I don't agree with that list, so here's mine from worst to best:

9- I would die 4U

8- Baby I'm a star

7- When Doves Cry

6- Let's Go Crazy
5- Take me With You
4- Computer Blue

3- Darling Nikki
2- Purple Rain
1- The Beautiful Ones

"Baby I'm a Star" at #5 above "Darling Nikki", "Computer Blue" and "The Beautiful Ones"?! Who would even bother with the rest of such foolishness... well, I did, and, "Purple Rain" at #1. k. One of the worst lists of all time, I would most definitely put it on that list.

My own personal ranking from worst to best:

9. Take Me With U
8. Darling Nikki
7. The Beautiful Ones
6. I Would Die 4 U
5. When Doves Cry
4. Let's Go Crazy
3. Baby I'm A Star
2. Computer Blue
1. Purple Rain





I mean they are all great though so it isn't like my least favorite is one I dislike - all of these songs are gems IMO

9. "Baby I'm a Star" Baby What I R sorry so cheesy, even moreso in the context of the film, this article acts like that enhances it

8. "Purple Rain" zZZzZzZzZZZZZzz

7. "Darling Nikki" I'm sorry Nikki

6. "I Would Di 4U" Love the synth phasey thing wadadaaowoao, probbaly should be higher, 7/6 make me hate my own list but you gotta do what you gotta do.

5. "Take Me with U" People on hate on this because Appolonia... if he had a protege sing on Dorothy Parker you'd all hate it too.

4. "Let's Go Crazy" hits all the marks

3. "Computer Blue" hits all the marks

2. "When Doves Cry" in.cred.a.bool.

1. "The Beautiful Ones" in.cred.a.bool.

[Edited 6/25/20 23:20pm]

1. When Doves Cry

2. Computer Blue

3. Purple Rain

4. The Beautiful Ones

5. I Would Die 4 U

6. Lets Go Crazy

7. Darling Nikkie

8. Take Me With U

9. Baby I'm A Star

Very tough task.

9. "Take Me With U": a very pleasant song, and a worthy single. It doesn't completely blow me away like all of the other songs, so it's last here, but by no means is it a bad or even average song. It's just that Purple Rain is a monster.

8. "Darling Nikki": This feels horrible putting it so low given how singular it is in his discography. An awesome song in an album filled with awesome songs.

7. "I Would Die 4 U": Those ebullient, shimmering 16th notes are wonderful. Almost dance-pop.

6. "Baby I'm a Star": Raucous, strutting energy for days. A lightning bolt of fun!

5. "Purple Rain": Harrowingly beautiful even though it's been played 5 zillion times. It's a great introduction for new fans.

4. "When Doves Cry": Unlike any other song ever, full of electricity and raw wonder. One of the most poetic songs he ever released.

3. "The Beautiful Ones": It moves along with swaying seduction, and then the cauldron of desire explodes into magmatic convulsions of awesomeness.

2. "Let's Go Crazy": My initial pull into the album - it is the sound of lightning in a bottle rushing through your body.

1. "Computer Blue": I guess I like my Prince weird! The screams, the pulsing synth blasts, the furious guitars leading into the sorrowful "Father's Song" motif... It just blows me away consistently every time I hear it.

1. Purple Rain

2. I Would Die 4 U

3. Computer Blue

4. The Beautiful Ones

5. Darling Nikki

6. When Doves Cry

7. Let's Go Crazy

8. Take Me With U

9. Baby I'm a Star

Moonbeams list is also mine! just swap Computer Blue with Let's Go Crazy

I remember reading Duane's book re the Purple Rain Sessions and seeing that Prince spent a TON of time on TAKE ME WITH YOU.

Like several weeks.

Which, for him, is unusual.

And for such a med0level song, in my opinion.

He rarely spent more than a couple of days on songs.

1. When Doves Cry

2. Let's Go Crazy

3. Purple Rain

4. The Beautiful Ones

5. I Would Die 4 U

6. Darling Nikki

7. Computer Blue

8. Baby I'm A Star

9. Take Me With U

I'm prejudiced

Having heard rehearsals, Dance Benefit live, extended versions etc

I cannot rank the song 'best to worst' there is no worst on this album. there is no bad on this album.

