Dude's still got it.

Musicology is great. It took me a while to like it, but its his best album since mid 90s.

Jehovah's Witnesses are a devil's cult according to those people, though.

I could never get into Musicology as much as everyone else did. For me The Rainbow Children is probably still my favorite album he's done since The Gold Experience. The Everlasting Now and Last December are beautiful.

agree. I saw him in 1985 (I think) at the Carrier Dome (Syracuse University) - dude blew the fucking roof off. one of the few concerts where I left in awe of the performer.

Damn. I'm so jealous. What I wouldn't give to have been able to see him at the height of his powers. That must have just been unbelievable.

Yeah, he is one of those artist you just have to see live sometime, even if you dont know what the hell is playing.

i figure if i can remember it, it was pretty amazing. that was a great weekend all the way around.

Musicology has a really great groove. Im more into it now than when it came out.

I'm totally new to Prince apart from the obvious singles, but thanks to Lament, have now started down the rabbit hole. So far I've listened right through to:

Purple Rain -- much enjoyed, inventive but not intimidating.
1999 -- stranger, apocalyptic space funk with lasers. Enjoyed but not quite as immediately, apart from those famous ones.

Both albums are full of the camp and keyboards I was expecting, but somehow the songs and themes can take all of that. I'm not sure about the extent to which I'm supposed to find half the stuff hilarious (this was the 80s, he might've meant everything deadly seriously), but I think I'm right in thinking it's deliberately very lighthearted and funny.

please get Lovesexy and Musicology. The last one is really funky...great production, more modern.
And after those, Sign o`the times.

Your love for Musicology perplexes me, though I respect it.

Lovesexy is pure genius, but I would say to go with Sign "O" The Times next. After Purple Rain and 1999, it makes sense to go after the big daddy of them all. And after that I'd fill out the rest of the 1980-1988 run of records.

Got it.

Is 1999 supposed to sound really... dark? "Lady Cab Driver" is pretty sinister (misogynistic almost), and then "All the Critics Love You"... it sounds like satire. But am I reading too much back in from the 21st century here? Did these albums court controversy?

I'm just starting with Prince. I've started with Purple Rain & Sign o' the Times first. They're both fucking awesome thus far.

Yeah, from Dirty Mind through probably even Purple Rain, Prince was actually a pretty dark artist, and his fanbase was generally considered to be dour, serious, sinister weirdos. Because of all the transformations he's gone through since then, it seems odd, but you'd be surprised what a big chunk of his very early fanbase was new wave/gothic/industrial type fans. You'd be surprised how often even today when you're hanging out in an industrial or new wave club a DJ will toss on or mix in Erotic City, Controversy, Head, 17 Days, Let's Pretend We're Married, etc.

Those albums did court a lot of controversy. 1999 and Purple Rain were two of the albums that most led to the formation of the PMRC and the development of the Parental Advisory sticker in the US (specifically the songs Let's Pretend We're Married and Darling Nikki).

Wow, that's interesting

Musicology is the album that got me interested again in his music...after so long, i remember watching the video and just dance through that sexy bass line.
I would say its his last great album, and one of the most accessible one, specially for starters.

It seems very un-RMlike that no one has attempted to rank their preferences of his albums. So I'm gonna open that really unpleasant box of worms...

1. Sign "O" The Times
2. Dirty Mind
3. Purple Rain
4. Lovesexy
5. Parade
6. Controversy
7. 1999
8. The Gold Experience
9. The Rainbow Children
10. Around The World In A Day
11. Prince
12. Come
13. Love Symbol/O(+>
14. Diamonds & Pearls
15. The Black Album
16. Graffiti Bridge
17. N.E.W.S.
18. Planet Earth
19. Batman
20. MPLSound
21. For You
22. 20Ten
23. Lotusflow3r
24. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
25. Musicology
26. Chaos & Disorder
27. 3121
28. Emancipation
29. Newpowersoul

I can see how it would be a good, accessible album for people who are coming to his work at what might seem like a dauntingly late point in his career. I guess as someone who never stopped paying attention to him it was just a letdown after The Rainbow Children (which for me is far and away his best post-1995 work), and N.E.W.S. (which hinted towards a lot of exciting things that didn't start to manifest until Planet Earth and MPLSound, and to be fair didn't end up being as exciting as a lot of us had hoped). It has some decent songs on it, but in terms of his late career attempts to make more accessible music, I prefer Rave over it (even though Rave in retrospect was a false start, and Musicology obviously accomplished what he wanted it to).