First off, I love this album. I can listen to it with just as much pleasure today as I did when it first came out.

But what I want to know is, in your opinion, what makes SOTT such a brilliant album? Prince has had better Rock Jams than "The Cross", better Jazz workouts than "Hot Think or It's Gonna b a beautiful night", and better dancefloor fillers than Housequake. But for some reason, I gravitate to SOTT often.

AsianBomb777 said:

I think the diverisity of the album which makes it so great, I mean there is something for everybody, for the "old school" fan there's "adore" and If I was your girlfriend", for the pop radio there was "u got the look" and "ICNTTPOYM", for the funky people there was "housequake" and "hot thing", for the religous ones there's "the cross", for the social concious there's "sign of the times". I could go on and on. It really open the publics eyes on what kind of true artist he really is.

The album truly is a "classic"

It's probably my favorite, but I don't listen to it as much nowas I did, I played it out, way out.. and I find I'm listening to 1999 more these days and of course various b sides, and nonsingles..

I remember that summer when I got the Sign O' cassette and i woul go to the beach and listen to it over and over. My non prince fan friends even liked most of it, except for the werider songs lik "it" I loved it all from start to finish..

AsianBomb777 said:

I think you gotta reconsider what jazz workouts are, Mr. Bomb.

Me personally, I never considered SOTT to be his best album, but some of the songs are so strong that it is a top tier album in his catalog.

AsianBomb777 said:

Incredible stuff. The Cross build and builds into a powerful tune. By far my favorite song he has ever done on the inspirational front. It and Hot Thang stick in my head for hours after listening. I could never take the place of your man is catchy as hell with a simple but intoxicating guitar solo. Even the ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh backing vocals in ICNTTPOYM bring me in deeper to that tune. Im not going to describe every songs influence on me but the best way to describe SOTT is "COMPLETE". If it wasnt for the ultimate perfection of Purple Rain, this would be my favorite album.
[Edited 9/13/04 19:20pm]
[Edited 9/13/04 19:21pm]

Sign and Parade are, by far, my favorite albums.

SOTTs always sounds good to me...I have played it so many times I know every single word, note, beat, and riff. It doesn't get old. I has a variety of styles on there.

It IS a masterpiece.

AsianBomb777 said:

well, other than the songs you mentioned, everything else on that album.

SOTT is a gift 2 have. I went last week to purchase the SOTT platinum addition. Its 2 CD’s and they’re selling 4 $25.99. The lyrics on SOTT are heavy. That P is a special kind of guy. LOL

AsianBomb777 said:

I love the album, but think it's overrated. Flame away. I don't care.

Luv & Peace,
Alex
Clubbin' in Mpls/A Night w. Prince

master piece? no
overated? yes.

pennylover said:

Yeah. " " indeed.

There is no "platinum edition" of Sign "O" The Times. You've been had. The album has always been 2CDs.

bds70 said:

Personally, I don't think that SOTT is a masterpiece. It has some good and strong songs on it but it is NO masterpiece.

Yes.

SOTT is a masterpiece. I love it all. It's a masterpiece for great songs like SOTT, I could never take the place of your man, hot thing, the cross, starfish & coffee and the masterpiece of all masterpieces - if I was your girlfriend. Every song on the cd is good and many are great.
SOTT rocks

Adore

Sign O the Times is a masterpiece because it has:

1) his best religious song ("The Cross")
2) his best social commentary song ("sign O The Times")
3) his best love song ("Adore")
4) his best attempt at rap ("Housequake")
5) his best duet with Sheena Easton ("U Got the Look")
6) his best gender-bending song ("If I Was Your Girlfriend")

These six songs alone would make a great album, even if the rest was filler. But this album also has "ICNTPOYM", "Forever in My Life", "It", "Ballad of Dorothy Parker"...you get my point. This album has some of Prince's most focused song-writing and truly heartfelt singing.

The thing I like best about the album is its bravery. After the UTCM debacle, the safe thing for Prince would have been to make an album full of "Purple Rain" and "Let's Go Crazy" re-dos to get back the 12 million fans he had three years before. So what does he do instead? He produces an album of experiements, songs like Sign O the Times built on a drum machine mistake or "Forever in My Life" with a messed up musical track that somehow works. And he writes songs like "If I Was Your Girlfriend" which, while I disagree that it should have been a single, is an extremely bold and unique and ballsy song.


