WhisperingDandelions said:

There's only 11 songs on 1999. 4 to 5 meh tracks is pretty significant, that's almost half, all with extended runtimes to boot. His 90s material can at times be not that great, sure, but there's so many other albums out there beyond the 90s.

It most definitely is classic and it most definitely is groundbreaking, but I'm ranking it as an album and not whether or not it was "groundbreaking" or a "classic." As a collection of songs, sorry, there's at least 10 albums better. At least.

rusty1 said:

leecaldon said:

Of course, any top 10 lists exist to start debate. It's all opinion.

I don't think ATWIAD, Lovesexy, D&P and Prince are all that. Still possibly wouldn't put 1999 in my top 10 (it took me a long time to warm the production on that album), and not sure Controversy would either.

You're kidding me, right? "1999" will always be a classic album & lead to "PR" This was the work where he created " The Minneapolis Sound" a kick ass groundbreaking double album. Not in your top 10? " Little Red corvette" " Something in the Water" "Automatic" Not in your Top 10🙄 It will always be on every Top 10 list of Prince die hard fans [Edited 6/10/20 16:24pm]

Crazy people roght? great album but as always it could have been better.

rusty1 said:

leecaldon said:

Of course, any top 10 lists exist to start debate. It's all opinion.

I don't think ATWIAD, Lovesexy, D&P and Prince are all that. Still possibly wouldn't put 1999 in my top 10 (it took me a long time to warm the production on that album), and not sure Controversy would either.

You're kidding me, right? "1999" will always be a classic album & lead to "PR" This was the work where he created " The Minneapolis Sound" a kick ass groundbreaking double album. Not in your top 10? " Little Red corvette" " Something in the Water" "Automatic" Not in your Top 10🙄 It will always be on every Top 10 list of Prince die hard fans [Edited 6/10/20 16:24pm]

I think we have a 'no true Scotsman' logical fallacy situation here. My credentials as a 'die hard' fan are impeccable. And yet 1999 does not sit in my Top 10 Prince albums list. And never has done, despite increased appreciation for it over the years.

So your statement falls down in the face of my existence.

The only one I disagree with is Emancipation being on this list - too many filler tracks / songs that just make getting through even one disk let alone three seem kind of daunting compared to the rest of those albums which are all killer and barely much filler at all

I stopped reading when I got to Parade at #10.

That's just class A mental. It's top 3 for me.

[Edited 6/11/20 6:29am]

WhisperingDandelions said:

I think most polls would return the same answer to Prince's top 3 in no particular order: 1999, PR, SOTT. In any canon, those are going down as his masterpieces. From there, people will debate among every album from Dirty Mind up to and including Lovesexy. Discounting 1999 because it took your ears a while to warm up to it is another way of saying its not a tepid piece of shit. It sold quadruple platinum, it's on plenty of "best of" lists, and it has scores of critical champions. At the risk of getting controversial, it might have been a bigger influence on the subsequent decades of music than any other Prince album.

Come, Emancipation, and 3121 obviously made the list to validate Prince's career past the 80s (don't ask me what Prince is doing in this top 10 over Controversy, though). I really like Come - I think it deserves its critical revaluation and as a cohesive whole it might be my favourite album from the period. But Prince shrugged off the record and I'm not saying it's top 10. It's harder to argue with Emancipation's inclusion: complaints about the production sound are a bit moot compared with its scope, ambition, and Prince recovering his muse here. Plus his vocals are incredible. It's arguably his most "important" record of the 90s, so it's too bad it didn't yield a major hit from three hours of songs, ranging from incredible (Joint 2 Joint, One Kiss at a Time) to minor (take your pick). 3121 is fine, but not top 10. Better than an album that had Mountains, Kiss, and Anotherloverholenyohead on the same side? Come on.

mtlfan said:

rusty1 said:

mtlfan said:

I think most polls would return the same answer to Prince's top 3 in no particular order: 1999, PR, SOTT. In any canon, those are going down as his masterpieces. From there, people will debate among every album from Dirty Mind up to and including Lovesexy. Discounting 1999 because it took your ears a while to warm up to it is another way of saying its not a tepid piece of shit. It sold quadruple platinum, it's on plenty of "best of" lists, and it has scores of critical champions. At the risk of getting controversial, it might have been a bigger influence on the subsequent decades of music than any other Prince album.

