Dirty Mind to Lovesexy, honestly, is an out-of-this-world run. I can put on any album from that streak and it feel that it (mostly) shows Prince at his best. At any point, I might call any one of those albums my favorite P album... 8 albums in as many years. Few folks run their critical period for that long with that much output.

That said:

Controversy is probably my least favorite of that stretch. From the perspective of great runs, that infuriates me -- because it basically means Dirty Mind can't be included, which is in my gun-to-the-head top 3.

Keeping the question of runs at bay for a moment, I don't think I could really make a gun-to-the-head top 3. But I can organize the period into three tiers:

Personal favorites (i.e. what I listen to and actively appreciate most): SOTT/Parade/Dirty Mind/Lovesexy

Classics that I love but honestly don't reach for that often: 1999 and Purple Rain. I'm more partial to the latter; 1999 has always seemed a bit bloated to me (but what do you take off!??!).

The easiest for me to "let go" of: Controversy and ATWIAD. ATWIAD *almost* makes it into my personal favorites list but I skip Temptation, America, and The Ladder too easily.

With all that in mind... total personal preference, but my streaks would probably be:

5 albums: Purple Rain to Lovesexy
4 albums: Purple Rain to SOTT
3 albums: Parade to Lovesexy

If we're talking more "objectively" classics, that might all change. At least the 5 album streak, that would probably be 1999 to SOTT.

I don't know man, thanks for letting my brain procrastinate on everything else for a while, lol...

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~