Album Review: Prince – ‘Ultimate’

By Jeff Swindoll Oct 14, 2006, 11:02 GMT

I’m not sure that I’d call this the “ultimate” collection of Prince, but it sure is a nice way to have an instant collection of Prince’s works. Not that this two disc set doesn’t feel like it’s not worth the money, I’d just think that an “ultimate” set of Prince material would compromise 6 or more discs. This feels like a distillation of a much larger set in my opinion, not that there’s anything wrong with that. 

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in 1958 and would rise to prominence as a musician in the 1980s.  His career spans a myriad of different styles and for a time (1993-2000) he’d be know as the “artist formerly known as Prince” since he changed his name to a weird symbol I don’t see on my keyboard. 

The set is two discs with 17 tracks on disc one and 11 tracks on disc two.  Disc one contains a lot of his hits including “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” “1999,” “When Doves Cry,” and “Purple Rain.”  When you read the liner notes you see that some of these songs are listed as edited versions.  I’m not sure if that’s for content or radio play time.  I was somewhat shocked that the “edited” versions would appear on an album billed as being the Ultimate. I would think that the opposite would be the case. I’m the casual Prince fan, so I really didn’t hear anything that seemed obviously edited (they sounded as I remembered them). 

Disc two contains various mixes and remixes, extended versions, and 12” versions.  There’s a special dance mix of “Let’s Go Crazy,” dance remix of “Little Red Corvette,” and 12” version of “Raspberry Beret” to name but a few. 

What seems oddly missing is his work on the Batman soundtrack doesn’t appear.  I thought that the radio play (though it was excessive and maybe the reason for its absence) re-established his popularity and the admission seems odd.

The album might appeal to the fan interested in a quick collection of Prince’s hits and a few remixes.  I think that the hardcore fan would rather have unedited versions and rarities besides what appears to be on this release.

I’d recommend it, but I think that the seasoned fan might be disappointed in what is on the release.  Give the track listing a look over before purchasing and decide if you need to add this to your collection. 

‘Ultimate’ is now available at Amazon. Visit the music database for more information and a complete track listing.