Further to the previous news item - http://www.prince.org/new....html?8409 - the article has appeared in a special issue of Q magazine devoted to album covers. There is indeed an interview with Demetria Vance who is described as a "professional Prince watcher" or something to that effect.


Prince is described as having one of the most partisan and devoted followings in music who analyse his ever album cover for symbolism etc. Dee then goes on to explain how the Sign O the Time cover reflects Prince's mental state at the time, being fairly cluttered and troubling. Apparently the car sticking out under the stage represents his relationship with Susannah, whom he'd just refused to marry. (I just thought it looked cool) The neon lights etc are representative of the seven corners in Minneapolis and the music scene there, which leads Dee onto a discussion of Prince's father and the roots of Prince's name. The article then goes on to dismiss the period since then as one of mediocre albums, writing slave on his face and name changes, concluding that it all makes the Sign O the Times era seems quite a sane period in his life.



Finally, there is a small box about the Lovesexy cover, and the story about how Prince and Jean Baptiste Monde never discussed the ideas for the cover as they couldn't get seats next to each other on a plane flight to the studio, and that Prince was initially very wary of the whole nude concept. Also, that all the film and negatives were destroyed after Prince choose his favourite pic - so no nude Prince photos are in circulation!



(sorry if there are any inaccuracies here, but I'm quoting from memory)