OldFriends4Sale said:

I like how he pulled Madhouse's image from the Around the World In A Day album,
Sheila E is on there 2 the woman with the red wig(that's her outfit from the Glam Life tours)


[Edited 4/20/09 8:57am]

FAB! FAB! FAB!

Sign o the Times©1987 Paisley Park Records
3.30.1987 released composed of 3 unfinished projects:Dream Factory(w/the Revolution) Camille Project & the Crystal Ball




Susannah Melvoin: Backing vocals on "Sign o' the Times" & "Starfish and Coffee"; co-lead vocals on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
"Starfish And Coffee", Lyrics co-written by Susannah
Eric Leeds: All saxophones
Atlanta Bliss: All trumpets
Sheena Easton: Co-lead vocals on "U Got the Look"
Sheila E.: Drums and percussion on "U Got the Look", drums and "Transmississippirap" on "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night"
Clare Fischer: Arranger of strings for "Slow Love"
Wendy Melvoin: Guitar and backing vocals on "Slow Love"; tambourine & congas on "Strange Relationship"
Lisa Coleman: Backing vocals on "Slow Love"; sitar & wooden flute on "Strange Relationship"
Miko Weaver: Lead guitar on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
Jill Jones: Co-lead vocals on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
The Revolution: Performance of "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
Gilbert Davison, Todd Hermann, Coke Johnson, Brad Marsh, Mike Soltys, Susan Rogers and "the Penguin": Party voices on "Housequake"
Greg Brooks, Wally Safford, Jerome Benton and "6000 wonderful Parisians": Backing vocals on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
Susan Rogers, Coke Johnson, and Prince: Engineer
Prince: All other vocals and instruments

"Slow Love" lyrics co-written by Carol Davis

It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night" music co-written by Dr. Fink & Eric Leeds.

this thread is so awesome.

great thread, this makes me remember why I love Prince.

Every track was a great track on this album,

just: BRILLIANT...







[Edited 4/24/09 15:24pm]

PEJ said:

the latter has always been one of my favorite pics with band

Prince's really last GREAT ALBUM and IMAGE.. that worked well 2gether.

i agree--Great Album----great concert---great look.. i miss these days for sure....

Meloh9 said:

One of my favorites too, I remember buying the magazine I saw this one in(I took my brothers money) and it was the only thing in the magazine I wanted

Forever In My Life

La da da da da da da da {x2}
There comes a time in every man's life
When he gets tired of foolin' around
Juggling hearts in a 3-ring circus
Some day drive a body down 2 the ground
I never imagined that love would rain on me
And make me wanna settle down

But baby, it's true, I think I do
And I just wanna tell U that I wanna with U (And baby, if U do 2)
And baby, if U do 2
Oh 4ever, 4ever
Baby, I want U 4ever
I wanna keep U 4 the rest of my life (U can make right)
All that is wrong in my world, U can make right
(U are my savior, U are my light)
U are my savior, U are my light (4ever I want U in my life)
4ever I want U in my life (La da da da da da da da)
(La da da da da)

(Every man's journey)
There comes a road in every man's journey (Don't be afraid)
A road that he's afraid 2 walk on his own, yeah (I'm at that road)
I'm here 2 tell U that I'm at that road
(And I'd rather walk with U than walk it alone)
And I'd rather walk it with U than walk it alone (U are my future)
U are my hero, U are my future (No past)
When I am with U, I have no past
Oh baby, my one and only desire (Make this feelin' last)
Is find some way in this doggone world 2 make this feelin' last
(Sugar, it's true)

(I know I do)
Oh baby, it's true ... huh, I know I do (Wanna with U)
And I just wanna tell U that I wanna with U, yeah
Baby, if U do 2
Oh 4ever, 4ever
I want U baby, baby, 4ever (U can make right)
I wanna keep U 4 the rest of my life
(U are my savior, U are my light)
All that's wrong in my world, mama, U can make right
(4ever I want U in my life)
U are my savior, U are my light (La da da da da da da da)
4ever I want U in my life (La da da da da da da da)
(La da da da da da da da)
(La da da da da)

4ever in my life

nothing Prince has done since has come close 2 the brillance of that work.. The image,music,themes, a great concept....

everything Prince did from 1979 to 1988 was new and exciting

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

It was only last June when her old man ran away
She couldn't stop cryin' cuz she knew he was gone 2 stay
10:35 on a lonely Friday night
She was standin' by the bar ... mmm, she was lookin' alright, yeah
I asked her if she wanted 2 dance
And she said that all she wanted was a good man
And wanted 2 know if I thought I was qualified, yeah

And I said - "Baby, don't waste your time
I know what's on your mind
I may be qualified 4 a one night stand
But I could never take the place of your man"

It hurt me so bad when she told me with tears in her eyes
(Tears in her eyes)
He was all she ever had and now she wanted 2 die
He left her with a baby and another one on the way, yeah
She couldn't stop cryin' cuz she knew he was gone 2 stay, yeah

She asked me if we could be friends
And I said - "Oh honey, baby, that's a dead end
U know and I know that we wouldn't be satisfied, no"

And I said - "Baby, don't waste your time
I know what's on your mind
We wouldn't be satisfied (wouldn't be satisfied) with a one night stand
And I could never take the place of your man"

Meloh9 said:

Prince has a funny xpression there..LOVE it!

PurpleRain747 said:

I actually stole some of my style from that era, I tend to sport turtle neck sweaters and a long chain, but I use an ankh instead of a cross

Back in'87 when this album came out I had a summer job working in a garage where it was my job to cut the hole in the roof of a car so a sunroof could be installed.

