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All rights reserved.1999 - Prince (Cassette 1987)
Prince 1999Review created: 03/27/06
by: scapp70 -- a member of Epinions
Pros:
Real good songs, some great songs
Real good songs, some great songs
Cons:
<i>Free</i>, maybe <i>All The Critics</i> too.
<i>Free</i>, maybe <i>All The Critics</i> too.
1999 was Prince's first US Top Ten album. It is his fifth release, and it has gone on to sell around ten million copies worldwide. This is Prince's 1982 breakthrough album that launched him into the big time and started him on the path to super-stardom, as his mega smash Purple Rain album and movie were his next musical moves two years later in 1984.
For this album, Prince renamed his band Prince and the Revolution in lieu of the go it alone Prince that his first four albums toted. His first four albums sold modestly well, breaking into the top 40 twice, and his singles did even worse, besides his one hit I Wanna Be Your Lover from his second album, Prince from 1979.
On his first four albums, Prince could really only be heard singing in his soulful falsetto. The 1999 album is the first where he sings full-throated on every song.
The opening song is the title track, 1999. The song reached a very respectable #12 in the US singles charts, and even better in the R&B and Dance singles charts. The song is kind of divided up vocally in the same way Stevie Wonder had done with You Are the Sunshine of My Life. First voice you hear is that of keyboardist, Lisa Coleman, then guitarist Dez Dickerson sings the next line, and then Prince will sing the third song. On the fourth line they will all harmonize together. The beat is a rock/dance mix set to apocalyptic lyrics about the New Year's Eve 1999, the last day we humans will be alive because of the imminent cold war destruction we face in the year 2000. Prince declares he will live life to the fullest during this last year, and especially on that fateful day of New Year's Eve. Prince's 1982 idea of living life is having sex and dancing to his own music. That ideology is the basis for the whole album actually, so this opening track makes the perfect choice for title track.
1999 quietly segues into Prince's first Top Ten hit, Little Red Corvette, reaching #6 in the US Pop singles charts. The song has crossed over into classic status. Once in a while I'll even hear it on a classic rock station. This is one of Prince's most well-known songs, his inclusion of the song in the acoustic segment of his Musicology tour was a highlight. The song is very pop rock, not really a dance song at all. The guitar solo provided by Dez is good, but not Prince caliber. When Dez left after this album, Prince mostly handled all of the guitar solos himself. Dez could be seen in Prince's first film Purple Rain performing at First Avenue.
Prince had another top ten hit with the next song Delirious. The song reached number 8 in the US Pop singles charts. When I first heard the song, I thought it was too silly and poppy for my tastes. The song quickly grew on me, it's so much fun to sing along and tap a toe to. It's the shortest song on the album clocking in at only 4 minutes. The song has a loopy wavy keyboard riff that commands you to get silly. Even though it's silly time with Prince, the song is as addictive as any of the great songs on this album.
Let's Pretend We're Married is one of my favorites. The fast drumbeat and artificial bass is the backdrop for deliberately slow melody line sung by Prince. The song is very upbeat, poppy and happy - so the erotic lyrics are sort of camouflaged by the song's happy mood.
Even the "f" word is uttered more than once in this song, but it's all in fun - in a 1982 sort of way. This was also released as a single, but it couldn't break the top 40 on any of the US singles charts, stalling at #52 in the Pop Singles charts.
Now, there's no hiding the fact that D.M.S.R. is just down right the nastiest song on the album. The song has a deep and raw bass and bass synthesizer that crank up the funk factor to 11. The keyboards and guitars accent the bass and lyrics masterfully. The song is a dance party, and the fact that the song lasts over eight minutes it will last for a good part of it. The lyrics demand participation...
Everybody, get on the floor
What the hell d U come here 4?
Girl it ain t no use, U might as well get loose
Work your body like a w h o r e
Say everybody -- Get on the beat
We re gonna show U mothers how 2 scream
People everywhere, loosen up your hair
Take a deeper breath and sing along with me, yes
Are U ready?
