I think it's tied between the "Purple Era" (Controversy/1999/PR) and the SOTT/TBA/Lovesexy era.

1982-1992 and then 2001-2004.

I've been too deep into his catalogue for way too long to still think in terms of "peak" era. Certainly I can acknowledge that something very special happened from roughly 1982 to 1988, if you include the side projects that was quite a spectacular run. But do I love the material from these years more than what came later? No.

Gotta go with late 1979 to 1990. That takes care of all the 1980's greatness of Prince. Remember Grafitti Bridge is really an 80's album. Everything was already recorded in the 80's. The newest track from that album was Thieves In The Temple.

1982 is quite clearly my favorite year for Prince. I think my favorite era is crystallizing to be 1980-1982.

skywalker said:

Each era has a different flavor/strength.

-

Plus, time is tricky. If Prince would have put out Lotusflower or MPLSound in the 80's, people woulda lost their shit and those albums would be viewed as all time classics.

That's tricky...
LotusFlow3r maybe, not MPLSound at all. Rainbow Children

Now the tricky part about the two above is the lyrics would be different. I don't think 'of course' those albums would be released sounding as they do, in that their would be more electricity to them.

I would definitely say the period spring 1980 (recording Dirty Mind) through November 1988 (virtual end of Lovesexy Tour) is the purple patch.

That's 8.5 years of utter brilliance in live shows, songwriting, recording. He was unbelievably prolific, producing more in these 8.5 years than many famous artists do in an entire career. In addition to his own 8 albums issued in this period (two of them double-albums on vinyl), he also wrote and recorded another God-knows-how-many singles and albums for other artists (Vanity 6, The Time, Jill Jones, Sheila E, The Family, Appollonia 6). Not to mention how many songs were put in the Vault.

Prince's 8.5 years therein is, to my mind, the greatest such period by any American musician(s) in the 20th century, perhaps only rivalled by Louis Armstrong in the mid-1920s to early-1930s or maybe Miles Davis late-1950s/early-1960s.

BalladofPeterParker said:

On record, his best era for me was 80-88. I do love "For You" and "Prince" as well, but "Dirty Mind" was such a leap up from those. "Lovesexy" was where it started to go wrong for me.

On stage, his best era was 80-2016.

OldFriends4Sale said:

skywalker said:

Each era has a different flavor/strength.

-

Plus, time is tricky. If Prince would have put out Lotusflower or MPLSound in the 80's, people woulda lost their shit and those albums would be viewed as all time classics.

That's tricky...
LotusFlow3r maybe, not MPLSound at all. Rainbow Children

Now the tricky part about the two above is the lyrics would be different. I don't think 'of course' those albums would be released sounding as they do, in that their would be more electricity to them.

I don't know about that. I think a songs like "Dance 4 Me" and "No More Candy 4U" would sit nicely with some of Prince's 80's material.

[Edited 10/1/20 6:39am]

Genesia said:

skywalker said:

Each era has a different flavor/strength.

-

Plus, time is tricky. If Prince would have put out Lotusflower or MPLSound in the 80's, people woulda lost their shit and those albums would be viewed as all time classics.

Totally agree about Lotusflow3r. Not so much about MPLSound (though I do love that album).

There is so much unheralded amazing material from ALL Eras. It really comes down to editing, marketing and taste.

jdcxc said:

Genesia said:

Totally agree about Lotusflow3r. Not so much about MPLSound (though I do love that album).

There is so much unheralded amazing material from ALL Eras. It really comes down to editing, marketing and taste.

Agree 100%

GeurtWalraven said:

1984-1989. The 1985 Syracuse broadcast was the major breakthrough, worldwide. While the movie Purple Rain, did very well for him, in march 1985 the world was able to see an extraordinary live performer. The following years proved he was a much more talented musician than his direct competitor, MJ. In many ways. This era couldn’t actually be beaten. Therefore, all what after came that (84-89), was less.

You're talking about his exposure worldwide?

Not his actual ability as a musician? His best era was his most popular era?

That's akin to saying Apple's best period was when it sold the most iphones, not when the iphone cost less but was more functional outside of the core apple specific applications. The iphone right now, is a far better product than when it sold the most cell phones in history. Popularity in my book doesn't mean best or even good. Milli Vanili was hella popular worldwide and we know the music business chooses who to push on that level and puts the money on the table to make some things happen in that arena.

For me, Prince never stopped telling us who he was in his music, if you loved him most when he was telling you he was a superstar in the 80's, cool. But throughout his career he was telling us about him. He never stopped. Pesonally, I value that far greater than if everyone is listening to Prince like I am but I do understand the fandom of that feeling so you're not wrong in feeling that either.

Moonbeam said:

databank said:

WTF is that??

They're boxplots of my personal ratings of Prince songs by year, 2-year era, and 3-year era. The higher the boxplot, more highly I have rated the songs for the given time period.

Just a way to give visual evidence to my feeling that the early 80s are where it's at for me when it comes to Prince.

