Some artists are known as album artists where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts Im thinking Pink floyd as an example others are just known for there singles where the albums are essentially a collection thereof with some filler tracks no one's bothered about. Where do you think prince' stands with this was he better at albums as a whole or singles or was he great at both or does it depend on the time period?

Yes to both. But mainly the live show.

anywhere, anywhere, some of my faves are obscure, some are b-sides, some are songs no one likes, some are his biggest hits. The question of whether album or single was his thing? well, he did say he meant certain albums to be seen as a whole picture, like lovesexy and at his best, most of his albums had a lot of songs that i liked on them. You take 1999 and it does have a theme, a feel, the implication of an alternate universe but not each and every song is a knockout, some are better than others but as Dave Hill said each song had the air of an epic, which was true. It's still my fave.

He definitely made "albums" - meaning every track had a reason for being there. You have to get pretty far into his timeline before you start seeing "filler" tracks (besides some of the "lesser" tracks on For You).

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His leadoff singles were always great, but after the album cycle started, you could tell his interest waned and the single choices were more to hit certain demographics than truly be a statement.

it's a good question though, people often forget, that many legends never had a number one hit, i think james brown didn't have one until the 80's, Jimi Hendrix never did, and i think i read that dylan never did, shocking when you think of their impact on the culture. Singles are not crafted in theory to be artistic. It's the reason I have said that George Michael may have been a better pop songwriter than Prince which sounds like a put down, it's not. George wasn't nearly as artistic and relied on way more cliches and rip offs than Prince did.

IMHO, most certainly his albums. From '78 to the mid '90s most of my personal favorite songs, were never singles but they were on albums that I could, did and still do listen to from beginning to end.

Even though, there's quite a few that I actually thought, likely mentioned ("Okay...whined, moaned and bitched!") should have been singles. Well...they should have!

They were connected to the albums in a way that made them undeniable, even though they were not singles. But anyhoo...

Great question. Many times I've thought about a Prince equivalent of the career-spanning Star Time box by James Brown, full of his singles, b-sides and rare mixes. Have made many CDs worth of collected singles for Prince and own all the comps, but his catalogue never really works as well in these formats. It's because his albums are so albumlike, unified by a sound and an attitude. To me several of his singles feel very much in a vacuum when isolated or placed back-to-back, but put onto the right record, they're transcendent; they become perfect gems surrounded by brilliant album tracks. More than anyone except maybe the Beatles, Prince was a definitive album artist.

[Edited 4/4/18 22:41pm]

Albums of course, as great as most of his singles are.

...with Wendy And Lisa!

Albums

lonelyalien said:

Some artists are known as album artists where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts Im thinking Pink floyd as an example others are just known for there singles where the albums are essentially a collection thereof with some filler tracks no one's bothered about. Where do you think prince' stands with this was he better at albums as a whole or singles or was he great at both or does it depend on the time period?

His strength probably lied in punctuation.

"Let's eat, children!" means you're a caring mother.

"Let's eat children!" means you're going to spend the rest of your life in jail.

We'll bring you oranges...

There were times in his career where his albums were a great strength, and times there weren't.

For much of his career, his greatest strength was as a performer (a fact lost on the masses until the last decade or so of his career), but early in his career, it wasn't.

He was consistently able to grab the attention of devoted fans and casual listeners alike with his singles. Though not always the best singles selector, even when he wasn't making great albums, he could move the needle with his single releases.

I wouldn't think that would be my answer to the question, but when I really thought on it, it made sense.