From his more recent collection of singles, I’d also add the aforementioned Black Sweat, Chocolate Box, his cover of Crimson and Clover, Musicology, and Ol’ Skool Company, off the top of my head.
ETA: My wife and I have actually seen Paisley Park – we went and found it during a road trip through Minnesota a couple years ago. 
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree then.
Totally agree - his original cut of How Come U Don’t Call Me totally blows Alecia Keys out of the water. And Parade is just amazing - it’s got Kiss on it, but Mountains and Anotherloverholeinyourhead (yes, that’s the name) are huge standouts, too…
Raspberry Beret is a perfect piece of pop confection - one of the songs I point out as a songwriting class unto itself, kind of like Cruel to be Kind by Nick Lowe - just perfect.
Eh, not a big fan of that one. Can’t quite put my finger on why. Maybe it’s too… synthy? Idk.
That’s one he did completely by himself and the percussion is done with LinnDrums or some other programmable drum app. No one can humanize drum samples like Prince, but you still have a clearly digital drum track that our ears can pick out…
My guess.
I think it’s that compounded with the fact that I tend to prefer music that has a heavier bass to it (which a lot of MJ songs do), which this one doesn’t really have. Or a lot of Prince’s newer stuff.
Pretty much all of Parade is great, IMO - why it doesn’t get listed among his brilliant albums is beyond me (Sign O The Times has the slight edge over it, in my book, but it’s definitely my second favorite album of his).
Stevie Wonder would have been a good comparison - the similarities between the two are numerous - but I went with Michael simply because there were so many comparisons/arguments at the time (the '80s) about these two. Honestly, I don’t know who I’d pick in a Stevie/Prince contest.
Here is a fascinating bit from Michael Koppelman who engineered from Prince, about "“Why Should I love You”, the track Kate Bush worked on with Prince. It gives a little bit of insight into Prince’s ego and method of working.
Here is the rough mix of Kate’s demo that Koppelman made before Prince worked on it.
In addition to being a huge Kate Bush fan, I’m a huge Todd Rundgren fan, and I think Rundgren’s influence on Prince has never been acknowledged (by Prince especially), but Todd’s ex-girlfriend Bebe Buell wrote about a very young Prince getting backstage at a Todd show and babbling like a besotted fan “…and I play all the instruments on my record just like Todd…”
To the OP, Prince by a mile. But what I really need is a fan assembled collection of the best of his later work.
I agree with the OP, have nothing to add.
CDs or mp3s?
Olives, I worked up an “Introduction to Prince” list a little while ago; I’ll see if I can find it. I only knew of Prince from his commercial stuff when I met my husband (the incomparable Dread Pirate Jimbo); he had everything Prince had put out to that point, so I naturally listened to it, and was totally converted. I would say anyone who is a fan of R&B, funk, pop, and accessible jazz needs to give him a good try and go beyond “1999” and “Purple Rain.”
Of course, one of the best songs Prince ever wrote famously features no bass whatsoever.
Incidentally, has anyone on here ever read the surprisingly entertaining and informative Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, by Alex Hahn. Good stuff, that.
ETA: The book gets its title from another frightfully awesome Prince ditty (as is the included “Irresistible Bitch”).
I suppose I should toss in my personal favorite Prince song.
Seven. It’s one of the more recent ones, but it has this simplicity to it that I really appreciate.
Excellent!
I love the acoustic version, too.
See, as I mentioned in a thread I started about a year ago, every time you mention Prince’s name, he appears (courtesy of links) with something new. He’s like the Mesostophales of music.
I’ve seen it mentioned, but I don’t think anyone’s linked so far to Crimson and Clover, which is (AFAIK) from his post JW period.
Sucks?! Hah! I slap you with my tiny purple velvet glove, sirrah!
For me, the song that really sold me on Prince was Paisley Park (the song). Not as a singer per se, but as an exceptional song writer/musician/producer. It’s just dripping with sex and originality. Note: AFAIK he’s playing most of the instruments on that track himself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHF20V8h-QQ (really bad quality audio, as long as it lasts)
Oh damn! That track alone should put Prince above Jackson.
I’m surprised it’s as close as it is.
Unlike Michael?
Loved the Crimson and Clover cover. Which of course led me to Prince’s live cover of Radiohead’s Creep…which in turn led me to the Pretenders version of the same song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lML2N4xB9GU&feature=related
I love the internet!
What a cool version!
/hijack
You just have to wonder what he’s storing in those notorious “vaults” of his. One suspects that when the (long, far off, God be willing) day comes that Prince is no longer with us – THEN we’ll see a flood of material the likes of which have never been seen before. He might end up a dominant influence in music of the coming century.