I set out to put together a CD of Prince ballads. This kind of little project is fun as an aesthetic exercise, starting with just figuring out what recordings would fit the bill.
What do I mean by a ballad, exactly? Does it mean just songs with a slow tempo? Is "Money Don't Matter 2Night" a "ballad"? That moves at a pretty good clip, actually.
Fluffy, airy stuff like "Sometimes It Snows in April" was more what I started out with in mind, but then there are love ballads ("Adore") and sexy seduction ballads ("I Love U in Me" was cruelly cut for time constraints).
One or two songs got put in the mix that seemed somewhat marginal as to what I had in mind as "ballads." Still, "Diamonds and Pearls" was a huge hit and an outstanding song somewhere broadly in the range of ballads.
Here's the final lineup for an outstanding 78 minute Prince Ballad Mastermix CD:
Condition of the Heart
When 2R in Love
Slow Love
4 the Tears in Your Eyes
The Ladder
The Arms of Orion
Adore
Diamonds and Pearls
Nothing Compares 2U
Scandalous
The Beautiful Ones
Still Would Stand All Time
Sometimes It Snows in April
Purple Rain
Given the long lengths of most of these songs, it only takes 14 to fill a full length standard audio CD. From the cutting, I could probably come up with an outstanding second volume of Prince ballads. What do you think would be good to go on it?
![Sign 'O' the Times [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510FRNTN3ML._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - Al Barger
I note copies of the criminally underappreciated Graffiti Bridge CD at Amazon for 50 frickin' cents. Why don't you own this masterpiece? Huh?
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
No If I Was Ur Girlfriend?? Surely thats a ballad fit for to go on there. Or The Morning Papers. Thats a beautiful record right there. And what about The Cross. That might be pushing it a bit, granted, but its gorgeous. First two deffinately should be on there tho
3 - Timmy
"How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" is better than any of the songs on your list (flip side of "1999" single, I think, and on "The Hits/The B sides - disc 3).
4 - Lomu
How about Gold? That is a pretty good one. Is Cream a ballad?
5 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Gold? I havent heard that in a while, but i think i hated it when i did. Wasn't that between and the current revival? the wilderness years?
6 - Al Barger
"The Cross" rates in my top 10 favorite Prince songs, but calling it a "ballad" would be like calling "Stairway to Heaven" a ballad.
"Girlfriend" probably rates as a major omission. It will probably head up volume 2.
And of course there is "Damn U."
7 - karl
how can i get prince song adore instrumetal
8 - Laurente
After reading the blog by Al Bager concerning Prince being from a Seventh Day Adventist background, I don't know; however, I'm aware that he became one of Jehovah's Witnesses through singer Larry Graham. Though I could be wrong, that's his opinion; I think that Prince always had a spiritual side within his nature, as all recording artist's does.