The best Prince album. Not by far; 1999 and Purple Rain both come pretty close, but Sign O' the Times brings together the definitive Prince moves and puts them into a double LP. Opening with the sparse, intensely-sung title track, it leaps from social commentary to joyful pop to religion, stories, love songs, sex songs, lusty club bangers and more over the course of its 16 songs. All of it is done with Prince's gift for effortless funk and pop music, which from here on out becomes significantly more erratic. Here, every song is a highlight, whether its the joyful burst of "Play in the Sunshine," the fluffy silliness of "Starfish and Coffee," the guitar explosion "The Cross," or the gender-bending "If I Was Your Girlfriend." Even the closing slow jam "Adore" is the best iteration of Prince's samey-sounding slow jams.
Showing posts with label Prince. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prince. Show all posts
Monday, August 3, 2009
Prince - Sign O' the Times
The best Prince album. Not by far; 1999 and Purple Rain both come pretty close, but Sign O' the Times brings together the definitive Prince moves and puts them into a double LP. Opening with the sparse, intensely-sung title track, it leaps from social commentary to joyful pop to religion, stories, love songs, sex songs, lusty club bangers and more over the course of its 16 songs. All of it is done with Prince's gift for effortless funk and pop music, which from here on out becomes significantly more erratic. Here, every song is a highlight, whether its the joyful burst of "Play in the Sunshine," the fluffy silliness of "Starfish and Coffee," the guitar explosion "The Cross," or the gender-bending "If I Was Your Girlfriend." Even the closing slow jam "Adore" is the best iteration of Prince's samey-sounding slow jams.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Brighter Blights..
Today while I at work, I snapped out of listening to nothing but music from 2008 (as I have been doing since probably Christmas week - listen, those 100 or so albums take a lot of time to finish when you have to do things like work and celebrate with friends and family). Scrolling through my iPod, I settled on listening to Chaos and Disorder by Prince and continued on with my day.
Chaos and Disorder may potentially be the most underrated album in Prince's catalogue. It was released as he had changed his name, as a way of getting out of his contract with Warner Bros. blah blah blah... It's got some great guitar sounds on it. I would go so far to say it might be his most guitar-centric album, second to Purple Rain. Yeah, the songs aren't as strong, but they also don't try to hard, either. Prince's discography is filled with tons of ambitious albums - or, at least, albums that were driven to prove something. Chaos and Disorder is one of the rare glimpses into what the man does when he's just making filler. Some standout songs that have been forgotten by his subsequent weirdness include: "I Rock, Therefore I Am," "I Like It There" and the title track.
Next on my playlist, I gave Bob Dylan's Knocked Out Loaded a shot. I actually just had a conversation with a friend saying not to get involved with Dylan's 80s output until he's gotten just about everything else (this from someone who thinks the deluxe version of Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 was worth the $120 price tag). I say this, though I have to admit I haven't listened to Knocked Out Loaded or Saved more than a couple times. That said, giving this one another chance, it is fair to say it is one of the more underwhelming entries in Dylan's recorded output.
However, it's notable that I like this one a bit better than its predecessor (Empire Burlesque, long my least favorite Dylan album until I happened upon Saved). It still doesn't strike me as memorable, but "You Wanna Ramble" and "They Killed Him" are unmemorable but pleasant. "Brownsville Girl," an 11-minute epic, is generally considered the "hidden gem" of this album, and after listening to it here and a few other places (the box set Dylan, namely), it finally feels like it deserves the designation. That might also because it's so long and there are so many lyrics that some of them are bound to be insightful/poetic/etc.
My point in this post? Dig in those crates and give another shot to the albums you didn't like the first time around (not that I ever disliked Chaos and Disorder) - you never know what gems you'll find.
Chaos and Disorder may potentially be the most underrated album in Prince's catalogue. It was released as he had changed his name, as a way of getting out of his contract with Warner Bros. blah blah blah... It's got some great guitar sounds on it. I would go so far to say it might be his most guitar-centric album, second to Purple Rain. Yeah, the songs aren't as strong, but they also don't try to hard, either. Prince's discography is filled with tons of ambitious albums - or, at least, albums that were driven to prove something. Chaos and Disorder is one of the rare glimpses into what the man does when he's just making filler. Some standout songs that have been forgotten by his subsequent weirdness include: "I Rock, Therefore I Am," "I Like It There" and the title track.
Next on my playlist, I gave Bob Dylan's Knocked Out Loaded a shot. I actually just had a conversation with a friend saying not to get involved with Dylan's 80s output until he's gotten just about everything else (this from someone who thinks the deluxe version of Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 was worth the $120 price tag). I say this, though I have to admit I haven't listened to Knocked Out Loaded or Saved more than a couple times. That said, giving this one another chance, it is fair to say it is one of the more underwhelming entries in Dylan's recorded output.
However, it's notable that I like this one a bit better than its predecessor (Empire Burlesque, long my least favorite Dylan album until I happened upon Saved). It still doesn't strike me as memorable, but "You Wanna Ramble" and "They Killed Him" are unmemorable but pleasant. "Brownsville Girl," an 11-minute epic, is generally considered the "hidden gem" of this album, and after listening to it here and a few other places (the box set Dylan, namely), it finally feels like it deserves the designation. That might also because it's so long and there are so many lyrics that some of them are bound to be insightful/poetic/etc.
My point in this post? Dig in those crates and give another shot to the albums you didn't like the first time around (not that I ever disliked Chaos and Disorder) - you never know what gems you'll find.
I couldn't find any YouTube clips of either Prince circa-Chaos and Disorder, or Dylan circa Knocked Out Loaded (there's a surreal video of "Brownsville Girl" out there, though, that seems to meld stock footage with Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do with It?" video), so I leave you with this video of Dylan on Letterman in 1984, doing "License to Kill."
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