pyramidseye said:

Parade (1986)

Sign 'o' the Times (1987)

Lovesexy (1988)

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

I consider those "the trinity" they are all so brilliant three years in a row, IMO. I dont think many artists are able to do that. The 80's were arguably his most creative period, however he still continued to make great albums into the 90's up until his death. The term "great" though is all subjective, to each is own. I am just so happy that he continued to still make the music HE wanted to make and many of them had so much different variety of styles and sounds. It wasn't all about just selling and having to be the most popular thing out there. I am totally in LOVE with AOA and think it has alot of the classic Prince sound into this millenium.

[Edited 2/24/18 7:42am]

ian said:

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

ALMOST evrything. How on earth did Screwdriver end up on there???

While I enjoyed the two hit N run albums, they were more compilations of songs than actual Prince albums, and were marketed that way. Art Official Age was the last great Prince album, complete with a theme that flowed through the album.

Sign o the times and Lovesexy are his last masterpieces.

His last great albums are in my opinion AOA and HnR Phase 2. These albums are consistent and the music is good.

[Edited 2/24/18 9:30am]

leecaldon said:

imho,

Phase 1, altho Art Oficial Age was even better.

I don't no why u like Phase 2

Such a boring piece with only 1-2 good songs...

Lotusflow3r. Great album. I was suprised he followed it up with 20TEN. The vibe for Lotusflow3r was smooth, jazzy, nice cover with Crimson & Clover. I would have liked for him to follow that particular disc with something similiar but more funk oriented, soul, with maybe an Isley Brother cover or Curtis Mayfield. 4 me, Lotusflow3r had a 1960s era sound that I really liked.

[Edited 2/24/18 12:48pm]

jdcxc said:

leecaldon said:

ALMOST evrything. How on earth did Screwdriver end up on there???

So true...weak song.

Truly the only poor song on the album. I rarely skip songs but I do it ever time I play it so I can be in denial about it being on it. So out of place, even if you like the song.

gandorb said:

jdcxc said:

leecaldon said: So true...weak song.

Truly the only poor song on the album. I rarely skip songs but I do it ever time I play it so I can be in denial about it being on it. So out of place, even if you like the song.

Totally disagree, a nice driving rock song and has a chant like feel. It is pure crossover pop rock. Very upbeat and fits the sound well. It is a good bridge between the sexy When she comes and the funk masterpieces of Black Muse and Revelation.

.

Why Screwdriver gets so much hate I don't know. The version on HNR2 is different from the 2012 original as well, it is more smooved out and louder.

Adorecream said:

gandorb said:

Truly the only poor song on the album. I rarely skip songs but I do it ever time I play it so I can be in denial about it being on it. So out of place, even if you like the song.

Totally disagree, a nice driving rock song and has a chant like feel. It is pure crossover pop rock. Very upbeat and fits the sound well. It is a good bridge between the sexy When she comes and the funk masterpieces of Black Muse and Revelation.

.

Why Screwdriver gets so much hate I don't know. The version on HNR2 is different from the 2012 original as well, it is more smooved out and louder.

I love Screwdriver too but I would have preferred it on Plectrum or Phase 1.It seems out of place to me with the jazz feel of the other tracks.

Hit N Run Phase 2

NorthC said:

If we define "great" as: "Oh wow, this is amazing,I've never heard anything like this!", then it's Lovesexy. Nothing he ever did after that album gave me that same feeling.

That's not a valid definition of greatness.

If you eat a great meal it doesn't have to be something that's completely new to you, if you have great sex it doesn't have to be the type of sex you've never had before etc.

The last: AOA

Going back in time:

- NEWS

- Xpectation

- The Rainbow Children

- The War

- The Truth

- Crystal Ball

- Emancipation

- O-+>

And, oblivious, the Lovesexy - 1999 era.

thedance said:

rusty1 said:

Prince never did a GREAT album after Sign o' The times. He started to follow the trends after 1988. The rap scene was coming on strong so he felt adding rappers was the way to go. Which is contradictory when he sung "Dead on it" a few years earlier.

Prince has released a lot of music after this short "rap" phase featuring Tony and Carmen. When all is said and done, even D&P and weren't so strongly rap-oriented, his only real rap records were Gold Nigga and Carmen Electra, and Prince has released dozens of other albums in many different genres ever since. Judging the second half of his career in light of a three years period that occured 25 years ago is completely unfair to him.

