Prince Band • Page 6

First few records are really neither here nor there for me, safe for a track or two on each. Really starts to come together for me at Controversy - which I still don't love, but there is a definite growth. Love Private Joy.

 

I felt the same way, but they grew on me with multiple listens. I listened to the self-titled album for the 4th time today and I'm absolutely in love with it now. On first listen I was pretty lukewarm towards it.

 

I know I'm a fanboy, but I disagree strongly that he didn't come into his own on Prince and Dirty Mind.

 

I don't mean come into his own as an artist - I mean came into the artist that I find more (most) appealing.

 

Holy fuck

 

This probably won't stay up long, but while it is:

Not exaggerating when I say I've been waiting over a decade to see something like this. Now that he's gone, everyone's posting tons of video and music to youtube.

 

There are honestly days where I think Sign O the Times is the greatest album an artist has ever made.

 

I wish I knew how to get into Prince bootlegs. Some of the most popular stuff made it onto The B-Sides and Crystal Ball and Old Friends 4 Sale, but I heard "Electric Intercourse" and "Rebirth of the Flesh" today and how the fuck do I not already have those.

 

How do you get into them like you cant find them? I can find you ANYTHINGGGG

 

I don't even know where those bootlegs are in circulation. Haha.

An insane amount of his unreleased stuff has leaked out over the years

 

I've been really looking into the aborted Dream Factory record the last few days and god do I hope one of the posthumous records is a Smile Sessions-style archival reconstruction of that. From what's out there bootlegged (that I've been able to find on youtube and such) it seems like it could have been monumental in the same way.

 

I missed this post somehow.

I do wonder how much of the love for Come is contrarian in a way. It has such a reputation as a contractual filler/throwaway (allmusic gives it 2 stars) that it feels underrated, but I'd definitely say it's a relatively minor album for him.

At the very least, I'd say The Gold Experience, The Love Symbol Album, Diamonds and Pearls, Graffiti Bridge, Crystal Ball and The Truth are more essential listens he released in the 90s. Also The B-Sides was released in '93 but they were all 80s songs.

 

Adore is a perfect song.

 

My favorite love song probably ever.

 

I really like LoveSexy so far...I think the change in the band mixed things up a bit

 

Top 15 favorite non-album Prince tracks (no order):
1. "Another Lonely Christmas"
2. "Gotta Stop (Messin' About)"
3. "She's Always in My Hair"
4. "Good Love"
5. "Crystal Ball"
6. "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore"
7. "17 Days"
8. "Electric Intercourse"
9. "Strays of the World"
10. "Dream Factory"
11. "Crucial"
12. "Shockadelica"
13. "All My Dreams"
14. "Moonbeam Levels"
15. "Open Book"

 

Not wild about most of these pitchfork back catalog reviews, but one bit from the Purple Rain review really nails it:

"The result is something that isn’t a successful combination of genres as much as an effortless, almost incidental transcendence of the very idea of genre itself. It doesn’t matter what it’s called. It doesn’t matter what you like. You like this. It is wrong to say that Purple Rain blazes a new trail. Rather it beams a blinding light signal from a part of the forest that no one will be able to ever find again. You cannot make another album like it. The only way to get to where Purple Rain takes you is to play Purple Rain. "

 

i have seen multiple people get mad at pitchfork for reviewing these undisputed classic albums so highly while rating his recent work so poorly, as though different writers writing about different albums means nothing in music criticism

 

Bless you for this.

 

How did I make that list of favorite unreleased stuff without "Last Heart" and "Wonderful Ass"? Sigh

 

In case anyone forgot that he was the greatest of all time:

 

Prince’s Closest Friends Share Their Best Prince Stories

 

Let’s Go Crazy: Prince’s music has returned to streaming services

 

Tbh this is the perfect opportunity for me to dig deeper into his catalog, been meaning to do so.

 

YESSSS! DO IT!