Great albums are not just defined by the sonic quality of the music, they are also defined by their relevence and innovation--and time is often needed to make that determination. However, There are times when I enjoy a very good album over a "great" album, if that makes sense. That being said, there are great songs throughout his career. Right now, I have a soft spot for AOA. I am not feeling Hitand Run II as much now as I did originally (still like it a lot). Prince's best llater "albums" are the compilations I put together myself of deep cuts, moderate hits, released songs, limited releases and leaked stuff. I have said before that it is better to judge later day Prince by his songs (some even in the live versions) than by his albums as whole units.

For me is Sign O' The Times

jdcxc said:

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]

AMEN

The Gold Experience - It's the most recent album in my Prince top ten. Later albums have been good, but not great.

rusty1 said:

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

I'd probably go with AOA. It's his late period classic.

Phase 2 just shades AOA for me. Before that Lotusflow3r. Before that TGE.

Ive noticed aoa keeps being mentioned which is great news for me cause Ive never heard it going to have to check it out now.

lonelyalien said:

Ive noticed aoa keeps being mentioned which is great news for me cause Ive never heard it going to have to check it out now.

I think it's 'bout Time.

bonatoc said:

lonelyalien said:

Ive noticed aoa keeps being mentioned which is great news for me cause Ive never heard it going to have to check it out now.

I think it's 'bout Time.

Ive listened to it Ill like some of the tracks but as an album its ok I definitely wouldnt say wow thats the last great prince album but thats just my opinion.

HNR Phase 2, but that wasn't as good as HNR Phase 1

jasopig said:

HNR Phase 2, but that wasn't as good as HNR Phase 1

So hnr phase 1 then?

Sign O The Times. Nothing really "wow" after that for me. The occasional flash of greatness, but no consietently good albums in my opinion, and some truly bad ones.

I'm very happy to see so much love for AOA. For me it was a great album. HNR2 had some great moments too, and to some extent so did HNR1 and Plectrum. You can definitely put together two outstanding albums by picking the best of them. Which sums up one of the issues that post-Warner Prince had, in my opinion: he released too many albums, so they weren't always as good as they could have been if he had released half the amount...

lonelyalien said:

The Rainbow Children. Even though some of the dogma heavy lyrics are hard to get behind.

I think other albums are very good like AOA or even Musicology, but I wouldn't put them in the great category.

Nasalhair said:

kewlschool said:

Bdul4c said:

kewlschool said:

The Rainbow Children. Even though some of the dogma heavy lyrics are hard to get behind.

I think other albums are very good like AOA or even Musicology, but I wouldn't put them in the great category.

This. The Rainbow Children is really the last great testament of his music prowess. Even w the offputting preaching, it has such an aura of mistyque and greatness.. Jazz stuff, funk stuff all in peak form.

Interesting takes that I agree wikh. It's definitely his most dogmatic album, and for that reason, maybe his most polarizing. It was DEFINITELY a hot topic in my earlier years on the Org.

It has to be Rainbow Children. His last album where all the songs fit together and were amazing by themselves.

PurpleYoda3121 said:

It has to be Rainbow Children. His last album where all the songs fit together and were amazing by themselves.

YES, cohesive, a real concept, a story

rusty1 said:

namepeace said:

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.

I agree. For me, Lovesexy is the last album he did where every track was a winner. And where he was still at his innovative best. And that was a flowing album. He was still in full on Mozart effect on this. I don't think he matched the sonic detail on and sheer amount of ideas he packed in on that album in any album since.

Phase 2 easily, too much great stuff, you had Black Muse, Revelation, Stare, Screwdriver, 2Y2D, Big City, When she comes and R and R love affair, all just gold.

I think AOA is great too, Way Back Home, Time and Clouds are all first rate.

.

But they are not classics, for a classic album, you need to go back to 1995's the Gold Experience and maybe the best 12 cuts off Emancipation for that. But NPG operators on the former and 24 less great songs on the latter drop them both to great (I also consider 3121 and Lotusflow3r great), and the last Classic therefore was 1988's Lovesexy.

.

Many of the hardcore and purists will probably say Lovesexy and some may even say Sign o the Times as it was just down from that peak. Not for me, it is the Everest in Prince albums, but many more peaks would follow.

Parade (1986)

Sign 'o' the Times (1987)

Lovesexy (1988)

They all were his last great albums. I can't differentiate.

HnR Phase 2. I think given enough time, we'll start to see this as an under appreciated masterpiece. Everything on there is excellent.

ian said: