Home /
Celebrating 20 years of
Prince’s Best Songs
Goldie’s personal playlist of the Purple Reign and favourite Prince tracks, reviewed in chronological order. These may not be Prince’s iconic classics or commercial hits, and nor were many of them released as singles. But if you are new to Prince and looking for top-tier Prince songs that are not necessarily the obvious choices, this is a selection of the best of the rest to seek out and come to cherish.
Prince's best songs reviewed 54
Just As Long As We're Together
For You - Warner Bros. Records (1978)
Single
Just As Long As We’re Together is the place Prince’s roots are to be found. Throwing in a six-minute track on a debut album requires immense talent and self confidence. But get this, Prince who was just eighteen when he recorded it, lays down a disco track on which he sings and plays every single instrument. Then, after the three min opening he slides into a three-min outro packed with vigour and dexterity – why? Because he could. The closing portion is a reworking of an instrumental from ’76 Prince named Jelly Jam. Comprising two of the three songs Prince included in his original demo reel which got him signed to Warner that year, it is therefore a track of great significance. No other on For You showcases Prince better than this, and without it Sexy Dancer would not exist. Fortune favours the bold.
Bambi
Prince - Warner Bros. Records (1979)
Single
Not the cute Disney number as the title might allude, Bambi is a roller-coaster of a Prince track that when played live will reduce fully grown males into screaming girls, for it contains perhaps his greatest showcase of his ability with the guitar and, at such an early stage in his career, one of the best rock gods of his time. Bambi received a limited release as a single, being issued only in Belgium. Deserving better, 3rdEyeGirl gave it a welcome dusting down for their shows of 2013/14 and sounded as fresh as ever. If you don’t have this song in your collection you don’t have a collection. For those about to rock, we salute you.
Dirty Mind
Dirty Mind - Warner Bros. Records (1980)
Single
Prince once said it took him four years to become an overnight success. Before superstardom, the title track of his third album Dirty Mind is one of, well arguably the funkiest tracks in music. Cowritten with “Dr” Fink during a rehearsal who created this iconic opening on his ARP Omni keyboard, and extends into a positively nasty rhythm. The song is plain and simple an ode to banging. Where the storyline refuses to rise further than the waistline, the track forms the keystone to Prince’s legacy in which he is the undisputed king of funk.
Controversy
Controversy - Warner Bros. Records (1981)
Single
Dirty Mind was lewd, rebellious and petulant, but come Controversy and with the mainstream now in sight, Prince’s music had moved on. The opening track of the LP, this is one of the songs which defined his Minneapolis Sound and is the very definition of electro-funk, and so good it was a firm crowd pleaser in Prince’s concerts. Prince’s first 7-minute plus track, Controversy keeps very illustrious company. Robotic, pounding, staccato vocals, this is not crude or playful but honest and masterful and pulls no punches. “People call me rude, I wish we all were nude” Controversy and Sexuality gave us the Prince we grew to love and still yearn for now. As fresh as the day it was written. It’s the first track to introduce the Lord’s prayer in pop lyrics and is brave beyond measure.
Let’s Pretend We’re Married
1999 - Warner Bros. Records (1982)
Single
When it came out in ’82, critics did not warm kindly to Prince’s use of space to fill his first double album, arguing it allowed him far too much latitude to succumb to self indulgence. Prince, self indulgent? Shock horror! Running to 7:20, most of Let’s Pretend We’re Married is dedicated to the intro. Any other artist this would be utter monotony, but equipped with his newly acquired Linn LM-1 Drum Machine Prince created music that to this day sounds like the future.
D.M.S.R.
1999 - Warner Bros. Records (1982)
Dance Music Sex Romance. D.M.S.R. remains the ultimate club classic. A cool 8-minute road trip of funk, Prince’s sharp Oberheim synths gets fans’ heads all a bobbing from the first note. Here Prince lists his life goals in priority: dance, music, sex, which and only once he has conquered his women will they receive romance. “Screw the masses – we only want to have some fun” and that’s what this track is all about: no politics, no rant, just pure groove and chocked full of D.M.S.R. and unmistakably Prince.
