Lovesexy - Prince (Cassette 1988)

Perhaps no album within Prince's canon is more misunderstood than "Lovesexy." (Except for the underrated "Come" album, which people erroneously believed was either a greatest-hits package, leftover tracks from the vault, or tossed-off throwaways. But that's a story for a different time and place.) "Lovesexy" managed to confound critics, fans, and even his band members with its convoluted spirituality/sexuality, dense, multilayered production values, and difficult-to-comprehend song forms. It's obvious from the get-go that this is yet another Statement Album from Prince--the CD is tracked as one, 45-minute track for gosh sakes! With Prince defiantly preventing you from skipping track to track, his nude figure perched cloyingly on the album cover, its as if he's arrogantly daring you to dislike this album.

Unfortunately, many critics and fans accepted the dare. The reviews were mixed and sales were abysmal; it became his only album within a twelve-year span to fail to crack Billboard's Top Ten. Warner Bros. must have been wondering if their superstar was intent on completely sabotaging his own career.

Yet from an artistic standpoint, Prince had the last laugh, pulling a brilliant album back from the brink of disaster like a stunt-car driver narrowly missing the edge of a ravine. "Lovesexy" threatens to plunge headlong into sonic chaos at several turns throughout the album--just when you think to yourself, "What a mess! The horns are playing in the wrong key! There's no bottom end! Where's the chorus?", the whole thing rights itself and makes sense. This is art that takes chances, from long stretches of polytonalism and dissonance to nearly indecipherable arrangements, and though it may seem at times that the ship is out of control, given several listens, it becomes apparent that Prince knows what he's doing all along.

From the jagged, funk-rock hybrids "Alphabet St." and "Dance On" to the gorgeous, shimmering melody of "When 2 R In Love" and "I Wish U Heaven," the album rewards repeated listens, each pass uncovering a new hook, a new countermelody, a new dramatic touch previously unheard. This record is both the antithesis of the spareness of "1999" and the logical extension of the symphonic ethos of "Parade"--and Prince's willingness to break the rules of both of those previous triumphs resulted in an album that has endured as a masterpiece.