushed by WB to whittle that stuff down, SOTT became a masterpiece. CB or DF would not have stood up to the same praise, I guarantee it.

When Prince got 'free', his music started to eventually suffer on some levels. As much as he championed personal freedom, the moment he got his own artistically the music reflected it to some extent.

TrivialPursuit said:

If we're talking great stuff front to back:

As Prince: Sign O The Times

As : The Gold Experience
As NPG: Exodus

That doesn't mean subsequent albums weren't solid pieces of work. I would love to list The Rainbow Children. Musically, it's great. Lyrically, it's obnoxious. I think you can whittle down Musicology, 3121, and Planet Earth into one great album. Lotusflow3r set is bloated.

I've long said that when Prince has had conflict in his life, he's made his best music. During the darkest point of his fight with WB (let's say 93-late 96) his output was so fucking masterful. When he started to lose some fans and wasn't as quickly lauded as a genius by the critics in the 80s, he made Sign O The Times (and remember The Black Album was during that time and was a direct answer to those critics). Color me peach and black all fucking day because SOTT is brilliant, with all its mistakes, errors, happy accidents. When we see the tracklists for Crystal Ball or Dream Factory, they're bloated. But when he was pushed by WB to whittle that stuff down, SOTT became a masterpiece. CB or DF would not have stood up to the same praise, I guarantee it.

When Prince got 'free', his music started to eventually suffer on some levels. As much as he championed personal freedom, the moment he got his own artistically the music reflected it to some extent.

The Gold Experience was the album that I thought would be IT, but it fell flat to me. I think having discovered Meschell NDegeochello and the Roots and some other artists, might have influenced that.
I Hate U had me extremely excited. I tried with the Gold Experience. BUT the era was very exciting.

.

I never looked at the June configuration of the Dream Factory as bloated. I thought that was a perfect cohesive listing of songs to present.

BUT I would have eaten up the Dream Factory or Crystal Ball with no complaints.

that 1980-1987 period was just great back 2 back. Lovesexy I love, but you could tell something was missing.

.

Emancipation was very bloated for me.

.

Musicology 3121 Planet Earth we could make 1 great album out of various songs.

You make good points.

jdcxc said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

TrivialPursuit said:

If we're talking great stuff front to back:

As Prince: Sign O The Times

As : The Gold Experience
As NPG: Exodus

That doesn't mean subsequent albums weren't solid pieces of work. I would love to list The Rainbow Children. Musically, it's great. Lyrically, it's obnoxious. I think you can whittle down Musicology, 3121, and Planet Earth into one great album. Lotusflow3r set is bloated.

I've long said that when Prince has had conflict in his life, he's made his best music. During the darkest point of his fight with WB (let's say 93-late 96) his output was so fucking masterful. When he started to lose some fans and wasn't as quickly lauded as a genius by the critics in the 80s, he made Sign O The Times (and remember The Black Album was during that time and was a direct answer to those critics). Color me peach and black all fucking day because SOTT is brilliant, with all its mistakes, errors, happy accidents. When we see the tracklists for Crystal Ball or Dream Factory, they're bloated. But when he was pushed by WB to whittle that stuff down, SOTT became a masterpiece. CB or DF would not have stood up to the same praise, I guarantee it.

When Prince got 'free', his music started to eventually suffer on some levels. As much as he championed personal freedom, the moment he got his own artistically the music reflected it to some extent.

The Gold Experience was the album that I thought would be IT, but it fell flat to me. I think having discovered Meschell NDegeochello and the Roots and some other artists, might have influenced that.
I Hate U had me extremely excited. I tried with the Gold Experience. BUT the era was very exciting.

.

I never looked at the June configuration of the Dream Factory as bloated. I thought that was a perfect cohesive listing of songs to present.

BUT I would have eaten up the Dream Factory or Crystal Ball with no complaints.

that 1980-1987 period was just great back 2 back. Lovesexy I love, but you could tell something was missing.

.

Emancipation was very bloated for me.

.

