Neil Young's 70s vs Prince's 80s

[Matthew_S]

Years back I frequented the ILM (I Love Music) boards.  This was one of the threads I started there and I wonder what the response here will be:

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=42743

Which is better: Prince's 80s or Neil Young's 70s?
Here are Prince's albums from the 1980s:

1980 Dirty Mind
1981 Controversy
1982 1999
1984 Purple Rain
1985 Around The World In A Day
1986 Parade
1987 Sign O' The Times
1988 Lovesexy
1989 Batman

and I guess the Black Album fits in there retroactively.

Here are Neil Young's 1970s albums (not CSNY or Stills Young).

After The Gold Rush 1970
Harvest 1972
Journey Through The Past 1972
Time Fades Away 1973
On The Beach 1974
Tonight's The Night 1975
Zuma 1975
American Stars & Bars 1977
Decade 1977 (compilation)
Comes A Time 1978
Rust Never Sleeps 1979
Live Rust 1979 (live album)

Many similarities (top 40 hits, critics faves, 'artistic' exploration, unexpected choices (it started here for NY but is more obvious in NY's 80s), killer live shows, interesting but too often disappointing 'other' projects...)

Is it close?

[Gilly]

Prince and it's not even close. After the Gold Rush gives Neil some points, but not many can compare to Prince's 80's output.

[Matt]

I gotta go with Prince on this one. A remarkable string of albums, and he pretty much played everything on all of them. Neil Young's great, but the company he chose (Ben Keith, Crazy Horse, Rusty Kershaw, Devo) influenced him a lot more; Prince was an entity in himself. Plus, I'll take Prince's worst lyrics over Neil's worst lyrics. Prince also has a lot of great B-sides from this era that push him over the top.

Basically, it comes down to "Ambulance Blues" versus "Let's Pretend We're Married." Whichever one you can fuckdance to is the one you choose, always.

[Stupornaut]

I'll third that, even though On the Beach is better than all but maybe four Prince albums.

[Andy]

I go neil, but I've never been a prince fan so it's probably harder for me to appreciate how great some of those albums are.

I wish this was in fotchan so I could tell you why I was really picking neil.

[Gilly]

How good would Prince in the 90's be if the cheesy rap verses were removed? NPG belongs in the topic "I like some of it but not all of it". My favorite Prince songs are mostly the 80-81 songs and post Sign o the Times. Controversy and Uptown are two of the greatest songs ever!

[Matt]

I wish this was in Chinatown so I could tell you why I was really picking neil.

I think I know.

Does Prince have a good all-encompassing book about him like Neil does with Shakey? That would be a pretty interesting read.

[John Junk 2.0]

Neil Young. 

[jed]

Neil Young, and the 70s.  (You could have made this a poll.)

[Matt]

Maybe we can factor in their movies as well:

Soundtrack:
Where the Buffalo Roam v. Batman - Advantage: PRINCE

Concert films:
Rust Never Sleeps v. Sign O' The Times - DRAW

Narrative films:
Journey Through the Past v. Purple Rain/Under the Cherry Moon - Advantage: PRINCE

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=xyI8y9m_7tA[/youtube]

How about Best Physical Feature - Prince's crazy eyes versus Neil Young's sideburns? That's a Sophie's Choice if ever there was one.

[John Junk 2.0]

Human Highway vs. Graffiti Bridge.

[Spoony]

This sounds like it's more of a personal choice than a matter of where each should lie in the annals of music. Kind of like the "Elvis vs Lennon" debate.

So, if I have to make it personnel, I will.

Prince. With a bullet.

Can't shake your ass to Neil Young. Nothing against the guy.

C

[emma]

Prince!

Purple Rain The Movie made me want to be a member of either Prince's band or Morris Day and the Time just so I could do all those fancy coordinated dance moves. FANCY DANCING! Do I need to give any more reasons? No!

[Oogie]

this is an impossible comparison.

i don't put on the prince records to chase away the razor blades, and i don't put on the neil records to hump my wife.

and never the twain shall meet.

[John Junk 2.0]

this is an impossible comparison.

i don't put on the prince records to chase away the razor blades, and i don't put on the neil records to hump my wife.

and never the twain shall meet.

I'm with you, buddy. 

But having said that, the Prince-beats-Neil sentiment on this thread is blowing my fucking mind.  Look, I know Neil probably can't pull off a bang up Halftime Show, but I've seen that guy play live twice and I've wept both times.