Come, Emancipation, and 3121 obviously made the list to validate Prince's career past the 80s (don't ask me what Prince is doing in this top 10 over Controversy, though). I really like Come - I think it deserves its critical revaluation and as a cohesive whole it might be my favourite album from the period. But Prince shrugged off the record and I'm not saying it's top 10. It's harder to argue with Emancipation's inclusion: complaints about the production sound are a bit moot compared with its scope, ambition, and Prince recovering his muse here. Plus his vocals are incredible. It's arguably his most "important" record of the 90s, so it's too bad it didn't yield a major hit from three hours of songs, ranging from incredible (Joint 2 Joint, One Kiss at a Time) to minor (take your pick). 3121 is fine, but not top 10. Better than an album that had Mountains, Kiss, and Anotherloverholenyohead on the same side? Come on.

good points👏i think "Controversy" might be his 6 best album " private joy" & "let's work" etc. He was building his own sound which lead to "1999" & so on. "Emancipation" & "TGE" were my fav 90's works [Edited 6/11/20 13:44pm]

I think TGE has higher highs than Come, but also lower lows, and I'll take Vanity's bad porno acting over "please access another experience" any day.

Yeah, I myself underrate Controversy. I listened to the 80s records in order this year and Controversy leaped out. I always stump for Dirty Mind but Controversy sounded like a big leap forward. Then it hit me: I remember where I was when I heard Controversy for the first time because the album hit me so hard and that must have been fifteen years ago now.

mtlfan said:

rusty1 said:

mtlfan said: good points👏i think "Controversy" might be his 6 best album " private joy" & "let's work" etc. He was building his own sound which lead to "1999" & so on. "Emancipation" & "TGE" were my fav 90's works [Edited 6/11/20 13:44pm]

I think TGE has higher highs than Come, but also lower lows, and I'll take Vanity's bad porno acting over "please access another experience" any day.

Yeah, I myself underrate Controversy. I listened to the 80s records in order this year and Controversy leaped out. I always stump for Dirty Mind but Controversy sounded like a big leap forward. Then it hit me: I remember where I was when I heard Controversy for the first time because the album hit me so hard and that must have been fifteen years ago now.

It really is a big leap forward

What an embarrassment of a list...

.

If I was the Editor In Chief of St Paul Pioneer Press, the "writer" responsible for this nonsense would be fired.

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Also that Emancipation getting recognition that it deserves, that still sounds fresh today.

[Edited 6/8/20 1:15am]

The reason I never liked Emnacipaton is because it doesn't sound fresh at all. The drum programing were already dated by the time it was released.

Take the drum programming on Sign O' The Times... it sounded like nothing else on the radio. It was experiemental and ahead of that pack.

Now compare that to the drum programming on Emancipation... that sounded like generic R&B from five years previous.

lurker316 said:

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Also that Emancipation getting recognition that it deserves, that still sounds fresh today.

[Edited 6/8/20 1:15am]

The reason I never liked Emnacipaton is because it doesn't sound fresh at all. The drum programing were already dated by the time it was released.

Take the drum programming on Sign O' The Times... it sounded like nothing else on the radio. It was experiemental and ahead of that pack.

Now compare that to the drum programming on Emancipation... that sounded like generic R&B from five years previous.

.

TOO TRUE.

.

Agree about the drum sound on Emancipation. Sinks the album. And it didn't have to. Compare "Somebody's Somebody" LiveStudio Mix (or whatever it's called) with the original album cut.

.

Good song, undone by poor rhythm track. Happens more than once throughout the 3 hours.

Not a bad list. Replace Emancipation with and its pretty solid.

CAL3 said:

lurker316 said:

The reason I never liked Emnacipaton is because it doesn't sound fresh at all. The drum programing were already dated by the time it was released.

Take the drum programming on Sign O' The Times... it sounded like nothing else on the radio. It was experiemental and ahead of that pack.

Now compare that to the drum programming on Emancipation... that sounded like generic R&B from five years previous.

.

TOO TRUE.

.

Agree about the drum sound on Emancipation. Sinks the album. And it didn't have to. Compare "Somebody's Somebody" LiveStudio Mix (or whatever it's called) with the original album cut.

.

Good song, undone by poor rhythm track. Happens more than once throughout the 3 hours.

It's great but I prefer the album version.

