I decided to compile a loosely accurate list of what I think are the best Prince albums, including albums where he wrote/produced/played everything on the record, and got someone else to sing over what he had already done and released it under the singer’s name (what many have determined to be his “protégés”…which I always think is a misleading name for them, because they never really had any say in what the fuck was going on).
The availability of some of these is difficult, because the Purple Midget refuses to allow a comprehensive reissue campaign of his entire catalogue.
I’ll also say that the following list is based solely on my opinion, which in turn means that it is definitely true and anyone who disagrees is an arse.
Anyhoo…let’s get this over with.
20. Planet Earth (Prince) [2007]
Given away free with the Mail on Sunday, which really should enrage me, but it is the first Prince album I got, I guess (even if I have never truly forgiven myself for getting the Mail that day). He was the first person to do that, and set off a trend of a few other artists doing the same thing. The Mail on Sunday’s circulation jumped up by around 3 million for that one day and, actually, though it’s not Prince’s most inspired album, it is pretty damn good considering most of it seems knocked off to put bums on seats for his 21 night long residency at London’s O2 arena. It worked, to be fair.
Stand-out tracks: Guitar, Somewhere Here on Earth, The One U Wanna C, Chelsea Rodgers
19. Diamonds & Pearls (Prince & The New Power Generation) [1991]
Prince’s biggest album without a corresponding movie (although there was a piss poor corresponding video collection that featured interviews with everyone but…uh…Prince). In the past, Prince had always led. Here it feels like he is following for the first time, but when it’s on…it’s still ON, my friend. The singles were pretty perfect for the time; the T. Rex-ness of Cream, the soul balladeering on the title track, the classic Prince funk-sex groove with added flute on Gett Off. Not that the album tracks were anything to sniff at; the almost Madchester Acid House sound of Live 4 Love, the breezy Strollin’. Just a shame he let his pretty piss poor NPG rapper Tony M take lead on Jughead, which is probably amongst the most embarrassing songs he’s ever written.
Stand-out tracks: Diamonds & Pearls, Cream, Strollin’, Gett Off, Money Don’t Matter 2Nite
18. The Black Album (Prince) [Recorded 1987/ Released 1994]
The reputation of The Black Album precedes it somewhat. In 1987, Prince planned to follow up his magnum opus with this dark funk bible. He had a change of heart (reasons for this differ somewhat: he became convinced the album was evil or possessed, he and Warner Brothers each reached a crisis of conscience over the album’s lyrical content, he experimented with ecstasy and had a bad trip which resulted in him having second thoughts on the album). Whatever the reason, the album was withdrawn and replaced with 1988’s much more positive Lovesexy. After this, The Black Album became widely bootlegged – so much so that it has been estimated as the most bootlegged album in recorded history. It’s official release in 1994 did much to debunk its reputation as the great lost album. Don’t get me wrong…it’s good. Very good. But there’s one too many filler tracks in there for it to be considered the album it was once considered to be.
Stand-out tracks: Le Grind, Cindy C, When 2 R In Love, Superfunkycalifragisexy
17. 8 (Madhouse) [1987]
As if to prove he could do anything (except, it seems, act), Prince decided to make an instrumental jazz album in 1987 (as you do). All the tracks were performed entirely by Prince, apart from lead sax and flute parts, which were played by longtime collaborator Eric Leeds. Prince would do further jazz-fusion experiments in the future (notably, on the Grammy-Award winning N.E.W.S in 2003), but those experiments would be much less cohesive and more meandering, compared to the first Madhouse album. Still, all of them are better than my instrumental jazz album. But, then, I recorded the whole thing on an old portable tape recorder using nothing put a can of tuna and a pair of slippers.
Stand-Out Tracks: One, Three, Six
16. Emancipation (O(+>) [1996]
The first album released after getting out of his Warner Bros contract, Emancipation is a lot to take at once. Three discs, each exactly one hour a piece and a total of 36 tracks, especially when you consider it was the third album he had released in 1996 (after Chaos & Disorder and the Girl 6 soundtrack). Obviously, with that much music, not everything is going to work, but there are many gems to be found within; Courtin’ Time is Delirious for the 90s, Get Yo Groove On is a summer jam you can throw on any given July, The Holy River is majestic in its story of his union with then-wife Mayte, brilliantly he manages to create a song around the sonogram of his unborn child (Sex In The Summer). That’s not to say there aren’t real clunkers (did he really need to record Joan Osborne’s One Of Us? Then again, did Joan Osborne really need to record it? Awful song), but it’s well worth sifting through those to get to the good stuff.