1999
1999 - Warner Bros. Records (1982)
Single
What can one say, Prince’s millennial song. Because of this the Millennium was always going to be a big deal for Prince, and dare we say it, whilst The New Master gives it a reboot it’s the original which stands the test of time. Prophetic for many reasons as 1999 would mark the eventual year of expiration of Prince’s loathed contract with Warner Brothers. 1999 is all about how Prince just wants to have a good time, even despite the looming apocalypse. Orwell was thinking of 1984, but Prince was onto a thing when the world would meet its maker in two-thousand zero-zero. Who won’t list this in their personal hall of fame.
Purple Rain
Purple Rain - Warner Bros. Records (1984)
Single
Listening to this is a spiritual experience – one where the world has stopped spinning for the near 9 minutes it lasts. Whilst When Doves Cry is regarded as Prince’s best composed song, lets face it, put on track nine of Purple Rain and the volume up to max, you come at one with the greatest song ever created. Prince’s pain is laid bare and projected from his soul and draped in his guitar. Purple Rain commands every inch your attention and sucks you into every bar, note, syllable all the way through to its haunting and lingering conclusion. Purple Rain is one of those rare gifts you won’t ever want to end. Prince turned the remainder of his career into a quest to top this but even he could not move out of its shadow. Purple Rain leaves his other work – and your mind, out in the rain. And music has never caught up with it.
When Doves Cry
Purple Rain - Warner Bros. Records (1984)
Single
This track was written to montage scenes in the Purple Rain movie and turned out to be Prince’s most successful song. When Doves Cry is possibly also the best pop song ever written and continues to pack a punch 30+ years later and famously contains no bass at all. It is more than a lament about relationship, it is a milestone in music and nothing before or since has matched it. This is the one song that humankind is duty bound to preserve, pop into a capsule and jettison deep into space so other worlds can discover this classic for all eternity. That montage arguably produced the greatest song ever. Not only did it cement the relevance of the Linn Drum Machine and shape 80’s pop, it as defined the landscape of music since. That is what you call legacy.
The Beautiful Ones
Purple Rain - Warner Bros. Records (1984)
Be in no doubt track #3 is the lurking best on Purple Rain. Overshadowed by the singles, the nakedness of The Beautiful Ones dives to a dimension so deep it will stop you in your tracks. Any woman (it’s understood to be about his relationship with Denise “Vanity” Matthews (a.k.a. Vanity 6), who Prince split with just before the movie. Like her, if you are deciding whether to want Prince or “him”, just listen to this song and it’s no contest. Prince didn’t name his autobiography after it for nothing. Baby, Baby, Baby.
America
Around The World In A Day - Warner Bros. Records (1985)
Single
Lets be honest, if we could ever hear one Prince song live again let it be this one. Get hold of the full 21 minute version and you will see why. Listen to America not for patriotic babble but for one of Prince’s strongest guitar licks put to record. Backed with one of Prince’s most thumping jams it’s too bad that Around The World In A Day is only sought out for Raspberry Beret. We know the guitar is an extension of Prince’s you-know-what, so when he grinds it here we are in for an uplifting musical experience in every essence of the word.
Condition Of The Heart
Around The World In A Day - Warner Bros. Records (1985)
To those who in 1985 expected another Let’s Go Crazy on the follow-up album for Purple Rain and then heard this opener’s intro of flutes and tinkling piano, they would be forgiven to believe they’d just died. Let’s face it, I’d be pissed, too. Yet when heard in context expectations are readjusted and this track soars and takes you to places no other Prince song achieved. It’s better than anything on its predecessor, a minor miracle.
Anotherloverholonyohead
Parade - Warner Bros. Records (1986)
Single
Great chugging beat and even better live, this is Prince’s happiest break-up song. The lyrics are full of infectious attitude and will leave you singing your heart out. Anotherloverholonyohead is the song fans tend to overlook, which is odd, because the chorus, indeed the song, knocks Kiss to the long grass. This top the cherry on Parade album’s cherry moon and is utterly superior to the over feted Kiss. Prince’s 80s material is still fresher than anything available today.