Any top 10 list that doesn't include The Rainbow Children in the top 3 isn't a list I can get behind.

leecaldon said:

rusty1 said:

leecaldon said: You're kidding me, right? "1999" will always be a classic album & lead to "PR" This was the work where he created " The Minneapolis Sound" a kick ass groundbreaking double album. Not in your top 10? " Little Red corvette" " Something in the Water" "Automatic" Not in your Top 10🙄 It will always be on every Top 10 list of Prince die hard fans [Edited 6/10/20 16:24pm]

I think we have a 'no true Scotsman' logical fallacy situation here. My credentials as a 'die hard' fan are impeccable. And yet 1999 does not sit in my Top 10 Prince albums list. And never has done, despite increased appreciation for it over the years.

So your statement falls down in the face of my existence.

Add me to your list of those who exist and don't have 1999 in my top 10. My first album was Controversy and of course I own every album, many boots, etc, all of which to say my credentials are also solid. I loved 1999 when it came out. But my top 10 doesn't include it, sorry, not sorry.

Call me crazy (and I know some do), but I put, at a minimum, the following ahead of 1999: Lovesexy, D&P, [love symbol], Controversy, Dirty Mind, PR, TRC, TGE, Planet Earth (yes, I said it), and HnR 1 ahead of 1999. That's 10. I've never ranked all of his albums because I could never come to say the words "this is Prince's worst album"... but I'd guess 1999 would make my top 15.

jasopig said:

leecaldon said:

I think we have a 'no true Scotsman' logical fallacy situation here. My credentials as a 'die hard' fan are impeccable. And yet 1999 does not sit in my Top 10 Prince albums list. And never has done, despite increased appreciation for it over the years.

So your statement falls down in the face of my existence.

Add me to your list of those who exist and don't have 1999 in my top 10. My first album was Controversy and of course I own every album, many boots, etc, all of which to say my credentials are also solid. I loved 1999 when it came out. But my top 10 doesn't include it, sorry, not sorry.

Call me crazy (and I know some do), but I put, at a minimum, the following ahead of 1999: Lovesexy, D&P, [love symbol], Controversy, Dirty Mind, PR, TRC, TGE, Planet Earth (yes, I said it), and HnR 1 ahead of 1999. That's 10. I've never ranked all of his albums because I could never come to say the words "this is Prince's worst album"... but I'd guess 1999 would make my top 15.

Well deserved it, you're certainly crazy.

WhisperingDandelions said:

rusty1 said:

leecaldon said: You're kidding me, right? "1999" will always be a classic album & lead to "PR" This was the work where he created " The Minneapolis Sound" a kick ass groundbreaking double album. Not in your top 10? " Little Red corvette" " Something in the Water" "Automatic" Not in your Top 10🙄 It will always be on every Top 10 list of Prince die hard fans [Edited 6/10/20 16:24pm]

It's not on my Top 10 either. While the songs you listed specifically are fantastic and while the sound itself of the record is quite innovative, a lot of the songs like "Delirious", "Free", "Let's Pretend We're Married", and "All the Critics Love U in New York" are kind of meandering and slightly annoying after the durations he decided to stretch every track to on that record. The cold robofunk I dig, but it's really just a portion of the record... if it all had "Something in the Water" type vibes we'd be talking Top 1 material.

[Edited 6/10/20 16:41pm]

I made a playlist that puts together all the edit versions of the 1999 tracks that can now be found on the Deluxe Edition. The album then clocks in at 45 min instead of the official 1 hour 10min. I don't know if I'd necessarily recommend it, but it can be fun in the car and maybe what you're looking for! (Only tip is that the Delirious edit is only found on the 4ever comp, not the 1999 Deluxe.)

ForceofNature said:

The only one I disagree with is Emancipation being on this list - too many filler tracks / songs that just make getting through even one disk let alone three seem kind of daunting compared to the rest of those albums which are all killer and barely much filler at all

Prince considered it his best work at the time of release. Then again he decided to slip Joint 2 Joint onto disc 2 so maybe he was only joshing with us.

the omission of lovesexy from the top 10 seems baffling to me

I would definitely swap out Dirty Mind with Controversy. I would also swap out 3121 and Prince with The Black Album and Lovesexy, but if I had to replace them with post 80s albums then probably Love Symbol and Art Official Age (or possibly Rainbow Children and Lotusflow3r).

andrewm7 said:

the omission of lovesexy from the top 10 seems baffling to me

I just can't see the appeal for that album it's his most overrated album within his fan base.

leecaldon said:

DarkKnight1 said:

jasopig said: