Prince Album by Album Thread

I listen to the self-titled album a little more than the debut and think it is solid. Dirty Mind, however, is in a whole different class! One of my favourite albums of all time. It is succinct,original, pure sex and great fun to listen to even all these years later. For me, there is not a dud track on it!

 

My favorite cover of "When You Were Mine" isn't Cyndi's, but Cristina's Don Was-produced, oh-so-'80s rendition which - for whatever reason - feels truer to Prince's original:

 

No Rebels stuff got released. Unlike later projects as The Time, The Family, Sheila E, etc. one big difference is that within The Rebels Prince allowed (or even encouraged) his band members to contribute in writing songs. Of the 9 songs 3 were written by guitarist Dez Dickerson and 2 by Andre Cymone. 1 was written by Andre & Prince, while the remaining 3 were Prince compositions. Gayle Chapman didn't write but sang lead vocals on the Prince written songs.

 

Sure, I'm not sure I know about all of them though.

 

Wow, lots of things going on with this one!

I discovered and started listening to the first four albums all at the same time and heard all those songs jumbled together, so at first I never though much about the change that happened with this album. I have also said that the previous album is one of my favorites, so I don’t think, as some do, that here is where it starts with Prince, but I think this is where he really finds his character, and this along with Prince I would say are my favourite albums of his.

I also see this, as some have noted, as kind of the ”Punk Prince” phase, and this has to do with both musical elements as well the production values and not least the image/attitude. Since I am an old Punk fan, that is quite ok with me, and that part made this era very interesting when I went back and discovered it.

I have to say that as far as "hits" go there is nothing here that I like more than ”I Wanna Be Your Lover” and ”Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?”, and I sometimes wonder how this and that on the record would have sound with a fuller production, but with that said let's talk about what is here. ”Dirty Mind”, ”When You Were Mine”, ”Uptown", "Head” and ”Partyup” are all standout tracks in his catalogue to me, and since it is such a short album, that doesn't really leave much else! The two last songs on side one always kind of slip by without me noticing them so they are maybe a bit close to filler for me.

The foundation of the music is still R&B and Funk, but there are now many other influences, most notably from the New Wave scene. I don't know the story why the demo recordings were used and it wasn't re-recorded, but that D.I.Y. production, and the minimalism that was the result of it and the speedy recording session, also contributes strongly to that New Wavish feeling. The lyrics, while always very sexual before, are now turned up several notches, and the album cover, with it's semi-nudity combined with raw grittines I think could still raise an eyebrow today. All of this combined seems positively designed to be confrontative and almost, as someone said, "calculated to offend". Never more so than on "Sister". Someone said it's "disturbing", and of course it is, that must be the whole point of that song, to offend and upset, very Punk indeed, I love it!

One song that stands out a bit extra is ”When You Were Mine”, because there isn't much else that sounds like it in Prince's body of work. I once tried to make a case for it in the "Name A Great Power Pop Tune" thread (and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" was also mentioned, which I think originates in this era as well), because that is what I think it is, an excellent power pop song. I would imagine that if it had been re-recorded, he would have used a little beefier guitar sound (which would have given it a little more "power" in it's pop), and I sometimes wonder what that could have sounded like. It sounds like the guitar on it is recorded by plugging stright into the mixing desk? But then again I like experimental and unusual sounds, and that guitar makes the song more unique with it's dry and ultra-clean twang, so I wouldn't wanna change it.

I shold add that I also really like "Gotta Stop (Messin' About)", which was also recorded at the same session, again a very New Wave influenced track, should be more well known, glad it was put on The Hits / B-sides.

 

Regardless of the pace of this thread, we might have to comeback to it: Prince plans to release a new album
The girls from 3eyed announced a new record, called Hit and Run (as his last tour), we'll be released before the end of the year. It's said to be super funky.

 

You seem to know his side projects better than me, how about you declare when to talk about the side projects and I just declare the new albums by him, the Revolution, and the NPG?

 

Not trying to rain on anyone's Parade, but this thread has been done before: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/prince-album-by-album-thread.123661/ Since it was started 8 years ago and many new members have joined, a new one makes lots of sense. But maybe the OP finds some of the info in the old one useful.

 

Prince is one of my absolute favourite artists. Like for many others, "Dirty Mind" is where he starts truely being Prince for me. There are a couple of nice tracks on the first two albums, but the third is his first masterpiece, showing his uniqueness. And in its raw naughtyness, it still holds a special place in his body of work for me.

 

Agree 100% with this.

