The Hits 1 - Prince (CD 1993)

Any record that starts with that classic "When Doves Cry" guitar opening can't be all bad. Throw in some other Prince favorites and you're golden.

I got the Prince Hits/B-sides box set for my 21st birthday. My girlfriend was working a graveyard shift and sleeping in the evenings when I got home from work, and our son was only a few months old. Our apartment was only 4 small rooms, so my music listening time was very limited and it was forever before I got to sit and listen to the entire set. But I remember coming home from work the day after I got it, putting the sleeping baby next to me, and sitting on the floor with the headphones on, listening to the first of the Prince Hits collections.

I love box sets. They're a great way to get an overview of an artist's entire career, or in the case of someone you're already familiar with--like Prince--they're a great way to have all your favorites in one place. The Hits 1 starts with the classic "When Doves Cry" and even if it is the edited single version, you still can't find a better way to start. "Pop Life" comes next and I'm still awed at how tight the bass and drums are, how complete this song is.

The next 5 songs are all oldies--although we start with a REAL hit, then move to a minor hit, we're suddenly shifted from 80s pop all the way back to 70s disco. It's a rough transition, but synths and falsetto aside, the songs stand up and deserve to be here. "Soft and Wet", "I Feel for You", "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?", "When You Were Mine" and "Uptown" all give the fan who came in at "1999" or PURPLE RAIN a taste of what came before. Personally, I could think of a few alternate songs to replace a couple of the less stellar ones ("Uptown" has never been a personal favorite, although I do enjoy the song it's not a song I put on DIRTY MIND specifically to hear), but for some reason Paisley Park and Warner Brothers never asked for my input. Their loss, I guess.

Back to 1984, we get the full version of "Let's Go Crazy", then the edited "1999"--make up your minds, guys--and the edited "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (come on, the full version is only 6:31 and you CANNOT beat the Prince guitar interlude on that song, lost here in order to bring the big hit, the single version--that was sarcasm, but I'll get to that in a second).

God knows you can't have a box set--and especially not a greatest hits collection, not from the past 10 years at least--without some new material. Cuz, you know, this new material is somehow a hit already. Anyway. The first of the new songs is the Prince-recorded, live version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" from an invitation-only concert at Paisley Park on Jan. 27, 1992. Mine musta got lost in the mail. I've always loved Sinead O'Connor's version, I think she's a hell of a singer and I think she sang her heart out on that record. But this version, with its INCREDIBLE sax solo and the deep, emotional vocals delivered by Rosie Gaines (did I forget to mention it's recorded as a duet?) take this song to a new level, neither greater nor lesser than the O'Connor version, but equally as great in its own right. I'd buy the entire box set again for this song alone. Sometimes I still get chills when Rosie belts the line "I know that livin' with me baby is sometimes hard, sometimes hard, but I'm willing, I'm willing to give it one more try".

I've often wondered how they chose the order of the songs. It seems mostly chronological, except for the first two songs, then the sudden time jump back a decade, but that doesn't explain the placement of the new songs. From "Nothing Compares 2 U", we go to the edited version of "Adore" from SIGN "O" THE TIMES, which should have been placed directly after "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" since they both come from the same record. Instead we get "Nothing", then "Adore", and then another new song, "Pink Cashmere." This song, a single no less, was my first glimpse of the box set. I'd gone out a few days earlier in search of it, but it hadn't been officially released yet and I had to settle for the "Pink Cashmere" single. When I got it home, I remember thinking "This is a single?" No offense, it's a decent song, although it's placement here makes it the third in a trilogy of ballads and by this time it's enough already, back to the funk.

"Pink Cashmere" has the makings of a great soul song--it's got killer music in its programmed beat, and once again, another incredible guitar solo. His voice, falsetto again, is in top form. But here's where I get stuck. The chorus begins with the line, "I'm making you a coat of Pink Cashmere / You gotta know how I feel about you / How I always want you near". Seriously, man? A coat of pink cashmere? Personally, I think that speaks less of how you feel about her and more how you feel about Ed Wood. Did that sound really bad? It sounded better in my head--I apologize to anyone who takes offense. But come on, what kinda line is that to build a song on? A coat of pink cashmere? If I made my wife a coat of pink cashmere, I can't even begin to explain the looks I'd get from her. And is he making the coat himself or having it made? And why not just buy a coat? I'm sorry, I just can't get over how ridiculous that image is to me, ridiculous enough to keep me away from this single for long periods of time. Other than that, though, pretty good song.

"Alphabet St." then the edited "Sign "O" the Times" follow "Pink Cashmere", neither of which I recall being big "Hits". "Thieves in the Temple" was big enough, although not huge, and "Diamonds and Pearls" and "7", the final two songs, were both huge and earn their place here.

And here's where my real complaints come in.

"Pop Life" wasn't really that big a hit. Neither were "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man", "Alphabet St." or "Sign "O" the Times", so how did they get included on a collection called "The Hits 1"? "I Feel for You", "When You Were Mine", and "Adore"--according to Prince's own love4oneanother site--weren't even released as singles. Chaka Kahn covered "I Feel for You" and that was a big hit. Cyndi Lauper covered "When You Were Mine" on her first record, but I don't even think it was released as a single for her, either, was it? But does having a song covered qualify it to be on a "Hits" collection? Not unless the covered version was a hit, and that's the version you're including--at least, that's my opinion. I think "Adore" might have been an unreleased single--I'm almost certain I heard it on the radio a time or two, but it was probably one of those instances where the DJ likes the B-side better than the single side and ends up playing that instead. Either way, "Adore" was most certainly NOT a hit.

The Hits 1, while a great collection and a quick way to catch up on your Prince music, is by no means indicative of the BEST of his music, and I think it suffers from a bit of padding to make the required 2-disc "Hits" set, otherwise the box set would have been "The Hits" on one disc and the "B-Sides" on another, and who ever heard of a 2-disc box set? Still, a little more care could have been taken in selecting the songs, or better yet, don't call it "The Hits", call it the Best Of (and let me pick the songs). What I'm waiting for is a REAL box set, something more career-spanning like Bowie's SOUND & VISION box set. I hear rumors there's a more comprehensive box set coming. I only hope the rumors are right (and if they are, I hope they get Alan Leeds again to write the liner notes; his job here was one of the true highlights of the set).