PRINCE / **1999** 1983

OK ....so this is where my opinion matters to me : )
I consider this one to be his epic, his opus, where others consider "Purple Rain" to be it, I personally think it happened here and still to this day if i had to be stuck with 3 major albums of his , then this would be the top one.
A personal favorite of mines due to the fact that he definitely hones his craft here producing, writing and performing, and we see the output of a hard working man "discovering" The Time, and Vanity 6 @ this time.
(Message....this is the first album to be credited to "The Revolution" very small and backwards in the I of his name. If you don't look @ the crazy artwork of the cover then yeah....you'll miss it)
Prince's breakthrough pop hit happens here, he becomes a staple of MTV which he was the second black artist to appear besides MJ, with "Little Red Corvette". A major tour follows with all the acts he discovered which was a pretty big tour @ the time making it appear as a revue.
He puts his clothes back on : ) and appears with a new hairstyle and solidifies the band which would be the band he will use for the next few years, with only guitarist Dez Dickerson leaving soon after 1999 releases.
What can i say about this album,...1999 kicks ass soon as the needle drops, its got funk, rock, new wave, excellent production and arrangements and the songs are stretched to the limit making most of them club hitters. His creativity @ this point is fearless and it shows all over the album. And yes...."the nasty ballad..."International Lover" .....shows you can write a song about flying a woman around the world on your own personal flight pretty awesome!!!
(XXX-tra Message.....Warner brothers gives him the freedom to put his own picture on the label of the original vinyl if you were fortunate to buy it @ that time ...it has his eye in the center of the LP which literally looks as if it moves to watch you wherever you move. and also during this period, even though Prince was already putting out additional songs as B-sides to his singles already, this is where they basically became more popular than the singles in most cases...I.E.
The single "Lets pretend we're married" spawned "Irresistable Bitch" as the B'side and was a vey popular song in underground dance clubs and various mix shows during that time. So that single was basically bought because of "Irresistable Bitch" and this trend would continue on for the next few years)

Standouts here are....1999, DMSR, Lady cab driver, and International Lover