Prince
Every album we have reviewed, graded S to F.
- Albums graded
- 15
- Highest grade
- Average grade
- Graded S
- 1
- Span
- 1978 to 2014
Every album
15 albums, 1978 to 2014, each placed by its grade, then sorted onto the board.
The records
Newest first, each with the line its review opens on.
2014Art Official AgeA late modern sounding album with a science fiction frame, more interesting in theory than in the ear.
2004MusicologyA back to basics comeback that gets the sound right and forgets to bring the songs.
1995The Gold ExperienceHeld hostage by a contract dispute for two years, and the best of the mid nineties records by a clear margin.
1991Diamonds and PearlsPrince and the New Power GenerationA new band, a rapper on retainer and a bid for the charts of the moment. Slick, long and mostly hollow.
1989BatmanA blockbuster tie in with one enormous single and eight tracks of costume drama around it.
1988LovesexyMade in seven weeks after burning a finished album, and it sounds exactly that rushed and that pleased with itself.
1987Sign o' the TimesA double album made alone after dissolving the band, and there is not a genre on it he does not win.
1986ParadePrince and the RevolutionA film soundtrack with the best arrangements of his career and a run of songs that never quite adds up.
1985Around the World in a DayPrince and the RevolutionA deliberate swerve into psychedelia at the peak of his fame, and mostly a swerve into the ditch.
1984Purple RainPrince and the RevolutionNine songs, a film, a band that could actually play, and the biggest sound of the eighties. Front to back irresistible.
19821999A double album of drum machine funk that invented the sound of a whole decade of pop, at enormous length.
1981ControversySame machines, bigger ambitions, weaker songs. A stopgap with two tracks worth keeping.
1980Dirty MindThirty minutes of cheap synths and unprintable subject matter, and the whole personality arrives at once.
1979PrinceThe hits arrive, the personality does not quite. Two great singles and a lot of very smooth filler.
1978For YouA nineteen year old plays every instrument on it, which is the only remarkable thing about it.