Sign O' the Times - Prince (CD 1987)

In the winter of 1987 I received, along with everything else I got that year, 3 albums for Christmas. I got Def Leppard's "Hysteria", Aerosmith's "Permanent Vacation" (on vinyl no less), and Prince's "Sign 'O' the Times". I couldn't begin to tell you how much that last one affected everything else from there on. It wasn't that I was particularly awed by his sense of musicianship or that the production quality was especially crisp. It was those lyrics, and those songs, and that production, and the whole package.

SIGN "O" THE TIMES isn't a record, it's a masterpiece. It's Prince at his peak. It's one artist realizing the art he'd sought his entire career. Much has already been made of how SIGN "O" THE TIMES started as a triple album and was cut down to two, and how SIGN "O" THE TIMES replaced original concepts THE DREAM FACTORY and CRYSTAL BALL, so we won't go over old news here. Let's just talk about those songs. Those wonderful, f**king songs.

SIGN "O" THE TIMES opens with the title track, and one of the funkiest drum loops ever put down (I remember going to see Metallica and Guns 'N Roses in concert in 1992. Standing outside Arrowhead stadium, I heard over the sound system, that drum loop. "Sign 'O' the Times", louder than I'd ever heard it, and I right there gained new appreciation for its funkiness). Liner notes in the Prince Box Set say this song was conceived, written, and recorded all in one day. "In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name / By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same". A look at the news of the day, all the bad things no one wanted to think too much about, Prince made us think about. Not only think about, he made us face another reality--"It's silly, no?, when the rocket ship explodes, and everybody still wants to fly / Some say a man ain't happy, truly, until he truly dies". There's a live version of this song out there and if you can find it, it rocks harder and kicks more a** that you can imagine.

"Play in the Sunshine" takes that tempo set in the first song and expands it, giving us one of the songs I've always been able to count on bringing me out of any funk I was in. "We wanna play in the sunshine / Wanna be free / Without the help of a margarita or ecstasy / We wanna kick like we used to / sign up on the dotted line / We gonna dance every dance like it's gonna be the last time". Try listening to this song in all its hoppin' glory and being in a bad mood--you can't do it.

"Housequake" was my first glimpse of the greatness of this record, the skewed eye with which Prince was seeing his world and writing it all down for us. A simple house jam, one of the Prince standards of late, but in this one . . . I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking, How interesting and obvious. Housequake. What a great word. Prince once said in a Rolling Stone interview in 1990 that the only band he feared was The Time. He gave his for instance with U2. He said he could play a U2 song and make it sound good. But U2 could NEVER play a song like "Housequake". And he was right. I can see The Time doing it, albeit not as good. There are no other bands around, then or now, who could pull off a song like this.

"The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" took some getting used to. The beat is all over the place, and the flavor of the song is jazzy and soulful, but . . . a little to the side. It's not a song so much as a story with music. But dammit if I didn't eventually come to love even this strange little tune. I'm telling you, it must be something he slipped into the album, like booze in the punchbowl, because there's not a song on here, not a beat, not a lyric, not a melody, you don't find under your skin. I would BREATHE this record if I could. Of all my tapes and CDs--and that's a sh*tload--this is easily the most-played.

"It" is about "it"--"I think about it, baby, all the time, all right / It feels so good it must be a crime, all right / I wanna do it, baby, ever day, all right / In a bed, on the stairs, anywhere, all right." It's just a funky beat and a quick guitar line in the middle with Prince and his many other voices singing back-up. Some of the songs on the record--this one for example--are very simple, no-flourish songs, but one thing Prince has definitely learned between his previous records and this one is restraint. The songs are simple and that's all they need and he finally isn't over-producing to make more out of a song that it requires. As I said, he's at his peak here.

I wanted to do this review just mentioning my favorite songs because it's a double-album and there are 16 songs. But there aren't any favorites. I love each and every one of them. Not equally, no, but each adds to the next to create the whole.

HOWEVER, there ARE still 16 songs and we've got lives to lead, so we'll skip ahead. Past "Starfish and Coffee" past "Slow Love" (but see this one live with your lover and try NOT to get laid that night), past "Hot Thing", straight to "Forever in my Life". Yes, yes, the song JFK Jr. had played at his wedding. So what. That's FAR from what makes this a near-perfect song. AGAIN with the funked out drum track. Where did he get that machine and why don't he give it to me? This one's got such a deep bass groove in the drum, you almost feel it digging down into you, down in your stomach. And the backing vocal is wonderful. Some backing vocals are placed just a bit behind the lead, but on "Forever in my Life" they're ahead of him and this one little thing adds so much to an already great song. And how did he come up with this idea? He didn't. It was a mistake on the part of his recording engineers, and, after hearing it, Prince decided it worked, and he left it like that. Brilliant. "Forever in my Life" is the song every man should play as an option to proposing. "There comes a time in every man's life / When he gets tired of fooling around / Juggling hearts in a three-ring circus / Someday drive a body down to the ground / I never imagined that love would rain on me and make me wanna settle down / Baby it's true / I think I do / And I just wanna tell you that I wanna with you / And baby if you do, too / Forever, forever, baby I want you forever."

"U Got the Look" was the single to make this record take off. It was everywhere. You couldn't come home from school and turn on MTV without seeing this video. And that was fine with me. What happens for me with most Prince singles is that I get so used to hearing them on the radio AND the albums when I get them, that they soon become my least favorite on the album. But "U Got the Look" has that DRIVING beat, almost like the man's STOMPING on that kick drum to give it the emphasis he wants. Now, FIFTEEN years later, this songs kick just as much a** as it did when I first heard it. "Here we are folks--dream we all dream of--boy vs. girl--in the World Series of love".

