Prince

[FuzzyPlum]

Hi,
I was wondering whether anyone out there could offer me some advice concerning the little pint-sized purple-loving chap known as Prince...

Sadly I've reached the stage in life where I've pretty much stopped buying albums and tend to just buy greatest hits collections. Perhaps fueled by Christine's love of Prince and Stevie's old friendship I bought his 'Very Best of Prince' compilation. I really like the diversity of his music and now want to get into him a bit more.

The problem is its just a bit daunting. Starting from scratch with an artist with such a huge back-catalog makes me wonder whether I can really be a*sed. When I do get albums I want to be able to play them to death. For me, the best albums take about 10 plays through before I properly connect with the music and then I become addicted forever (The Bends: Radiohead, Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness: Smashing Pumpkins). Going in chronological order therefore could take me the next 20 years.

With this in mind, are there any Prince fans out there who could recommend some of his records as a starting point? Could anyone suggest his best 5 albums for example?

cheers