It's all the thing people have to concider when they do these rankings is this album is actually a 'soundtrack' for a story/movie. It's perfect

WTH was the writer of the article thinking? Didn't anyone catch the issues in this intro for The Beautiful Ones?
"Origins of who ‘The Beautiful Ones’ has Prince centre on two women. Firstly, the twin sister of Wendy Melvoin, Susannah, whom Prince was trying to woo away from her then-boyfriend. Later in 2015, the other target of Prince’s affections was Denise Matthews, AKA Vanity."

2015? For songs written in 1982/3?
Prince was a genius for sure, but even he couldn't bring back relationships for future storage and write about them years previously.

soladeo1 said:

I remember reading Duane's book re the Purple Rain Sessions and seeing that Prince spent a TON of time on TAKE ME WITH YOU.

Like several weeks.

Which, for him, is unusual.

And for such a med0level song, in my opinion.

He rarely spent more than a couple of days on songs.

I think you're probably thinking of Computer Blue.
http://princevault.com/in...puter_Blue

RODSERLING said:

1. WHEN DOVES CRY

2. PURPLE RAIN

3. THE BEAUTIFUL ONES

4. COMPUTER BLUE

5. I WOUD DIE 4 U

6. LET'S GO CRAZY

7. TAKE ME WITH U

8. BABY I'M A STAR

9. DARLING NIKKI

1. The Beautiful Ones

2. Let's Go Crazy

3. Purple Rain

4. When Doves Cry

5. Take Me With U

6. Darling Nikki

7. I would Die For U

8. Computer Blue

9. Baby I'm a Star

They're equally brilliant, so why rank.

[Edited 7/13/20 11:17am]

In my mind (this is just for the original album edits):

For sure...

#1 is When Doves Cry

#2 Purple Rain

#3 Let's Go Crazy

Gets tough beyond that, but my three least favorite are "Baby I'm a Star", "Take Me With U", and "Computer Blue"

The first six i absolutely love.

1- Let's Go Crazy
2- When Doves Cry

3- Purple Rain

4- Computer Blue

5- The Beautiful Ones

6- Take me With You
7- I would die 4U

8- Baby I'm a star
9- Darling Nikki

[Edited 7/15/20 3:37am]

Tough to do and would change from time to time...

1. I Would Die For U

2. The Beautiful Ones

3. Purple Rain

4. Computer Blue

5. When Doves Cry

6. Darling Nikki

7. Baby I'm a Star

8. Let's Go Crazy

9. Take Me With U

fortuneandserendipity said:

They're equally brilliant, so why rank.

[Edited 7/13/20 11:17am]

They're not EQUALLY brilliant. Baby I'm a Star is clearly not on the same level as When Doves Cry. However, I'm sure there are people that like it more. That's what makes ranking the songs fun- albeit trivial. It's all opinion and that means there's no correct answer. People with a platform sometimes try to act like their opinions hold more weight than the average joe's but it's all the same. So without further ado :

1)When Doves Cry- this is a song that is musically, lyrically and emotionally brilliant.

4)Purple Rain- Wendy and Lisa at their best . They really did help make it beautiful though.

3)The Beautiful Ones- the remakes show that it's Prince's singular passion that really makes this great.

2)Computer Blue- I should (and probably will) switch this with Purple Rain it's so good.

5)Darling Nikki- probably didn't belong on the album thematically but great, rocking tune.

6)I Would Die For You- The keyboard programming is striking.

7)Let's Go Crazy- Morris probably influenced my ranking here. Still the song has iconic start and end.

8)Baby I'm A Star- Fun song plain and simple.

9)Take Me With You- I'm rating this last but I can't imagine the album without it. It's really enjoyable.

The songs are really strong and in some cases brilliant but the album is even greater than the sum of its parts. Put that together with a cool movie/ extended video and there you have the reason many of us are still here to this day.

whodknee said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

They're equally brilliant, so why rank.

[Edited 7/13/20 11:17am]

They're not EQUALLY brilliant. Baby I'm a Star is clearly not on the same level as When Doves Cry. However, I'm sure there are people that like it more. That's what makes ranking the songs fun- albeit trivial. It's all opinion and that means there's no correct answer. People with a platform sometimes try to act like their opinions hold more weight than the average joe's but it's all the same. So without further ado :

1)When Doves Cry- this is a song that is musically, lyrically and emotionally brilliant.

