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Reply #30 posted 08/12/20 7:16am

soladeo1

Dirty Mind and Controversy are
MUST HAVES for any music fan, let alone Prince fan.
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Reply #31 posted 08/12/20 11:29am

Genesia

avatar

mb71 said:

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.


clapping

We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #32 posted 08/12/20 12:20pm

BlueShakooo

EmmaMcG said:

TryWhistlingThis said:



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.



I was also born in 1990 and only really became a Prince fan when I was 21 after seeing him in concert. My ex boyfriend was a huge fan but I never even really listened to Prince until after we broke up. 3121 was the first Prince album I heard. After seeing him in concert, and meeting him briefly, I wanted to hear more. I started with 20Ten, his latest release at the time and worked backwards through his officially released catalogue all the way back to For You. Then I checked out the thousand or so "unreleased" songs my ex gave me. It took a long time but there's no rush. Along the way there was stuff I loved, stuff I hated and stuff I feel no strong feelings for either way.

My recommendation to you is to listen to the first 4 albums on Spotify or whatever and if you like what you hear, buy them. If not, then don't. The only opinion that really matters is your own.


Tell us more about meeting Prince!
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Reply #33 posted 08/12/20 12:51pm

EmmaMcG

BlueShakooo said:

EmmaMcG said:



I was also born in 1990 and only really became a Prince fan when I was 21 after seeing him in concert. My ex boyfriend was a huge fan but I never even really listened to Prince until after we broke up. 3121 was the first Prince album I heard. After seeing him in concert, and meeting him briefly, I wanted to hear more. I started with 20Ten, his latest release at the time and worked backwards through his officially released catalogue all the way back to For You. Then I checked out the thousand or so "unreleased" songs my ex gave me. It took a long time but there's no rush. Along the way there was stuff I loved, stuff I hated and stuff I feel no strong feelings for either way.

My recommendation to you is to listen to the first 4 albums on Spotify or whatever and if you like what you hear, buy them. If not, then don't. The only opinion that really matters is your own.


Tell us more about meeting Prince!


There really isn't much more to tell to be honest. My ex and I went to Denmark to see him perform and they had a special VIP thing where we (and others) got to meet the band and a few other artists who were performing. Or at least, that's what we thought it would be. The only artist we met was Nikka Costa who I'd never heard of. But anyway, after an hour or so, Prince and some Latin American woman just strolled in nonchalantly. He went around saying hello and thank you to some of us and when he got to us, my ex kind of froze and couldn't speak so I stepped in. Prince only spoke to us for about 30 seconds but it felt longer. Asked what I did. I told him I was a singer and a model and he asked if he'd heard anything I'd sang. I told him "no" but I'd recently been on the X Factor. He turned to his Latin American companion and asked what that was. His tone suggested he was taking the piss but he said I should stick with it and wished me luck and then he moved on.

Like I said, it was an extremely brief conversation. I actually spoke to Andy Allo a lot that night though although I knew she must have been quite new to the band because my ex, who was a huge Prince fan, didn't know who she was.

As a kind of funny side story to that, nobody seemed to realise when he'd arrived. He sort of just appeared. And just like that, nobody seemed to realise he'd left. It's like he just vanished. I thought that was pretty cool.
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Reply #34 posted 08/12/20 1:15pm

BlueShakooo

EmmaMcG said:

BlueShakooo said:



Tell us more about meeting Prince!


There really isn't much more to tell to be honest. My ex and I went to Denmark to see him perform and they had a special VIP thing where we (and others) got to meet the band and a few other artists who were performing. Or at least, that's what we thought it would be. The only artist we met was Nikka Costa who I'd never heard of. But anyway, after an hour or so, Prince and some Latin American woman just strolled in nonchalantly. He went around saying hello and thank you to some of us and when he got to us, my ex kind of froze and couldn't speak so I stepped in. Prince only spoke to us for about 30 seconds but it felt longer. Asked what I did. I told him I was a singer and a model and he asked if he'd heard anything I'd sang. I told him "no" but I'd recently been on the X Factor. He turned to his Latin American companion and asked what that was. His tone suggested he was taking the piss but he said I should stick with it and wished me luck and then he moved on.

Like I said, it was an extremely brief conversation. I actually spoke to Andy Allo a lot that night though although I knew she must have been quite new to the band because my ex, who was a huge Prince fan, didn't know who she was.

As a kind of funny side story to that, nobody seemed to realise when he'd arrived. He sort of just appeared. And just like that, nobody seemed to realise he'd left. It's like he just vanished. I thought that was pretty cool.


Cool story!
Thanks for sharing!
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Reply #35 posted 08/12/20 3:46pm

mtlfan

Are the first four Prince albums worth it? That depends: would you have bought Bitcoin in 2009?

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Reply #36 posted 08/13/20 9:51am

namepeace

funkaholic1972 said:

namepeace said:

A suggestion: stream them in this order --

Dirty Mind

Controversy

Prince

For You

Them stream them in chronological order.


Nice one! cool


That's the way I think I discovered them, after my first Prince concert at 17. With cassette tapes, of course. I got the 2-in-1 cassette with DM and Controversy.

