A CELEBRATION: CONTROVERSY

Continuing the one album a day discussion of what it was like to listen to a Prince album for the first time, here are my recollections of the album that introduced me to Prince.

CONTROVERSY

This is the album that introduced me to Prince. I was 8 years old and watching tv when I say this video clip for a song called Sexuality. I was drawn by the beat and groove of the track and the next week went out and bought my first 7” record.

A few weeks later I saved my pocket money to buy the album, and so began my own private purple experience.

I can still recall getting home with the album in my hands and rushing to put the headphones on and drop the needle. And out came the opening to CONTROVERSY. From the first jolting synth stab to the final rip I was hooked. That relentless beat and bubbling synth that seemed to be ready to boil lead me into the track with its crawling synth bass line and what would become classic Prince funk guitar riff. Lyrically it was all about the rumours swirling around Prince at the time, and they holds strong to the distorted notion many still have about him to this day. Boldly he lays them out, straight, gay, black white? But rather than confirming of dismissing he just lets them hang maybe knowing all to well the power wasn’t in the truth but in the mystique. The chorus just lifts you with the progression of chords and then drops you back in the funk soup. Although it feels sparse in comparison to later releases, the music is littered with little aural hooks, a double guitar riff here, a synth blip there.

Now dig if you will a picture of an 8-year-old kid hearing the Lord’s Payer in a song, and then a moment later lines like “I wish we all were nude”. It was more than this little brain to handle. I didn’t know what it all meant, but I knew it was better than a lot of the other music I was hearing. Today the dichotomy seems more obvious with the spiritual and sexual meeting more to expose the duality of Prince much like the questions of the verses do. And is this the first time we hear that Princely scream?

Not a breath is taken between the end of Controversy and the relentless grove of SEXUALITY pounds in your ears. The songs raw energy and pace is almost like the song is trying to outrun the groove of the record. This song will always take me back to being that little kid flipping out on the sound of a musician in their element. Again all the soon to be Prince trademarks were there lyrically and sonically – the pop clap, the funky guitar riff, the layered beat, the haunting backing vocal stabs, To this day the song sound fresh and is close to perfect.

Now as a kid not only did I not get DO ME BABY lyrically, but I also just didn’t gravitate to it as a song. Over time I have come to appreciate it’s arrangement and recognise it now as a truer Prince ballad than previous albums. Listening now you can almost here a hint of Adore in there. Here is someone learning quickly how to craft a ballad that doesn’t stray into being overly smaltchy and even gives us a glimpse of how explicit (or erotic depending on your point of view) he can get with the drawn out orgasmic climax.

PRIVATE JOY was also a song that didn’t overly grab me. It seemed too bubblegum pop with it’s bouncing beat and synth line. It was too bright musically, maybe a deliberate ploy to let the suggestive lyrics get by. And while I don’t rate it as one of his best songs, I can’t deny my toe is tapping right now, so maybe he has won this one. (oh and it’s interesting to hear this track and the obvious influence it had on Ready For The World’s “digital display”.)

Going from happy pop to the nuclear war fearing apocalypse rocker of RONNIE, TALK TO RUSSIA. Whilst taking on a stronger political viewpoint on this album and voicing the fear that many had the song can’t help but sound dated now. This fear of a nuclear doom is revisited more convincingly on 1999.

And just when the paranoia seems overbearing Prince pulls out the funk on LET’S WORK. Now, years later in a fortunate meet and greet Prince told a group of us how this was the start of his frustration with the way record labels were run. As he tells it, Let’s Work was originally entitled Let’s Rock and inspired by a dance going around at the time called The Rock. Writing what he though was a topical hit, he wanted Warner’s to release it, but they were worried about flooding the marking with something new from Prince while Dirty Mind was still out there. So instead of throwing the track away, he just reworked it into the classic we have right now. This again is an instant classic, that bass line just reeks of funk, and those sliding synth stabs just create this irresistible mix that you can’t stand still to. As a kid I remember thinking it was so strong and just filled with cool. The track swaggers and knows it’s the joint.

For ANNIE CHRISTIAN we hear for the first time a stronger reliance on a drum machine and synth leads, and Prince exploring how he can record his vocals to create a sparser feel. We also see lyrical Prince’s love of playing with names to describe the person (Annie Christian = Anti-Christian). Now lyrically there is a fear expressed but seems to suffer from a need to rhyme more than to explore a story, and what was all that about living his life in taxi cabs? Musically though it points us to 1999’s something in the water and automatic.

And always one to not make it too heavy, Prince follows up with JACK U OFF (the first appearance of Prince shorthand) with its rockabilly vibe. Now as an 8 year old I had no idea what he was singing. To me sounded more like I’M A JAGUAR. And revisiting the song later as a teen hearing him say jack u off the penny dropped. And as if closing the album with a deliberate bit of controversy he doesn’t alter the phrase to make it more heterosexual, but lets it just play around in the mystique that was the whole Prince gay/straight persona.

When the needle finally came to rest I placed it back on side one and listened to my favourite cuts. Listening again years later, some have weathered the passing of time considerably well, while others seem a little more dated and throwaway, but it all an album that is possibly a truer reflection of an artist finding his voice at the right time.

Swa

If you missed other Celebration threads - here are the links.

FOR YOU http://prince.org/msg/7/311337
PRINCE http://prince.org/msg/7/311446
DIRTY MIND http://prince.org/msg/7/311567

Great album, thank U Swa for this celebration

I remember I got this on vinyl from my then girlfriend, around 1985....