![La La La, He He Hee [Highly Explosive] from Sign O’ The Times, Prince](https://goldiesparade.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/prince-sign-o-the-times.jpg.pagespeed.ce.yefAJTJX7Z.jpg)
La La La, He He Hee [Highly Explosive]
Sign O’ The Times - Warner Bros. Records (1987)
This B-side to this iconic album’s lead single is, considering the A-side’s gravitas, epitomises the sheer majesty of Prince. We’re talking here the 12″ Highly Explosive version of La La La, He He Hee, the full-length original of the track famously created in response to a challenge set by Sheena Easton to work this bonkers title into a track. Boy did he meet that challenge. The 12” showcases Prince at his funkiest and blessed with a top tier band: Sheila E, Atlanta Bliss and Eric Leeds. Bass licks aplenty, this is one of Prince’s greatest tracks. Seriously.
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Sign O’ The Times - Warner Bros. Records (1987)
Single
This song is described by many as the very essence of Prince. A reviewer once said that to play this late at night you will discover how marvellous a tune this is. The beat consumes you, and although The Most Beautiful Girl In The World was the larger hit, that lacked the power of this 1987 classic. Featuring engineer’s Susan Rodgers accidently tweaked up mic input which gave Prince a high-pitched voice, Prince wasn’t angry but embraced it to create a classic. Prince’s heart is tormented, pleading and left only to fantasize about reciprocated love. We’ve all felt that kind of pain.
It
Sign O’ The Times - Warner Bros. Records (1987)
It is probably the most overlooked tack on Sign O’ The Times, which is hardly surprising considering the illustrious company it keeps. One of the originals intended for Prince and The Revolution’s what would be fourth LP Dream Factory, It is in essence a song of two parts – the outro and the rest. The thumping and thankfully lengthy outro is why It makes the cut here – powerful, intoxicating stuff. My first live encounter with the track was in the Diamonds And Pearls Tour, 1992, the highlight of the whole show, a jaw dropping moment that was seared into my memory ever since.
Anna Stesia
Lovesexy - Warner Bros. Records (1988)
Like Sign O’ The Times it’s possible to write a book on the lyrics of this song. Anna Stesia soars heavenward like no other. Ethereal and absolutely haunting and, well, immensely divine. Prince is a man gifted by God and you feel that Prince gives thanks in return with this majestic track. Anna Stesia comes second only in might to Purple Rain. Put it on, play it loud and discover Prince (the lyricist) in his best moment. You are held to every note and left absolutely breathless in its searing beauty.
I Wish U Heaven (Part 1-2-3)
Lovesexy - Warner Bros. Records (1988)
Single
Music industry reviewers at the time complained Lovesexy lacked a beat. I respectfully beg to differ. There are three parts to I Wish U Heaven of which only the first actually made it to the album cut. Things get far deeper in parts 2 and 3. A great driving rhythm throughout builds and tells a story. The structure is furthered on The Scandalous Sex Suite. There are timeless lyrics too, coming into greater relevance for later years What’s My Name: “Take this beat, I don’t mind, got plenty of ’em, and they so fine.”
Joy In Repetition
Graffiti Bridge - Warner Bros. Records (1990)
“He liked to frequent this club, down up on 36th. Pimps and thangs like to hang outside and cuss for kicks”. Joy In Repetition seizes attention from the off and rightly so. It is a mind blowing scene setter in which the guitar is the highlight and in perfect harmony continues the storytelling once the intoxicating lyrics are finished. A gaping omission on later ‘hits’ compilation albums – considering this was originally an outtake of Sign O’ The Times. Play it in the repetition this really deserves. There’s joy in repetition. There’s joy in repetition. It stands all time.
The Question Of U
Graffiti Bridge - Warner Bros. Records (1990)
Stemming from 1985, the 1987 reworking of The Question Of U found its way to Graffiti Bridge in 1990 – an LP filled with 80s outtakes, it soared to number one in the UK charts. This hypnotic song stems from Prince’s abandoned project The Flesh, it has power so must be played loud. Should have been a single. Instrumentally the ultimate marriage of each instrument taking its turn in the limelight. It delivered the highlight of the Nude Tour set lists. Magical.