Stand-out tracks: Jam Of The Year, Get Yo Groove On, In This Bed Eye Scream, Sex In The Summer, The Holy River, The Love We Make, Emancipation
15. The Time (The Time) [1981]
Prince’s first protégés, The Time were formed when Prince commandeered frontman Morris Day’s groovy Partyup for his Dirty Mind album. In return, Prince helped Day put a band together (a band that featured of note, future superstar R&B producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis). For the first time, but not the last, Prince wrote, played and produced everything himself under the pseudonym Jamie Starr, with Morris Day adding his vocals later. Prince still plays Cool on stage to this day. Chilli sauce!
Stand-out tracks: Get It Up, Cool, Girl
14. Vanity 6 (Vanity 6) [1982]
One of the many Prince protégés to be not very talented, but have a certain look he liked (in this case: stripper and/or lingerie model). It’s fun to listen to, though, if not Earth-shattering. Vanity 6 were a girl group with a MPLSound twist. Hit single Nasty Girl still gets sampled quite a bit, and Vanity isn’t without charm. Prince himself duets on the trash talking If A Girl Answers (Don’t Hang Up). Vanity herself left before production started on the Purple Rain movie. Her exploits in this period are, weirdly, chronicled in The Heroin Diaries, a book by Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx. Apparently, they nearly got married (if they had, she’d have been “Vanity Sixx” again, which I’m convinced is the only reason she was going out with him).
Stand-out tracks: Nasty Girl, He’s So Dull, If a Girl Answers (Don’t Hang Up)
13. The Glamorous Life (Sheila E) [1984]
Sheila E may seem like Vanity in that she was a good looking woman without a substantial vocal talent, but Sheila was an accomplished jazz drummer, so she more than has the musical chops, and the title track of this album is a bona fide 80s classic.
Stand-out tracks: The Belle of St Mark, Neon Rendezvous, The Glamorous Life
12. O(+> (Prince & The New Power Generation) [1992]
A completely bonkers hip hop soap opera concept album thingy (many years before R. Kelly degraded the idea with Trapped In The Closet, which sounds more like the working title for Tom Daley: The Movie). The storyline isn’t exactly coherent, and the accompanying direct-to-video movie based on the album (3 Chains O’ Gold) does absolutely nothing to clarify anything (and that's probably the most positive review you will find of the movie)…but when it’s good, it’s good (as much as I detest Eye Wanna Melt Wit U), I love The Morning Papers and 7. My Name Is Prince seems embarrassing to begin with, but the more I hear it, the more I see it as a parody of the hip hop that was breaking through at the time. He weirdly seems to evoke Queen on 3 Chains O' Gold.
Stand-out tracks: My Name Is Prince, Sexy MF, Love 2 The 9s, Morning Papers, 7, 3 Chains O’ Gold
11. Ice Cream Castle (The Time) [1984]
The Time’s final album in their original incarnation (well…I say that, but Jam & Lewis had already been fired at this point…although they did become the most sought after R&B producers in the world soon after, so I doubt they cared). The ones from Purple Rain are on it. Need I say more?
Stand-out tracks: Ice Cream Castles, Jungle Love, The Bird
10. The Family (The Family) [1985]
The album with the original Nothing Compares 2 U on it (no, it wasn’t a b-side). The Family were formed after The Time split up from what was left of them, Prince’s on tour sax player and his girlfriend/guitarists’ sister. Oh, well…at least MOST of them were there for their talent. It’s an odd little album stylisticly; new wave, funk, pop, balladry, jazz-fusion. But definitely one of his strongest protégés. The main track of note is the aforementioned Nothing Compares 2 U, which many people assume was a rare b-side or written for Sinead O’ Connor. Not true. It appeared in very basic form here first.
Stand-out tracks: Screams of Passion, Mutiny, Nothing Compares 2 U
9. Jill Jones (Jill Jones) [1987]
A protégé album that actually has a lot of input from the artist herself for a change. Busy year for Prince, where nearly everything he did was golden. This is just more proof of that. The waitress from Purple Rain actually made a decent record. Who’d have thunk? No-one who saw her acting, that's for sure.