I played it over and over, mostly side-1..... those 3 songs were my faves.

memories...

Hello... I'm Come funkateer 'Danceelectric'
from Housequake.com

Beautiful, I wasn't no where near born when this came out.
Though I still groove to it
My friend thought he said "Count Your Pussy" instead of "Controversy"

Controversy has some great tracks on it. However, it was the first Prince album
that I felt had a couple of filler tracks on there too and it was the first album
where I wasn't keen on the sequencing (as it seemed to be a forced attempt to
mirror the sequencing on Dirty Mind, rather than flow naturally as it should).

At the time, I really didn't like Ronnie Talk To Russia. To me it had the same
effect that Wedding Feast has to a lot of fans. It just seemed too silly and
throwaway. I don't mind it so much now though. The other track I wasn't
keen on was Jack U Off, as again it seemed kinda throwaway and would've
been better suited to a b-side (and still do).

I remember thinking it would've been a much better sequenced album had
Prince divided the tracks roughly into a political side and a personal side.
Something like this (though ideally, I still would've dropped Jack U Off)...

Side 1:
1. Controversy
2. Sexuality
3. Annie Christian
4. Ronnie Talk To Russia
Side 2:
5. Let's Work
6. Private Joy
7. Jack U Off
8. Do Me, Baby

While that all sounds a bit negative, the rest of the songs were excellent,
and Controversy itself still ranks as one of Prince's best tracks IMO.

I love this album!- oops, dated myself. Oh well, I had this on album first (later tape and cd) and it is great!

micknme said:

Private Joy=My shit.

pricy503 said:

Swa said:

~edit~
[Edited 6/23/09 19:55pm]

Love it.

I remember it so clearly in the back seat of the car and my dad and brother arguing over a song on the radio.."Count Your Pussy?...She cant say that on the radio!!!"..and my brother saying "Dad..its controversy...and uh um its a he"...BAM i was hooked...sign me up, lock me in..I went and got every album, single,poster and thats whats started it...Anything to piss off Dad right?...lol...true i hated "ronnie" and Annie Christian but it was still a great album to me..."I wanna with the new breed..leaders stand up!..organize"

SavonOsco said:

cheesecakequeen said:

Swa said:

Do Me Baby was a classic that could never be topped

Huggiebear said:

I didn't hear Controversy 'til after I'd spent some time with 1999 (my first Prince album). I bought Controversy in a single spend that netted all of the pre-1999 releases - so eager was I to catch up on everything I'd missed.

The first thing that grabbed me was the stunning photo on the album cover. In fact, Controversy was the first of the previous albums I grabbed because I was sucked in by the man's gaze. (What can I say? Nobody warned me not to look in his eyes. )

The opening throb of Controversy sent a flush over my face. How does he do that, anyway? Make you feel nasty when you aren't doing anything but sitting in your living room? By the time I got to the latter part of Do Me, Baby (Is he...? Oh, my God - he is! ), I was too through. And when he followed up with, "If anybody asks you, you belong to Prince," I thought, "Well, duh!"

The B side was less satisfying. The highlight, of course, is Let's Work. But as Boris observes, there's some filler there. But, hey - flanked by two masterworks (Dirty Mind and 1999), he may be forgiven, I think.

"Controversy" was my 1st Prince album! I got it the day after I saw the video on late-night cable TV.

Are there CliffsNotes? I normal post more than one or two sentences but this is just too much, for me that is

peter430044 said:

Are there CliffsNotes? I normal post more than one or two sentences but this is just too much, for me that is

Swa said:

peter430044 said:

Are there CliffsNotes? I normal post more than one or two sentences but this is just too much, for me that is

Yes for $77 they can be yours.



I appreciate if you feel the posts are long, but they are intended to be read while listening back to the album to actually encourage a discussion about the music. I also underline the tracks so skimmers can just jump to their track. And of course some people might think it's just long, while others have enjoyed being able to go a little bit deeper into a musical discussion.

Btw I advise you to skip the posts on Sign O The Times, The Crystal Ball set, and Emancipation, lol.

Swa

peter430044 said:

Swa said:

Yes for $77 they can be yours.



I appreciate if you feel the posts are long, but they are intended to be read while listening back to the album to actually encourage a discussion about the music. I also underline the tracks so skimmers can just jump to their track. And of course some people might think it's just long, while others have enjoyed being able to go a little bit deeper into a musical discussion.

Btw I advise you to skip the posts on Sign O The Times, The Crystal Ball set, and Emancipation, lol.

Swa

Fear not - I took it in good humour.

Swa

Yes, one can jump to one's favorite tracks and one can go deeper. My comment was intended as comedy and to provoke a little bit, and I guess I got what I wanted, a response, but I'm really only speaking for myself.

Controversy is, of course, another fantastic album. I especially love in "Private Joy" when he says "Prince." Anytime Prince says his name in a song it seems to give the song a little extra kick. I agree that songs like "Ronnie Talk To Russia" and "Annie Christian" are dated filler but even with them the album is terrific.

Swa said:

Listened to it again last night from start to finish and still stand by what I said. It will always be a great album for me, and tracks like Let's Work, Controversy and Sexuality still feel fresh and funky.

Swa

LOVE this album. It's probably my favorite prince album, i'm not sure anymore The first 4 tracks are perfect!(notice how i said first 4 tracks, not side A ) I agree, the last 4 aren't as impressive as the first, but they're still pretty damn good.

Prince use to have balls....now he has religion. - Nothinbutjoy