Gett Off
Diamonds And Pearls - Warner Bros. Records (1991)
Single
Prince’s sexual appetite is fully explored with this groove. Who else can promise 23 positions in a one night stand? Gett Off (don’t mistake it for the 1990 song with a single ‘t’) is a song to literally beg to hear in concert, no fan with a pulse is left sitting still when this is played, it’s Prince most thumping anthem and an ultimate club track to the 90s make no mistake. This late minute addition to Diamonds And Pearls produced its Battle of the Singles between Cream and Gett Off back in 1991. Gett Off packs the greater punch and is damn right dirty to boot. Move over Cream you got licked.
7
Love Symbol - Warner Bros. Records (1992)
Single
This track possibly contains the greatest chorus Prince wrote. And one which, frankly, no one knows exactly what it is about (a possible explanation is the plot line for the video 3 Chains O’ Gold), but equally no one cares. 7 is one of the last great anthems of Prince’s Warner Brothers era and will sweep you away. The hardest challenge is not to be drawn into singing your heart out along with it. If you can though, grabbing a copy of the extended version is highly recommended.
Pink Cashmere
The Hits / The B-Sides - Warner Bros. Records (1993)
Single
This multi-lyric-layered treat is just total, utter, sheer perfection. Pink Cashmere is one of the few songs possible to lose yourself to its majesty at every listen. “Come on back to your l’ill man” – I do, Prince. Every time. Shocking to think that this is an outtake and from the Lovesexy era, it was reworked in 1993 for the The Hits/The B-Sides compilation and thank God was allowed to see the light of day beyond the vault.
Erotic City
The Hits / The B-Sides - Warner Bros. Records (1993)
Considered Prince’s best B-side, Erotic City was written after Prince attended a performance of Parliament-Funkadelic at the Beverley Theatre in 1983 and watched the crowd’s reaction to it. The full version clocks in at 7 minutes and is notable for Sheila E’s chorus – and yes, she sings what you thought you heard, it’s what they got up to until the dawn back then.
Come
Come - Warner Bros. Records (1994)
The song in which one could, quite literally make love to. From the playful seduction, to seeing into the future, to doing the dirty deed itself, of which is climaxed by unbridled pleasure and its glamorous aftermath. Time for a shower. You’ll find yourself exhaling with exhaustion when Prince is done but thankful that he and you stayed the course. At ten full minutes in length Come is oral in real-time – but who’s watching the clock.
Space
Come - Warner Bros. Records (1994)
Single
The version on the single, the Funky Stuff Remix, is superior to the album version and frankly one of the best remixes Prince ever issued. I do like remixes and this is proof why. What’s remarkable about this one is the completely reworked lyrical content, improving the original, and hints at how Prince was uncertain how the song should be structured but not unduly tinkered. This, and Universal Love Remix better the silky version of Space that ended up on Come.
Superfunkycalifragisexy
The Black Album - Warner Bros. Records (1994)
Don’t be fooled, this is as far removed as able from Poppins, although this draws inspiration from Disney, as you would expect it’s done in true Prince style. In simple terms, this is Prince’s funk opera and the first song he recorded for the legendary The Black Album. Crashing through at relentless pace, Superfunkycalifragisexy covers so much ground the real challenge is to keep up, yet is easy to love it and do it over again and again. A ride that defies description, and Prince at his funkiest. This legendary vaulted track lives up to its mythical status.
The Exodus Has Begun
Exodus - Edel (1995)
Who on earth could work polyvinyl acetate into the lyrics of a song? Prince, silly. The Exodus Has Begun is Prince’s (as Tora Tora) call to arms and F-U to Warner Bros – “offer us pennies when it’s millions they reap”. This song lays bare the unbound outrage at his former label is powerful stuff and riven with anger. This most publicised feud between artist and record label, that reached its height in 1995, imbued Prince with an unrivalled source of material. Long live New Power.
Billy Jack Bitch
The Gold Experience - Warner Bros. Records (1995)
A personal favourite Prince track of all time – yet not one other fans will leave at the forefront of their list. This is Prince at his underrated best. Recalling his tussles with Star Tribune gossip reporter Cheryl Johnson (“CJ”) who Prince named Billy, and she it can be said the sentiment was mutual. Billy Jack Bitch captures Prince’s venom at being called Symbolina: “Open letters aren’t the only things that open wounds.” The song has it all; razor sharp lyrics, dirty keyboards, an insane horn section and a driving beat that presents us Prince’s tightest work.
