Lovesexy.

I've been blasting Black Album a lot lately though.

I'll give both albums "five stars". There's no reason to give any fewer stars to music as great as what's on both of those albums.

Fonkyman said:

I'm keeping em both and if there's any shit from anyone I'll call in their brother/sister, SOTT.

I also have a hard time separating the Black Album and Lovesexy and like to think of them as parts of a whole. That said, Lovesexy is a personal favorite... Prince needs to bring back those sunglasses!

I love both albums, but I'd give the nod to Lovesexy

Absolute dead tie in supremacy.

Loved the DETAILS that Prince did with this era...I remember the cover of the cassette Lovesexy. When you pulled it out, unfolded it and held it against a lightsource, you could see that the symbols

on the backside matched perfectly with his nude body. Like a tattoo.

"Put my name up on my thigh...It made me laugh it made me cry"

I'm certain there are details which have yet to be revealed.

Upon a quick listen to Lovesexy, the song, has there ever been a more seamless moment in music than the moment when cat starts talking, then morphs into Prince talking? "If I come back as a woman, I want a body like yours..." Absolute genius!

[Edited 1/1/13 15:41pm]

The Black Album for me. It's such a fun, funky PARTAY album. It's an extension of the sounds and vibe of Sign. From beginning to end its just a blast. I still listen to this one regularly.

Lovesexy is great but it isn't holding up as well over the years...there ar also a few tunes I have never been much of a fan of (I Know, Glam Slam, and Positivity)

Poplife88 said:

The Black Album for me. It's such a fun, funky PARTAY album. It's an extension of the sounds and vibe of Sign. From beginning to end its just a blast. I still listen to this one regularly.

Lovesexy is great but it isn't holding up as well over the years...there ar also a few tunes I have never been much of a fan of (I Know, Glam Slam, and Positivity)

Yeah, completely agree!

Lovesexy

SoulAlive said:

Lovesexy it's just such a magical album to me.Prince once described it as "a mindtrip....like a psychedelic movie" and he's absolutely right.It wasn't just an album,it was a vibe,a journey that Prince was taking us on.

I'm one of the few fans who thinks that The Black Album is overrated Sure,it is funky but there are no outstanding lyrics or a classic song like "Anna Stesia".It's just a fun party record,nothing more,nothing less.

I was very disappointed with "The Black Album" when I finally got it. With a name like that and all the hype around it about Prince getting back to a "black" sound, I was expecting it to sound like back when Prince was mainly known on black radio only. A lot of other folks I knew were thinking the same thing. In other words, what we called the "Old Prince" before "Around The World In A Day". Instead, it had a "black" sound but it was a 1970s sound, not the cold 1980s sound he was known for. It was still Prince on a retro trip.

Revolution said:

Upon a quick listen to Lovesexy, the song, has there ever been a more seamless moment in music than the moment when cat starts talking, then morphs into Prince talking? "If I come back as a woman, I want a body like yours..." Absolute genius!

[Edited 1/1/13 15:41pm]

A moment of genius, yes! Where is it all gone?

Two sides of one album, in my opinion.

From my alternate universe...no actually just going to post an excerpt from a huge project where I totally reconfigure Prince's career to follow the business blueprint MJ and U2 had, where they didn't bombard the industry with album after album. In my project, I have Prince's career go almost exactly as it was through Purple Rain, except that B-sides would have either been album tracks or live versions of released songs, saving great songs for album releases in the future, or huge outtake releases instead...Albums would have been released in 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, etc...usually 3 year or so gaps between releases.

In my project, most of the Black Album would have been on a huge 10 Disc outtake collection from 1998 or so featuring 750-790 minutes of music, much more than the 300 or so minutes Prince put on Crystal Ball over 5 discs. The rest of the Black Album would have been on the 1987 release.

Also, in my project imaginery world, older songs could end up released whenever, and if you think about it, Prince sort of does this by releasing old songs way after the fact, but in this case, the old versions would have been used, without crazy re-recordings or massive overdubs.

Most of Lovesexy would have been on a 1990 double album....and directly cut and pasted from my obsessive project:

CD 1:

Eye No (5:46)
Alphabet St. (Single Edit 2:26)
Mountains 3:57
Raspberry Beret 3:33
The Cross 4:48
Anna Stesia (4:57)
Elephants & Flowers (3:54)
The Question Of U (4:00)
America 3:42
Pop Life 3:43
Thieves In The Temple (6:25 my edit of 12inch version)
Tick, Tick, Bang (3:30)
I Love U In Me 4:12
Scandalous 6:14

CD 2:

Data Bank 7:48
Girl O' My Dreams 1:25
Can't Stop This Feeling I Got 2:07
We Can Funk 5:44
Joy In Repetition (5:13) (with extra long lin drum intro, no foolish party intro from Eye No.)
Movie Star 4:27
A Place In Heaven 2:51
Adore 6:30
All My Dreams( my edit 3:15)
Lovesexy (5:49)
When 2 R In Love (3:58)
I Wish U Heaven (2:43)
Still Would Stand All Time (5:23)

^

I'm sorry but that's just a terrible idea...

Black, definitely.

I like Lovesexy every now and then, and the tour was great, but there's a mystique and a certain sense of danger and rawness with The Black Album that keeps bringing me back to it. Maybe it was the whole "where can I find it???" thing was happening beofre the internet made everything easy and you really had to HUNT to find a good recording of the Black Album. But come to think of it, most of the highlights from the Lovesexy tour, aside from 'Annastesia' and 'Lovesexy' were Black Album tracks. I'm thinking "Bob George" and "Superfunkacalifragisexy" in particular.