4)Purple Rain- Wendy and Lisa at their best . They really did help make it beautiful though.

3)The Beautiful Ones- the remakes show that it's Prince's singular passion that really makes this great.

2)Computer Blue- I should (and probably will) switch this with Purple Rain it's so good.

5)Darling Nikki- probably didn't belong on the album thematically but great, rocking tune.

6)I Would Die For You- The keyboard programming is striking.

7)Let's Go Crazy- Morris probably influenced my ranking here. Still the song has iconic start and end.

8)Baby I'm A Star- Fun song plain and simple.

9)Take Me With You- I'm rating this last but I can't imagine the album without it. It's really enjoyable.

The songs are really strong and in some cases brilliant but the album is even greater than the sum of its parts. Put that together with a cool movie/ extended video and there you have the reason many of us are still here to this day.

You have half a point . Baby I'm a Star does get screamy towards the end. I still love it. It's his most consistent album for me, even though every song is radically different.

Same here.

fortuneandserendipity said:

whodknee said:

They're not EQUALLY brilliant. Baby I'm a Star is clearly not on the same level as When Doves Cry. However, I'm sure there are people that like it more. That's what makes ranking the songs fun- albeit trivial. It's all opinion and that means there's no correct answer. People with a platform sometimes try to act like their opinions hold more weight than the average joe's but it's all the same. So without further ado :

1)When Doves Cry- this is a song that is musically, lyrically and emotionally brilliant.

4)Purple Rain- Wendy and Lisa at their best . They really did help make it beautiful though.

3)The Beautiful Ones- the remakes show that it's Prince's singular passion that really makes this great.

2)Computer Blue- I should (and probably will) switch this with Purple Rain it's so good.

5)Darling Nikki- probably didn't belong on the album thematically but great, rocking tune.

6)I Would Die For You- The keyboard programming is striking.

7)Let's Go Crazy- Morris probably influenced my ranking here. Still the song has iconic start and end.

8)Baby I'm A Star- Fun song plain and simple.

9)Take Me With You- I'm rating this last but I can't imagine the album without it. It's really enjoyable.

The songs are really strong and in some cases brilliant but the album is even greater than the sum of its parts. Put that together with a cool movie/ extended video and there you have the reason many of us are still here to this day.

You have half a point . Baby I'm a Star does get screamy towards the end. I still love it. It's his most consistent album for me, even though every song is radically different.

Hmmm, I guess I can try this too:

1) When Doves Cry: yeah, I know, predictable as f#ck but this is Prince at his very best and a song that never gets old. It clearly worths the top slot
2) Computer Blue: few lyrics and a superlong instrumental, the song is placed this high because of the latter. The instrumental is one of Prince's best ever and I totally adore it
3) Darling Nikki: controversy aside, this is a hell of a tune that deserved to be a single all of its own. Totally great

4) I Would Die 4 U: Prince at his most romantic, this has 80s written all over it and I think it deserved more than last single status. And the lyrics are georgeous.

5) Take Me With You: carefree little pop song, it is doing its job just fine and it's loads of fun

6) The Beautiful Ones: classic Prince ballad, it is beautiful although it might take some getting used to before one could fully appreciate it.
7) Purple Rain: the most classic Prince song ever, I am really sorry but I am tired ot if and have been so for ages. This and it's sooo damn long. Otherwise, a good song, nobody can deny that.
8) Baby I'm A Star: closing song, good for what it is, it's a good pop tune and that's it. Quite fun though
9) Let's Go Crazy: I have to admit, I would have never chosen this one as second single but Prince did, it became a #1 hit and the rest is history. Still though, never really liked it tbh. Feels like the lesser version of "Take Me With You"

9. Baby I'm a Star

8. I Would Die 4 U

7. The Beautiful Ones

6. Purple Rain

5. When Doves Cry

4. Take Me With You

3. Darling Nikki

2. Let's Go Crazy

1. Computer Blue

MotownSubdivision said:

Computer Blue > all

I strongly feel your post is the greatest thing ever posted in the history of Prince.org. This should be engraved at the base of that statue they just unveiled in MN. It should be on Prince's tombstone (if he had one.) And it should be written in 400 pt font at the entrance to Paisley Park. And Donald Trump should wear a hat with these words emblazoned on it during the next Covid briefing. I especially like the small "a" in all. Nice touch.