The Love We Make
Emancipation - EMI-Capitol Music (1996)
The Love We Make is about Prince’s former Revolution band mates’ Wendy and Susannah Melvoin’s brother Jonathan Melvoin (of The Smashing Pumpkins) who died of a heroin overdose on 12 July 1996. The song spills out Prince’s profound sadness “Put down the needle, put down the spoon” and implores the listener to cherish the gift of life. The song itself gained new lease of life during the Hit And Run tours of 2014/5 and because it is a truly emotive and personal track its painful narrative will strike a chord with every listen. Desperate is the day that is tomorrow.
Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife
Emancipation - EMI-Capitol Music (1996)
All the liner notes says about this song is that it was written ‘while she slept’; one of the sweetest things I think I have ever read. The titular ‘she’ is of course Prince’s first wife, Mayte. Her influence on Prince’s writing and particularly this song inspires the best declaration of true love he was able to transfer to record. Prince is soft at first then rises to immense raw passion. Other than 1987s Adore I wonder how many times this song has been played at Prince fans’ weddings. I’d love it played at mine.
Face Down
Emancipation - EMI-Capitol Music (1996)
Hands down, Face Down is the highlight of Emancipation. It is Prince’s best diss track against Warner, goading to be buried face down so they could kiss his ass, it was the was the highlight in the Jam of the Year concerts, when in 1997 Prince was forging his own path as a highly successful and creatively agile independent artist, it is the very anthem of liberation.
Days Of Wild
Crystal Ball - NPG Records (1998)
Once heard never forgotten. Prince never played the same version of this twice in concert. Days Of Wild is bad-ass and truly funktastic. An outtake from The Gold Experience, it only found light of day with this vault taster Crystal Ball. The rap is from the crude little Prince which went M.I.A shortly after this release, when Larry Graham cleaned up Prince’s vocabulary good and proper. If you don’t find yourself grinding to this then seek out a mortician. It’s one of the best songs to hear live. Full stop.
Come On
Newpower Soul - RCA / BMG (1998)
Single
The bass line returns! Prince showcases his remarkable skill in one of the most prominent and best bass in any a Prince track in recent years and is indeed the highlight of Newpower Soul. This was back in the day it was possible to issue singles with six remixes and still qualify for the charts. The extended remixes pack real punch in this top drawer single that’s been dangerously overlooked. “I got the butter for yo muffin, just need the keys to your room” – what a come on.
Man O' War
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic - Arista Records (1999)
What’s impressive is that this song contains no fewer than 14 separate layers of Prince’s silky voice. “Break the gold chain that I gave you, throw it down on the floor”, this is Prince’s song about breaking up and feeling wanted again and is the sincerest on the album from which it is its best. Written during the slow demise in his marriage with Mayte, even Prince can beg forgiveness – sometimes, he ain’t no Man O’ War. The track was a promo single albeit inexplicably denied a commercial release.
Old Friends 4 Sale
The Vault… Old Friends 4 Sale - Warner Bros. Records (1999)
Titles like this make you realise Prince turned off his computer’s spell checker long, long ago and never turned it back on since. This is possibly Prince’s most personal and honest track, indeed the version on The Vault… is watered down from the original because it was quite simply too painfully honest. Old Friends 4 Sale has a powerful backstory and you feel every inch his burning pain. But are his fans the ‘friends for sale’?
When The Lights Go Down
The Vault… Old Friends 4 Sale - Warner Bros. Records (1999)
Recorded during studio sessions for Love Symbol Album, approx. 1991, When The Lights Go Down is a bag of all sorts – it’s gentle and whacked-out intro slowly builds to a magical crescendo, this is Prince at his 2am lounge act style best. Clocking in at some seven minutes, this is utterly sublime, dreamy and another track you never want to fade to allow normal life to resume.
When Will We B Paid?
