Prince - The Very Best of Prince

Prince has had a long and varied career as a musician. Born in 1958 to John and Matti Nelson, his career started in 1977 with the release of his first album "For You". Going through groups like The Revolution and The New Power Generation, his musical style changed somewhat through the years ranging from Funk, R&B, Soul, to Pop, Hip Hop and even Jazz, Psychadelic & Hard Rock. This album, The Very Best of Prince, gives you seventeen of his very best tunes for you to listen to. Gems from his early career like "I Wanna Be Your Lover", "1999" & "Little Red Corvette" are there as well as tunes from his movies Purple Rain and Graffiti Bridge. Eve onto more recent tunes like "Gett Off", "Cream" "Diamonds and Pearls" & "Money Don't Matter 2 Night". While the album itself is a testament to his career, there are several gems missing from this album that were favorites among his fans (like "Controversy", "Delirious", "Erotic City", "Pop Life", "I Could Never Take the Place Of Your Man", "Head", "If I was your Girlfirend", "Take Me With You", "Batdance", "Partyman" and my two all-time favorite "For the Tears in your Eyes" & "My name is Prince"). If you can get past those omissions(which some were his better tunes), this is an album worth getting to listen to for a taste of his greatest. They need to make a second volume of his very best. However, let me suggest this...if you enjoy Prince's music, get all the albums that he has put out and make up your own mind as to what is his very best and whatnot. You won't regret it.

On Friday and Saturday nights, I can not wait for the first beat of sound makes, telling me that one of my favorite artist of all times is about to sing. I have many favs of Prince's music but here is just a few: When The Doves Cry,Kiss, 1999 and Purple Rain. Atleast Joey Jamm makes it all possible.

I agree that Prince has way too many hits to fit onto one CD, but this is a nice collection. Usually there are 1 or 2 songs on a CD that I skip over, but not on this one. I enjoy it from beginning to end.

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!!!

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. :-)

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.

I was never THAT BIG a Prince fan but this certainly is 'good Prince' if that's what you're after. I think it hits all his major work.

the very best of prince has 17 good songs on it.some songs on this collection are when doves cry,1999,i wanna be your lover, let's go crazy,signo'the times,little red corvette,and i would die 4 u. thank you prince and have a great birthday. ed wilson

This cd really contains the best Prince songs!! I recomend it for everyone who is a true Prince fan!!

Classic 80's rock with all our favorite songs. Excellent condition.

This CD was great one of the best that I have purchased in a long time.

CD arrived quickly, and in great condition. And love the CD!

I received the product in a very timely manner, well packaged and in good condition. I would not hesitate to do business with this supplier again.

I love Prince and this CD covers most of his biggest hits. For me, it had all the songs that I wanted, so it was perfect!!
Others have commented to me that they would have liked some other songs, like Darling Nikki.
Overall I am satisfied with this CD!

Most casual listeners will be familiar with the majority of tracks on the first two thirds of the album. Why? Because these are masterpieces of the pop rock genre, laden with innuendo and superb structuring. Alright, good.

But the last third of this compilation is a load of bollocks. These are some of the most dire tracks I've heard. Why on Earth are they rubbing shoulders with "Raspberry Beret" or "When Doves Cry"? After the vivid commentary on "Sign 'o The Times," the quality of the tracks plummeted. Some tracks feature raps whose inclusion is unwarranted and obtrusive. Others are unremarkable. And some would be more tolerable if they weren't on a compilation titled "The VERY BEST of Prince."

If you just want the biggest hits, then you might want to buy this. It's in chronological order and gives you most of what the casual fan might want. Alas, it also tags some absolute failures onto the end of the disc. If you just assume that the collection ends with "Sign 'o The Times," the disc becomes way more tolerable. But then you'll say to yourself "Geez, they could've given me more tracks." And indeed, they could've given you some prime stuff from his peak years. But they don't.