I have versions with unreleased songs, too, but thought better about posting them as well.

Moonbeam said:

databank said:

WTF is that??

They're boxplots of my personal ratings of Prince songs by year, 2-year era, and 3-year era. The higher the boxplot, more highly I have rated the songs for the given time period.

Just a way to give visual evidence to my feeling that the early 80s are where it's at for me when it comes to Prince.

I have versions with unreleased songs, too, but thought better about posting them as well.

Polo1026 said:

GeurtWalraven said:

1984-1989. The 1985 Syracuse broadcast was the major breakthrough, worldwide. While the movie Purple Rain, did very well for him, in march 1985 the world was able to see an extraordinary live performer. The following years proved he was a much more talented musician than his direct competitor, MJ. In many ways. This era couldn’t actually be beaten. Therefore, all what after came that (84-89), was less.

You're talking about his exposure worldwide?

Not his actual ability as a musician? His best era was his most popular era?

That's akin to saying Apple's best period was when it sold the most iphones, not when the iphone cost less but was more functional outside of the core apple specific applications. The iphone right now, is a far better product than when it sold the most cell phones in history. Popularity in my book doesn't mean best or even good. Milli Vanili was hella popular worldwide and we know the music business chooses who to push on that level and puts the money on the table to make some things happen in that arena.

For me, Prince never stopped telling us who he was in his music, if you loved him most when he was telling you he was a superstar in the 80's, cool. But throughout his career he was telling us about him. He never stopped. Pesonally, I value that far greater than if everyone is listening to Prince like I am but I do understand the fandom of that feeling so you're not wrong in feeling that either.

Prince comparing with iPhone's...........okay?.?.

Anyway, because of his worldwide exposure in 1985, this was not only the start of his huge popularity, musically he came to unreachable heights. Therefore, his peak was the second half of the 80's.

TrivialPursuit said:

This isn't to diminish each other period, but...

1983-1987 was extremely prolific, varied, and interesting. 1999 was him just playing and shooting his wad. Rightly so. But once he focused in on Purple Rain, had a 3 or 4 year plan, he was a power house. Ditched all of his Revolution era aesthetic into being a one-man band again (yet the little carryover of Susannah being on some tracks, IGBABN, and W&L here and there was nice). He got a little goofy in 1988, and his sound changed to this super fast, reverby, echoey, Taylor Dayne type stuff that morphed into ...meh. Not bad. A large bulk of GB is amazing, Batman the same. But no way does GB hold up against PR, nor does Batman against something like Parade or SOTT. Batman really was the end of an era.

With GB he started following a few trends, but I did enjoy him having full band albums again. When I edited Tony M. out of D&P and , they got 100% stronger as songs and albums.

Then comes 1993/4. We get albums like COME, Exodus, The Gold Experience, Chaos. Those are as amazing as his mid-80s. So really 1993-1997 is almost a direct reflection of his prolific nature as 1983-1987, when talking about variety, number of projects, songs, remixes, B-sides, whatever.

I've often said that Prince made some of his best material when he was in some sort of turmoil. Whether it's troubles with Vanity, his relationship with Susannah and the battles with Wendy and Lisa (which is sorta 3 against 1 sometimes), and getting a new band... or the mid 90s where he starts fighting with WB big time, whittles down his band, changes his name, denounces his own name in favor of writing Slave on his face (which honestly for a Black person to do that anywhere at anytime was huge... I still don't think the racial and historical impact of that action has settled into a lot of White folks minds; it didn't in mine for a long time). Those are moments where he was under the most unrest, fighting with his environment, people, business, whatever. He poured that angst and "fuck you, don't leave me, get out of here" into songs. You don't write "The Exodus Has Begun," "The Beautiful Ones," or anything else without having some sort of inspiration.

I didn't want Prince unhappy, but when he did get happy with his religion and new found 40-ish adulthood, his music suffered. He got a little too content in some ways. If it makes him write some stank funk, pull his fucking armpit hairs again and again!

I disagree with the first point I've left in bold because I agree with the second point you made that I left in bold. The year leading up to 1999 was prolific for Prince in terms of songwriting output, producing other artists, launching his first double album, and headlining the Controversy tour. He had the underperforming Dirty Mind behind him and a disastrous Stones gig to overcome - a symbol that he hadn't broken the mainstream. A lot was riding on 1999 as the last album on his five record deal. And Prince delivered an album that broke the mainstream and MTV's color barrier and consolidated the MNPLSound, inspiring everyone else to go out and buy Linns. The album is a landmark for dance music to come with two of his most popular songs and a groundbreaking musical direction that established Prince as a pop auteur. He might not have had a plan in place, but you're right: when his back was to the wall, he fucking delivered.

databank said:

Moonbeam said:

They're boxplots of my personal ratings of Prince songs by year, 2-year era, and 3-year era. The higher the boxplot, more highly I have rated the songs for the given time period.

