Newsweek - USA (2020-11-27)

NEWSWEEK.COM 45

Prince

Warner Brothers, 1979

Prince’s second album

announced the arrival of a

commercial and cultural

force. It gave him his ɿrst gold

single (“I Wanna Be Your Lover”) and a name for

his funk-pop fusion (“The Minneapolis Sound”).

Around the World in a Day

Warner Brothers,

Paisley Park, 1985

Prince’s Purple Rain

follow-up showed he was

more interested in taking

uncharted paths than repeating himself.

Although it went double platinum, brieʀy hit

number one, and included the Top Ten singles

“Raspberry Beret” and “Pop Life,” it was

deemed a ʀop compared to Purple Rain.

Batman

Warner Brothers, 1989

The soundtrack to Tim

Burton’s take on the Caped

Crusader gave us “Party-

man” and “Batdance.” When

Oprah asked what the ɿrst song he ever played

was, Prince said at age seven he learned a piano

version of the theme from the “Batman” TV show.

Musicology

NPG, Columbia, 2004

Prince seemed lost in the

1 0s. His comeback start-

ed with this R&B ʀavored

album which included the

singles “Musicology,” “Call My Name,” and “Cin-

namon Girl.” That year he also appeared at the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he delivered a

scene-stealing guitar solo on George Harrison’s

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

HITnRUN: Phase Two

NPG, 2015

Alternately soulful and funky,

Prince’s 3th and last

studio album showed the

political edge he’d been

exploring since 1 8 ’s Sign o’ the Times.

“Baltimore” rendered the saga of Freddie

Gray, a young Black man who’d died while in

the hands of Baltimore police.

Prince’s 5 most

overlooked albums

this thing called
life: prince’s odyssey
on+off the record
(St. Martin’s Press, October).