JoeTyler said:

what do you mean?

I didn't know the Black Album was created before Lovesexy lol
Is that what your refering too?

Since the Black album wasn't officially released then, and it being 'used' during the Lovesexy era. I put it as the Lovesexy era including the Black album.


[Edited 5/9/10 11:26am]
[Edited 5/9/10 11:34am]

Efan said:

lol those R 4 of my favorite Sheila E.-Lovesexy pics





[Edited 5/9/10 11:23am]

JoeTyler said:

[Edited 5/9/10 11:30am]

PurpleDiamond2009 said:

r u sure it's black album > lovesexy? my friend who hasn't even seen Purple Rain yet? lol
shame shame

OldFriends4Sale said:

its true everybody knows its the better album

hehe Black Album > Lovesexy means that the BA is waaay better than Lovesexy

>

<

JoeTyler said:

oh, I agree, you confused me with that.

U also usually put up a pretty good review of an album.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Thanks Even though some of my reviews seem harsh (ATWIAD, Emancipation), I want to say that I own 90% of Prince's albums , even the ones that I found directionless or uneven; that's the magic of Prince: even his lesser albums are interesting from an objective point of view...

But I'm not gonna say anything about Lovesexy since it's my least favourite Prince album/era of the 80s and the review could be too harsh: I don't like many of the songs (Alphabet St. and the amazing title-track being the exception), the dresses, the production, or specially the concept (a God-fearing pop/rock telepreacher who anyway refuses to stop ??? ).

But God I LOVE the Black Album; LeGrind is easily my fav dance jam of the man, and Cindy C., Super..., Bob George, etc. are so criminally underrated...and Scarlet Pussy would have been a welcome addition

I still think that he should have released a double album Spooky- Black/Camille-Lovesexy, but of course Warners wouldn't have allowed it, specially after the relatively modest sales of the previous SOTT double album and the whole Crystal Ball affair...

Fuck Warners

JoeTyler said:

lol ok then leave Lovesexy alone alone

but please do do a review of the Black Album

looking back I can't be mad at Warners. They wanted 2 promote the hell out of Sign o the Times, it was Prince that cut it short and didn't promote it. They also wanted him 2 tour the states, he didn't... That's all on Prince

It's really impossible for me to understand loving Prince and hating Lovesexy.

:

TRON said:

I don't hate it, but it's definitely the beginning of him disappearing into his own head and over-producing himself with all of that time and all of those toys that Paisley brought him. I like it, but it definitely marks the end of one thing and the beginning of something else and not necessarily something better.

I have decided to listen seriously to the two of them this past month, more than I have before,

and I'm not done yet!

errant said:

I don't think Lovesexy is overproduced or too insular and in his own head.

TRON said:

Eye No, Glam Slam, Anna Stesia, Lovesexy... those have the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach. to me at least.

errant said:

Efan said:

1st thing that comes to mind "Oh Sheila" ... LoL

OldFriends4Sale said:

... this just goes to show Prince's musical genius. I'm at the point in my life where I don't call anything crap when it comes to music or art. I just say I do not fully understand what the artist was expressing. P has a ton of music like that.

I've gotta say that this era has really grown on me.

At first, I thought that Lovesexy was (Dare I say it?) ...kinda tacky
But songs like Anna Stesia and Lovesexy are really amazing!
(One day I will track down a tracked version of this CD, so that I can finally skip over Glam Slam and Positivity, which I still find tacky)

And The Black Album has also grown on me, having initially been disappointed in it. I guess that when I properly made myself get into the album, I liked it more. Its not something that I could just "have on in the background". But y'know, I'm increasingly more frequently in the mood for tracks like Cindy C and Le Grind. From which I was surprised to have the "Up and Down...like a Pony would" passage in my head, for like a day!

errant said:

I'd agree with you if this was 'Batman' we were discussing.

'Lovesexy' to me was Prince reaching the summit of his ten year plan (even if he didn't have one, it's there!). Batman for the first time feels like it wasn't all his vision (which it wasn't obviously) and it feels rushed and knocked out fast, which i believe was the case.

For those reasons, i feel the music on Batman suffered, it was the first time i felt a Prince album was ho-hum, alot of it is throwaway stuff, and signalled a mini-decline for a few years.

My review of the Black Album:

The Black Album could have been the pure funk masterpiece that Prince has NEVER released but, as we all know, bizarre circumstances kept the album in the dark until 1994, when only the hardcore and the dedicated cared about it...

For me, Le Grind and Cindy C. are two of the best dance jams that Prince ever wrote.
Le Grind has a very catchy drumline and sweet horns which automatically turn the song into a late 80s classic. And how many artists had this kind of sound during the late 80s?? While many sold his souls to the late-80s hard dance, Prince delivered a sweaty jam which feels electronic and organic at the same time: the result, a lost masterpiece...And the lines "People it's much 2 late, it's much 2 late 2 be shy" are a personal mantra of mine: a wild party where everybody dances just for the heck of it, and it doesn't matter if you're not pretty, it doesn't matter how good/bad you dance: just dance and enjoy yourself, dammit!
The intro of Cindy C. is hysterical and makes you wanna dance like mad, and I mean, like mad Again, the lyrics are top-notch, Prince has rarely been funnier. Another lost masterpiece...

