1 Sign O’ the Times 1987 ★★★★★
Prince the polymath in full and frightening effect, across funk, rock and genres yet to be given names. A double album with scarcely a sub-phenomenal moment.
2 Parade 1986 ★★★★★
The sound of Prince at his most effortless and assured. Cohesive and ice cream-cool, nobody would guess it was a soundtrack for a (sub-par) film. And it has “Kiss” on it.
3 Purple Rain 1984 ★★★★★
Too obvious? Like naming Ziggy Stardust as your favourite Bowie album? Who cares. A concise showcase for Prince’s wares, from instant to experimental to epic. Uber-pop perfection.
4 Dirty Mind 1980 ★★★★★
Incorporating the sharp minimalist sensibility of the New Wave into his own sex-funk agenda, the album with which Prince really found his direction.
5 1999 1982 ★★★★★
Bold double album on which Prince and his Revolution fully embrace synthesizers, while making a blatant grab for pop glory with that “1999”/ “Little Red Corvette” one-two.
6 Around The World In A Day 1985 ★★★★★
The album that threw the Purple Rain kids off-balance, with its opulent psych-pop textures, but which always sounds better than you think it will, when you revisit.
7 Lovesexy 1988 ★★★★★
The last Prince album, chronologically speaking, from his intimidatingly Midas-fingered infallible years. Sequenced as one long track on CD, annoyingly.
8 Diamonds And Pearls 1991 ★★★★
The first of many “stunning returns to form”, but worthy of the cliché. Highlights: the thoughtfully mature “Money Don’t Matter 2 Nite” and the hilariously immature “Gett Off”.
9 Prince 1979 ★★★★
Still incredibly young, Prince shows he has already mastered disco and soul, and on tracks like the hard rock “Bambi”, that he’s itching to stray into other territories.
10 Controversy 1981 ★★★★
A stopgap delivering little that Dirty Mind hasn’t already given us, but with “Jack U Off”, the iconic title track and the sublime “Do Me Baby” on board, there is joy in repetition.
11 The Black Album 1987/1994 ★★★★
A hard, heavy funk disc whose mystique (due to being withdrawn at the last minute and bootlegged by the million) perhaps outstrips its quality, but when it fires, it really fires.
12 The Gold Experience 1995 ★★★★
Containing his only UK No1, “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World”, and the astonishing courtroom-based “Eye Hate U”, this lavish record deserves more love.
13 Love Symbol 1992 ★★★★
His name is Prince. And he is funky. So he tells us on the album whose official title is the unpronounceable symbol he will later adopt instead of Prince. Confused?
14 For You 1978 ★★★★
An accomplished funk and soul debut from a precocious 19-year-old, but no hint whatsoever of the outrageously gifted talent that was soon to emerge.
15 Hitnrun Phase Two 2015 ★★★★
What turned out to be Prince’s farewell was arguably his most consistently satisfying work since Lovesexy, from the breezy “Baltimore” to the dark and cryptic “Revelation”.
16 Graffiti Bridge 1990 ★★★
OK, so the film (a sort-of sequel to Purple Rain) sucked like a Dyson, but with “Thieves In The Temple” and “Question Of U” on the soundtrack, that could be forgiven.
17 Crystal Ball / The Truth 1998 ★★★
Sprawling, revamped box-set version of abandoned mid-80s project, initiated post-Parade, including acoustic and instrumental sides. Vital for the original “P(ussy) Control”.
18 3121 2006 ★★★
The thwacking single “Black Sweat” was a banger unlike anything he’d released in 20 years, and did a lot to carry this playful, likeable pop-funk set.
19 Come 1994 ★★★
Rolled out with little fanfare, its artwork effectively proclaiming Prince dead (with the dates 1958-1993) Come is a superior class of contract-fulfiller.
20 The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale 1999 ★★★
Controversial taster from Prince’s fabled Vault of thousands of unreleased songs. Fans would tell you the bootlegs are better. Fans would be correct.
21 Plectrumelectrum 2014 ★★★
The only album released with all-female rock trio 3rdEyeGirl, who toughened up his sound and made his 2014 Hit & Run gigs a wonder to behold.
22 Art Official Age 2014 ★★★
Released alongside 3rdEyeGirl’s Plectrumelectrum, this lush, creamy album showed that Prince still had too many ideas for one discography to contain.
23 Hitnrun Phase One 2015 ★★★
Far from universally adored by critics, this Tidal-premiered release nevertheless had its moments, such as the jubilant “Fallinlove2nite”.
24 Emancipation 1996 ★★★
When EMI signed Prince and he immediately dropped a triple-album, they must have thought he was trolling them. If you sift, you will find jewels.
25 Batman 1989 ★★★
A rare case of Prince doing something for cash and profile. “Batdance” was fun, “Scandalous” a decent sex jam, but “Partyman” is a big hollow nothing.
26 Musicology 2004 ★★★
Prince comes in from the cold with his first major label (Columbia) release in years, and an impressive cast of collaborators (Sheila E, Maceo Parker, Candy Dulfer).
27 Planet Earth 2007 ★★★
Though given away free to anyone who attended his 21 Nights In London residency, as well as Mail On Sunday readers, lead single “Guitar” would have been worth paying for.
28 Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic 1999 ★★★
Riddled with collaborations (Gwen Stefani, Eve, Sheryl Crow, Ani DiFranco, Chuck D), this one-off Arista release seemed calculated to aim for the charts. It didn’t quite work.
29 Lotusflow3r/Mplsound 2009 ★★★
Startlingly successful self-released double, or triple (it was packaged with the debut by Prince protege Bria Valente), featuring some of his heaviest riffing for some time.
30 One Nite Alone 2002 ★★★
A little-heard piano-and-microphone release via NPG, which foreshadowed the format of Prince’s final tour, and featured beautiful Joni Mitchell cover “Case Of U”.
31 Chaos And Disorder 1996 ★★★
The final instalment of Prince’s SLAVE-cheeked, symbol-named strop with Warner Bros, but tracks like “Dinner With Delores” were far from phoned-in.
32 Xpectation 2003 ★★★
Nine mellow instrumental jazz cuts, all beginning with ‘X’, released as a download in one of Prince’s “actually, I like the internet” moods. Much cooler than it has any right to be.
33 The Chocolate Invasion 2004 ★★★
Unintentionally tittersome title aside, an inconsistent patchwork of tracks previously given away on his NPG Music Club website. Worth seeking out single “Supercute”.
34 The Slaughterhouse 2004 ★★★
Another instalment of previously downloadable tracks, and Prince’s last attempt for a while to make an album himself before getting back into bed with the industry.
35 20Ten 2010 ★★
Given away with the Daily Mirror, whose Tony Parsons declared it as good as Purple Rain, 1999 and Sign ‘O’ The Times.
36 The Rainbow Children 2001 ★★
Notable for Prince’s growing fondness for the two Js: jazz and the Jehovah’s Witness faith. Gigs around this time could be hard work.
37 N.E.W.S. 2003 ★★
Four very long (14-minute) instrumental jazz funk tracks, chiefly intended as a vehicle for saxophonist Eric Leeds. Prince’s lowest-selling album. Can’t imagine why.
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