1999 - Prince (CD 1983)

With moderate success from his first two records (FOR YOU and PRINCE), and even more success with albums three and four (DIRTY MIND and CONTROVERSY), Prince finally hit the REAL big time in 1983 when he released the dance-floor double-album "1999". With three top-ten singles (1999, Little Red Corvette, and Delirious), Prince was setting himself up to become a major player in the music industry, FINALLY.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I only want you to have some fun" he tells us in a computer-altered bass voice, opening the record and preparing us for the fun to follow. And follow it does with the incredibly pop and made-for-the-dance-floor title cut "1999", alleviating some of the pressure from that era--a time when the country lived in fear, expecting that fateful button-push at any second, followed by near-instant death--by saying if it's time to go, let's go out dancing. Despite the more "experimental" nature of some of the following tracks, the record starts strong and keeps up its energy, segueing from "1999" directly into one of Prince's most sultry songs to date, the sexy "Little Red Corvette". The extended album version here is much better than the single version. And then "Delirious" brings the fun round again, giving us a tune that could almost be a nursery rhyme, until he starts singing. These first three songs form the pop basis of the entire record. Dance, sex, dance some more, with some of his best musical work backing him up.

"Let's Pretend We're Married" has always been one of my favorite Prince songs, almost a prototype version of "If I Was Your Girlfriend" from SIGN O THE TIMES, with Prince taking a hypothetical situation and saying What If, creating what has to be one of his sleaziest songs ever. "'Scuse me but I need a mouth like yours / to help me forget the girl that just walked out my door" The driving beat and energetic vocal makes this a relentless song that echoes the lyrics, Let's pretend we're married and go all night, so you almost imagine he really could. And when he finally slows things down enough to pant the words I'm not sayin' this just to be nasty; I sincerely wanna **** the taste outta your mouth--DAMN!--even a line as vulgar as that comes off a little less obscene. Why? Odd as it may sound, because you believe he really means it, and that somehow makes it okay. My girl's gone and she don't care at all / And if she did, SO WHAT!?, come on baby let's--

D.M.S.R.--All I wanna do is Dance, play Music, Sex, Romance / And try my best to never get bored Jeez, on song five now and it's just not letting up, this energy. If anything, D.M.S.R. is even MORE energetic than the previous four songs, this one is MADE for the dance floor. Everybody get on the floor / What the hell'd you come here for? / Girl it ain't no use, you might as well get loose / Work your body like a wh*re The only hint of Prince maybe not having as much direction with this record as was previously thought is when this song continues past where it should rightfully have ended, going from what could have been a #1 dance hit, I think, to just another over-produced, over-extended jam session. This song was definitely made to be seen live; as an album track, this long version overstays its welcome.

And this where we start talking about the flaws of 1999.

Deny it all you want, Prince is a genius when it comes to making great music, drawing on something all through the 80s that most musicians are lucky if they find once or twice--and Prince did it over and over and over for an entire decade. But his insistence on producing his records himself can sometimes be seen as a shortsighted failing. "Free" is another Prince-being-political song whose only success comes from the music, because the lyrics are pathetic and juvenile--especially coming from someone who's already proven over and over on this record alone what he can really do. I know my heart is beating / My drummer tells me so / If you take your life for granted / Your beating heart will go . . . Be glad that you are free / Free to change your mind / Free to go most anywhere any time / Be glad that you are free / There's many a man who's not / Be glad for what you have and what you got To make matters worse, the song degenerates from a slow piano ballad into Prince screaming in his most annoying-yet screech while the music does nothing but get louder.

"Automatic", while an original take on the love song, meets the same fate as "D.M.S.R.", going from good dance tune to overlong mess once that last verse is over. "Something In the Water (Does Not Compute)"--just another new version of the love song. Don't get me wrong, they're both GREAT new versions of the love song (the persistent, desperate music behind "Water", especially), but I can't help feeling an outside producer could have made them just a little better--certainly, in "Automatic"'s case, more cohesive. "Lady Cab Driver"--has anyone heard this song and pinned down exactly what it's about? From "D.M.S.R." all the way through to "All the Critics Love U in New York", Prince has to be thanking himself he can write such good music because that's really the only thing that holds these tunes together. The lyrics are all over the place and the songs don't know when it's time to say good night and fade out. These may sound like negative comments--they're not, just the observations of someone who has been listening to this record for over a decade and knows it inside and out. I LOVE these songs, but it's only because, lyrics and length aside, you just can't help tapping your foot, bobbing your head, drumming on whatever tabletop surface is before you (I will say this about "Critics"--it sums up his career at that time perfectly: Look out all you hippies / You ain't as sharp as me / It ain't about the trippin', but the sexuality).

And once "International Lover" comes on, who cares what's come before. This is the song "Do Me, Baby" would have been if he'd waited a while to record it. It's another love song in the same vein as the CONTROVERSY track, segueing in the end into Prince's pillow-talk monologue, but "International Lover" comes off as the more mature song, not only in lyrics and music, but in overall production. His vocal on this song--did I forget to mention he's finally lost the falsetto on this record?--makes this his most accomplished ballad to date. Whatever seductive quality "Do Me, Baby" had, "International Lover" triples it.

Here's the paradox to this album. I've said an outside producer would have helped, but I also think, in most cases, they would have succeeded only in making the songs more pop, more radio-friendly, and the thing that makes them "Prince" songs would have been diluted. But on his own--especially in the case of this album--it seems he's not making a Prince record, he's making what he believes a Prince record is supposed to be. It's a wonderful record and one I recommend to anyone, but you have to realize going into it just how self-indulgent 1999 is. It IS a double-album after all.