"(Cindy, where r u?)
C'mon Cindy (Oh my God)
C'mon Cindy (Wait)
Don't u want 2 play with me? (Ah, yes, no, wait)
Don't u want 2 play with me? (Yes)
What's the matter with meaaaaah!, Cindy? (Nothing)"



Then the album makes a U-Turn with Dead On It, perhaps the worst track he wrote during the 80s. I can understand why some people dismiss this album just because of Dead On It, but that is not fair. At its best, the song is a fun/uneven parody of Gangsta Rap; at its worst, the song feels like a very bad B-side of NWA...
When 2 R in Love is a forgotten R&B ballad. The man has written dozens of better ballads, but this one has something that makes it truly special. And the BA version is waaaaay better than the poppy (and boring) version of Lovesexy. Here, the ballad is tender and naughty at the same time. In other words, it makes U wanna and
Bob George is the weirdest track of the album, and one of his most succesful experiments of all time. Mixing hard-rock with, again, parody-rap, this song is a triumph; and how many artists have tried to write a song this funny and tongue-in-check (yet respectable) about borderline misogynism, violence, and late 80s greed & paranoia???. 5 stars
Superfunkycalifragysexy and 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton, a pair of instrumental freak-outs which are, perhaps, the most technically impressive songs of his cathalog... Mad funk at his best. Mr.Clinton should be proud.
But, is this the end of the party?? NOOO. Make way for the last jam of the album, Rockhard in a Funky Place, another great funk/rock number with a very erotic vibe . I love the final "Rock! Rock!" (aka "Fuck! Fuck!" ) screams of the female choir (question: are those Sheila and Cat???)

Conclusion? Despite the weak Dead On It, the album is underrated, full of underrated songs; even now, 16 years after its "official" release Le Grind, Cindy C. or Super... are completely forgotten

It still floors me that Prince decided to release Lovesexy instead. If he thought that BA was uneven (which it isn't, and Cindy C. and When 2 R in Love could have been hits) he could have mixed songs of the early 1988 studio sessions (funky songs like Alphabet St., Lovesexy or Scarlet Pussy) with the bulk of the Black Album, and that would have been amazing...

And I still can't see the evil vibe of this record; it's funny and naughty, that's all, nothing nasty or controversial (Dirty Mind was waaaay nastier), so the whole "Make Love, Be Good and Love God" thing of Lovesexy was really bizarre and unexpected. I guess Prince lost it during the last months of 1987, perhaps it's true that he had a bad trip or something nastier that made him hate those months and the Black Album sessions, who knows? Whatever the reason, Lovesexy was an unnecessary and poppy album which started a so-so era (Lovesexy-Batman-GraffitiBridge). Things improved in 1991: the original NPG was a band that truly resurrected the long lost Prince's funk/R&B edge,...an edge lost since, well, the Black Album...

Final verdict: for me, Black Album was Prince's last (and lost) masterpiece of the 80s and his best album until the D&P/ era...

By the way, 1994 was a nasty year, I mean, two of his "nastiest" records (BA and Come) released during the same year???
[Edited 5/10/10 13:17pm]

JoeTyler said:

I'm going 2 respond 2 your full review a bit later, after I post some pics

Just wanted 2 comment on this ^ Rock Hard In A Funky Place is from the 'Dream Factory' years I believe (not the album project) but that seriously creative time where probably the large collection of boots come from.

Rock Hard in a Funky Place co lead is Susannah Melvoin. I don't know who any other females vocals are. It could be anywhere from Wendy Lisa Taj Jill Sheila or Cat

Susannah holds a background lead on a good number of songs outside of the Revolution years: Play in the Sunshine, Starfish & Coffee, i believe Ballad of Dorothy Parker too. and a few others


[Edited 5/12/10 17:03pm]

Marrk said:

I think the "everything but the kitchen sink" thing fully reared its head on Batman, in songs like "Trust" and "Lemon Crush" and others, but to me that sound started with Lovesexy.

Don't get me wrong, I do like Lovesexy, but it seems like a major shift for his sound. Not a shift forward or backward, but definitely sideways and put him on a very different path, sonically, than he had previously been on. Lots of toys, lots of time, and a lot of philosophy being put into it. There's something to be said for all of that, but I think his sound kind of loses its immediacy and rawness from Lovesexy on.

OldFriends4Sale said:

thanks for the info!
[Edited 5/10/10 14:29pm]

My favorite "non Revolution" Prince album of all time...Lovesexy. Either you get it or you don't, and I get it

WonderU said:

Agreed!

I met my best friend standing in line for tickets to the Lovesexy Concert in '88.

Greatest era of his career, and the very last time, he was at his highest level of creativity. It's too bad he couldn't hang on to the spiritual discovery he made here. Lord knows I have!

.
[Edited 5/10/10 16:07pm]

Marrk said:

Had the original Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic album been released instead of Batman, it would have kept Prince's artistic vision going. Songs like 'Rave' 'Electric Chair' 'Scandalous' 'Pink Cashmere' 'Vicki Waiting' 'Elephants and Flowers' 'God Is Alive' 'The Voice Inside' 'Big House' 'We Got the Power' etc. have a lot of similarities speaking from a musical style point of view. Rave would have been a more cohesive album than Batman.