U Make My Sun Shine - Wingspan Records (2001)
Single
Prince was oddly quiet in 1999/2000 right when you’d expect to see a big release cashing in on 1999. Caught up with NPG Music Club and feuding with Warner Bros, he didn’t put out anything commercially until 2002, the time when his music was arguably in a renaissance. Prince recorded this his electrifying cover When Will We B Paid? as his fight song demanding back the rights to his Warner catalogue. Not only is it the best cover he ever produced, its quiet opening, then unleashed closing elevates this among his best tracks of the decade.
Rainbow Children
The Rainbow Children - Redline Entertainment (2001)
Here, but purely on musical merit. Rainbow Children starts the album that takes its name. Beginning rather twee, it kicks in to the catchiest jazz tunes you would ever have heard. The track goes to a new level as Prince implores us to “rise” – your cue you crank up the volume to 11 and let the music melt you. And that’s not it. The sheer power of this track is the two-and-a-half minute link to the second track. Prince treats us to guitar heaven and which you can really believe the angels are calling to you. Heaven help you – if not the album’s message should.
Last December
The Rainbow Children - Redline Entertainment (2001)
The most comforting song ever put to music. Should you be on the look-out for a song to put things right in your world, pop this one on. Released just after 11 September attacks in 2001, it offered a beacon of light at a dark moment. And what’s better it comes with bite. Beautiful lyrics and sublime music are perfectly married in this utterly time stopping track. Truly superb.
Empty Room
C-Note - NPG Records (2004)
To be at a concert and hear Prince play this you had truly hit the jackpot. Prince released Empty Room in 2004 to NPG Music Club, its rarity heightens its legend and deservedly so. The song dates from 1985 and was intended for release in 1999 on The Revolution’s aborted outtakes compilation Roadhouse Garden. This version – therefore the only one officially released when finally finding a home as a live version, was captured during the soundcheck before his One Nite Alone tour in Copenhagen, 25 October 2002.
Call My Name
Musicology - Columbia Records (2004)
Occasionally amid the chaff that seem to be clogging radio comes a superior track. Superior because it is one of Prince’s most well-crafted songs of recent years and one stated by him to be in his personal all time favourites. Once critical about fans calling out his name then telling them not to, he is back this sassy track pleading with all to call it once more. Musicology surprised many a fan and critic as it was both commercially and an artistically acclaimed and which Call My Name is testament that artistry and pleasure can coexist. All of Musicology is great – it is in fact Prince’s most successful album of the noughties. So there are two reasons to challenge anyone to put their case against this pure sonic perfection.
3121
3121 - Universal Music Group (2006)
Because of the wonderful bass of Sonny T 3121 is a thumping and rousing opener and gets even the most po-faced fans into a lather at concert. When first listening to Dirty Mind you could think that if Prince is still writing music 25 years later you would hope it would evolve into a song like this. And it did. 3121 is living proof that Prince could still create world-beating kick-ass tunes in the his career and this one is about a party you won’t want to leave (nothing sinister like Hotel California) and with every listen makes me so thrilled to be a Prince fan now than ever.
Chelsea Rodgers
Planet Earth - Columbia Records (2007)
Good old fashioned funk in its purest form. Chelsea Rodgers is Prince turning the disco floor upside-down. Thick with hornz and a beat to get even the largest booty’s a-bouncing Chelsea Rodgers is arguably Prince’s best track since leaving Warner. “A model, used to be a role model.” Prince still leads the way. Named after a real person – a fashion designer, of course and was played at her show at London’s Fashion Week 2007.
Colonized Mind
LotusFlow3r - NPG Records (2009)
A rather dark but lyrical masterpiece. Prince returns to that well trodden path, this time criticising the concept of joint venture record deal: it’s another way another man can still sleep, while he’s sticking you with the bill to explore a theme of fractured society. This is a wide reaching song of contrasts, where the darkness of the lyrics are countered by soaring heavenly guitar which punches through words of introspection and wisdom.
Dreamer
LotusFlow3r - NPG Records (2009)
Wake up. Wake up. This hard-hitting track pulls no punches – a rallying battle cry for “I had a dream” Dr Martin Luther King and the race disparity that sadly still exists. It’s upbeat and the music is tight and a straight forward rock anthem, completely unexpected at this stage in Prince’s career who is playing the guitar with true bite. The track has flavours of Witness 4 The Prosecution, this alone makes Dreamer a worthy classic.
