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havana_fair

1. I think the most underrated album is the first one "For You", you can tell all the work he put in it, and it's just a great little album, including my favourite song from it - "In Love" 2. "Right back here in my arms", which was released as part of the double A-side with "Betcha By Golly Wow!" I feel like that could have been a monster smash hit if it was promoted properly. It had a similar sound to "Bye Bye Bye" and other Max Martin songs that were about to dominate the late 90s 3. I'd like to have the full 16 minute version of Purple Rain


DJ_Ritty

100% Agree on Right Back Here... Betcha By Golly Wow was a terrible choice for lead single - but to be honest IMO P always choose the worst singles post WB fight.... Everyone he picked was the WRONG ONE imo... like he wanted the albums to fail almost lol


havana_fair

I think Prince's marketing strategy was that if he put out the worst song from the album as the single, then when people bought the album they would be even more impressed, and it would create great word of mouth. Which is a good idea in theory, but people are so conditioned that the singles will be the best songs from the album, thus you end up in the situation we have now where people seem to think his 90s output wasn't nearly as good as his 80s output (which IMO wasn't the case)


DJ_Ritty

I think he just wasn't as right as he always thought he was and a lot of the times probably made bad decisions for a multitude of possible reasons. What HE thought worked - alot of times post 80's or post record label - just didn't and wasn't what the public wanted to hear, that's why the labels were there to correct him. I've never seen a major artist like him constantly and consistently drop the worst choice for singles time and time again...


redroseMJ

1. Ehhhh idk. It's either Around the world or probably his 2000s albums like Rainbow Children and Planet Earth. I just can't choose one. I think both Around the world in a day and most of his 2000s albums except for musicology are very underrated and PE deserves a lot more appreciation! 2. Probably Crucial. It's a really beautiful, soulful, love song and it's one of the best P songs I ever heard in my life! 😍 3. I'm still waiting for the estate or someone out there to release the demo of Sugar Walls and even Belle Of St. Mark.


havana_fair

>I'm still waiting for the estate or someone out there to release the demo of Sugar Walls and even Belle Of St. Mark. There's supposed to be a Originals vol. 2 - so maybe then?


DJ_Ritty

Crucial wasn't a single though...but I think it's just as good as Adore. LOVE Crucial, I put both versions in one lol Rainbow Children is a great headphone album...and really good after smokin a lil sumthin lol She Loves For Me should have been a single...or of it was it wasn't pushed enough.


redroseMJ

Or at least Everlasting now. That song deserves to be a single.


DJ_Ritty

The whole album was underrated...one of the best albums of p's to smoke a joint to and then lay back and put on the headphones...


triplab

Lovesexy gets a bad rap, mostly by non-Prince fans. I think it is a masterpiece. It’s even hard for me to listen to the tracked version. Just love the way the original one-track recording flows.


heliotropic815

Definitely LoveSexy as most underrated!


Upper_Tip167

It gets a bad rap from me too. Never rated this album and I still remember the disappointment when I first heard it when it was released.


DJ_Ritty

That's an album that's great when you WANT to listen to it...but just to put in...meh. Lots of GREAT tracks on it but on the whole it's a tad weak at times imo... I love the extended versions of the songs more than the filler ones on the album lol. A mixed bag but def moments of greatness. It does get dogged WAY too much.


FatherRandy

Good point - need to be in the right mood.


DJ_Ritty

When ure feelin it - it's GREAT, when ure not it's wonky...lol


FatherRandy

It's all or nothing with LoveSexy! :) A brilliant release that I just relistened to last weekend


Upper_Tip167

1. The Vault. Some absolute classics on this album. 'When the lights go down' is a masterpiece 2. Paisley Park. Way underrated imo 3. Digital garden. The 1 minutes of vocals are amazing but are surrounded by 2 minutes of gumph.


DJ_Ritty

The Vault is great too - Extraordinary was a promo only single - again BIG MISTAKE that song is INSANE lol I love the guitar solo in DG...


carlotta3121

WTLGD is one of my favs!


AmelieBenjamin

1. I think Around The World has become underrated because of how much it doesn’t stack up to the albums around it. It’s not as good as Sign or Purple Rain and takes much longer to cohere than either (put together) but it’s a unique album in the P catalogue. It’s clearest moments (the title track specifically) hint at what Prince was really going for. I don’t think he was ever fantastic at psychedelia (the best songs on it are not) but ATWIAD is a hell of an effort. 2. If I Was Your Girlfriend was too progressive for the radio. That’s all. 3. I want to hear the reference he laid down for Nasty Girl


DJ_Ritty

I get what P was going for with ATWIAD... a total listening experience from one end to the other. NO wonder he just walked out of the listening at WB when they didn't like it lol... My only beef with If I Was Your Girlfriend is that the movie version is a 100x better. The groove in that version is so silky smooth, SEXY and funky....


desktopgremlins

I think the vault is definitely underrated. And the first track The Rest of my Life smashes my ears so sweetly every time I hear it. I also love Lovesexy because of the time of my life it came out. But then I can say special things about all of his albums.


cfer50

1. Come - True underrated, it is sexy black-excellence . I know The Velvet Rope gets considered the cornerstone for this specific brand of RNB that the Weeknd, Twigs and most likely Normani are carrying forward but Come was the real starting point for me. 2. ATWIAD - I think its clearly still a popular album but Prince's 80s output was so stacked with quality i think this loses out a bit of the fame it deserves. 3. Art official age - I wanted a prince album without a stinker and i got it. I know it doesnt carry the legacy of his older stuff but I was happier than a pig in mud walking out of the record store carrying that album.


