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nextraordinarily fecund pop artist, A Prince has been releasing an album every year ofhis career excepting 1983, including many double LP’s and modem day CD equivalents. His prolificacy suggests he releases every idea, making for an always interesting, ifspotty, canon. Asanactor Prince is embarrassingly self-conscious and lyrically he’s often narcissistic, dumb or relentlessly fuck-mad, but as a musician he’s a natural, creating in a manner similar to a brilliantly talented child let loose in the studio. Though his music has become more and more banal every year since Lovesexy, he is one of pop’s few evergreens, and years from now will be mentioned in the same breath as Stevie Won- der, Marvin Gayeand James Brown.

WRK

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Dirty Mind (1980)

Hisnotorious artistic breakthrough at its worst (‘‘Sister’’--‘“My sister was thirty-two, lovely and loose’’ and ‘‘Head’’--*‘Till your love is red’”) may sound relatively tame to a2 Live Crew hardened generation . The presentation is comparatively primitive, but the songcraft is sharp, hooky and tight, possibly his best set ofsongs.

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1999(1982)

His first big hit, therevered 1999 is frequently brilliant (“‘Little Red Corvette,”’ “*1999,”” “*Let’s Pretend We’re Married’’), but like most double albums, it’s padded, this time with meandering, over-long grooves thatmay keep the party going, but are still wearing. The songwritng isn’t quite as sharp overall as on Dirty Mind, but the highpoints werehishighest to this point.

Mc

Purple Rain (1984)

Over-exposure has dulled the ears to the im- mense pleasures of this flawless pop album. A varied collection of distinct songs, of course, featuring, ‘“When Doves Cry,”’ arguably his bestsong.

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Around the Worldin a Day (1985) Anuninspired set for fans only, though ‘‘Rasp- berry Beret’’ is pleasantenough.

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Parade(1986)

This pop-baroque creation is notable mostly for several spare funk numbers (‘‘New Posi- tion,”’ ‘*Girlsand Boys’’ and ‘‘Kiss,”’ anoth one ofhis bestsongs), though itcontains much listenable music. The references to the film and Tracy make no sense.

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Sign ‘o’ the Times (1987) Prince’s best album. A generally superb (ol edittable) work in the tradition of Exile 0 Main Street and The White Album. Contai®