Alright, this is going to probably come across as a troll post to some of you - I promise it's not.

I've been a Prince fan for a few years now but my journey is still unravelling as i'm discovering the works.

The first four records? Should I buy them? Skip them? Wait for reissues?

The reasons I ask is that i'm not sure if the sound of those records are for me.

So far, my favourite five Prince albums are Sign O, Gold Experience, Come, 3121 and Around The World. I'm not the biggest fan of the synth/party stuff and definitely more into his rockier output.

Dare I say it, from what I have heard of the first four albums....they sound a little...dated?

Again, I promise that I am not trolling as i'm sure many of you consider these essential works.

For now, Prince begins with 1999 in my library.

But, can anyone sell me on getting those first four records?

Yes, I own MANY MORE Prince albums than the five favourites I named and I have seen the man himself live

You can probably get the CDs used for dirt cheap online, that is what I did a few years back when I wanted to complete Prince's album canon in physical form. The first 4 albums to me are still a guy finding his greatness, but there are some fantastic jams on all of them that make it worth it

Dirty Mind and Controversy are probably worth it for you. If you've seen Prince live you no doubt know a lot of the material on these two. Not sure what you consider synthy party stuff though.

If you don't like what you have heard, then why are you asking us? Go and listen to the albums on Ytube and make up your own mind.

His second album Prince (1979) is a great album!

[Edited 8/11/20 0:54am]

If you're at all interested in how he became what he became then they are for you.


He hasn't a single album that couldn't be considered "dated" if you want to focus on certain parts.

FragileUndertow said:

The first 2 albums are good, dont get me wrong I love them, But Controversy & Dirty Mind are a must! Controversy is like pre 1999, and so on with each album (obviously) Wait for reissues? : Standard or Deluxe editions would be nice. But who knows if and when they might be reissued Out dated sound? : Let me just say this. I didnt exactly like every album (old or new) upon the first listening. A few spins later and I grew to love them. CDs, digital downloads & streaming can easily found online. YouTube is your friend. Out of curiosity. You listed albums you like, is there a list of albums you dont like?

I own a lot of his records, so I don't want to turn this into a ranking thread.

But, really, the only albums of his I dislike: RaveUn2, MPL Sound....that's about it.

Alright, I own:

1999, PR, ATW, Parade, SOT, D&P, Love Symbol, Come, Gold, Chaos, Emancipation, Rave, Rainbow, One Nite Alone Boxset (the album plus the two live albums), Musicology, 3121, Planet Earth, Lotus, MPL, Plectrum, Art Official.

[Edited 8/11/20 3:28am]

Why ask? Just get them.

TryWhistlingThis said:

Alright, this is going to probably come across as a troll post to some of you - I promise it's not.

I've been a Prince fan for a few years now but my journey is still unravelling as i'm discovering the works.

The first four records? Should I buy them? Skip them? Wait for reissues?

The reasons I ask is that i'm not sure if the sound of those records are for me.

So far, my favourite five Prince albums are Sign O, Gold Experience, Come, 3121 and Around The World. I'm not the biggest fan of the synth/party stuff and definitely more into his rockier output.

Dare I say it, from what I have heard of the first four albums....they sound a little...dated?

Again, I promise that I am not trolling as i'm sure many of you consider these essential works.

For now, Prince begins with 1999 in my library.

But, can anyone sell me on getting those first four records?

Yes, I own MANY MORE Prince albums than the five favourites I named and I have seen the man himself live

For You - when you understand the origins of Prince, all the toil, faith, the journey then you understand Prince. No one can understand Prince at the Gold Experience or Diamonds and Pearls

Prince, Dirty Mind, Controversy

This stuff is Prince essences, pure Prince before he got too Hollywood or too Prince as a brand

For You really has grown on me over the years. I never listened to it back in the day. Yeah, its formulaic and pedestrian, especially when hearing what was to come...but the title track is heavenly. Crazy You, Baby, So Blue, and I'm Yours are top songs imo. As is of course Soft and Wet. But its an album I go back to regularly these days and enjoy.

The 2nd album has always been a staple in my house. Much more confident, especially with his vocals.

Dirty Mind is brilliance, pure and simple.

Controversy is almost brilliance and the pre-1999 sound is there, so a must just for that fact alone.

I can't really take these sorts of threads seriously from self-described "fans" who post about skipping the first four years of Prince's career. Why the hell would anyone want to skip Dirty Mind, Prince, or Controversy?? You wanna skip "Let's Work," "Uptown," "Dirty Mind," "Head," "Controversy," "Annie Christian," "I Feel For You," "I Wanna Be Your Lover," "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad," "Bambi," etc? Do you just skip that songs on The Hits/The B-Sides or Ultimate?? "Nope, I don't listen to those albums, SKIP! SKIP! SKIIIPP!"

And why would you take the advice of a message board to dictate your own tastes? We don't know you or what you like in life, who you are - so how can we really offer anything that is tangible to you as a person?

I mean, while you're at it, just skip 1999 as well. Half the world probably didn't know Prince before Purple Rain anyway, right? Start with "Let's Go Crazy,", skip ATWIAD & Parade. They're throwaways, skip to the 2nd disk of SOTT, skip Lovesexy (it's religious garbage) and head to Batman because if ya gotta go .... go with a smile.