Ol' Skool Company
MPLSound - NPG Records / Because Music (2009)
“Take the radio back” Prince is in fighting talk recalling the mantra of his 2004 album Musicology; looking nostalgically to the glory days of funk, and Prince and his new Minneapolis Sound. Some say the song shows his bitterness at the current state of music. The message may be nostalgic, but this funky cut serves as a reminder that Prince was a genre of his own and still blazing trails in music.
Laydown
20TEN - The Daily Mirror (2010)
Don’t look on the back cover track listing for this, Laydown is a hidden song. Only Prince could hide the album’s best track. Refreshing hard funk and with a backing as hard as Dr Dre, a great choice to bounce through your speakers if the CD is left to tick all the way trough to track 77 because you forgot to press stop. Laydown is unashamedly nasty and Prince’s best surprise since Wasted Kisses. A raw, rasping, pulsating score in which Prince proclaims he is the one and only Purple Yoda “bringing the dirty new sound.”
Wow
Plectrumelectrum - Warner Bros. Records (2014)
Plectrumelectrum is an old skool LP that is almost impossible to pick out a best track. The one that tops it is Wow, the opener. Prince’s version of the song he wrote for Liv Warfield’s The Unexpected, it was also played over the PA at the start of 3rdEyeGirl’s Hit And Run Part II tour and shall evoke much fond memories hearing it again today. Wow whisks listener on a sexual odyssey, a theme missed in Prince albums post 2001. Reminiscent of The Beatles, and dips, rises and roars, Prince teams up with 3rdEyeGirl to deliver a riotous track that defines their album – an album that punches hard above its weight.
Time
Art Official Age - Warner Bros. Records (2014)
Probably the most majestic Prince song for almost 20 years, Time is the crowning glory of Art Official Age. From the hypnotic bass line to Prince’s heartfelt plea, he seduces with lyrics and a standard of production that harks right back to his high watermark of Sign O’ The Times. Time achieves more in six minutes than most of Prince’s late career output and the result is this masterpiece from an album that is equally worthy to contain it. Such claims have been bandied before with recent releases – this one’s the real deal.
Hardrocklover
HITNRUN Phase One - NPG Records (2015)
Single
This came of nowhere in July 2015, shortly after it was recorded. Released ten weeks ahead of the album no one knew this was in fact a single from a full album, his first release with Warner since their bitter split back in 1993. The greatest partnership in music, Prince + Warner are reconciled. Hardocklover starts softly but builds right the way through to its cracking crescendo. This is exhilarating stuff opening a new dawn.
Revelation
HITNRUN Phase Two - NPG Records (2015)
Its most effective in a dark room and with the volume loud Revelation is thoroughly absorbing. Hypnotic beat laced with a dreamy Hammond Organ, the track is as comforting as the best kiss you’d ever received in your life. Prince’s seductive storytelling is again at its intoxicating best in this perfect paced song for a hectic age. It was Prince’s last remarkable song. What a tragedy.
Moonbeam Levels
4Ever - Warner Bros. Records (2016)
Having always thought the song so unique, since recording it in 1982 Prince never found a suitable place for it. It took his death to give it the light of day, and as soon as that happened, guess what was the song was the very first released from his Paisley Park vault. Moonbeam Levels has mythical status amongst the fan community and one listen confirms why. It is probably the best unreleased song in music history, and that is no overstatement. Thank God it’s locked away no more. A remastered version sits on 1999 Super Deluxe Edition.
1010 (Rin Tin Tin)
Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition - Sony Legacy (2021)
Just when it was written off as a dud year for Prince, his ‘lost’ second album of 2010, Welcome 2 America was discovered in the vault, dusted down and finally given its long-deserved release in 2021. Even a decade later this track remains fresh, razor sharp, and pulls no punches. Lone Ranger references galore, this belter is proof Prince was on fire in 2010 but begs the question why he never released it.
© Goldies Parade, 1998 – 2024 | Privacy
New Release
ON SALE NOW
Magnificent
Streaming
