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All rights reserved.Controversy - Prince (CD)
Sex & Politics...What Else Matters?? Prince's "Controversy"Review created: 03/22/07
by: speeddemon531-- a member of Epinions and Advisor in Music
Pros:
Soul, funk, dance, pop, rock-he does 'em all and does 'em well.
Soul, funk, dance, pop, rock-he does 'em all and does 'em well.
Cons:
Prince coined the phrase "orgasmatron" before I got to it.
Prince coined the phrase "orgasmatron" before I got to it.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me when listening to Prince's output from the Eighties is it's sense of daring. Particularly in today's musically conservative, beige era, you wonder how songs like "When Doves Cry" and "Kiss" got on the radio. Prince was (and still is) an extremely unique artist, drawing on multiple genres for a singular sound. Just when you think he's a rocker, he pulls you back with a seductive slow jam, and then he goes left again and drops avant-garde noise on you.
By the time of "Controversy"'s 1981 release, Prince was quickly becoming a superstar. Although his first two albums pegged him as a (slightly perverted) teen dream, his third album, 1980's new wave/funk/disco mishmash "Dirty Mind" gained him a lot of critical favor, even if the sales didn't exactly match up (it would take four years to go Gold). "Controversy" followed on a somewhat similar sociopolitical path lyrically (with less overt vulgarity), although the album was significantly more produced and pop friendly.
Prince was still splitting the difference between rock and soul on this album, and he played both sides well. "Private Joy" was a bouncy pop gem that kids everywhere would have pogo-ed to if it had been a single. The lyrics are salacious without going over the top (at one point, he calls the titular object his "orgasmatron"), and he ends the track with a killer guitar solo amid waves of feedback. It's hard to believe that a pre-"Playboy" La Toya Jackson remade this song out of all the Prince songs available to her. On the other (musical) side of the coin was "Do Me, Baby". Although Prince is now known as one of the best "Slow Jam" artists in R&B history, this was one of the first songs he made that was tailor-made for bumping uglies. Singing in coy falsetto, Prince gives off a vulnerable vibe on this track, although there's nothing vulnerable about the shouting and moaning at this song's...um, climax.
In between boning, Prince obviously had his mind on world affairs. Several songs on this album deal with then-current events and politics. Hard to believe for someone who appeared so forward-thinking at the time (of course, now that he's down with Jehovah, we know differently...), Prince was a Reagan supporter. "Ronnie Talk To Russia" implores the then-President to, well...talk to Russia "before they blow up the world". It's all done over a frenzied, poppy musical arrangement. Talk about weird.
"Annie Christian" follows suit, as Prince talks (not sings) over an eerie, synth-drenched backdrop about gun control (invoking John Lennon's Murder) and capital punishment (discussing Wayne Williams and the Atlanta child murders), all topped off by the nonsense chorus "Annie Christian, Anti-Christ, until you're crucified...I'll live my life in taxicabs". As sexually aggressive as "Dirty Mind" was, this album was equally bizarre on the political tip.
Thankfully, he didn't forget the funk. The title track (a minor hit single) is all sleazy low-slung guitar and synth-bass stabs. Lyrically, Prince discusses his favorite topic...himself. He discusses the media's seeming fascination with things like his race and sexuality at a time when no one knew whether he was black, white, mixed, straight, gay or whatever. Of course, Prince is obviously aware that he would have gotten a lot less notoriety back then had the fact that he was a (freaky) heterosexual black man been common knowledge. If he didn't want to promote the mystery, he wouldn't have made a song like the rockabilly-esque album closer "Jack U Off", since everyone knows you don't "jack" women off. The song itself is silly, but in a fun kinda way.
"Let's Work" and "Sexuality" also fly the funk flag high (say that three times fast), although on a more conventional level. "Sexuality" has some great rhythm guitar that makes it sort of a musical cousin to the album's title track, while "Let's Work" is an extended dance workout very similar to the stuff on The Time's first album, which Prince created and composed around the same time that he was making "Controversy".
I was all set to give this album 4 stars when I realized that there's not one song I dislike on this entire album. While the album certainly stands out as bizarre (even 26 years after release), that doesn't make it bad. On the contrary, Prince's slightly off-center stuff was usually his best ("If I Was Your Girlfriend", anyone?). "Controversy" was the second in a string of four consecutive definitive albums (with "Dirty Mind", "1999" and "Purple Rain" being the others) and a string of six classic albums in seven years (if you add "Parade" and "Sign 'O The Times" to the list). Of the six albums, I'd probably vote "Controversy" as the second least essential (with "Parade" at the bottom), but if you've got the money and the love for music that might challenge you a bit, you can't go wrong with this or any Prince album from this period.
