Indeed, for a musician whose career has often been floored by his tendency to gild the lily, Prince is a master of minimalism.
Throughout, the record flits expertly between full-blown excess and austere minimalism. Listening to it, you feel that all human life is here. Journalist Christopher Monk wrote, “Like all the best double albums, ‘Sign O’ The Times’ makes a virtue out of eclecticism. Slimming the album down to a double resulted in the song ‘Sign O The Times’ being pushed to the front of the album as the title track with only one new track being recorded for the newly formed double LP, the would be classic ‘U Got The Look’. Chief executive Mo Ostin insisted that Prince’s next album be no more than a double, forcing Prince to cut down his carefully constructed masterpiece.”Īlthough many would moan about the clipping of Prince’s wings, the artist himself quipped, “I don’t know if it’s their place to talk me into or out of things.” One thing that cannot be argued is the quality of the album that was delivered. Already concerned by the rate at which Prince put out new albums – which confused casual buyers and made it virtually impossible to maximize their commercial potential – Warners refused to agree to release an album that seemed to be only aimed at critics and die-hard fans. Warner refused to budge, as Jason Draper noted in his book Prince: Choas, Disorder and Revolution, “It would be too costly to produce, and too costly for the average fan to want to buy. This would be one of the first major steps towards his huge public fallout with the label and his claim that he was under a slave contract unable to release the music the way he wanted. However Prince’s label Warner Music disagreed and refused to release the album. Twenty-two tracks were recorded in a matter of weeks and the album was ready to go.
Perhaps worried about the sales potential of the album and desperate to deliver a hit, Prince moved onto his most ambitious album to date, a triple LP magnus opus named ‘Crystal Ball’. An entire album of material was recorded in less than ten days with promos sent out to club DJs, but again the album was scrapped without any clear reason. After stumbling into a recording technique of slowing tracks down, recording vocals in real time and then speeding the tracks back up again, Prince had figured out a way to record high pitched vocals and came up with the pseudonym ‘Camille’. Sales had been slowly fading, especially in the USA, and not wanting people to believe he had been relying on The Revolution to provide the hits, Prince embarked on another never-to-be-released album ‘Camille’. “ Finding himself solo for the first time since 1978 Prince began to feel the pressure of releasing a hit album. Classic Album Sundays discuss how a recently-solo Prince seemed motivated and at his most productive after adapting and getting used to this new state:
I am going to bring together a few features written about Prince’s ninth studio album. Others will write about the album in the run-up to its thirty-fifth anniversary at the end of the month. Recorded across different studios between March 1986 and January 1987, Sign o’ the Times must have been a massive effort and labour of love! I am going to end with a review of the album. Containing pearls such as the title track, Housequake, The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Starfish and Coffee, U Got the Look, If I Was Your Girlfriend, and I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man, there are different moods, approaches and sounds from Prince. A double album that was his first albums since disbanding of The Revolution, there is not a weak spot across the entire thing! Sign o’ the Times is so eclectic and consistent. After 1986’s Parade and before 1988’sLovesexy, he released this masterpiece. This was part of a golden (or purple?) run of albums from Prince. There is a great book that gives you a lot of information about a classic album that must rank as Prince’s greatest releases. Prince’s opus was released on 30th March, 1987 in the U.K. The Deluxe Edition of Sign o’ the Times is quite expensive, I think its expansive nature gives you an insight into one of the greatest albums ever. PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Katz/The Prince Estate