(Symbol) [PA] - Prince (CD 1992)

So how do you review a record when you can't even say the name of the thing? Who names a record a symbol anyway? Then again, who makes that same symbol their own name a year later? Prince does.

I bought this record on my 20th birthday, but it was days before I got to sit down and really listen to it. Around this time my future wife and I were looking for an apartment and moving in together, so I was a little busy. But when I finally did get to sit through the record start to finish, I loved it. Still do. Not every song is great, there's still way too many raps on here. The first song--and first MTV single--"My Name Is Prince" is Prince rapping with Tony M. putting in his two cents at the end. "Sexy M.F.", the second song (this was the first official single, but NOBODY played it) is Prince rapping with Tony M. again at the end. "Love 2 the 9's", the third song has a rap from Tony M. at the end . . . ZZZZZZZZZ, yeah I get the point, okay? Tony can rap. So what?

"The Morning Papers", another single no one ever heard, is fourth and it's here that this record comes to life. Lyrically, this is a beautiful song ("They could take a walk down the oceanside, make a wish on every wave / They could find a carousel and ride, or kiss in every cave / They could contemplate the entire universe or just one star / Or just how far was the walk for the morning papers"), and musically, it's just as great. Piano, drums, and sax at first, then Prince comes in with his trademark astounding guitar work. A truly beautiful song.

"The Max" is a dance song--another rap with a funky beat. "Blue Light" comes on with a funked-up slow groove reggea sound, and then "I Wanna Melt With U" is just another "The Max". "Sweet Baby" closes out side one and if ever a song title was enough to kill a song, this is it. "Sweet Baby". How cliche' can Prince get? This is PRINCE, the man who doesn't do anything people expect him to. He's had songs called "Scarlet Pu**y", "Gett Off", "Shokadelica". What's this "Sweet Baby" crap? And the song itself is no better, a sleep-inducing crawl from verse to verse until finally we're released and allowed to go on to an actual good song.

If I'm not mistaken there's supposed to be some kind of story running throughout the record. Between a few of the songs Kirstie Alley comes on as Vanessa Bartholomew, a reporter trying to interview Prince about "the opera". And there's mention of the newest "member of the NPG", the Crown Princess of Cairo, played by a young Mayte Garcia, future wife of Prince. She doesn't do much here, really--lends her voice on a couple background tracks. If she was meant to replace Rosie Gaines--who's chosen not to be on this record--no offense, but she ain't got the onions to replace Rosie Gaines.

The theme of just about every song on here is love and/or sex, nothing new. But Prince is still writing wonderful lyrics (when he wants to; we'll overlook the raps and "Sweet Baby"). In "The Max", he writes "When my body starts to shiver from the chill of the scarlet sweat / When my lips eclipse the sun and the moon, reflecting from the wet / When the blood of my love outraces every one of the stallions in your pack / That's when you go, you go, you go to The Max" I love those images. And in "I Wanna Melt With U", "Slow and slippery, groovy / If we bathe in each other's lips / In other words get close enough to stick". Another fine image.

But wait, cuz we're not done with the rap. There's one at the end of "The Continental" (performed by none other than Carmen Electra), and then "Damn U"--another ignored single--comes slow and crooning, almost an "old standard" type song. And then "Arrogance" and "The Flow" are both raps. But "7" redeems the record by being a huge single, and a great song. I try to tell people sometimes about the spiritual nature of most of Prince's music, but their only exposure to him is stuff like "Let's Go Crazy", "Little Red Corvette" or "Kiss", and they say yeah yeah, sure he's got spiritual stuff, whatever, whatever. Hey, if they don't want to LISTEN to his music, that's they're loss. Because you can't hear a song like "7" and deny the power of his message. "All 7 and we'll watch them fall / They stand in the way of love and we will smoke them all" and "And I saw an angel come down unto me / In her hand she holds the very key / Words of compassion, words of peace / And in the distance, an army's marching feet". And if that's not enough, how can "And God Created Woman" be anything else but a spiritual song? "In a deep sleep, I fell / And the music starts to swell / One of my ribs he took and it shall / Be bone of my bones / And God created woman"

We're only 2 songs from the end now, and what an ending. "3 Chains of Gold" keeps getting compared to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" for the way it changes mood and beat a couple times throughout the song. Yeah, it kind of does remind you of the Queen song, but again Prince does everything in HIS OWN way. And do I even need to mention the guitar solo at the end of this song? Remember the one at the end of "Let's Go Crazy", that huge, loud guitar coming on to t give a rock song a proper ending? Now think of that solo and multiply it by ten, that MAY give you an IDEA of the power of his guitar at the end of "3 Chains of Gold".

"The Sacrifice of Victor" wraps it all up, but not before a final, extended dialogue between the elusive Prince who insists "My name is Victor" and "I'm into my 5th soul now so that makes me 320", and the disbelieving Vanessa Bartholomew who finally says, "If you don't give me the real story, I'll have to make one up on my own, so why don't you tell me the truth".

"What IS sacrifice?" the song asks. I don't know, but I know the song rocks. "I know Joy lives round the corner / One day I'll visit her I'm gonna / When she tells me everything / That's when the angels sing / That's when the VICTORy is sho' nuff". A hell of an ending to a hell of a record, "The Sacrifice of Victor" is the classic big finish, the gospel feel and all, starting with the line, "Church if you will, please turn to the Book of Victor. We like to start at the top, if you don't mind," and ending with the all-out jam and the final word, "Amen."

Yeah, I know, I make a big deal of all the rap spread throughout the record, and it really is a lot, but it's not so OBVIOUS this time as it was on DIAMONDS AND PEARLS. Maybe that's because this record has 16 songs as opposed to DIAMONDS AND PEARLS's 13--it's not a big difference, but it IS a difference, and this time around it works a little better. I do think some of the raps could have been cut out and the record would have been better off for the effort, but Prince obviously does things his own way. And again, there's the storyline. I don't know what it is exactly, but perhaps the raps are integral to it. Who knows.

What I DO know is that you could do a lot worse than buy this record. If you like powerful love songs, they're on here. If you like jumpin' dance grooves, they're on here. If you like important, introverted looks into an artist's soul . . . well, that's not on here, nor are the preachy-political songs, and it's a good thing. What this record offers is nothing short of simple musical fun.