Liam Payne & Rita Ora - For You.

Shouts: Ultimate Music

SoMo - For You.

Shouts: Ultimate Music

A Millennial’s ranking of Prince’s Albums (1978-1994)

Prince's discography has always fascinated me. The immense and intimidating depth of it, the weird directions it takes, the incredible highs and the disappointing lows. So I decided a few weeks ago (probably while drunk) to do a rankings list of Prince albums. Why? Short answer: Who the shit actually knows? Long Answer: Prince is one of my favorite musicians ever, I like to make lists ranking things, and I like to waste my own time and distract myself from things I SHOULD be doing with pointless exercises like this.

Because I'm not completely a crazy person (debatable) I decided not to rank his whole vast discography. This means newer albums I enjoyed like 3121 and Art Official Age will not be included, but it also means I don't have to listen to albums I never heard before like 20ten or Chaos and Disorder and decide which one is shittier. So I based my list on his albums for Warner Bros before he changed his name to the unpronounceable symbol. Also, conveniently Come is where the streaming service’s catalogs ends; besides a few recent albums. That gives us 16 albums recorded and released between 1978 to 1994. Along these 16 albums we start with Prince first sliding on the scene as a doe-eyed, one-man-band, 19 year old with a killer falsetto and end with Prince going rogue and a previously shelved album being released behind his back by the label; seven years after it was recorded. An expansive collection of records that show the progression, regressions, innovations, intemperance and brilliance that is The purple one’s career.

Just Not Good:

16. Graffiti Bridge - 1990

Sometimes, when you're driving in slick and dangerous road conditions you may be required to make a sudden and dramatic turn of the wheel. With grace and care this abrupt course correction could be managed successfully onto a new path, however you can also just steer your car right into a ditch. With the change of the decade there was a sharp turn in Prince’s music as he steered head first into the New Jack Swing sound dominating popular R&B during the late 80s/early 90’s. Prince also has shown the ability to effectively adapt and transform his sound throughout his career so it seemed we were in safe and steady hands. Unfortunately, Graffiti Bridge was quite a noisy and lumbering car crash. The main problem isn’t so much the newer musical influences infiltrating Prince’s music as it’s the schizophrenic and incoherent way Prince incorporates them while curated this album. Graffiti Bridge is essentially a compilation album of unreleased songs Prince had “lying around”; with some originally dating back to the Controversy recording sessions. A lot of these songs were altered and (very clumsily) forced to include this New Jack vernacular. The result is a cluttered mess of melodies that don’t know what they want to be.

Still there were moments of Prince doing Prince things that keeps this album from being completely unlistenable. “The Question of U” and “Joy in Repetition” were left relatively unchanged from their 80’s originals and prove to be strong tracks saving the overall experience of this clunky-ass album. With pockets of brilliance here and there, this album is mostly a drunken stagger through a collections of songs that lack an identifiable identity. I am one of the biggest fans around of the New Jack Swing sound. Yes, it is a dated sound, but when done well that aesthetic is infectiously enduring in its nostalgia; and is just fucking fun to jam too. There is a sense of place in a well done New Jack Swing song (In my presence, just put on “I Like” by Guy and I will dance my damn freckles off). Here, the New Jack Swing elements seem so contrived, the songs comes off floating without a real sense of time and the ambiguous datedness is quite off-putting. The hard-hitting percussion and record scratches synonymous with the sub-genre reverb so cumberous off the hallow edges of the songs it sounds like they were recorded in a tin can. Their “tacked-on” nature come off as unnecessary flair worn on the shirt of a TGIF waitress. This is evident when the album’s best songs are the newest tracks Prince recorded on this record (“New Power Generation”, “Round & Round”, “Thieves In The Temple”), with his new group, the New Power Generation. They seem to have a more clear sense of purpose and character then the other tracks on the album.

During the time of it’s release Graffiti Bridge was met with critical praise. However, twenty seven years later, the album doesn’t age well in comparison with his earlier discography. You see hints though of what is to come a year later, with a refreshing return to form in 1991.

My Favorites: New Power Generation, The Question of U, Joy In Repetition, Thieves In The Temple

15. Batman - 1989

I try not to be too pretentious in my fandom of an artist and don't take an obvious cash grab too seriously. They are human beings that have bills and shit just like the rest of us.  They don’t owe us fan’s their suffering and deserve to reach their full profitable potential. That being said this cash grab by Prince lead to a grab bag full of some nicely groomed trash. Batman sounds to me, like a reckless attempt by a not as talented musician to emulate Prince’s sound; only this was made by Prince himself.