"Controvery" by Prince
Released 1981 on Warner Brothers Records
Rating: 5 stars
If you want more Prince...
Prince
Dirty Mind
1999
Purple Rain
Parade
Sign 'O The Times
That Idiotic Symbol
The Gold Experience
The Very Best Of Prince
Musicology
3121
The Ultimate Prince
By the time of "Controversy"'s 1981 release, Prince was quickly becoming a superstar. Although his first two albums pegged him as a (slightly perverted) teen dream, his third album, 1980's new wave/funk/disco mishmash "Dirty Mind" gained him a lot of critical favor, even if the sales didn't exactly match up (it would take four years to go Gold). "Controversy" followed on a somewhat similar sociopolitical path lyrically (with less overt vulgarity), although the album was significantly more produced and pop friendly.
Prince was still splitting the difference between rock and soul on this album, and he played both sides well. "Private Joy" was a bouncy pop gem that kids everywhere would have pogo-ed to if it had been a single. The lyrics are salacious without going over the top (at one point, he calls the titular object his "orgasmatron"), and he ends the track with a killer guitar solo amid waves of feedback. It's hard to believe that a pre-"Playboy" La Toya Jackson remade this song out of all the Prince songs available to her. On the other (musical) side of the coin was "Do Me, Baby". Although Prince is now known as one of the best "Slow Jam" artists in R&B history, this was one of the first songs he made that was tailor-made for bumping uglies. Singing in coy falsetto, Prince gives off a vulnerable vibe on this track, although there's nothing vulnerable about the shouting and moaning at this song's...um, climax.
In between boning, Prince obviously had his mind on world affairs. Several songs on this album deal with then-current events and politics. Hard to believe for someone who appeared so forward-thinking at the time (of course, now that he's down with Jehovah, we know differently...), Prince was a Reagan supporter. "Ronnie Talk To Russia" implores the then-President to, well...talk to Russia "before they blow up the world". It's all done over a frenzied, poppy musical arrangement. Talk about weird.
"Annie Christian" follows suit, as Prince talks (not sings) over an eerie, synth-drenched backdrop about gun control (invoking John Lennon's Murder) and capital punishment (discussing Wayne Williams and the Atlanta child murders), all topped off by the nonsense chorus "Annie Christian, Anti-Christ, until you're crucified...I'll live my life in taxicabs". As sexually aggressive as "Dirty Mind" was, this album was equally bizarre on the political tip.
Thankfully, he didn't forget the funk. The title track (a minor hit single) is all sleazy low-slung guitar and synth-bass stabs. Lyrically, Prince discusses his favorite topic...himself. He discusses the media's seeming fascination with things like his race and sexuality at a time when no one knew whether he was black, white, mixed, straight, gay or whatever. Of course, Prince is obviously aware that he would have gotten a lot less notoriety back then had the fact that he was a (freaky) heterosexual black man been common knowledge. If he didn't want to promote the mystery, he wouldn't have made a song like the rockabilly-esque album closer "Jack U Off", since everyone knows you don't "jack" women off. The song itself is silly, but in a fun kinda way.
"Let's Work" and "Sexuality" also fly the funk flag high (say that three times fast), although on a more conventional level. "Sexuality" has some great rhythm guitar that makes it sort of a musical cousin to the album's title track, while "Let's Work" is an extended dance workout very similar to the stuff on The Time's first album, which Prince created and composed around the same time that he was making "Controversy".
I was all set to give this album 4 stars when I realized that there's not one song I dislike on this entire album. While the album certainly stands out as bizarre (even 26 years after release), that doesn't make it bad. On the contrary, Prince's slightly off-center stuff was usually his best ("If I Was Your Girlfriend", anyone?). "Controversy" was the second in a string of four consecutive definitive albums (with "Dirty Mind", "1999" and "Purple Rain" being the others) and a string of six classic albums in seven years (if you add "Parade" and "Sign 'O The Times" to the list). Of the six albums, I'd probably vote "Controversy" as the second least essential (with "Parade" at the bottom), but if you've got the money and the love for music that might challenge you a bit, you can't go wrong with this or any Prince album from this period.
"Controvery" by Prince
Released 1981 on Warner Brothers Records
Rating: 5 stars
If you want more Prince...
Prince
Dirty Mind
1999
Purple Rain
Parade
Sign 'O The Times
That Idiotic Symbol
The Gold Experience
The Very Best Of Prince
Musicology
3121
The Ultimate Prince
Review ID: 10000000003235549
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