In anticipation of the remaster/reissue of Prince’s breakthrough record 1999, the Aroundtable has put a list of some of the purple maestros'essential recordings.
The Love Symbol Album (1992)
Although Prince introduced his new band The New Power Generation (NPG) on Diamonds and Pearls in 1991, it still sounded like a solo record. But here they nail a new synthesis of rock, funk, soul, big-band jazz, pop, and even new jack swing and hip-hop. The Love Symbol Album sounds like a band performing together, working off of each other's strengths and weaknesses.
The minor flaw with this album is that Prince decided that an effortlessly running gamut of musical genres on the record wasn’t enough. Unfortunately, he decided to make a "rock soap opera," that starred Cheers actress Kirstie Alley as a journalist interviewing Prince in several segues on the album. Needless to say, these segues do absolutely nothing to enhance the record.
Gold Experience (1995)
The Just Like The Love Symbol Album, Prince and the New Power Generation are running through a typically dazzling array of musical styles, subtly twisting new sounds out of familiar forms.
Like its predecessor, The Gold Experience stumbles a little the inclusion of segues/interludes that at no point actually develop a coherent story or concept.
If you can get past the minor flaw of the interludes, The Gold Experience is Prince at his funkiest, raunchiest, and sexiest since Purple Rain and Sign ‘O’ The Times