It took me a while to buy the CD for 1999, even though it is such a great album. I held on to my double vinyl album for a while because the single CD released was missing a song, D.M.S.R., because CDs were only 75 minutes back then. When CDs were manufactured with a slightly longer running time at 80 minutes, 1999 was re-released. I always wondered who was the genius who chose to leave off D.M.S.R. instead of a lesser song.
Speaking of lesser songs, Free is thrown into the middle of the album song list, and it really destroys the whole idea that this is a perfect album. It's not the song is awful; it's just not good enough to be appreciated amongst the rest of the other songs. It's a piano ballad, and it has a couple of slight hooks, but it just doesn't work. This is a smutty, sexual dance, rock funk album, and Free just doesn't go with that flow.
Speaking of smutty sex songs, Automatic is one of the best. The lyrics are what do it for me, they're honest and bare. They talk about raw feelings about obsession, lust and desperation.
U ask me if I love U, it s automatic
Cuz every time U leave me, I die, that s automatic 2
U ask me 2 forgive U, when U know, I m just an addict
So stop the music baby, U know, You re all I wanna do
Hey
A-U-T-O-matic, just tell me what 2 do
A-U-T-O-matic, I m so in love with U
The song runs almost ten minutes long, it's hypnotically amazing, and sometimes it seems too short, believe it or not.
The song has an intoxicatingly beat that refuses to deviate, but the melody on top of it changes here and there throughout the song. The song has many parts, yet still with that single beat, it's a great effect. This song is epic, and is surely one of those deep cuts, those rare Prince songs that not too many people know, but if and when they stumble upon it, it's like a buried treasure filled with riches.
Automatic and Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) were always like sister songs to me. They don't sound alike, but the sexually erotic and desperate honest theme is rampant in both songs. The sixteenth note high-hat is constant, and again Prince deliberately sings at a much slower pace against the super fast high-hat. The lyrics tend to be about self-evaluation, since he is not getting the response from women he thinks he should be getting. The song has a very high emotive quality, especially in the parts where Prince screeches those amazing screams that only he can do. Lots of echo and in these two songs add to the erotic ambience of these last two songs effectively. These both are my favorite two songs on the album.
Lady Cab Driver is probably as smutty as Prince gets on this album, complete with squeaking bed sounds and all. Prince wears his falsetto voice again for the most part of this song. The Revolution delivers a very groovy and funky beat. The verses of this song sort of remind me of Tom Tom Club's first album. The story of the lyrics is about Prince hailing a taxi and at the end of the ride making love to the cab driver. While he's doing her, he spews his frustrations orally as well as sexually.
This is 4 the cab U have 2 drive 4 no money at all
This is 4 why I wasn t born like my brother, handsome and tall
This is 4 politicians who r bored and believe in war
This -- Yeah, that s 4 me, that s who that 1 s 4
This is 4 discrimination and egotists who think supreme
And this is 4 whoever taught U how 2 kiss in designer jeans
...
You get the idea? It seems corny, but it actually works somehow.
All the Critics Love U in New York is just a little bit better than Free. It's another big funk fest of bass and drums, but the melody line is uninspired and falls flat. It's too bad, because there's some real good bass playing here.
The CD ends with International Lover. This song has a classic slow Motown type of groove, with funky smut lyrics. Prince is your pilot, and watch out when your board, because Prince is not only going to fly you to another country, but he'll rock your world. The plane is called the Seduction 747, again it sounds corny, but it works I suppose because only someone like Prince can pull a song like this off. This Prince song may have crossed the line; this is more like the Prince on Saturday Night Live portrayed by the hilarious Fred Armisen.
The album is a big dance party, yet eclectic. It rocks pretty hard when it tries, yet has some corny moments. It is the perfect predecessor for Prince's next venture which was Purple Rain. It is a new beginning after the first four albums. It's the beginning of the Prince career we all loved for a little while there in the 80s, and the snippets of genius we see even today by his recent released. It's the start of all things purple lyrically and visually. This is a great place to begin your exploration of Prince knowledge. If you need to learn about the earlier stuff, get the 1993 greatest compilation called The Hits/B-Sides, it pretty much sums it up.
