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Building My CD Collection with Prince Last year I got this neat Bluetooth CD player, which revived my deep interest in collecting and listening to CDs.
I've slowly been collecting more and more, but I have yet to secure any official Prince albums for myself (I do own a Musicology Release Party CD, but it doesn't count).
I would base a future purchase on my favorite albums by The Artist; however, I wanted to come on here and ask y'all: in your opinion, what Prince albums are the most essential to own on CD? | |
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Every officially released CD that he put out is mandatory to eventually buy as far as I'm concerned.Every album he did has it's merits and is better than pretty much what everyone else was doing.
Far as someone who doesn't actually want all the albums but only want what might be considered most popular or essential to many fans here's a list below (I'm only including the albums still in print currently):
Not needed to buy in this order at all. These are just 15 that popped in my head if I was personally going to only buy an essential kind of collection and not everything.
1. 1999 2. Purple Rain 3. Sign O The Times 4. Parade 5. Around the World in a Day 6. Lovesexy 7. The Gold Experience 8. Batman 9. Musicology 10. Controversy 11. The Rainbow Children 12. One Nite Alone Box Set (Includes the Piano & Voice and 3 Live CD's) 13. Art Official Age 14. Prince 15. Dirty Mind " They say Money won’t buy happiness, but it’ll pay for the search.” - Prince | |
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You can add "The Hits" promo CD. I have an extra one sealed 4 sale.
I bought as well "The Crown Jewels" promo CD (sealed). "Money won't buy U happiness but it'll pay 4 the search." | |
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I'm doing a very similar thing now, having sold my cd collection back in the day (including Black Album and Crystal Ball to my despair) when mp3 seemed to take over. My goal is to eventually have a fairly complete collection of officially released albums, although that's not straightforward with our Prince. Trying to buy what's available and new. I'm hesitating between SDE releases of 1999 and Sign 'o' the Times, and their standard versions (I have vinyl SDEs). If you don't want all albums, just start with the ones you like, and I would agree with the list above to be sort of great-to-haves. By the way, I noticed that many of the albums are now sold in paper (carton?) covers rather than standard plastic cd boxes? It annoys me a bit as I'm used to having standard size and CD shelves nicely presenting album names on the edge of the box. What's the thing with this change? Plus, I'm not sure I got the original Love symbol from Amazon. It's been years, but the cd disc and the insert I remember seemed better quality. | |
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FYI "The Hits" & "The Crown Jewels" promo R official. I agree with you regarding singles CD: have all of them (except "Lovesexy" era) & some in Japanese versions. "Money won't buy U happiness but it'll pay 4 the search." | |
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Ramzoo said: You can add "The Hits" promo CD. I have an extra one sealed 4 sale.
I bought as well "The Crown Jewels" promo CD (sealed). Actually yeah but I’d suggest The Hits/B-Sides triple disc set. Those B-Sides are fire! Far as Crown Jewel I don’t see that as currently in print to buy so that would be an eBay or download thing. " They say Money won’t buy happiness, but it’ll pay for the search.” - Prince | |
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Only cost reduction even if they will highlight the ecological aspect... On Japanese CD versions, I like to see on the edge, the Japanese writing. "Money won't buy U happiness but it'll pay 4 the search." | |
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I understand & agree. Myself I don't like someone else touches my collection & thus don't lend any CD. I respect so much Prince's work... "Money won't buy U happiness but it'll pay 4 the search." | |
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lurker316 said:
Digipacks, that's the word! OK, I don't dislike them, but prefer the old fashioned ones. Probably depending whether that's the Rainbow Children type of case (which I like) or Planet Earth type of sleeve. Once I travel to a country with more "wrecka stows" I'll probably try to buy the used but more rare albums as well. I guess it's the only way to check the quality beforehand. [Edited 6/21/23 7:33am] | |
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I say buy them all eventually--Prince's writing is all over the place and he recycled and reworked his music throughout his career, so that some of his songs influence the sound of others of his. > What's your favorite style of music or kinds of songs? Take that into consideration when asking what's good to first buy, and when people can verify a decent matching of these tastes it will be a good suggestion for you to try. I do advise streaming to familiarize yourself with the album work. Listening to his albums for yourself will ultimately take care of everything! | |
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Stick with your favorites first. I kinda went in a random order just buying what I could initially find through preowned copies or whatnot.
