The Very Best of Prince
Taken literally, this album's title is sure to cause endless  arguments. Nothing fromDirty Mind, not a  trace of the early anthem "Controversy," no "Erotic City"--no non-LP  cuts at all, save some edited single versions--and a cold shoulder to  the criminally out-of-printGold Experience. Damn.  As a compendium of 17 key A-sides from 1979 to 1992, however,The  Very Best of Princeis (ahem) a quick-'n'-dirty review of the days  when the Artist was, in the estimation ofR.E.M.guitarist  Peter Buck, one of the weirdest musicians in the Top 10. Blessed with  both creative cunning and the wish to reach every listener possible,  Prince revitalized rock and soul modes from the sex-crazed ("Little Red  Corvette") to the cryptically spiritual ("Purple Rain"). Often he  blurred lines between attitudes as surely as he did musical ones; the  New Testament image of "Thieves in the Temple" became in his hands a  complaint about a stolen girlfriend. Though a fine party artifact, this  disc is still likely to prove too scanty even for many casual Prince  fans.--Rickey Wright