The first two albums have their moments but there was nothing earth-shattering about those albums.

Prince definitely became Prince with DIRTY MIND. DIRTY MIND was the game-changer. It was on from that point. From 1980-1987, DIRTY MIND through SIGN O' THE TIMES, one could argue that this was the greatest and most prolific period by any single musician ever. Not only the proper albums but also the incredible B-sides and 12 inch extended tracks he released during that time frame. Then he also recorded countless incredible songs during that time period that were never released (though some were later re-recorded and released in inferior form imo or recorded by other artists). Tracks like "Old Friends 4 Sale", "Possessed", "A Better Place 2 Die", "Modernaire" (given to and used by Dez Dickerson in the Purple Rain movie), "All Day, All Night", "Wonderful Ass", "Extra Loveable", "G Spot", "Rock Hard In a Funky Place", "Purple Music" etc - all incredible songs he wrote and recorded the definitive versions of. Then, last but not least, there are all the songs he wrote and recorded from '80-'87 under the disguise of his 'protege' acts. The first two albums by The Time are awesome funk albums - and Prince wrote and performed the vast majority of the music and lyrics on these albums. Same thing with The Family's stunning album. Same thing with "Nasty Girl" by Vanity 6. Same thing with "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton (check out the 12 inch extended mix of this if you can - great electric guitar work by Prince not heard on the album/single release). Could go on and on.

Prince was far and away my favorite artist of the 1980s.

 

I did find it odd that this hadn't already been done... That was back when I had just registered here and wasn't very active, so I missed that, and besides I wasn't nearly as into Prince then, so maybe I wouldn't have paid it much mind anyway. But I guess we can do it over again, or is there a convention we're breaking?


That one seemed to die out after Crystal Ball. One thing I was hoping for here was to get some opinions on the myriad of releases that came after that (if we would ever get that far), but maybe no one listened to them so there are no opinions...

 

there will be opinions!!

 

Gotta Stop (Messin About) is probably one of the rarest regular 7"/ 12" single releases. Only released in the UK, with 2 different covers. I recently bought both maxi singles in a terrific state. Before the Hits/B-Sides 3cd, the title Gotta Stop always sounded very, how do I put this, far out of reach for me. I knew it existed but I had never heard it and I had no way of ever hearing it, so it seemed. Until I met a classmate on the new school I went to whose sister was also a Prince fan. She made me a tape with several other b-sides and extended versions. I was in heaven. And I also really liked the girl (only girl I ever fell kind of in love with as a matter of fact, I was 13 years old and didn't know anything yet...).

great site for all Princely vinyl: http://sleevographia2.free.fr/index.html

 

there is also a great cover version of Gotta Stop by the band Self, of which I know nothing further except another great Prince cover, Let's Pretend We're Married.

 

As I said, a relaunch of this thread seems like a good idea. And I listened to every regular release by Prince (and a few others), so I might have some opinions to offer.

 

I really love this track, and it's a good thing that it's now easlily available. But it wasn't only put out in the UK, it was also the B-Side of the US 12" of "Let's Work" (I guess this is the reason it is on the B-sides disc of Hits), but maybe that is not what you meant... Was that one also this rare? I would have thought that would have been the most common place to find the song.

 

I'm sorry, I forgot to add it was only released as an a-side in the UK. The US Let's Work 12" maxi is not very rare at all. Of course it was to my 13 year old Dutch self

 

Indeed, I found a NM copy at Rhino Records (no relation to the label) in New Paltz, NY for the low, low price of 49 cents back in '91!

 

It's basically just occurred to me that his lyrics - from the great years, which this album ushered in - have never felt contrived, or calculated just to shock.

Dirty Mind. Perfect slice of funked up pop from start to finish. Also, some... interesting outfits going on.

 

Sorry to ask a 'Prince'-era question (I just discovered this thread), but what is the deal with the yellow-label "Mad Mix" of Sexy Dancer that runs over 10-minutes? Is this a legit remix or what? I see it listed on Discogs and I'm just wondering if this is an officially sanctioned remix. Any info would be most helpful (and again, apologies for bringing up 'Prince' in the 'Dirty Mind' section!)

 

The search function on this site sucks.

 

These days I use google and just add "Steve Hoffman" to my search and it finds stuff on this site easily.

 

I'll try that in the future. Thanks.

 

No problem. Check out how effective it is: https://www.google.com/search?q=pri...e=utf-8#q=prince+album+by+album+steve+hoffman

It pops up this thread and the old thread within the first five results. And my search terms were super simple (See on link above.)