Prince on Vinyl: Where to Start and Where to Go Next

Prince Rogers Nelson turned Minneapolis into a genre of its own. He wrote, produced, and played nearly everything himself, folding funk, rock, soul, new wave, and gospel into a sound that was unmistakable from the very first bars. Across a run of albums in the 1980s he kept reinventing what a pop record could carry, and he worked at that pace until the end of his life, leaving behind one of the deepest catalogs in American music.

That depth is exactly why Prince rewards a shelf rather than a single greatest-hits set. Each album is its own experiment: a bedroom funk record here, a widescreen movie soundtrack there, a sprawling double album that tries to hold his whole world at once. The early Warner years have been kept in print through faithful reissues, so the albums that built the legend are easy to find on vinyl again, and they still sound like nothing else.

Here is roughly how we walk people through Prince at the counter: a few essential entry points from the imperial run, then the turns worth taking once those are spinning. Whether you are starting from scratch or filling gaps in a collection, this is where to begin and where to go next.

Prince - Dirty Mind (2022 Reissue)

This is where the Prince most people picture truly arrives. Dirty Mind landed in 1980 as his third album, cut in a makeshift studio in the basement of his home outside Minneapolis, with Prince producing and playing nearly every instrument himself. It is raw, short, and provocative, fusing Minneapolis funk with new wave and post-punk on songs like "Uptown" and "When You Were Mine," and it remains one of his most influential records.

Why it's worth purchasing:

• The stripped-down breakthrough where Prince's signature style clicked into place
• Home to "Uptown," "When You Were Mine," and the title track
• Nearly every instrument written, produced, and played by Prince

Prince - Controversy (2022 Reissue)

Controversy followed in 1981, again written and produced almost entirely by Prince, with the man himself on most of the instruments. The title track turns the questions swirling around him at the time into a dance record, while songs like "Sexuality," "Let's Work," and the pointed "Ronnie, Talk to Russia" push sex, faith, and politics onto the same album. It is the sound of an artist working out how much he could say at once.

Why it's worth purchasing:

• The bridge between the bedroom funk of Dirty Mind and the arena scale to come
• Includes "Controversy," "Let's Work," and "Sexuality"
• Written, produced, and largely performed by Prince alone

Prince - 1999 (2022 Reissue)

By 1982 the ambition had outgrown a single disc. 1999 was Prince's first double album and the first recorded with the musicians who would soon be billed as the Revolution, its grooves built around the Linn LM-1 drum machine that came to define the Minneapolis sound. From the apocalyptic party of the title track to "Little Red Corvette" and "Delirious," it is the record where the whole world started paying attention.

Why it's worth purchasing:

• Prince's first double album and a blueprint for 1980s funk-pop
• Features "1999," "Little Red Corvette," and "Delirious"
• Built on the Linn LM-1 drum machine and the emerging Revolution lineup

Prince and The Revolution - Purple Rain (180g)

If you own one Prince record, make it this one. Purple Rain arrived in 1984 credited to Prince and the Revolution, the soundtrack to the film of the same name, with several tracks including the title song captured live at the First Avenue club in Minneapolis in the summer of 1983. "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," and "Purple Rain" turned him into a phenomenon, and the album still plays like a perfect distillation of everything he could do.

Why it's worth purchasing:

• The monument: Prince and the Revolution at full power
• Home to "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," and "Purple Rain"
• Several tracks recorded live at First Avenue in Minneapolis

Prince - Parade (Music from Under the Cherry Moon)

Once the classics are on the shelf, this is the first turn to take. Parade came out in 1986 as the soundtrack to Prince's film Under the Cherry Moon and the third and final album billed to the Revolution, with lush orchestral arrangements by Clare Fischer wrapped around some of his most adventurous writing. It gave him the minimalist smash "Kiss" and closes with the aching ballad "Sometimes It Snows in April," a reminder of how much range one record could hold.

Why it's worth purchasing:

• The last, and most inventive, of the Revolution albums
• Includes "Kiss," "Mountains," and "Sometimes It Snows in April"
• Orchestral arrangements by Clare Fischer

Prince - Sign 'O The Times (2022 Reissue)

Many listeners call this his masterpiece, and it is hard to argue. Sign 'O the Times arrived in 1987 as a sprawling double album, his first solo record after disbanding the Revolution, moving from stark social commentary to psychedelic soul without ever losing the thread. The title track, "U Got the Look," "If I Was Your Girlfriend," and "Starfish and Coffee" only scratch the surface of a record that seems to contain every version of Prince at once.

Why it's worth purchasing:

• The double-album peak, often named his finest hour
• Features "Sign 'O the Times," "U Got the Look," and "If I Was Your Girlfriend"
• His first solo album after the Revolution, ranging across every style he touched

Prince & New Power Generation - Diamonds and Pearls

To hear where Prince went next, start here. Diamonds and Pearls appeared in 1991 as his first album credited to Prince and the New Power Generation, the band that would carry him through the decade, trading the Revolution's palette for a harder, hip-hop-aware groove. "Cream," "Gett Off," "Money Don't Matter 2 Night," and the title ballad make it the most welcoming door into his 1990s work.

Why it's worth purchasing:

• The New Power Generation era arrives in full
• Home to "Cream," "Gett Off," and "Diamonds and Pearls"
• A funkier, hip-hop-informed turn into the 1990s

If You Like Prince

Prince drew from a deep well of funk and soul and handed it straight to the next generation. A few worth pulling from the racks:

• The Time: the Minneapolis funk band Prince built and wrote for, all swagger and syncopation.
• Sly & The Family Stone: the psychedelic soul revolution that made Prince's fusion possible.
• Funkadelic: George Clinton's guitar-drenched funk, a clear ancestor of Prince's rock edge.
• Stevie Wonder: the one-man-band songwriting model Prince took and ran with.
• D'Angelo: the neo-soul heir who picked up Prince's thread a generation later.

Ready to keep digging? Browse the full Prince collection for every pressing we carry, or wander through the wider Funk / Soul / Disco and Pop sections to find the artists who grew up on these grooves. However you get there, start with Purple Rain, and let Prince take it from the top.