Okay, Prince's hypersexual image may drive you insane and back. No question it created some Contreversy. But no-one could get down and play dirty, hard-rockin' funk like Prince Rogers Nelson. This is, let us not forget, the man behind I Wanna Be Your Lover, 1999, Little Red Corvette, Let's Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, Purple Rain (his best tune), Kiss, Money Don't Matter 2night and a bunch of others. Purple Rain's also a must-have, so get that and this and party like it's 1999. Or whatever.
Little side note: Back in the 80's, the only artists making interesting music were Prince and Stevie Ray Vaughan

Great old school Prince...all of the best with very few that you haven't heard. This is a great blast from the past!!!

I just recently became a Prince fan, after his performance on American Idol. For someone who's never heard any of his hits before, this is a fantastic album. I abesolutely love it! And it has most of his real big hits! I'm extremely satisfied with this album, definitely worth it for new Prince fans!

...On what planet was "Money Don't Matter Tonight" a bigger hit than "7"?!?!

This compilation does a great job of selecting the major most highlights of Prince's career, hitting on the biggest singles and best-known tracks from each album. Of course, it skips a few key tracks that a lot of us die-hard fans are sure to miss (although this album, or any album like it by any long-time hitmaker - Springsteen's single disc greatest hits anyone? - is hardly intended for die-hard fans), but this is a given, so it is no small feat that this album is able to sustain momentum to such a degree that one hardley misses some of the more glairing omissions (why has "Batdance," or any song from the "Batman Soundtrack" been left off every Prince hits album?).

The only thing that really strikes me as odd is the inclusion of "Money Don't Matter Tonight," a fine song, but hardley a monster hit like the rest culled here, and in no way better or more well known than "7," which, had the tune been included here, this single-disc compilation would have rather acurately represented all of Prince's biggest hits (imagine that on a "greatest hits" cd). Technical chart hits aside, "7" is hardley the only great Prince tune missing here, but it is the only one I really miss. This collection would feel so much more complete with it. There always seems to be one odd choice like this in every greatest hits package. Guess something has to keep us buying the other albums.

One could always go with "The Hits/B-Sides" compilation released nearly a decade earlier and including all these tunes plus most of the greats that are missing here, as well as B-Sides and other rarities, but the point of this release (other than making money for Warner Bros.) is to give a concise, fast-paced overview of Prince's biggest hits sans any bonuses or filler: essentially anything that doesn't get heavy radio rotation. That also means it is for the casual Prince fan who only wants the radio tunes. But it can also be for us big Prince fans who don't always want to sift through a whole collection of albums or the previous three-disc greatest hits (a compilation which is oddly arranged; not simply chronologicaly, but by song theme (there is a serious disc, a party disc, and the b-sides), which makes it hard to get from favorite song to favorite song when you need take out one disc and put in another - not exactly ideal for parties and the like)when we want a quick best of Prince fix.

For that, this is an album plays great all the way through. Sure I miss certain songs, but for what this is, it is a great collection.

Beware though; some of the songs are represented here by their "single edits" ("When Doves Cry" and "1999") are the most obvious), but these are the way they are played on radio so it doesn't sound too odd (I actually know people that are wierded out when they hear the album cut of these songs and they forget they don't end where they are used to hearing them end on the radio). What is odd though is there is about 5 minutes of time left on the cd (if the record companies use 80 minuters like the rest of us), so I don't know why they didn't leave all the songs in their original form (or include another one with the time left - hey, did I mention "7"?!). But this again all proves that this is a collection for people who write reviews here saying things like "Great CD. It has all the Prince songs you know and love; all you'll ever need; etc..."

That is hardly true, but this is an over-all great collection nonetheless and in terms of accomplishing its obvious goal its a winner.

Not the music, but this review, there is just way too much missing. Is it even possible to shrink Prince down to one cd? I had problems with The Hits/B-Sides box because I didn't think it covered enough material.

For the casual fan, I'm still not sold that this is enough. To me, The Hits/B-Sides are enough for a casual fan. I do know that there is an Ultimate Prince (Import)that is much better than this and cheaper than the The Hits/B-Sides, maybe that would be for the casual fan on a budget. You really, in my opinon, can't go wrong with Prince. He was probably one of my first real favorite musicians, meaning that he stayed a favorite long after the first time I heard a song that I liked by him.