I am already looking a bit silly by taking this flighty record so deliberate. Batman is meant to just be a fun-loving party playlist, closing out the ridiculous decade of the 80’s with the most peak and frivolous example of 80’s pop music; by one of that decade's most dominate stars. But, just because it’s supposed to be so lighthearted doesn’t mean it needs to be so light on effort. Many of the tracks feel so infuriatingly underdeveloped and half-assed, if Prince was a chef he would have given his patrons some form of food poisoning with this under cooked meal. Vintage Prince does show up in power jam “Electric Chair” with guitar rips that will blow your dick/tits off and the sultry hey-let’s-make-a-baby-right-fucking-now inducing “Scandalous” attempting to remind us who the fuck Prince is! (Seriously, after these two songs I had trouble finding two more songs I can say I like to put on my “My Favorite’s” list below). Unfortunately it is a bit too little of substance to truly rescue the day, and is completely undercut by the horrendous six minutes of illogical rubble that is “Batdance” closing out the album.

Batman marks the unfortunate beginning of the end for Prince being the dominate force in the industry he was for the ten years prior. He still would continue selling a shit-load of albums but the quality control takes a nosedive off a cliff. Some of it is his own doing and some of it is from the contentious and complicated relationship between his record company. However, despite a few successful (in my eyes) records still to come in Prince’s bloated 90’s and 2000’s albums catalog, there is a definite departure in the intensive craft and aptitude Prince puts into his albums from this point on. Only two years removed from one of his career defining masterpieces.

My Favorites: Electric Chair, The Arms of Orion, Trust, Scandalous

Flawed, But Respectable:

14. The Black Album - 1987/1994

With a non-consensual release as the last album before he officially became “The Artist Formally Known As Prince” the infamous and massively bootlegged album finally was out for mass consumption. Meant to be the follow up to Sign O’ The Times, but last minute shelved by Prince himself and replaced with Lovesexy, The Black Album became an enigma for seven years before being officially released in 1994. Whether the decision was a spiritual realization by Prince leading to a fear the album was evil, as Warner Bros statement said, or a bad MDMA trip as some people rumored, the decision was ultimately a good one in my eyes. Lovesexy was a strong and cohesive album that this one falls flat trying to emulate.

The general conceit of curating the album set it up to underwhelm in the first place. Prince has continually made music that speaks to him at the time. Despite what outside influences wanted Prince took calculated risks because they were his own interests and passions. The Black Album is named that in part because this work was an attempt to re-establish apparent black fans who weren’t interested in Prince’s music as they once were. Outside voices, he used to not let affect his work, were saying he became too focused on pop and rock music and not enough on his soul and funk beginnings. This album was also his first attempts at incorporating the sleeping giant that was hip hop into his music. With Eric B & Rakim, EPMD, LL Cool J and Run DMC beginning to add credibility to hip hop on a mainstream level, Prince’s interest was captured. Although I don’t know if he ever would fully figured out how to utilize hip hop in his music effectively.

The album starts off strong with two funky numbers in “Le Grind” and “Cindy C.” The funk is continued effectively through the album but the music itself begins to twist and wind into odd and perplexing places. “Bob George” is the most interesting and yet confounding piece on the album. Prince continues the voice manipulation he used on Sign O’ The Times, here toning down his voice. The music in the background is a groovy track that I wish was left without the monologue story of a man finding out his girlfriend is sleeping with Prince’s manager and turning to his gun for justice. It sounds like an Eminem skit that never ends. “Dead On It” wins the worst track on the album award with a rudimentary rap over an over-simplistic drum machine beat. Luckily, the final three songs bring us back to the soulful, funk space the album started at.

All in all the weird hubbub surrounding this album was much about very little. The album has it’s moments but you can tell while listening Prince’s heart isn’t into it like it usually is. A message from God, or a bad drug trip might have not been the actual cause of it’s original cancellation. Prince might have just known himself, it was mediocre at best.

My Favorites: Le Grind, Cindy C., Superfunkycalifragisexy, Rockhard In A Funky Place

Gavin James - For You (Bearcubs Remix).