Originally published April 25th, 2014.
Prince has been in the news quite a bit lately. Making peace with the internet, providing the best hour of the new Arsenio Hall Show so far, and most surprisingly, returning to Warner Brothers Records, signing a new deal and retaining his masters.
The internet is madly in love with lists, and several mainstream music and culture sites have jumped on top of and over each other in the name of creating fun Prince lists. Many have focused on the fact that his glory period ended in the late Eighties (some push that grace period to the mid ’90s) and OH MY GOD HE DID CREATE SOME HALFWAY DECENT MUSIC after Sign O’ The Times (or Batman, or The Gold Experience.)
Using 1990 as a start date, here are 10 Prince songs as good as the songs everyone remembers. Of course, there’s no video accompaniment because Prince is still Prince and YouTube is damn near bereft of anything Purple. So, take my word for it, or go BUY THE ALBUMS. Many of these are out of print and not easy to locate, but would it kill you to buy a CD every once in a while?
And God Created Woman (Symbol, 1992)
We start our list with a jazzy number from 1992’s Symbol album. I almost gave this spot to “The Sacrifice of Victor,” one of Prince’s most autobiographical tunes, but this ballad beats it out by percentage points. The NPG was such a tight band. The vocal and instrumental arrangements on this song are top notch. Damn, I coulda picked “Love 2 The 9’s,” too. That Symbol album was STACKED.
Shy (The Gold Experience, 1995)
Prince proved he could do “unplugged” with the best of them, although there are enough modern-day production elements included on this song that you can’t consider it a proper acoustic tune. Some evocative storytelling here, as well.
Pussy Control (The Gold Experience, 1995)
Your Captain With No Name gets all female-empowerment on that ass. One of his most memorable rap-centric efforts, with more humor than we’re accustomed to from the little man. I was working at Tower Records in New York City when The Gold Experience came out, and we tripped over ourselves to play this CD. We then tripped over ourselves to switch the CD when we discovered exactly how profane it was. Strangely, on the same day (and on the same label) Red Hot Chili Peppers’ One Hot Minute came out and the exact same thing happened (but not until “Pea,” which I believe was the third track.
Somebody’s Somebody (Emancipation, 1996)
This song was actually (kinda, sorta) a hit. It peaked at #15 on Billboard’s R&B airplay chart (it was never officially released as a single, as was common practice around that time.) Moody downtempo R&B, with some of P’s best singing AND best guitar playing.
Style (Emancipation, 1996)
Another hip-hop informed jam, this was one of the tracks that reminded folks that Prince was regular people with highly irregular talent. His humor is in full effect here, as he equates style with “the face you make on a Michael Jordan dunk” and then plays a Bruh-Man type character towards the end of the song. “I ain’t got no job. But I got style!” Uh huh.
Comeback (Crystal Ball, 1997)
This hushed, haunting ballad was never confirmed to be an acknowledgment of the son he tragically lost shortly after birth, but it’s pretty difficult to read the lyrics as anything but. A heartbreaker of a song.
Wasted Kisses (New Power Soul, 1998)
Buried on one of his least well-known albums as a bonus track, this song represents a very dark version of Prince. A definite kiss-off, the song concludes with the sound of a hospital machine flat-lining. It’s actually kind of disturbing.
I Love U But I Don’t Trust U Anymore (Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, 1999)
Joined by Ani DiFranco on guitar, Prince officially washes his hands of Mayte. I’m obviously a sucker for Prince’s sad songs/ballads since I have so many of them here. This song alone saved Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic from being a complete disappointment.
Prettyman (Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, 1999)
With the able assistance of Maceo Parker on the sax, Prince dropped his second straight bonus track bomb with this James Brown tribute. There’s certainly truth in advertising (men don’t get much prettier than Prince) although Prince’s delivery is tongue-in-cheek. Maybe.
Reflection (Musicology, 2004)
Prince’s 21st century outfit has been pretty spotty. While he’s dropped a couple of gems (the universally lauded “Black Sweat” & “Musicology,”) there’s also been a lot of Prince spinning his stylistic wheels. This song, the closing track on his 2004 comeback album Musicology, is a quiet, blissed-out song that finds Prince confronting something we’re all lucky if we have to face-getting older. It’s a thing of beauty, and some performances of the song featured Wendy Melvoin on guitar, giving fans fits as they held their breath for a Revolution reunion that still hasn’t happened.