Musicology 3121 Planet Earth we could make 1 great album out of various songs.

You make good points.

The Gold Experience and Come were awesome prior to the official release. I feel Prince "tampered" with these releases to spite WB.

I would love to have DF and CB in the manner that was presented to WB.

I agree, Lovesexy was missing something.

I also thought Batman was genius on how the music sampled much of the movie.

GB and Rave were examples of Prince working on something TOO long and TOO much.

Sometimes, it seemed that everything had to be "polished" when it was released after the 80's. Hope that make sense.

In my opinion, The Rainbow Children. Lotusflower is almost there.

It's interesting to see the different responses here. "Great" is generally in the eye of the beholder, and the term is relative when you're talking about the one of if not the most prolific artist of his generation who recorded for nearly 40 years.

AOA, for example, pales when held up to Sign O' The Times. But IMO it is a "great" record to the extent that it was cohesive, consistent and listenable, and had several "great" moments.

I think TGE is a "great" album because it's strong throughout, with a little filler.

I'd go with either AOA or TGE.

nelcp777 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

The Gold Experience was the album that I thought would be IT, but it fell flat to me. I think having discovered Meschell NDegeochello and the Roots and some other artists, might have influenced that.
I Hate U had me extremely excited. I tried with the Gold Experience. BUT the era was very exciting.

.

I never looked at the June configuration of the Dream Factory as bloated. I thought that was a perfect cohesive listing of songs to present.

BUT I would have eaten up the Dream Factory or Crystal Ball with no complaints.

that 1980-1987 period was just great back 2 back. Lovesexy I love, but you could tell something was missing.

.

Emancipation was very bloated for me.

.

Musicology 3121 Planet Earth we could make 1 great album out of various songs.

You make good points.

The Gold Experience and Come were awesome prior to the official release. I feel Prince "tampered" with these releases to spite WB.

I would love to have DF and CB in the manner that was presented to WB.

I agree, Lovesexy was missing something.

I also thought Batman was genius on how the music sampled much of the movie.

GB and Rave were examples of Prince working on something TOO long and TOO much.

Sometimes, it seemed that everything had to be "polished" when it was released after the 80's. Hope that make sense.

The Batman album experience was wonderful. The movie felt like Prince should have been in it.

Yeah it makes sense. I picked that up when I first heard (and saw Diamonds & Pearls).
The rough enough feel of the 80s stuff always overcame me.

Lovesexy

Art Official Age.

It is P's last great album.

thisisreece said:

In my opinion, The Rainbow Children. Lotusflower is almost there.

x2

AOA

Art Official Age is a Great album, I put it up there with his very best.

Every song is a winner for me, Clouds, The Break Down, U Know, Breakfast Can Wait, This Could Be Us, Way Back Home And Time are all stunningly tremendous songs.

I Love the album and still play it on regular basis.

3121

Im clearly going to be in the minority, but Phase 1 is my favorite since 3121.

Since Lovesexy, these albums are great, start to finish, imho.

Love Symbol (Top 5 album of all time for me)

Come

The Gold Experience

Musicology

3121

HnR Phase 1

TheFman said:

Lovesexy

I agree with you DarkKnight that LoveSexy is the greatest of the albums released since SOTT. While not perfect, it's Prince at his freest.

donnyenglish said:

Phase 2. Black Muse and Stare are as good as anything he has ever done. With that said, I would put AOA, Lotus/MPLS, 3121, Musicology and TRC over Phase 2. This proves that some of his best work was in his last 15 years. I would go so far to say that 1978-1993 was equivalent to 1994-2016 especially if you factor in the love performances. [Edited 2/22/18 7:56am]

youre the kind of fan NEEDED round these parts

Farfunknugin said:

thisisreece said:

In my opinion, The Rainbow Children. Lotusflower is almost there.

x2

absolutely

FullLipsDotNose said:

Three times is enough.

rusty1 said:

jdcxc said:

AOA

You've got to be kidding me. It was ok at best.. The topic was last GREAT album. Sign o' the Times