^ Yeah I don't get it either, not in the age of free streaming, direct download and P2P. It's not like the old days when you had to either quickly listen in a rush at the record store or find a friend who could make you a cassette. Why would anyone not just listen to the stuff and decide for themselves since you can do it 1/ for free and 2/ without effort?

.

To reply to the OP my policy now is that if I dig an artist I'll get pretty much everything they did, which is what I would have done in the times of CD's if I could have afforded it anyway. Things tend to grow on me and my experience is that one specific album that left me cold on first listen might become a favorite of mine when I listen to it again months, sometimes years later.

.

Of course I mostly work from home with the music on, and I don't have children, so my listening time is not as limited as other people who have to make drastic choices because they can only listen to a record a day or so.

Dirty Mind at the very least. Full of masterful songwriting. Pitchfork didn't give it a 10 for nothing.

TrivialPursuit said:

I can't really take these sorts of threads seriously from self-described "fans" who post about skipping the first four years of Prince's career. Why the hell would anyone want to skip Dirty Mind, Prince, or Controversy?? You wanna skip "Let's Work," "Uptown," "Dirty Mind," "Head," "Controversy," "Annie Christian," "I Feel For You," "I Wanna Be Your Lover," "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad," "Bambi," etc? Do you just skip that songs on The Hits/The B-Sides or Ultimate?? "Nope, I don't listen to those albums, SKIP! SKIP! SKIIIPP!"

And why would you take the advice of a message board to dictate your own tastes? We don't know you or what you like in life, who you are - so how can we really offer anything that is tangible to you as a person?

I mean, while you're at it, just skip 1999 as well. Half the world probably didn't know Prince before Purple Rain anyway, right? Start with "Let's Go Crazy,", skip ATWIAD & Parade. They're throwaways, skip to the 2nd disk of SOTT, skip Lovesexy (it's religious garbage) and head to Batman because if ya gotta go .... go with a smile.

mynameisnotsusan said:

Honestly I would just stick to streaming them. I don't think there is too much to gain from holding a physical object anymore

This was my first thought too. If someone is picky as a fan, there's never been a better time to sample music and fnd what they like. Do't have to rely on popular opinion.

A suggestion: stream them in this order --

Dirty Mind

Controversy

Prince

For You

Them stream them in chronological order.

namepeace said:

A suggestion: stream them in this order --

Dirty Mind

Controversy

Prince

For You

Them stream them in chronological order.

Nice one!

EmmaMcG said:

I know a lot of people will see the OP's post and will not understand where he's coming from but you have to understand that Prince was an exceptionally diverse artist with an exceptionally diverse catalogue. Over his career he covered all bases and touched on pretty much every major genre. So you will get Prince fans who might love his funk and guitar stuff but dislike his rap songs or will love his later music and yet despise his older music. When you have an artist as diverse as Prince, it's impossible for all his fans to share every opinion on what his "best" or "worst" album or song or era is. So it's not really that hard to understand why someone would ask this question. To answer that question, all I'll say is that you seem to have already made up your mind. If you don't like that kind of music then don't bother. Controversy is probably my favourite Prince album but like I said, we all like different things so if you don't like it, don't buy it. But don't use that it sounds "dated" as a reason. Especially when you list Come and Gold Experience among your favourite albums. They all sound "dated" because they're all old. That's how it works. And what is "dated" anyway? Anything that doesn't sound like the current top 40 is by definition "dated" and seeing as every single song in the top 40 is shit, it seems to me like "dated" music is the way to go. The term "dated" should never be used to dismiss music from another era. It's a meaningless criticism.

This is my reason for asking.

Keeping in mind, I was born the year after Batman '89 so I can't profess to have any school yard or university memories of Prince as a popstar since his music wasn't flavour of the month on the pop charts. So, already i'm on the backfoot when collecting 29 albums (some of which are out of print) and very little people within my cohort care for his work.

Then there's the vault material to sort through....

So, yes, i come to ask as who better to trust than those passionate enough to join this community? I couldn't think of a more trustworthy group to provide candid commentary on his work.

If you are interested in Prince the artist who had something to say, and sometimes you have to listen to stuff that doesn't immediately appeal to you (because if art doesn't change how you look at the world then what is the point of it?) then yes they are worth getting.

If you are only interested in music as a service for you, as the soundtrack to the film where you are the star, then no, why bother listening to something that you wouldn't immediately enjoy?

[Edited 8/12/20 2:07am]

TryWhistlingThis said:

TryWhistlingThis said:

I own a lot of his records, so I don't want to turn this into a ranking thread.

But, really, the only albums of his I dislike: RaveUn2, MPL Sound....that's about it.

Alright, I own:

1999, PR, ATW, Parade, SOT, D&P, Love Symbol, Come, Gold, Chaos, Emancipation, Rave, Rainbow, One Nite Alone Boxset (the album plus the two live albums), Musicology, 3121, Planet Earth, Lotus, MPL, Plectrum, Art Official.

[Edited 8/11/20 3:28am]

You should check out Crystal Ball and HnR 2.