The Songs
1. 1999
2. Little Red Corvette
3. Automatic
4. Delirious
5. Let's Pretend We're Married
6. D.M.S.R.
7. Free
8. Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)
9. Lady Cab Driver
10. All the Critics Love U in New York
11. International Lover
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~More Prince~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Purple Rain
For this album, Prince renamed his band Prince and the Revolution in lieu of the go it alone Prince that his first four albums toted. His first four albums sold modestly well, breaking into the top 40 twice, and his singles did even worse, besides his one hit I Wanna Be Your Lover from his second album, Prince from 1979.
On his first four albums, Prince could really only be heard singing in his soulful falsetto. The 1999 album is the first where he sings full-throated on every song.
The opening song is the title track, 1999. The song reached a very respectable #12 in the US singles charts, and even better in the R&B and Dance singles charts. The song is kind of divided up vocally in the same way Stevie Wonder had done with You Are the Sunshine of My Life. First voice you hear is that of keyboardist, Lisa Coleman, then guitarist Dez Dickerson sings the next line, and then Prince will sing the third song. On the fourth line they will all harmonize together. The beat is a rock/dance mix set to apocalyptic lyrics about the New Year's Eve 1999, the last day we humans will be alive because of the imminent cold war destruction we face in the year 2000. Prince declares he will live life to the fullest during this last year, and especially on that fateful day of New Year's Eve. Prince's 1982 idea of living life is having sex and dancing to his own music. That ideology is the basis for the whole album actually, so this opening track makes the perfect choice for title track.
1999 quietly segues into Prince's first Top Ten hit, Little Red Corvette, reaching #6 in the US Pop singles charts. The song has crossed over into classic status. Once in a while I'll even hear it on a classic rock station. This is one of Prince's most well-known songs, his inclusion of the song in the acoustic segment of his Musicology tour was a highlight. The song is very pop rock, not really a dance song at all. The guitar solo provided by Dez is good, but not Prince caliber. When Dez left after this album, Prince mostly handled all of the guitar solos himself. Dez could be seen in Prince's first film Purple Rain performing at First Avenue.
Prince had another top ten hit with the next song Delirious. The song reached number 8 in the US Pop singles charts. When I first heard the song, I thought it was too silly and poppy for my tastes. The song quickly grew on me, it's so much fun to sing along and tap a toe to. It's the shortest song on the album clocking in at only 4 minutes. The song has a loopy wavy keyboard riff that commands you to get silly. Even though it's silly time with Prince, the song is as addictive as any of the great songs on this album.
Let's Pretend We're Married is one of my favorites. The fast drumbeat and artificial bass is the backdrop for deliberately slow melody line sung by Prince. The song is very upbeat, poppy and happy - so the erotic lyrics are sort of camouflaged by the song's happy mood.
Even the "f" word is uttered more than once in this song, but it's all in fun - in a 1982 sort of way. This was also released as a single, but it couldn't break the top 40 on any of the US singles charts, stalling at #52 in the Pop Singles charts.
Now, there's no hiding the fact that D.M.S.R. is just down right the nastiest song on the album. The song has a deep and raw bass and bass synthesizer that crank up the funk factor to 11. The keyboards and guitars accent the bass and lyrics masterfully. The song is a dance party, and the fact that the song lasts over eight minutes it will last for a good part of it. The lyrics demand participation...
Everybody, get on the floor
What the hell d U come here 4?
Girl it ain t no use, U might as well get loose
Work your body like a w h o r e
Say everybody -- Get on the beat
We re gonna show U mothers how 2 scream
People everywhere, loosen up your hair
Take a deeper breath and sing along with me, yes
Are U ready?
It took me a while to buy the CD for 1999, even though it is such a great album. I held on to my double vinyl album for a while because the single CD released was missing a song, D.M.S.R., because CDs were only 75 minutes back then. When CDs were manufactured with a slightly longer running time at 80 minutes, 1999 was re-released. I always wondered who was the genius who chose to leave off D.M.S.R. instead of a lesser song.
