"1999" is widely regarded as the first masterpiece of the great Prince. The album, which was released in 1982, marked his commercial breakthrough — it was actually the first Prince album I ever heard. In 2019, a Super Deluxe Edition comprising a total of five CDs with 65 tracks (instead of the original eleven) was released. While the synth-and-drum-machine sound certainly shaped Prince’s work in the years that followed and defined the sound of the era, it is also the main issue I have with the album from today’s perspective. Prince recorded the album almost single-handedly, as he usually did, only occasionally enlisting the help of other musicians, mostly backing singers. The list of instruments used reads like a synth fan's wet dream from the early '80s: ARP Omni, Oberheim OB-SX, OB-X, OB-Xa and OB-8, Linn LM-1, Pearl SY-1 Syncussion, and so on. – in short, everything that sounds like the '80s today, including handclaps, plus guitar, bass, piano and vocals. The album hasn’t aged well. Many of the musically brilliant moments suffer from this 'plastic sound', compounded by a few of Prince's cringe-worthy, sexist lyrics. For me, revisiting this supposed classic was disappointing. There are other Prince albums that work much better today.