I just can't recommend this with any type of belief that people would be satisfied with this one cd. The music is great on this disc, as is the sound quality, but it's just not enough. If you only have enough money to buy one disc, buy Hits 1 or Hits 2, then wait until you have more money and buy the other disc. To me the best, most diverse artist of the last 20 years deserves more than one cd to sum up his career. I would buy almost any of the studio albums before this as a place to start with Prince.

I love this CD, it has all the great classic songs that everybody knows and loves. I don't really care for the newer stuff, like Alphabet Street. I got this album for the fun 80s tracks. It leaves me wanting more of his 80's work. I'm going to track down the album Purple Rain and 1999. If you want a good introduction to Prince, get this album, it rocks!

I love this CD. It has all of the great Prince songs you know and love. Highly recommended.

I personally like this compilation of Prince, it's got most of the songs I like and the sound is great. Sure, there could have been a few more songs included, like "Pop Life", "Hot Thing", but when compared to the other compilations, this disc has more of the songs that are a must-have, for me, such as "I Wanna Be Your Lover", which I don't think was included on any of the other compilations. So, it's just a matter of weighing what songs you most want, so that's why I chose this disc and I'm glad I did!

This cd rocks. I love it. There are so many good songs on here from a guy with so many hits. He might be weird, but he's so talented. You can't go past I Wanna Be Your Lover, Cream and Theives in The Temple. I love his music and for all those people out there who aren't fans enough to buy the odd cd or two of his, go get this where there are all the great songs on the one disc. You'll love this too.

No hidden treasures, no special album tracks, just the hits. A good choice if that's all you want. If you think you want to explore Prince, and you don't know where to start, you can start here (the songs are chronological) so you can figure out what era is your favorite.

This cd is great! It includes 17 of Prince's best hits. I like his classic hits such as..Purple Rain, 1999, Little red corvette and I will Die for you. A good cd to have by this incredible performer.

Still as good as before.
This collection is full of spirit

I vividly recall seeing the commercial advertising Very Best of Prince for the first time while I was on vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida. I knew right away that it was going to become a part of my collection in the future.

I thought it had all the Prince that I would want, including "1999," the theme to my high school class of '99 and the one that's always been my favorite Prince song, even back when my age was in the single digits and I thought it was about a slick, stylish car: "Little Red Corvette." Oh yeah, I've always loved "Raspberry Beret," "I Would Die 4 U," and "Let's Go Crazy" too!

I didn't recognize many of the songs on the lower part of the track list, like "Gett Off" or "Thieves In The Temple," but I didn't care, I had to have those awesome 80's songs that I'd been a big fan of for years. And for that reason I'm VERY glad I own this CD, but the more I watched VH1 Classic Rock and after I looked through my book that lists all the Billboard Top 40 Hits, I realized that this isn't as great of a compilation as it could be.

The ones I really wish were on here are "Controversy," "Delirious," and "Batdance." Prince's knack for playing the guitar is well spoken of, and it was a #1 hit, so why not have "Batdance" here? Maybe if this CD was named Prince's Greatest Hits it would be more forgivable. Almost all of those leave off many of the artists' best stuff, but it's called VERY Best of. It's not, though. The Very Best of The Eagles is how a "Very Best of" should be done. When you have an artist like Prince who has had tons of Top 40 hits along with others that didn't quite make the Top 40 that are cult favorites, you need a double disc collection. For Prince, Hits 1 and Hits 2 looks like the better way to go for the more hardcore fan. Or maybe in a few years they WILL release a 2-CD set that has all the Prince we know by heart, even the newer songs like "Musicology"?

Very Best of Prince is a nice overview for the casual fan, however. If all the songs you like by him are here or you just want a sampling of some of his best material, this could be the right selection for you. Either way, it's time to party like it's 1999 and then go for a ride in a little red corvette.