Adding on the Digipack discourse, I hate those things. My copy of 4Ever was ruined because the discs literally got stuck inside the case. Only thing I could do was take something and try to pry it open because pulling on the CD made it feel like it would break any second. Both discs got super scratched I'm pretty sure I just ended up throwing it away. | |
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You know, there are lists, then there is just the discography. Gett Off EP Cream EP Space maxi Peach 2-CD set The Holy River 2-CD set The War Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking. | |
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TrivialPursuit said: You know, there are lists, then there is just the discography. Gett Off EP Cream EP Space maxi Peach 2-CD set The Holy River 2-CD set The War Are Peach and Holy River official releases or boots? I don't remember those. I think I saw Peach imports that had some other hits and/or b-sides that weren't included in the Hits/B-sides release, but it was stuff I already had. | |
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Official CD's from UK: I have them. "Money won't buy U happiness but it'll pay 4 the search." | |
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Start with Purple Rain (Mid 80s) and work outwards from there. Forwards or back, it doesn't matter. 1999 and Controvery are both good next choices. And ATWIAD, Parade and Sign O' The Times.
I'd say it's important to hear what made him famous first, then start hitting the very early and later albums.
[Edited 6/22/23 7:54am] | |
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Thanks, Ramzoo! I'll have to look them up. See exactly what they have. | |
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Get Purple Rain and the Hits/B-sides (3 cd set) to begin with | |
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Peach Mountains Partyman (Edit) Money Don't Matter 2 Nite (Edit)
CD 2: Peach I Wish U Heaven Girls & Boys (Edit) My Name is Prince (Edit)
The Holy River (Radio Edit) The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Mustang Mix) Somebody's Somebody (Edit) (listed as Radio Edit on other editions) On Sale Now! The Holy River (Radio Edit) Somebody's Somebody (Edit) Somebody's Somebody (Livestudio Mix) Somebody's Somebody (Ultrafantasy Edit) Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking. | |
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Thanks, Triv. The only tracks I'm curious about are the last 2 Somebody's Somebody's. Unless they're true expansions like the old 12"s, probably something I can live without. | |
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OP seems pretty familiar with Prince and OP's profile lists their favorite albums, I don't think is supposed to be "what Prince albums should I check out as a brand new fan" thread, for all the PR and Hits suggestions. [Edited 6/23/23 5:08am] | |
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WhisperingDandelions said: OP seems pretty familiar with Prince and OP's profile lists their favorite albums, I don't think is supposed to be "what Prince albums should I check out as a brand new fan" thread, for all the PR and Hits suggestions. [Edited 6/23/23 5:08am] They are still essential to own He says in his post he has musicology album so far Other than PR and the Hits I recommend 1999,Parade,and Sign of the times | |
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The Crown Jewels was a promo only cd. Formerly TheDigitalGardener etc. | |
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also says "it doesn't count" right after mentioning it because it's that promo giveaway. You make it seem like that sets a precedent of relevancy.
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Building a cd collection just sounds weird to me lol but thats a generational thing Id say start with the warner releases Just cos they tend to have the best covers (you are buying physical media after all) Then look at limited edition cds or singles Shame there was no box set from the Warner years but theres the the hits collection which is nice And then you can invest in the deluxe editions from the last five years or so (1999 and SOTT) | |
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WhisperingDandelions said:
also says "it doesn't count" right after mentioning it because it's that promo giveaway. You make it seem like that sets a precedent of relevancy.
So what albums should he buy since he doesn't have ANY prince albums at all? But he is familiar with a lot of them? He asked for the must haves Your trying to ruin my self esteem but I'll bite If he doesn't want to go the Hits route then I highly recommend the gold experience and 3121 | |
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