A Prince playlist

The protean artist born Prince Rogers Nelson in Minnesota in 1958 released more than 30 albums, most under the moniker Prince, and some under an indecipherable symbol when he was engaged in a battle with his record company. (In those days, we just called him the Artist Formerly Known As.)

Here are some essentials:

Purple Rain (1984). On the cover, he's the way we'll always want to remember him: perched on a custom Honda CB400A motorcycle that looks as if it had been borrowed from Batman (more likely the other way around), resplendent in black eyeliner, purple waistcoat, white lace cuffs and high collar, and high-heeled boots on the misty, mean streets of his native Minneapolis.

It was the soundtrack to a semiautobiographical film that sometimes plays like the work of overly serious high schoolers. But the heartfelt musical performances by Prince and his best band, the Revolution, make it a completely compelling vision of a Paisley world that may never have really existed. From the anthemic title tune to the angular rhythms and over-the-top emotionality of "When Doves Cry" to the slightly ominous party raver "Let's Go Crazy," this is the album that made Prince a global pop-culture force.

Sign O' the Times (1987). This is Prince on his own, after breaking up the Revolution, and at his most engaged with the real world. The spare, haunting title track is a litany of current-event woes from AIDS to gangs to drug abuse to looming nuclear doom, backed by stock sounds from a then-new Fairlight CMI sampling synthesizer. (Don't try this at home; your home isn't Prince's Paisley Park.)

Dirty Mind (1980). We have a soft spot for Prince's eponymous 1979 second album. (Anybody else remember that indelible TV moment when he performed "I Wanna Be Your Lover" on American Bandstand, after which a befuddled Dick Clark tried to interview the nearly mute musician?)

But in this third album, Prince let it all hang out (literally, he's practically a flasher in an overcoat and G-string on the cover). The highlight is the hooky "When You Were Mine" - later a hit for Cyndi Lauper - with the revealing lyric "I never was the kind to make a fuss / When he was there / Sleeping in between the two of us."

1999 (1982). Prince's top 10 breakthrough was also the template for synth-heavy 1980s funk, as in the title track and the squeakily infectious "Delirious." It also contains the suggestive "Little Red Corvette," his best rocker.

Around the World in a Day (1985). Some may prefer 1981's first attempt at being topical, Controversy (it's got "Ronnie, Talk to Russia"), or 1986's Parade (with the danceable "Kiss").

But we'll go with this one for the hard-won wisdom of "Pop Life" and, always, the psychedelic perfection of "Raspberry Beret," a genius bit of froth that reminds us that music is supposed to be fun at heart.