[Edited 8/13/20 9:53am]

Good night, sweet Prince | 7 June 1958 - 21 April 2016

Props will be withheld until the showing and proving has commenced. -- Aaron McGruder
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Reply #37 posted 08/14/20 4:22am

slyjackson

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.


This.

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Reply #38 posted 08/14/20 4:25am

slyjackson

soladeo1 said:

Dirty Mind and Controversy are MUST HAVES for any music fan, let alone Prince fan.

They are.

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Reply #39 posted 08/14/20 5:46am

SquirrelMeat76

To be honest, if the OP does not like the Synth / Party stuff, then I always thought 1999 was the most Synth record Prince released.

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Reply #40 posted 08/14/20 7:17am

jaawwnn

SquirrelMeat76 said:

To be honest, if the OP does not like the Synth / Party stuff, then I always thought 1999 was the most Synth record Prince released.

Yeah good point. It literally opens with probably the most famous synth song about a party that's ever been written.

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Reply #41 posted 08/14/20 8:05am

TKO

avatar

I'm more a rock music fan too and i LOVE Dirty Mind and Prince.

I don't use For You and Controversy that much. But both are good of course and big contribution to his career and i am such a big fan i couldn't live with myself if i didnt' own all of his albums at least the official ones.

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Reply #42 posted 08/14/20 9:24am

leecaldon

I bought those first CDs in one go at a Tower Records in Boston when I had already amassed a decent collection, and then listened to them back-to-back.

Personally, Dirty Mind and Controversy are essentials. Prince has some fantastic stuff on it. For You is definitely more for curiosity value.

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Reply #43 posted 08/17/20 11:23am

namepeace

slyjackson said:

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.


This.


I don't know, the OP is a younger fan. Prince's catalogue is so large that newer generations of fans might not immediately be compelled to explore the entire thing for the very reasons you state. Sounds to me like the OP wants to delve deeper into P's catalogue and I'd encourage that.

(Meanwhile, TP you really feel that way about Lovesexy?)

Good night, sweet Prince | 7 June 1958 - 21 April 2016

Props will be withheld until the showing and proving has commenced. -- Aaron McGruder
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Reply #44 posted 08/17/20 1:50pm

slyjackson

namepeace said:

slyjackson said:

This.


I don't know, the OP is a younger fan. Prince's catalogue is so large that newer generations of fans might not immediately be compelled to explore the entire thing for the very reasons you state. Sounds to me like the OP wants to delve deeper into P's catalogue and I'd encourage that.

(Meanwhile, TP you really feel that way about Lovesexy?)

I don't like Lovesexy beyond AS, Anna and Wish U.

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Reply #45 posted 08/17/20 2:41pm

TrivialPursuit

avatar

namepeace said:

I don't know, the OP is a younger fan. Prince's catalogue is so large that newer generations of fans might not immediately be compelled to explore the entire thing for the very reasons you state. Sounds to me like the OP wants to delve deeper into P's catalogue and I'd encourage that.

(Meanwhile, TP you really feel that way about Lovesexy?)


It's called sarcasm.

If someone's a Prince fan, and landed their ass on the Org of all damn places (which assumes they're a bigger fan than the top 40 listeners out there), then why wouldn't they explore everything? Asking to skip the first four albums?! Seriously?!?!

I don't hate any Prince album in the first 20 years of his career. After that, it gets sketchy.

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #46 posted 08/17/20 4:22pm

EnDoRpHn

All four albums have lots of synthesizer, but For You and Prince have some great guitar work.

Key tracks:

For You / Crazy You and So Blue (acoustic)

For You / I'm Yours (rock)

Prince / Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? (rock)

Dirty Mind is Prince's best guitar album up to Purple Rain.

Don't overlook Chaos and Disorder.

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Reply #47 posted 08/18/20 9:03am

namepeace

TrivialPursuit said:

namepeace said:

I don't know, the OP is a younger fan. Prince's catalogue is so large that newer generations of fans might not immediately be compelled to explore the entire thing for the very reasons you state. Sounds to me like the OP wants to delve deeper into P's catalogue and I'd encourage that.

(Meanwhile, TP you really feel that way about Lovesexy?)


It's called sarcasm.

If someone's a Prince fan, and landed their ass on the Org of all damn places (which assumes they're a bigger fan than the top 40 listeners out there), then why wouldn't they explore everything? Asking to skip the first four albums?! Seriously?!?!

I don't hate any Prince album in the first 20 years of his career. After that, it gets sketchy.


Sarcasm atop sarcasm . . . lol I could tell with everything else you said up to that point.

"Fan" is broad. It's clear the OP is not quite a casual fan but not quite as knowledgeable as other Orgers, particularly the older ones. (S)he never claimed to be an expert, but asked an honest question of fans more knowledgeable. I'm not gonna bang on the OP for asking, especially when those albums were released before the OP was born, and (unlike Prince) many artists accumulate several albums before making their first essential one.

Good night, sweet Prince | 7 June 1958 - 21 April 2016

Props will be withheld until the showing and proving has commenced. -- Aaron McGruder
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