During downtime I would cut out SOTT related shapes in the discarded metal. Hearts, Arrows and the like. I attached a heart to my denim jacket sleeve just like prince and glued a paisley peace sign to the shoulder. The chicks loved it!

I even made a bat symbol that I attached to the back of my bike, possibly a premonition of things to come.

Great days/memories

cool

darlingomo said:

lol that's cool

During Parade he wore hankerchefs out of his suites really long and I would do that, and I would get letters and put words on certain jackets like Lovesexy

New Years Eve Party December 31. 1987 "Miles 2 Nowhere"
"Paisley Park" Chanhassen

TLM: On New Year’s Eve 1987, you finally got to play on the same stage as Miles, during a Prince benefit event at Paisley Park studios.

Eric Leeds: I always regret one moment. There was just one moment when I wanted to nudge the trumpet player Matt [Blistan, aka Atlanta Bliss] to go into a melody line in "Agharta" and the moment came and went by so quickly that I wasn’t able to grab it. I always regretted that because I really wanted to see the look on Miles’s face! The whole affair lasted for all of five minutes but it was cool.

TLM: Wasn’t Prince perplexed because the band was forgetting all the cues?

Eric Leeds: He gave us one of his hand cues to hit a riff and as I remember it, no one hit the cue, because they were all grooving on what Miles was doing and Prince was kinda taken aback! He yelled “Hey, I’m still the boss up here!”
TLM: I was saying to Alan that it was strange that the concert was never released, although there is a bootleg audio and Video CD, Miles From The Park.

Eric Leeds: The anticipation was a lot stronger than the actual event. It was a very fast funk groove that we were doing and it wasn’t anything that Miles was going to do anything other than just basically do his stick.

TLM: Miles appears on Prince’s song “Sticky Wicked”, along with Prince Chaka Khan. But I gather the song wasn’t written with Miles in mind.

Eric Leeds: When Prince had the track up and Matt Blistan and I did the horn parts I can’t recall Prince making any mention about Miles, although he did say he’d written it for Chaka. Interestingly enough, the title “Sticky Wicked” had been applied to a different song, which was actually the title song of my first album Times Squared. I heard the track and asked Prince if I could work on it for my album and he said yes. And then a couple of weeks later, we were working on this track for Chaka and I asked what the name of it was and he said “Sticky Wicked!” Later on when we were on the road he said “Listen to this.” It was the finished track and Miles was on it. That was the song that got me officially into the Miles Davis discography! It was a much better track and much better utilisation of his horn than on “Can I Play With U?” It was a cool little song.

TLM: There’s a lot of controversy surrounding whether Miles and Prince ever worked together in the studio. In one interview Prince has suggested that they recorded together, but Alan is convinced that they never did.

Eric Leeds: I have to agree with Alan on that. I don’t know what Prince was thinking or whether it was something that Prince said that was taken out of context. But I find it almost impossible to figure out how that could have happened, because Alan was still around running the record company and I was still around, although not a member of Prince’s band, I was working on my own albums at the time. Unless it was somewhere on the road that Prince and Miles met in the studio, but anything they would have done, Alan would have heard and I probably would have heard it too. It would have had to have gone through Alan’s desk. I know of no one else who has made mention of it. So I don’t know what Prince was talking about [TLM note: if Prince or anyone from his organisation would like to clear this up, we’d happily report your comments on this website!].





1.Sign O The Times
2.Play In The Sunshine
3.Little Red Corvette
4.Housequake
5.Girls And Boys
6.Slow Love
7.I Could Never Take The PlaceOf Your Man
8.Shela Drum solo
9.Hot Thing
10.If I Was Your Girlfriend
11.Let's Go Crazy
12.When Doves Cry
13.Purple Rain/Auld Lang Syne
14.1999
15.U Got The Look
16.It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night/Six
17.Miles Davis solo
18.Chain Of Fools/Cold Sweat
19.Interlude/Take The A-Train
20.Funky Man/Alphabet St
/Cold Sweat
/Float Like A Butterfly. Sting
Like A Life
21.It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night




[Edited 4/28/09 7:13am]

Where's the pic with Jeff Katz? THAT is my favorite, but I don't have it.

I've never seen this picture. LOVE IT, but even for a gay guy like me, I have to say.....That's some gay shit, Mico.

Some of my Sign O' the Times 12" singles (and the VHS). I didn't post any of the promos because none of them had picture sleeves.










[Edited 4/28/09 12:17pm]

What a thread. It brings me back to being 8 years old and my Mom and Dad getting the album for me when we was visiting Dad in Las Vegas. I remember the flight home just excited about putting the album on my record player. When I did, I was nothing short of disappointed. I thought there would be more "U Got The Look" type or Purple Rain-type songs on there and there weren't any. Even with that, I liked it. Songs like Housequake and If I Was Your Girlfriend made me laugh. When I brought the CD in 1998 or 1999 as a 19 year old, then it hit me as to how incredible the album actually was. It's a classic from start to finish.

purplecam said:

Good story. I was in bootcamp when this came out. I was just out of bootcamp, before my school started, and I saw the cassette on the shelf at the Navy Exchange (which is like the Army PX, etc). I snagged it, and listened constantly for the next four weeks of C-School. It carried me through the first few months of being on a new ship. I used to power walk to "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night"

ernestsewell said:

I was in the Marine Corps when I brought it again in 98/99. It was like listening to it for the first time all over again. I brought it in the PX too. Can't believe it was 10-11 years ago.

sign o the times is simply one of the most brilliant pieces of art in the history of music and pop culture, as I state the obvious

I saw the sign of the times concert film with my two aunts when I was a kid, it was coupled in the theater with "Fatal Attraction" believe it or not, no wonder I grew up to be such a horny screwed up yet artistic bastard