#4 Studio: Parade (1986)

Ratings: 80
Average: 9.07
Points: 17.83

#3 Studio: 1999 (1982)

Ratings: 83
Average: 9.49
Points: 19.83

The Alpha and the Omega for me. It was on 1999 that the peak of his hunger met the peak of his vision and the peak of his ambition, creating the most vibrant soundscape of any album ever made. 70 minutes and 36 seconds of wonder filled with synths that glow, sizzle, seduce, alarm, soar, ignite, and fracture over the course of its duration, and Prince himself emerged as a vocalist capable of absolutely everything here. The wails of "Something in the Water" still go right through my core, that drum machine rumble in "1999" still moves with seismic thunder, the alien synthscape of "Automatic" still leaves me breathless, the twisted funk of "All the Critics in New York" still ignites wild fits of dancing in me, the propulsion of "Let's Pretend We're Married" still inhabits me with each pulse, the punishing bass and sassy synth of "D.M.S.R." still get me moving thousands of listens later.

This album is responsible for my love of music. It is a symphony of neon purple lasers illuminating a pitch black sky that will thrill and amaze me until the day I die. It creates the most vivid pictures in my mind. I mean look at those worlds on the cover he drew! He made those worlds come to life in such a visual, visceral way! That ladder in the E leading up to that ascending and descending red staircase climbing into the clouds in particular is so striking. And the guy isn’t climbing the stairs as much as he is GROOVING his way up them. If I could think of one image of what Prince’s music can do, it would be this.

Moonbeam said:

The Alpha and the Omega for me. It was on 1999 that the peak of his hunger met the peak of his vision and the peak of his ambition, creating the most vibrant soundscape of any album ever made. 70 minutes and 36 seconds of wonder filled with synths that glow, sizzle, seduce, alarm, soar, ignite, and fracture over the course of its duration, and Prince himself emerged as a vocalist capable of absolutely everything here. The wails of "Something in the Water" still go right through my core, that drum machine rumble in "1999" still moves with seismic thunder, the alien synthscape of "Automatic" still leaves me breathless, the twisted funk of "All the Critics in New York" still ignites wild fits of dancing in me, the propulsion of "Let's Pretend We're Married" still inhabits me with each pulse, the punishing bass and sassy synth of "D.M.S.R." still get me moving thousands of listens later.

This album is responsible for my love of music. It is a symphony of neon purple lasers illuminating a pitch black sky that will thrill and amaze me until the day I die. It creates the most vivid pictures in my mind. I mean look at those worlds on the cover he drew! He made those worlds come to life in such a visual, visceral way! That ladder in the E leading up to that ascending and descending red staircase climbing into the clouds in particular is so striking. And the guy isn’t climbing the stairs as much as he is GROOVING his way up them. If I could think of one image of what Prince’s music can do, it would be this.

Spot on, that's what i feel about it, it never gets old.

#2 Studio: Sign o' the Times (1987)

Ratings: 82
Average: 9.59
Points: 20.22

Moonbeam said:

#1 Studio: Purple Rain (1984)

Ratings: 82
Average: 9.72
Points: 20.82

Wolfie87 said:

Never ever thought that Purple Rain would make the top spot! Well, Prince's body of work is just unbelievable and unbeatable! [Edited 1/1/19 4:29am]

I expected Sign O' The Times to be number one also based on the comments from orgers in the album thread who have said they can't listen to Purple Rain all the way through anymore because it's so overplayed. I guess they still recognize it as a great album.

Moonbeam said:

A complete list with all 89 albums is here.

Great job on the poll!

sexton said:

Moonbeam said:

A complete list with all 89 albums is here.

Great job on the poll!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

Moonbeam said:

sexton said:

Great job on the poll!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

Can you branch out and make this an even more epic scope on the same idea. Next time, trying to get about 500-1000 people around the world to participate. There has to be that many people somewhere diggin' Prince as much as we do. Still, thanks for the great read, and thanks for sharing your love for 1999 the album. Made me go back and love it even more after your further details about it. I see those three albums as equals on the top spot, each for different reasons. Within five years. Crazy!

Wolfie87 said:

Moonbeam said:

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

Can you branch out and make this an even more epic scope on the same idea. Next time, trying to get about 500-1000 people around the world to participate. There has to be that many people somewhere diggin' Prince as much as we do. Still, thanks for the great read, and thanks for sharing your love for 1999 the album. Made me go back and love it even more after your further details about it. I see those three albums as equals on the top spot, each for different reasons. Within five years. Crazy!

He extended the poll deadline for months trying to get more people to participate.

sexton said:

Wolfie87 said:

Can you branch out and make this an even more epic scope on the same idea. Next time, trying to get about 500-1000 people around the world to participate. There has to be that many people somewhere diggin' Prince as much as we do. Still, thanks for the great read, and thanks for sharing your love for 1999 the album. Made me go back and love it even more after your further details about it. I see those three albums as equals on the top spot, each for different reasons. Within five years. Crazy!

He extended the poll deadline for months trying to get more people to participate.

Yeah, I reached out to about a dozen Facebook groups, made a YouTube video, etc. It would be fun to do this again sometime and hopefully get even more participation.

Thank U very much 4 doing this!

Thanks Moonbeam for doing this. I personally could have gone for three albums to lead the survey including PR, but in some ways I think PR is a surprise given that I think it has historically suffered a backlash here because the massiveness of it's successs compared to his other great releases. While I wish some of his other releases had been equally embraced, PR is a masterpeice!