Speaking of lesser songs, Free is thrown into the middle of the album song list, and it really destroys the whole idea that this is a perfect album. It's not the song is awful; it's just not good enough to be appreciated amongst the rest of the other songs. It's a piano ballad, and it has a couple of slight hooks, but it just doesn't work. This is a smutty, sexual dance, rock funk album, and Free just doesn't go with that flow.
Speaking of smutty sex songs, Automatic is one of the best. The lyrics are what do it for me, they're honest and bare. They talk about raw feelings about obsession, lust and desperation.
U ask me if I love U, it s automatic
Cuz every time U leave me, I die, that s automatic 2
U ask me 2 forgive U, when U know, I m just an addict
So stop the music baby, U know, You re all I wanna do
Hey
A-U-T-O-matic, just tell me what 2 do
A-U-T-O-matic, I m so in love with U
The song runs almost ten minutes long, it's hypnotically amazing, and sometimes it seems too short, believe it or not.
The song has an intoxicatingly beat that refuses to deviate, but the melody on top of it changes here and there throughout the song. The song has many parts, yet still with that single beat, it's a great effect. This song is epic, and is surely one of those deep cuts, those rare Prince songs that not too many people know, but if and when they stumble upon it, it's like a buried treasure filled with riches.
Automatic and Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) were always like sister songs to me. They don't sound alike, but the sexually erotic and desperate honest theme is rampant in both songs. The sixteenth note high-hat is constant, and again Prince deliberately sings at a much slower pace against the super fast high-hat. The lyrics tend to be about self-evaluation, since he is not getting the response from women he thinks he should be getting. The song has a very high emotive quality, especially in the parts where Prince screeches those amazing screams that only he can do. Lots of echo and in these two songs add to the erotic ambience of these last two songs effectively. These both are my favorite two songs on the album.
Lady Cab Driver is probably as smutty as Prince gets on this album, complete with squeaking bed sounds and all. Prince wears his falsetto voice again for the most part of this song. The Revolution delivers a very groovy and funky beat. The verses of this song sort of remind me of Tom Tom Club's first album. The story of the lyrics is about Prince hailing a taxi and at the end of the ride making love to the cab driver. While he's doing her, he spews his frustrations orally as well as sexually.
This is 4 the cab U have 2 drive 4 no money at all
This is 4 why I wasn t born like my brother, handsome and tall
This is 4 politicians who r bored and believe in war
This -- Yeah, that s 4 me, that s who that 1 s 4
This is 4 discrimination and egotists who think supreme
And this is 4 whoever taught U how 2 kiss in designer jeans
...
You get the idea? It seems corny, but it actually works somehow.
All the Critics Love U in New York is just a little bit better than Free. It's another big funk fest of bass and drums, but the melody line is uninspired and falls flat. It's too bad, because there's some real good bass playing here.
The CD ends with International Lover. This song has a classic slow Motown type of groove, with funky smut lyrics. Prince is your pilot, and watch out when your board, because Prince is not only going to fly you to another country, but he'll rock your world. The plane is called the Seduction 747, again it sounds corny, but it works I suppose because only someone like Prince can pull a song like this off. This Prince song may have crossed the line; this is more like the Prince on Saturday Night Live portrayed by the hilarious Fred Armisen.
The album is a big dance party, yet eclectic. It rocks pretty hard when it tries, yet has some corny moments. It is the perfect predecessor for Prince's next venture which was Purple Rain. It is a new beginning after the first four albums. It's the beginning of the Prince career we all loved for a little while there in the 80s, and the snippets of genius we see even today by his recent released. It's the start of all things purple lyrically and visually. This is a great place to begin your exploration of Prince knowledge. If you need to learn about the earlier stuff, get the 1993 greatest compilation called The Hits/B-Sides, it pretty much sums it up.
The Songs
1. 1999
2. Little Red Corvette
3. Automatic
4. Delirious
5. Let's Pretend We're Married
6. D.M.S.R.
7. Free
8. Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)
9. Lady Cab Driver
10. All the Critics Love U in New York
11. International Lover
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~More Prince~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Purple Rain
Review ID: 10000000000859874
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