Prince - S/T
Greatest Hits I & II
Musicology
The Vault
The Rainbow Children

What's a good one to buy next?

1999
Sign O' The Times
Lovesexy
Purple Rain
Parade
Dirty Mind
Around The World in a Day

Probably in that order!

In this order...start with his mid-80's masterpieces. As a growing songwriter..this period is widely considered to be his most prolific and all other albums released in the 80's are just superb as well! When you get them all...start from the begining and listen to them chronologically and you will be amazed! This was his 'can do no wrong' period and evey album just got better and better...

Sign O The Times (1987)
Parade (1986)
Around the World In A Day (1985)
Lovesexy (1988)
1999 (1982)
Purple Rain (1984)
Dirty Mind (1980)
Controversy (1981)

emancipation

Dirty Mind
Controversy
1999
Purple Rain
Around The World In A Day
Parade
Sign O' the Times
For You

I would go for 1999 next. That and Purple Rain are logical choices.

Here's what I got:
Prince (LP)
1999 (LP)
Purple Rain (CD)
Around The World In A Day (LP)
Sign 'O' The Times (LP)
Lovesexy (LP)
Batman (Cassette)
Diamonds & Pearls (CD)
(CD)
The Hits 1 (CD)
The Hits 2 (CD)
Crystal Ball/The Truth (CD)
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (CD)
Musicology (CD)

I think I should go for Emancipation or Parade next.
[This message was edited Mon May 17 16:41:10 2004 by JFive]

Well since you dont have Purple Rain that is a must to get next..

Buy Peach & Black now.

Then save up for Beadsprings, Naked On Flower, 'versy, Noir Album, Penis Nine Nine Nine, Piano N' Voice, Exodelicious, Goldie, the 2 CrazyHome CD's... hell, get 'em all ASAP.

illusion7 said:

man are u lucky,,,the coolest thing is to discover an artist who has a large catalog..when i got into Prince i only had a few albums to buy (controversy,dirty mind etc...) but it was still a great experience..you are in for a big treat when u get all the albums you are missing

Freeze said:

Purple Rain is a big MUST HAVE then ARTWIAD, Controversy. Oh damn go blow all ur money and just buy the entire the collection, worth every cent.

JFive said:

illusion7 said:

ok not to break u at the bank

Sign of the Times or 1999 is what I'd get next.

1999, Sign O The Times or Purple Rain. That's what I would do. But ya gotta get them all.

Try Crystal Ball!!! (Ah, maybe it's because I'm just hooked) I really started listening to it the other day & there are some really nice funky tracks on there!

But maybe before you even go there, you've got to get 'PARADE' first, or maybe even 'Lovesexy'!!!!!

But that's only if you ask me...I started getting Prince's CD's about three or four years ago & still don't have all of them. I was so overwhelmed with all the Music I had to catch up on, so I got 'The Hit's/The B-Sides first, and then maybe you can go one by one, but there's a lot of great songs that I just wouldn't take anything away from not ever hearing any one of them because sometimes some songs or an album grows on you that comes like a surprise when it hits you out of nowhere, which is why sometimes I stay stuck on an album for a while before I go on to the next one...there's different songs for different days, different emotions & different times...I'm still playing 'catch up' and it's fantastic discovery....
[This message was edited Mon May 17 19:30:45 2004 by Starmist7]

Why not start at the beginning and work your way to present?
That way you can see the progression complete with his mis-steps.
You can't go wrong with ANY of his albums...all have CLASSIC songs on them.

That's what I did...however, I started at Purple Rain.
Good Luck with all that.

u should start in chronological order so u can see his growth.
so your next album should be FOR YOU, then PRINCE and so on.

Definitely don't go in chronological. I think most agree the mid/late 80's was the most interesting and productive artistically.

I say Purple Rain, Sign o the times, around the world in a day, parade, controversey, all great CD's

Stay away from Come, emancipation, Chaos and dissorder, symbol Crystal Ball, and even gold experience,not that you may not eventually want these, just clearly not his best work. Me persona

going in order is not necessary at all. i suggest u start out with parade or sign o' the times, and go from there. the 90's albums are just as important as his 80's albums. The most easiest is probably getting a list of all of his albums, (released and unreleased) and getting your hands on what's available in the stores. Then look at what you have left and go on some websites and see if they are available on there. I know u are probably interested in which albums sound better or are more spiritual, but avaliablity is also important...its hard as hell to get your hands on a black album or gold experience now a days....

LAProducer said:

Gee, other than C&D and CB, I those those are GREAT albums. I think and TGE equal his best from the 80's...

Revolution said:

I have to agree with Revolution on this. This is your musical journey to make and experience for yourself. What's trash to me, may be gold to you and vice versa. I've been there since the begining - and there are songs that make me go . But thankfully the majority of them make me go

I wish the same for you as well.

LAProducer said:

i disagree, u should get most if not all of his albums because there is something u can gain from it, even if they weren't all that good. There are still some good songs on those terrible albums that u may take a liking a 2.

missfee said:

I didn't say not to get those albums, I own them after all, I just said not first. Why not start with the best first? Besides, you people are making the assumption that this person is going to need or get every prince release, they may be happy with just a few more, so why not get the best few!

The more I listen to it the more I like the symbol album.

If they all got stolen (GOD forbid) these are the ones i'd go out and rebuy.

(Heck i'll wind up doing that for some because I never have yet).

Prince (One of his best early albums and also one of best. Not talked about much though)
1999
Sign O the Times
Parade
Purple Rain
Musicology
Symbol AKA Tour de Force
Hits Bsides (just for tracks I have nowhere else like the pope, peach and Prince and Rosie's
version of Nothing Compares 2u)
Around the World in a Day
Controversy
Dirty Mind
Emancipation (So many tracks to choose from and some underrated ones at that)
Crystal Ball (Some stuff on it I can't get anywhere else and never heard before I got it)
[This message was edited Thu May 20 23:18:02 2004 by Love2tha9s]
[This message was edited Fri May 21 2:03:27 2004 by Love2tha9s]

You need 1999 in a bad way!!!!

for a well-rounded view of prince's spiritual evolution (as i see you have TRC), you need controversy, ATWIAD & lovesexy.

If you don't have Purple Rain, you MUST get that one first. Then 1999, Controversy, ATWIAD, Parade, Sign o' the Times, Lovesexy, in that order.

You will be quite happy with 1999. I predict you will be listening to that one the most.

illusion7 said:

The Black album
Lovesexy
ONA Live.....Mainly for "It ain't Over"

I have been a Prince Fan since 1982. I thought it was cool that Prince released an album almost every year. Over the years, I have collected all of his catalogue (Thanks to Amazon.com) Try Amazon.com for the more recent releases.

You absolutely MUST own Sign O The Times. One of the greatest albums ever (and I don't just mean Prince albums).

You've also got to get Lovesexy and Parade. Absolutely essential. After that, you can pretty much get anything from the 80s (aside from Batman), and of the 90s stuff, I highly recommend The Gold Experience

Well, the general concensus is SOTT first - I would agree with that. You get 2 CD's worth, and a real exploration of all musical styles there. Also, it is critically acclaimed as his best album 2 date.

Then mix it up a little - something that'l blow ya mind from the back catalogue (Controversy or Dirty Mind)

Then Purple Rain and 1999

and 2 get the most 4 ur money, definately get Emancipation 'cos it's 3CD's of pure gold.

then ATWIAD and Lovesexy....

then hit the 90's with , Come and The Gold Experience

then get the rest, and make sure u get some live cuts (ONA Live, Lovesexy Dortmund 88 etc.)

Peace