And now the real stuff. "If I was Your Girlfriend" is not just, in my opinion, the most successful song on the record, it's my absolute favorite song of all time. He set things up for me with "Housequake" and then again with "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" and "Starfish and Coffee" in terms a great, original lyric. He upped the ante with this one. "If I was your girlfriend, would you remember / To tell me all the things you forgot when I was your man?" What a new way to look at things and why has no one else thought of it before? Because they see the world like the rest of us. Prince is a different breed of cat. Everything about this song stands out. The music is funky and dirty. The beat, the synth line behind it. Prince was in top form for this one and I can't rave enough about it. If you've never heard it, hear it--but make sure you get the album version because the single loses the final spoken part and that's what makes this song what it is.

"Strange Relationship"--dysfunction at its best. "I guess you know me well, I don't like winter / But I seem to get a kick outta doin' you cold / Oh, what the hell, you always surrender / What's this strange relationship that we hold onto / Baby I just can't stand to see you happy / More than that, I hate to see you sad / Honey if you let me I just might do somethin' rash / What's this strange relationship?" As with "U Got the Look", there's a bass drum in here that practically comes out of the speaker and pounds you right in the head. Deep, and straight-on. The credits on the lyric sheet lead one to believe Prince played most of the instruments himself and if that's the case, then that's what he had been missing on his previous few records--he'd been playing with a band. Prince is Prince and while I hear the man expects perfection from his players, no one can give it to you like the man himself can. He knows exactly what he wants and how to drive it home.

"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"--long title, long song, short on lyrics. With only 2 verses, and a long solo at the end, this song was a mystery to me for a long time. I used to put this album on when I did homework or read and for the longest time this song would come on and I'd get well into it before I realized he wasn't singing anymore and I'd wonder when did he stop? Some solos announce themselves. The vocals stop and the music kicks into a different gear to set itself apart and make you take notice. The solo here is mixed so well into the track itself, you won't even know it's happening at first. It starts off like a standard solo, but then it just keeps going and slips back into the groove of the song, no longer a guitar solo, but a musical solo of the song as a whole. Again, live is the way to hear this one. "It was only last June when her old man ran away / She couldn't stop cryin' cuz she knew he was gone to stay / It was 10:35 on a lonely Friday night / She was standing by the bar / Mmm, she was looking alright / I asked her if she wanted to dance and she said that all she wanted was a good man and wanted to know / If I thought I was qualified / And I said Baby don't waste your time / I know what's on your mind / I may be qualified for a one night stand / But I could never take the place of your man." This is the song Jordan Knight covered just a few years ago when he made his try at a comeback. You wanna try to cover Prince, fine--give it your best shot. But for God's sake pick a song you might have a CHANCE of doing justice to. This wasn't it. The sheer depth of this song, in music, in production, in performance, is years beyond what Knight was capable of. No offense to Jordan, but, seriously, come on.

"The Cross" is Prince and a guitar, joined later by the drums in one of his most outright gospel tunes at that time. "Black day, stormy night / No love, no hope in sight / Don't cry, he is coming / Don't die without knowing / The cross." Recently the lyrics and title have been changed to "The Christ" for the live performances, so I hear. Very nice, very simple.

"It's Gonna be a Beautiful Night" was recorded live for this record and it goes to show that he knows what's best for his own songs. I can't imagine a studio version being even equal to this version, let alone surpassing it. There's a quality Prince brings to his live shows, an atmosphere that is missing from so many other live performances. I'm sure most other artists go out wanting to kick a**. Prince goes out and kicks everything you have, a**, head, gut. The man plays and leaves you on the floor. This is a taste of that for those who've never seen him (that includes me--I've never been to a concert, but I've seen plenty of them on tape and I'd probably give a kidney or some other body part I can live without to make it to a show).

"Adore" closes the record and, while it was never a single, it still got plenty of airplay. Once again, the radio version is edited for time, stopping at the 4:30 mark, losing the last 2 minutes of the song. This is another one of those songs you can't help but get lucky after hearing. This song is "Slow Love" turned up to eleven, with Atlanta Bliss and Eric Leeds providing the horns and Prince giving his all to seduce every last person who hears it. It's a very slow jam, Prince in his falsetto, with horns and drums. Again, very simple. That's part of the beauty of this record. Simple songs, that only SEEM complex. But when you get down to it, it's amazing what he can do with a drum machine and a little guitar lick here and there.

I wanna wrap it up because I've gone on long enough and sometimes you just can't truly express what greatness is. This review is a bit different from previous Prince reviews I've written because it's just not easy being critical of something you consider so perfect. Suffice it to say, if I could take only one CD to be stranded with, I don't hesitate to name SIGN "O" THE TIMES as my choice. He peeked here, unfortunately, and I've been listening ever since, hoping for another "If I was Your Girlfriend" or "Slow Love." Hell, I'd settle for another "Starfish and Coffee," just a simple little song made great by his skill. He's achieved greatness a few times since (LOVESEXY, and a few songs off GRAFFITI BRIDGE), but has yet to come close to the level of greatness here. SIGN "O" THE TIMES is Prince's masterpiece, his musical declaration to the world of what he is capable of when he puts his mind to it.