I don't consider either one 'Top Shelf Prince' records, but it sure was an interesting time to be a fan. A lot of fairweather "Purple Rain" devotees jumped ship right around that time.

Revolution said:

I remember the cover of the cassette Lovesexy. When you pulled it out, unfolded it and held it against a lightsource, you could see that the symbols

on the backside matched perfectly with his nude body. Like a tattoo.

"Put my name up on my thigh...It made me laugh it made me cry"

I'm certain there are details which have yet to be revealed.

Upon a quick listen to Lovesexy, the song, has there ever been a more seamless moment in music than the moment when cat starts talking, then morphs into Prince talking? "If I come back as a woman, I want a body like yours..." Absolute genius!

[Edited 1/1/13 15:41pm]

THANK YOU!!!!

I've posted this subtle factoid 100 times on this board and you're the first person who's ever known what the hell I was talking about! I discoverd that quite by accident, stoned one afternoon and listening to the Lovesexy cassette. Saw the heart/YES tatoo on Prince's thigh and thought there was something wrong with me until I read the credits and learned that the joke was on me.

Someone needs to post a scan/photoshop of exactly what we're talking about here, because I honestly don't think too many people know, even the hardcore fans.

When you hold this image up to the light, with the cassette anyway, the "YES/HEART" symbol is superimposed right on Prince's thigh.

[img:$uid]http://images1.buymusichere.net/images/s/153/494367409153.jpg[/img:$uid]

Thibaut said:

^

I'm sorry but that's just a terrible idea...

Yeah, cuz in my idea, Prince releases Old Friends 4 Sale(original), and Jughead goes on a 10 disc outtake collection. In my idea, Prince releases more music than he actually did from 1987-2011, but official albums are only once every three years. Of course, I know my idea doesn't sit well with the people on this site who want less Prince music, and didn't want him to have the critical acclaim U2 and MJ had. In my world, Tony M would never have been allowed on stage. He just would've been a footnote on some 10 disc outtake collection....

But then again, many Prince fans on here would much rather have Tony M memories, and want to worship the memory of Shelby shouting "Put Your Hands Up."

Website boards are breeding grounds for alternate ways of thinking, but in the world we live in, most would rather have things just be the way they are.

I agree with you 100 percent and I also wanted to add that how can anyone not rate glam slam is beyond me. I found this cassette at a thrift store last year and half ago and revisted the entire album and I listen to glam slam more than any of the rest of the album. you can hear the british invasion all over that song and dance on is pop turned funky.....Prince made the right decision releasing this lp instead of the black album.

robertgeorgeakabob said:

lovesexy is the most idiosyncratic prince album there is. it's strength lies in the fact it was recorded so quickly. it's the most honest representation of prince's spirit/sexuality there is. it's his pandora's box well and truly smashed open.

how anyone can not rate tracks such as dance on is beyond me. the complexity of the drum track is mind blowing. like jimi's "fire" set in the 21st century.

i have zero interest in owning a tracked version, i follow prince's vision of it being a complete spiritual, soul cleansing journey.it starts with the crackle of fire and ends with the sound of water, the journey of redemption. thats fucking genius folks.

i love the black album but for me it's always been and always will be lovesexy...new power, new power, lay it on me, i need some bottom in here.

the greatest advert for ecstasy there is peeps!

say

vainandy said:

I was very disappointed with "The Black Album" when I finally got it. With a name like that and all the hype around it about Prince getting back to a "black" sound, I was expecting it to sound like back when Prince was mainly known on black radio only. A lot of other folks I knew were thinking the same thing. In other words, what we called the "Old Prince" before "Around The World In A Day". Instead, it had a "black" sound but it was a 1970s sound, not the cold 1980s sound he was known for. It was still Prince on a retro trip.

I didn't obtain a copy of the Black Album until the summer of '88.I had heard all these critics implying that it was a return to the "Dirty Mind" era,with nasty lyrics,in-your-face funk,etc.So that's sorta what I was expecting.The album is good but I don't think that it lives up to the hype.

Black Album >>>>>>>>>>> Lovesexy

stillwaiting said:

From my alternate universe...

CD 1:

Eye No (5:46)
Alphabet St. (Single Edit 2:26)
Mountains 3:57
Raspberry Beret 3:33
The Cross 4:48
Anna Stesia (4:57)
Elephants & Flowers (3:54)
The Question Of U (4:00)
America 3:42
Pop Life 3:43
Thieves In The Temple (6:25 my edit of 12inch version)
Tick, Tick, Bang (3:30)
I Love U In Me 4:12
Scandalous 6:14

CD 2:

Data Bank 7:48
Girl O' My Dreams 1:25
Can't Stop This Feeling I Got 2:07
We Can Funk 5:44
Joy In Repetition (5:13) (with extra long lin drum intro, no foolish party intro from Eye No.)
Movie Star 4:27
A Place In Heaven 2:51
Adore 6:30
All My Dreams( my edit 3:15)
Lovesexy (5:49)
When 2 R In Love (3:58)
I Wish U Heaven (2:43)
Still Would Stand All Time (5:23)

holy crap..

what a mess, I hope you aren't serious..?

Thibaut said it, what a terrible idea.

.

[Edited 1/7/13 3:05am]

thedance said:

*** The Black Album is a cousin to Sign O' The Times, excellent as well 9.5/10***

I've always felt the same, especially since the music was created during the same periods of the Dream Factory/SOTT 1986-1987 along with Scarlet Pussy

Damn just listened 2 black albuma gain and I dunno.....starting to lean that way...dirty funk