all true, but if you want to introduce someone to an artist like Prince you start with their most influential and important work first. With a group like the beatles a greatest hits album was good for me as a kid because it took me through all their various styles and growth periods. From their I could go back to the full albums after i'd studied more about them and learned because i became curious. With Elvis we have the hits but we also have the stuff that got him to the point of mass acceptance, which is still the stuff people think was his best but you'll never hear those songs in the supermarket.

StrangeButTrue said:

ShaggyDog said:

StrangeButTrue said: Are you sure about recommending Chaos And Disorder as an introductory album for a Prince newbie? Rather than turning them on to Prince they'd probably find it a bit meh, it's not really a great album. It's not terrible but it doesn't seem to have anything special about it, and it definitely doesn't have any iconic or top quality songs. PR, Dirty Mind, ATWIAD, or even Diamonds & Pearls would all be better studio albums for a newbie to start off with perhaps I think. I agree that SOTT is a great album but just because it's so varied I wonder if it might be better introduced a couple of albums in where someone should then really appreciate Prince's range and cross-genre artistry.

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It depends on the person. Do all newbies seek the 80s sounds? In my case I have known several metalhead/rocker types that are obsessed with innovative ways to approach guitar that have all appreciated C&D. Sure theres some hokey shit here n there but D&P is equally hokey at parts and much more pop-oriented.

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Dirty Mind is all falsetto (some folks might not appreciate), ATWIAD and D&P have mega popular hits smattered with... the sounds of that era in time. All three of those albums are the type that a casual listener would just zap to the 2-3 tracks they heard once in aisle 3 while shopping for groceries.

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Lotus is a beautiful rock album with relatable content like Crimson & Clover or Dreamer, fun yet introspective stuff like $ and Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful and the epic Colonized Mind which is more appropriate now than ever. Both C&D and Lotus have been "press play" albums a la SOTT while the three you cite are the ones I hit skip a lot on personally.

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Rave Un2 might be more accessible to a newbie than all of the items we have both cited as it features more mainstream talent/collaborators that one might be familiar with jamming with Prince.

True but the dilemma with comparing Prince to The Beatles is that Prince's catalog spans several record labels and a lot of red tape, preventing much of his later material from appearing on Hits collections or being radio contenders to be even considered Hits. This does not degrade the material itself but it does historically set it apart from the Warner stuff in several ways that are different than The Beatles catalogs. Almost more in tune with The Rolling Stones in that there are versions of classic albums for different labels.

for simplicity's sake i'd say just recommend the albums from controversy-purple rain, it that's not simple enough, 1999 will always be the one album that I think of when I think of his Citizen Kane or his Sun Sessions. He'd go on to get better and better at many things but this was his Elvis in Memphis moment, elvis was an amateur in the business but it was all art and natural talent that came out of those sessions. He got better at a lot of things but his best stuff? Most people would say the Sun Sessions.

mrdxw1213 said:

My friend wants to get into Prince, as the title above says. I made a playlist but im pretty sure it has like 60-80 songs and its a lot to handle for a newcomer. I need help with a playlist and stories on whether or not you guys got your friends to into Prince or not. Thanks in advance ✌🏿

hhhmmm I like how you say my friend wants to get into Prince... Curious what made him/her get into him now or check him out now? Where you playing a song and he/she couldn't believe it was Prince, etc.?

mrdxw1213 said:

My friend wants to get into Prince, as the title above says. I made a playlist but im pretty sure it has like 60-80 songs and its a lot to handle for a newcomer. I need help with a playlist and stories on whether or not you guys got your friends to into Prince or not. Thanks in advance ✌🏿

Just don't start off with The Undertaker album, every other album will dissappoint them if they are into his guitar playing.
Just start with his most popular albums and let them listen to those for a while and than hit them with things like The Undertaker.