Marta stood up and patted his shoulder. “Kid, there are 39 studio albums. Plus the vault. The ‘best ever’ Prince album is the one you’re listening to at 2 a.m. when you realize he’s not coming back. For me? It’s The Rainbow Children . Because it’s a mess. And he never cared if you agreed.”
The rain was hammering against the windows of The Velvet Ditch, a record store so cramped that the jazz section doubled as a fire hazard. Leo, a 22-year-old who’d discovered Prince six months too late (three years after the man had left the planet), was having a crisis.
Marta leaned back. “And yet. You forgot Dirty Mind .” prince best ever albums
Marta nodded slowly. “The bridge. The bridge from ‘I wanna be your lover’ to ‘I wanna be your dictator.’ Dirty synth bass, apocalyptic lyrics about nuclear war, and yet you cannot stop dancing. A valid choice. But you put it at three because it’s still Prince figuring out how to be a band. He hasn’t killed the Revolution yet. Go on.”
“ Dirty Mind , 1980. He’s 22 years old, wearing a trench coat and bikini briefs on the cover. It’s only 30 minutes long. It’s about incest, oral sex, and killing your rival. Recorded on a four-track in his basement. No Dirty Mind , no Sign o’ the Times . That’s the real best ever. Because it’s the one where he had nothing to lose.” Marta stood up and patted his shoulder
“I can’t do it,” he said, slapping a stack of sticky notes onto the counter. “Everyone says Purple Rain is the best. But Sign o’ the Times feels... bigger. And then there’s 1999 , which is basically a party you’re not invited to but can hear from the street.”
“It’s for your ego,” she replied. She set down her coffee. “Fine. Let’s settle this like Minneapolis does. You pick the top three. I’ll tell you why you’re wrong.” The ‘best ever’ Prince album is the one
Marta finally looked up. A tiny smile cracked her face. “Oh, you brave, stupid kid.”