CLOSED Let's Rank 22: 80's Prince - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Gonna need to finally listen to Parade and the Black Album before submitting any list. It's been a long time since i've listened to the Batman soundtrack either. This should be quite enjoyable.

And to echo Skinny. How on earth could anyone rank Dirty Mind below his new shit? That's crazy.
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Kool Keith Sweat

1. Dirty Mind
2. Purple Rain
3. Sign of the Times
4. 1999
5. Around the World in A Day
6. Controversy
7. Parade
8. Batman

Infinity183

Gender: Female

Skinny wrote:

you talk about sex as though its a bad thing

It's bad if the focus is primarily the act of sex itself without bringing anyting insightful to the matter. Darling Nikki and The Beautiful Ones on Purple Rain both have sexual themes, but they also feature far more dynamic production and personal narratives than Automatic. That song illustrates the act of sex lucidly enough, but it doesn't really progress anywhere significant throughout its 9:28 duration and therefore isn't an exciting listening experience the whole way through. That's why I describe it more as background music, as opposed to something universally appearling.

Skinny
birdman_handrub.gif

Infinity183 wrote:

It's bad if the focus is primarily the act of sex itself without bringing anyting insightful to the matter. Darling Nikki and The Beautiful Ones on Purple Rain both have sexual themes, but they also feature far more dynamic production and personal narratives than Automatic. That song illustrates the act of sex lucidly enough, but it doesn't really progress anywhere significant throughout its 9:28 duration and therefore isn't an exciting listening experience the whole way through. That's why I describe it more as background music, as opposed to something universally appearling.

Universal appeal is overrated.
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Le_Samurai

1. Purple Rain
2. 1999
3. Sign 'O' Times
4. Dirty Mind
5. Parade
6. Lovesexy
7. Controversy
8. Around the World in a Day
9. The Black Album
10. Batman

Songs
1. 1999
2. I Would Die 4 U
3. Little Red Corvette
4. Purple Rain
5. Kiss
6. Uptown
7. U Got the Look
8. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
9. When Doves Cry
10. Sign o Times

nachosbob

Gender: Male
Age: 26

I'm gonna actually withdraw my votes
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Last edited by nachosbob on 11/30/2014 21:07; edited 1 time in total

Skinny
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God damn this is difficult. There's like at least four bonafide masterpieces here, and I'm tempted to say five. Not entirely sure how I pick a favourite here. Gonna do some relistening (although I listen to quite a few of these albums pretty regularly anyway), and then I'll try to come to some sort of decision. The song picks bit should be fun. Anyway, people should remember and consider the following songs before making their lists: 'When You Were Mine', 'Anotherloverholenyohead', 'How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?', 'Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)', 'Starfish & Coffee', because all of those songs are amazing and should be somewhere near the final list.
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joyofdivision

1. Sign "O" The Times
2. 1999
3. Purple Rain
4. Parade
5. Around The World In A Day
6. Dirty Mind
7. The Black Album
8. Lovesexy
9. Batman
10. Controversy

Infinity183

Gender: Female

Skinny wrote:

Universal appeal is overrated.

I just mean I'm a lot likelier to listen to the Purple Rain songs I listed than Automatic because they're enjoyable under a far broader range of contexts than just when you're feeling sexy. Darling Nikki and The Beautiful Ones possess emotionally relatable drama that to me is usually a lot more appealing than the pure raciness of Automatic. They portray far more complex sexual imagery because they place importance on the narrator's insecurity and juxtapose it with his lust, creating a raw tension that is absent in Automatic.

Skinny
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Infinity183 wrote:

I just mean I'm a lot likelier to listen to the Purple Rain songs I listed than Automatic because they're enjoyable under a far broader range of contexts than just when you're feeling sexy. Darling Nikki and The Beautiful Ones possess emotionally relatable drama that to me is usually a lot more appealing than the pure raciness of Automatic. They portray far more complex sexual imagery because they place importance on the narrator's insecurity and juxtapose it with his lust, creating a raw tension that is absent in Automatic.

Eh, I think 'Automatic' is a far better song than 'Darling Nikki', which is the weakest moment on Purple Rain. I don't think 1999 is even a particularly sex-obsessed album, at least compared to Dirty Mind (which is actually my favourite Prince album, hey ho). I think the argument that Purple Rain is somehow deeper than 1999 is absurd, but whatever floats your boat. There's virtually nothing to separate them in terms of quality, and they tread extremely similar themes lyrically. I'm not entirely sure how you've managed to convince yourself that one is much more worthwhile than the other. I can understand the complaint about length, but I guess that comes down to how high your tolerance level is for extended synth-funk jams. What I cannot fathom is the idea that lyrically 1999 is considerably weaker than Purple Rain, especially when the themes explored on each are identical.
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