Emancipation, TGE, & the Rainbow Children were good albums bur didn't garner any top 10 singles.

This is the worst fallacy ever used on this board, unfortunately you're not the first one to use it. As if the top 10 was usually made of great music, or great music usually made the Top 10. Nonsense. There's more to music than Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. The top 10 has always been full of formulaic crap and any ambitious piece of music ending-up in it was usually more an exception than a rule, particularly after the mid-90's when labels began giving-up on developing real talents in favor of prefabricated acts that could be marketed, sold and replaced at a faster pace. The quality of a record has nothing to do whatsoever with its commercial success, never had, never will. Besides, you are contradicting yourself: if adding rappers was so wrong because it involved following trends, but was made with the purpose of selling more records, and if strong sales = good music, then following trends and adding rappers = better music than not doing it.

Prince had that 1983 to 1994 streak then Nothing after that

Brushing aside everything Prince made after 1994 as being "nothing" is so outrageously absolute that I suspect trolling. You can't really mean it. And you don't, since you are again contradicting yourself by saying Emancipation, TGE and TRC were "good albums" and, at the same time, that they were "nothing". It has to be one of the other

novabrkr said:

NorthC said:

rusty1 said:

The bottom line is Prince became irrelevant to the general public from 1995 to 2016.. I agree the charts don't mean a thing now But a lot of young teens don't know who he is.. My brother asked a 27 yr old who Prince was and had no clue.. But knew who MJ was.. Prince will always be known for 79 to 88 as a legend.. The rest of his career he put out good albums but nothing groundbreaking ever again. How many half baked albums came out after 1989 with tons of filler songs? Prince's 1980's B-sides blow away his 1989 to 2016 material.. I remember when Rave came out in 1999..it had a lot of hype but it bombed.. Prince never had a GREAT album after 1987... He had his share of good albums and weak albums After 1988

Oh good lord, seriously!!Any TRUE Prince fan knows he didn't give a S.H.I.T about all that having to be #1 on the charts or being Mr. Popularity 24/7 and that he didn't always have his music out there so easily (ie via Youtube where many people go to hear singles and other albums) for years. One minute you say the charts dont mean nothing, but then you bring up him not being as well known as whatshisface (some of you all always have to keep bringing him into the convo, smfh) Im confused. Appartenly to you nothing is "great" unless it sells a ton of records and is popular,then am I correct?

[Edited 2/25/18 14:09pm]

[Edited 2/25/18 14:11pm]

rusty1 said:

rusty1 said:

The bottom line is Prince became irrelevant to the general public from 1995 to 2016.. I agree the charts don't mean a thing now But a lot of young teens don't know who he is.. My brother asked a 27 yr old who Prince was and had no clue.. But knew who MJ was.. Prince will always be known for 79 to 88 as a legend.. The rest of his career he put out good albums but nothing groundbreaking ever again. How many half baked albums came out after 1989 with tons of filler songs? Prince's 1980's B-sides blow away his 1989 to 2016 material.. I remember when Rave came out in 1999..it had a lot of hype but it bombed.. Prince never had a GREAT album after 1987... He had his share of good albums and weak albums After 1988

Not to place emphasis on sales but 3121 was his first number one album since Batman and I believe Planet Earth debuted at #3 and Lotusflow3r at #2.Beautiful Loved and Blessed was nominated for a Grammy and Future Baby Mama won for best male R&B in 2008.Also the GG for Song of The Heart.He definitely was not irrelevant to the industry.

rusty1 said:

Prince never did a GREAT album after Sign o' The times. He started to follow the trends after 1988. The rap scene was coming on strong so he felt adding rappers was the way to go. Which is contradictory when he sung "Dead on it" a few years earlier. Emancipation, TGE, & the Rainbow Children were good albums bur didn't garner any top 10 singles. Prince had that 1983 to 1994 streak then Nothing after that

Have you heard LotusFlow3r?

rusty1 said:

Prince never did a GREAT album after Sign o' The times.

Bull! Lovesexy is a brilliant album,and so is Love Symbol and The Gold Experience.