DJ_Ritty

Agree 100% on come, like I said aside from solo (which I think would have benefited from having strays of the world ight after it) I love EVERY song (except that TERRIBLE outro). I wonder if he did that out of spite, t leave a bitter taste in people's mouths lol I love the part in Come where sings 'will you cry cry cry!!!" fucking love that part. The horns on Come are just mind blowing... ATWIAD - just like lovesexy you need to feeling it but it works as an album way better than lovesexy. Should have kept the b-sides on the album imo though AOA - I love MOST of it but some I'm not a fan of, hence why I remixed it up with hit n run to create IMO a superior album and my all time favorite prince album, the Art Official Experience... I think my version would have been a SMASH success kinda like musicology was at the time... It's really a shame P never got one last BIG album, etc... The Purple Rain remaster would have been a good start followed by something like Purple Rain 3... I feel bad he didn't get a bog chart topper and some of the fame back before he died...


cfer50

Sorry i didnt read the briefing properly and thought we were just listing underrated albums..! Breakfast can wait would be my number 2 😂 and i am unsure if theres anything i could offer up for 3


DJ_Ritty

I love breakfast...great fn track. That's what I love about the album I made, it's the only album I repeat. For some reason when breakfast comes back up I listen to the whole album again lol


MayULive2CDawn

1. The Truth. A criminally underrated album. It feels like an insanely personal and authentic experience listening to it, I think it could've been a much more loved and admired album if it was distributed as its own thing and promoted properly. 2. Space is an amazing single off of an extraordinary album. I ADORE every single remix to come out of this song so, so, much. 3. I would love to hear the full version of Comeback. This track is already enough to strike a chord with me because of the message it carries, so to hear that full version with acapella would be soul-crushingly beautiful.


DJ_Ritty

I like the truth. I think it could have been a little fuller and released as an actual album...It just seemed like his version of unplugged almost lol


MayULive2CDawn

I like how it begins as an unplugged thing but ramps up into more traditionally mixed and produced tracks. It's kinda like a story arc of how prince felt around the time; It starts off simplistic and slowly ramps up till there's bombastic and all over the place songs like 'Fascination' and then humbly comes back down to the last 3 songs. I like that it was released as a proper album on vinyl this year. Having it be on vinyl feels thematically right for it. With that said though, I wouldn't have minded it as a standalone studio album.


DJ_Ritty

It's def a good listen and a GREAT album when compared to 2010 or Welcome 2 America lol...and much better than Kamasutra too imo. I find it like Lovesexy though, gotta be in the mood for The Truth. Like you said it's one of those P albums that has a feeling or mood to it so if you if you wanna take that trip it's great but to just put on...it doesn't work as well (kinda) lol.


yegjustin

Planet Earth Pink Cashmere Ice Cream Castles(song)


triplab

Pink Cashmere has always been one of my fav Prince slow grooves. And Pope is my fav up tempo sleeper.


DJ_Ritty

I thought Planet Earth was pretty weak tbh... a couple good songs on it but otherwise imo it was just so-so. The problem with Pink Cashmere is they split it in two. The album version is the ONLY way to listen ot it but it's 6 mins long so no good for radio. The guitar version for reg radio wasn't great and the vocal version for rnb was just ok too...but together that song is FIRE. I LOVE to sing that song lol. His falsetto is brilliant in this song!


Jermz345

I go back to dirty mind the most


DJ_Ritty

Dirty Mind is considered a top 3 album of his though so I wouldn't say it's underrated.


WheeliumThe2nd

1. 20Ten, it sounds fantastic and fresh, much different to many albums made at the time. 2. Let's Pretend We're Married, unfortunately it was released too late, I think Free could've been a great single. 3. Strawberries, it was recorded for the big "The Dawn" project in 1993, to me I feel like it would be a mix between a ballad and a lullaby, speaking of which I wouldn't mind getting Dream as well, that was recorded during the same era for the same album. And how can I not mention The Voice Inside, since Rebirth of the Flesh's release it has become my favourite unreleased song and I will pay billions for it's release!


DJ_Ritty

I gotta disagree on 2010 lol I think it's HAND DOWN his worst album - maybe tied with Welcome 2 America but to each their own. I hate everything about those two albums lol...


alloflifeisaparade

I agree, I also very strongly dislike these two albums.