Stand-out tracks: Mia Bocca, All Day All Night
8. 1999 (Prince) [1982]
A dance album, above all else. This was his real breakthrough commercially. Listening to the albums that surround it, it sometimes takes you a tad aback when you hear the electroness of it all. Let’s Pretend We’re Married, Something In The Water (Does Not Compute), Automatic. The synths are all very 80s, but it hasn’t aged all that badly for a lil’ bit of Dance Music Sex Romance. Little Record Corvette is my favourite song. I have no reason to make that up.
Stand-out tracks: 1999, Little Red Corvette, Delirious, DMSR, Automatic
7. What Time Is It? (The Time) [1982]
The Time’s second album is WAY superior to their debut. Funky as hell, and this time around, Morris Day has his persona down to a T. So even the ballad (Gigolos Get Lonely Too) makes use of his ironic charm. Funnily enough, Morris’ satire on the stereotypical misogynist “player” seems more relevant today than it did then.
Stand-out tracks: Wild & Loose, 777-9311, Gigolos Get Lonely Too
6. Parade (Prince & The Revolution) [1986]
The soundtrack to a movie called Under The Cherry Moon. The album was good. The movie was not. In fact, it’s difficult to decide on the worst aspect of the movie. Prince decided (unwisely) to direct himself. As well as star. As well as compose the music. As well as write the screenplay. Yeah, he stretched himself a little thin. Hence, why the movie sucks arse (and not in a good way). The music in it is pretty good, though. Shame it’s relegated to the background. Prince’s next movie would be even worse. Can you imagine?
Stand-out tracks: Girls & Boys, Life Can Be So Nice, Mountains, Kiss, Anotherloverholenyohead, Sometimes It Snows In April
5. 3121 (Prince) [2006]
Prince’s first US #1 album since the Batman soundtrack in 1989. He really found his mojo again with this one. He actually sounds inspired again. Title track is a weird, very Prince-like party jam, Black Sweat is possibly the most comfortably modern he has sounded in years. It’s a relief, after the tiresome Musicology and the preachy Rainbow Children that he’s still able to get his Prince on.
Stand-out tracks: 3121, Lolita, Black Sweat, Love, Satisfied, Fury, Beautiful Loved & Blessed, Get On The Boat
4. The Gold Experience (O(+>) [1995]
His best album of the 90s by far, and the first released under that unpronounceable symbol. The only really major hit on the album was The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, which appears in slightly different form here. Endorphinmachine rocks, Shhh is sexy, Dolphin is catchy in the weirdest way possible and Gold is probably his Purple Rain of the symbol era.
Stand-out tracks: Endorphinmachine, Shhh, We March, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, Dolphin, Gold
3. Dirty Mind (Prince) [1980]
He was playful and coy on his first two albums. On his third, he said “Morning, noon and night I’ll give you head”, “I don’t wanna hurt you, baby, I only wanna lay you down”, did it all night, had a threesome and confessed to (I hope, fictional) incest. The demo-like quality of the songs shows that often less is more. And if you’re gonna write a song about incest, you might as well make it catchy; “ooooohh, Sister…”
Stand-out tracks: Dirty Mind, When You Were Mine, Uptown, Head, Do It All Night
2. Purple Rain (Prince & The Revolution) [1984]
The big one. Probably the only truly calculated album of his career. When they started work on the album, a soundtrack to the corresponding movie, Prince had over 100 songs written and ready to go. However Take Me With U, When Doves Cry and Purple Rain itself didn’t even exist at that point.
Stand-out tracks: Probably the whole thing
1. Sign “O” The Times (Prince) [1987]
Purple Rain may be his commercial behemoth, but I don’t think many would argue that this is artistic magnum opus. A double album, largely recorded on his own, it features probably every shade of Prince. If you reach the end of it, and didn’t like any of it…then you don’t like Prince, simple as. It’s a lot to take at once…but, damn, is it glorious. Check out the concert movie too.
Stand-out tracks: Sign “O” The Times, Housequake, Starfish & Coffee, Forever In My Life, U Got The Look, If I Was Your Girlfriend, I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man, Adore
...and there you have it. If you disagree, I don't care.
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