Track Listing

1. I Wanna Be Your Lover
2. 1999
3. Little Red Corvette
4. When Doves Cry
5. Let's Go Crazy
6. Purple Rain
7. I Would Die 4 U
8. Raspberry Beret
9. Kiss
10. Sign 'O' The Times
11. U Got The Look
12. Alphabet St.
13. Thieves In The Temple
14. Gett Off
15. Cream
16. Diamonds And Pearls
17. Money Don't Matter 2 Night

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #254 in Music
• Published on: 2001
• Released on: 2001-07-31
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Taken literally, this album's title is sure to cause endless arguments. Nothing from Dirty Mind, not a trace of the early anthem "Controversy," no "Erotic City"--no non-LP cuts at all, save some edited single versions--and a cold shoulder to the criminally out-of-print Gold Experience. Damn. As a compendium of 17 key A-sides from 1979 to 1992, however, The Very Best of Prince is (ahem) a quick-'n'-dirty review of the days when the Artist was, in the estimation of R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, one of the weirdest musicians in the Top 10. Blessed with both creative cunning and the wish to reach every listener possible, Prince revitalized rock and soul modes from the sex-crazed ("Little Red Corvette") to the cryptically spiritual ("Purple Rain"). Often he blurred lines between attitudes as surely as he did musical ones; the New Testament image of "Thieves in the Temple" became in his hands a complaint about a stolen girlfriend. Though a fine party artifact, this disc is still likely to prove too scanty even for many casual Prince fans. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Prince RULES
ALL the "Very Best" are really on this CD. ALL FUNK and no junk. Prince is the rare "jewel" in the crown of my music collection!!!

You Can't Really Go Wrong with a Prince Hits Collection
First off, I admit to being a huge, long-time Prince fan. That being said, it's pretty hard to argue that this 'Very Best of' isn't a jammin' collection.
Starting off with 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' and working its way through 'Money Don't Matter 2 Night', this album (can I still use that word?) is a timeline of Prince's fun, sexy, rockin', jammin', preachin' career from "For You" (although no tracks off that first album are included) through "Diamonds and Pearls". And even though there are numerous tracks any fan might want to add to the mix, most all of the included tunes are vital to a 'hits' collection. (I might let you argue that tracks 13 and 17 could have been replaced with better choices, but that's the most slack I could cut. ;-)
If you're just not sure that you know the Prince songs included well enough to purchase, just take a listen to 'I Wanna Be Your Lover', 'Little Red Corvette', 'Kiss', or 'Gett Off' to get a good feel for what's in store for you. You really can't go wrong with this single CD collection of his royal badness's bestest. :-)

Don't waste your money if you're a true fan of Prince
This compilation cd of hits is despicable. It's not even half the hits that he put out. Me, myself, I was born at during the time of Purple Rain circa 1983. My mom was a fan and listening to Prince while cleaning the house, I myself became a fan. So if you really want to rock out, get dirty and sexy then you need to not buy this one. BUY the Hits 1 and 2 and B-sides. Those are well worth the money.