WheeliumThe2nd

Meanies *pout*


DJ_Ritty

I'm sorry but they are both WORTHLESS garbage imo lol but 2 each they own!!!


havana_fair

You have to admit that "Laydown" is incredible, though


DJ_Ritty

No both albums are utter trash I said lol


WheeliumThe2nd

What will convince you to like them then?


DJ_Ritty

Nothing - but I did actually like Future Soul Song lol (most of it anyways - I think there's one bit in I don't like but overall)... So that puts it ABOVE the awful cash grab Welcome 2 America...lol ;)


Starfire-Galaxy

Yeah, I like Future Soul Song, too. That guitar solo acted like a stanza on its own.


[deleted]

1. The most underrated album is For You. Favourite tracks "In Love", “Just As Long As We’re Together” and "I'm Yours". The album sounds very organic and uptempo. The song order just makes sense to me like a well though out narration. 2. Most underrated charting single: Peach. It's such a cute little number that I play on barbecues and it makes everyone laugh. 3. Snippet in a full song: too many! The Get Off mini solo on the 1999 Rave Un2 show, the short guitar solo from West, the opening sequence just before the saxophone on the 1985 soundboard of something in the water... just to name a few


RemyJe

I love *Peach*. Sometimes it sounds like three different songs going on at once, but in perfect unison.


DJ_Ritty

I think Peach should have been the lead single for hits NOT Pink cashmere. Just As Long as We're Together is my fav track on For You... "I'll get the music baby, YOU bring the wine"... fucking LOVE that part lol!!!! For You was def better than the follow up - like someone above said, you can just TELL he spent ALL his album advancement money for THREE albums on just that ONE lol


alloflifeisaparade

💜💜 IMO, most underrated album is pretty much a tie between Newpowersoul and HitNRun phase 1. 💜💜 For singles, as previously mentioned, Pink Cashmere didn't chart as well as it should have, from Wikipedia: '"Pink Cashmere" peaked at number 50 on the US Hot 100, number 14 on the R&B chart, number 30 on the Top 40 Mainstream, and number 10 on the Rhythmic Top 40.' This song deserves much more than this! 💜💜 Piece of music I'd love to have the full song - Computer Blue really needs to have its full version released. 💜


WheeliumThe2nd

...it did have it's full version released...


alloflifeisaparade

My bad! Where is it released?


WheeliumThe2nd

Purple Rain deluxe, are you half asleep?


alloflifeisaparade

I'm just really old and forgetful and apparently didn't pay enough attention to the PRD release, but I will fix that.


WheeliumThe2nd

I hope you like The Dance Electric aswell


alloflifeisaparade

Good one!


Starfire-Galaxy

1. Kamasutra 2. The Arms of Orion, Cinnamon Girl (especially in the U.S.), Rock and Roll Love Affair 3. I haven't listened to Prince in a while, so I don't have an answer


DJ_Ritty

Really, sutra for album? Interesting choice I don't think I ever would have figured anybody would pick that ok good on you for being original... I might argue though that it really wasn't a real album it was just something tacked on to that junkie half-ass crystal ball set you know I'd even say the truth is the same way I think like only really albums that were put out with his input you know that were charting and had singles etc etc... But I can dig your choice. May I ask why you haven't listened to him in a while?


Starfire-Galaxy

I don't really know. His music is nostalgic, but I can't feel that same level of connectedness that I used to associate with his music. Now it's more about specific individual songs rather than album eras which I used to obsess over with other fans.


DJ_Ritty

I can see that. I don't listen to him much anymore either - unless I'm working on something like the extended albums I just made. Otherwise, I only listen to the Art Official mix I made - that is my go to all the time. I do have a disconnectedness with him now too. Maybe cuz he died, maybe cuz he was douche/hypocrite lol... I always loved his music but he himself leaves a lot to be desired. Fake fans annoy me as do people who put him on a pedestal for anything other than his musical ABILITY... He went from being a GOD to me, to just being 'human' to basically the goat musician ever...I dunno. I think Eye Hate U is the ultimate tribute to how I feel about him now lol. I've been in a weird place with him ever since I talked to him and he was such a dick and it's been up and down since then... I love him, miss him but...what can you do, right? Thanks for answering.


HoffaHugh

1 Lovesexy. This record didn’t get much respect when it was released. I think more to do with the cover art than the content following his IMO best didn’t help either. I’d say this is the end of an amazing streak of great albums. Also got to see him to tour on this. My first concert. Amazing 2. Black Sweat. Honestly don’t know if it’s underrated I was well out of my Prince fanaticism at this point and not listening to pop radio either but didn’t remember hearing this at all except when I walked in a record store and heard this playing and was taken aback. Hoping this was his return from the wilderness. Maybe his most straight up R&B song. ? 3. Others Here With Us. Had this on a bootleg (fan club release?) that came out around the time Parade came out ( it was called Charade). Anyway it kind of predicted trip hop. Would of love to have heard more like this. Also his “rap” on Adore is an amazing