Just a way to give visual evidence to my feeling that the early 80s are where it's at for me when it comes to Prince.

I have versions with unreleased songs, too, but thought better about posting them as well.

mtlfan said:

TrivialPursuit said:

This isn't to diminish each other period, but...

1983-1987 was extremely prolific, varied, and interesting. 1999 was him just playing and shooting his wad.

I've often said that Prince made some of his best material when he was in some sort of turmoil.

I disagree with the first point I've left in bold because I agree with the second point you made that I left in bold. The year leading up to 1999 was [snipped]

I'm aware of the history.

Perhaps "shooting his wad" is multi-defined. I mean that he was digging into everything in front of him. Drugs through guitar pedals, the Linn, more politics, social issues, etc. 1999 is a long album. His edit button was off, it seems. It was the real beginning of trying new things and making them his own. He was jizzin' on everything.

I really enjoyed the early 90's. He was coming off that frenetic Lovesexy era, described by a journalist as "Liberace" on acid. I enjoyed the "thunder" of Michael B. and the stripped down power trio approach. I think that is when Sonny T. first replaced Brownmark, and Miko was playing rhythm guitar. Rosie Gaines came around this time, and her voice was a really nice compliment on the Nude Tour.

skywalker said:

Each era has a different flavor/strength.

-

Plus, time is tricky. If Prince would have put out Lotusflower or MPLSound in the 80's, people woulda lost their shit and those albums would be viewed as all time classics.

I don't believe that at all.

Gold.

1982-1987. Not a misstep to be had or should I say even the missteps were interesting. He had some other peaks in 93/94 and 2001/2 but the highest, longest sustained one was that period. The material from those years is what he and frankly, any other musician will be measured by.

I'd classify 1978-1990 as the first era, 1991-1999 as the second era, and 2000-onwards as the third era. It's obviously possible to break this down much further into single albums as eras.

The SOTT era to me clearly represents his peak in terms of his limitlessness. He caught the wind there. He was cresting on that wave of all he'd accomplished and trying out a million new directions, all of which were electrifying, and somehow, all came together for an instant.

The Dirty Mind era is probably the ultimate expression of his revolutionary quality. This era is a laser. Everything shocking and jaw-dropping about Prince and his music is cocked and loaded in this era.

All the albums in between these two albums will never grow old. Some have issues, but they all are so unique.

But to me, Prince (1979) and For You (1978) are the blueprint of this sound, and Lovesexy, TBA, Batman, and Graffiti Bridge are its conclusion.

The sound and more importantly the philosophy of Prince changes after this point. The 1991-1999 era is much more self-consciously produced/designed. There's tons of masterful music here, but he very rarely sounds like he's going way out of his comfort zone. Perhaps that's why I increasingly think Come is a great album -- it's such a bold risk.

The 2000-onwards era is so linked to his religious convictions. It's a fascinating period and filled with powerful spiritual statements, breezy nostalgic funk, and reflection, but it's the least musically electrifying period.

So, to me, the answer is 1978-1990.

[Edited 10/9/20 0:07am]

paraded said:

paraded said:

I'd classify 1978-1990 as the first era, 1991-1999 as the second era, and 2000-onwards as the third era. It's obviously possible to break this down much further into single albums as eras.

The SOTT era to me clearly represents his peak in terms of his limitlessness. He caught the wind there. He was cresting on that wave of all he'd accomplished and trying out a million new directions, all of which were electrifying, and somehow, all came together for an instant.

The Dirty Mind era is probably the ultimate expression of his revolutionary quality. This era is a laser. Everything shocking and jaw-dropping about Prince and his music is cocked and loaded in this era.

All the albums in between these two albums will never grow old. Some have issues, but they all are so unique.

But to me, Prince (1979) and For You (1978) are the blueprint of this sound, and Lovesexy, TBA, Batman, and Graffiti Bridge are its conclusion.

The sound and more importantly the philosophy of Prince changes after this point. The 1991-1999 era is much more self-consciously produced/designed. There's tons of masterful music here, but he very rarely sounds like he's going way out of his comfort zone. Perhaps that's why I increasingly think Come is a great album -- it's such a bold risk.

The 2000-onwards era is so linked to his religious convictions. It's a fascinating period and filled with powerful spiritual statements, breezy nostalgic funk, and reflection, but it's the least musically electrifying period.

So, to me, the answer is 1978-1990.

[Edited 10/9/20 0:07am]

Spot on as far as I'm concerned. I think special attention should be given to the jump from Controversy to 1999. 1999 is when Prince sounds like Prince, and people just straight started to copy him. For me Dirty mind through SOTT is one big long peak.

I love the grouping of Lovesexy, Batman, and Grafitti Bridge as a conclusion. That's right on. D&P is his commercial record, and I think he becomes lost in the woods. Of the 90s records Come is the only one I ever liked and listened to. He missed me during his Jehovah phase. I paid close attention afterward, but I never fellt like he was pusing himself outside a comfort zone as you say.