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| The most underrated Prince albums
As I've stressed in a lot of my lists, Prince is my absolute music hero. And while he's released some albums that are widely viewed as the greatest of all time, there are a few of albums of his that are up for debate in terms of greatness. These are some of my picks for the most underrated albums by Prince. | | 1 |  | Prince
Controversy
The ultimate underrated album in his catalog by far, in my opinion. "Controversy" covers soooooo much ground musically in its relatively short duration of 8 tracks and running at just over 37 minutes. It contains classics like the self-titled track and "Do Me, Baby", and also contains the brooding avant-pop brilliance of "Annie Christian", as well as one of his most outwardly explicit tracks "Jack U Off", which wraps up this masterpiece. Oooooh man, I love this album. Definitely should be heralded as one of his best. | | 2 |  | Prince
Around the World in a Day
The much anticipated follow-up to the phenomena that was "Purple Rain", "Around the World in a Day" was a giant creative middle finger to those expecting something similar. Instead of lush, slick new wave pop-rock-R&B, "Around the World in a Day" was a much more experimental and personal effort. And while "Purple Rain" has the honor of being unanimously hailed as his best effort ever, "Around the World in a Day", in my opinion, has the distinction of being his most earnest. With tracks like the psychedelic-tinged self-titled track and "Paisley Park", the legendary pop hit "Raspberry Beret", the awe-inspring super-ballad "Condition of the Heart", the sobering "Pop Life" and the heartstring puller gospel-inspired "The Ladder", "Around the World in a Day" is practically perfect from start to finish. | | 3 |  | Prince
Lovesexy
If there was an album that was sorely misunderstood in Prince's catalog, that would be "Lovesexy". Having a pretty complex history that the Sputnikmusic description space can't fit, "Lovesexy" was released in 1988 to mixed reception, and it remains a divisive album among the Prince fanbase today. I, for one, love it, and have fond memories of listening to it quite a bit during my high school days. While it's usually described as an album of overwhelming positivity (which it is for the most part), one track on the album throws that notion out the window. "Dance On", one of my personal standout moments on the album, sarcastically describes what was going on in the ghettos of America during the late 80s on top of a theme of an overall apocalyptic foreground, with a hovering bass line and glitched drums a chorus that advises the listener to disregard the meltdown and just to dance on. An album of great measure that has been in a strong need for a reevaluation. | | 4 |  | Prince
Love Symbol Album
While this album, which officially has no title although has been called "The Love Symbol Album", was initially widely praised upon release, it's since developed a bit of a mixed legacy due to the more urban sound it has. But goddamnit, this one... is one of my all time favorites of his. And by that, I mean one of my top 5 Prince albums. While I understand the rap parts from Tony M are a bit more of an acquired taste due to it being a rather one-off oddity in Prince's history, if you get it, it resonates something fierce. A total banger from start to end. | | 5 |  | Prince
Batman
You would think that an album that contains such fan favorites like "Batdance" and "Partyman" would be highly revered, but apparently, you'd be wrong. Prince's soundtrack to the legendary 1989 movie Batman is a fantastic listen, meshing some of the most poppy and straightforward songs he's ever done with the most soulful and rich. Along with the aforementioned "Batdance" and "Partyman", there is the funk-rocker "Electric Chair", the heartfelt ballads "Scandalous!" and "The Arms of Orion", which was a duet with Sheena Easton, along with sleepers like the feelgood "Vicki Waiting". Unlike the other albums on here, at least the "Batman" soundtrack has a cult following of its own. | | 6 |  | Prince
The Chocolate Invasion
Unlike the other albums on here, this one is underrated for the fact that... well, it was never officially released. At least on disc. "The Chocolate Invasion" was released digitally only on his fanclub site back in 2004, and serves as a comeback of his R&B side, following a period where he experimented with jazz almost exclusively for nearly three years. Because of the fact that the album was never released anywhere else, being forcibly out of print following the fanclub's shutdown in 2006, "The Chocolate Invasion" contains some of his most slept-on cuts, including the dreamy "Underneath the Cream", the robo-funk new wave flashback "Vavoom", and the simply remarkable R&B track "The Dance", which is one of my all time favorite tracks of his. A shame this was never officially released outside of that long defunct fanclub, as this is definitely a nice album. | | 7 |  | Prince
Crystal Ball
Possibly the most controversial addition to the list, perhaps more-so than "Lovesexy", "Crystal Ball" was originally supposed to be a highly ambitious triple-album release back in 1986, before being pushed back and instead turned into a rare track collection, finally being released as this in 1998. Even though "Crystal Ball" has a bit of a muddied history with diehard fans, I'm actually an enthusiast of it, with the vast collection containing some tracks that proved just why Prince was on a different level. More specifically with tracks like "Dream Factory" and "Sexual Suicide" as, even though both tracks were recorded in 1985, they both have a cutting edge slide to them that can be called precursors to new jack swing. Other notable tracks include the otherworldly ballad "Crucial", the creeping "2morrow", the oddball foul-mouth cold jam "Cloreen Baconskin" and the warm closing track "Goodbye". So many notable tracks, so little Sputnikmusic space... | | 8 |  | Prince
The Undertaker
"The Undertaker" had a bit of a weird release. Originally a soundtrack to a movie of sorts that was released on VHS in Europe and laserdisc in Japan back in 1994, it later had a semi-official release with limited packaging shortly afterwards in the UK. "The Undertaker" shows off Prince's amazing rock chops, with a theme of sludgy blues rock which he would never experiment with again. An impressive one-off EP that absolutely deserves more light shined on it. | |
zelenichajnik
01.29.21 | 8 sounds really, ridiculously interesting. I've never ever really gotten onto the Prince before but reading through this, I'm starting to see how versatile his stuff potentially is. Maybe it's time to change that. Awesome write-ups, hopefully someone else sees this before it disappears off that limited sputnik space... | discovolante
01.30.21 | Yeah man, “The Undertaker” was an incredibly unique and ambitious project. Great stuff. | granitenotebook
01.30.21 | good list | discovolante
01.30.21 | Thanks man! |
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