It is a masterpiece, his best album in my eyes. It is Prince at his absolute creative peak.

Certainly one of his best (tho 2-3 CD expanded versions of 'Purple Rain' or 'Parade' would probably be better. With SOTT, I always feel it to be a hacked up cutdown compromise of 'Dream Factory'/ 'Crystal Ball'. I mean, there's about another 2 CDs worth of great/ very good stuff from the same recording sessions. We need a remastered, expanded 3-4 CD box set including 'Crystal Ball' (the song), 'Power Fantastic', 'Movie Star', 'Joy in Repetition' (in its proper context here), 'We Can Funk' (slower version), 'Crucial', 'Make Your Mama Happy', 'Visions', 'Witness 4 the Prosecution', 'Train', 'Dream Factory', 'In a Large Room With No Light', 'The Ball' and God knows what other greats. We're only getting about half the story on SOTT. The rest of the great stuff is either floating around on other albums, or 'in circulation', or in the vault. I'd love to hear it all in context, in its original, untampered with
glory.

Compile all this other stuff in a reconfigured tracklist with the SOTT tracks. Then you might have one of the greatest (and longest) pop albums of all time ...

Novabreaker said:

How r u going to tell me there’re no Platinum Addition? The wrapping on the new CD SOTT has a purple seal with Platinum Addition printed in silver on the cover.

I guess there are two reasons SOTT is (in my view) one of the greatest albums of my generation.

1. Prince showcases a unique ability to distill various musical genres and styles into one identifiable "Prince" sound. He displays a mastery of pop ("ICNTTPOYM," "Play In The Sunshine" and "Starfish & Coffee"), rock ("The Cross"), R&B ('Strange Relationship," "SOTT," "Slow Love" and ""Hot Thing"), and funk ("Housequake" and "I.G. Be A Beautiful Night"). And at the same time, he creates songs that are uniquely his own -- "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" and "If I Was Your Girlfriend." And he closes the set with (arguably) his finest song: Adore.

2. SOTT is emotionally accessible on many levels. Prince shows you glimpses of what is going on inside his head and heart throughout the album. Whether it's politics (SOTT), love (Adore, IIWYG, Strange Relationship), or God (the Cross), Prince is as honest on SOTT as he's ever been.

SOTT packs the most powerful 1-2 combination of musical talent and emotional honesty of all of his released albums.

GottaLetitgo said:

co-sign

I have often wondered this myself. Yes other songs are better. ANd even some of the cuts that made it to SOTT I am not in total agreeance with. I actiullly think it to be less of a concept album than what was once conceived...or than most people think it is. I think it's mostly leftovers of several shelved projects (One of the reasons Dream Factory will stand out against this one for me)

I do think that the diversity of the songs as well as the strength in the lyrics gave this album the allocades it got. Just about all of the songs were unlike anything heard up to that time. The songs were more mature, yet very accessable. Very little weirdness on it...and the weirdness that did exist were in pockets or done in such a way that they did not distract form the overall feeling of the album (see rainbow children). It also was not marred by any strange film attatched to it.

So is it a masterpiece...Um it a really good collection of some really good songs...which are now classics. I'd say 1999 or Lovesexy are more masterpieces than this. then again the are way more congruent than this...though SOTT is congruent in its incongruentness. They are more concept that SOTT...which I feel is pieces of other concepts. Like others, I would have prefered Dream Factory or Crystal Ball...for more concept.

a masterpiece? hell yeah a superb album if you ask me

forever in my life makes it the piece de' resistance 4 me...

pennylover said:

An item like that does not exist officially. It's most likely a pirate copy, I'm sorry. What would be so platinum about it? The fact that it's two CDs, as opposed to just being originally... two CDs?

Supernova said:[quote]

AsianBomb777 said:

[color=darkblue]I think you gotta reconsider what jazz workouts are, Mr. Bomb.

sign of the times may be his best work ever.

I don't think it is a perfect album i the way Dirty Mind, 1999. Parade and, Rainbow Children are perfect. But every song is perfect.

I think the fact that the songs are so varried is what keeps bringing people back to the album, it can be listned to over and over.

I think Sign O' the Times is Prince's best album, almost unequivocally. It's not as tight, as fun nor is the sound as rich as Purple Rain, but it encompasses all the things he's good at, which PR doesn't do as well (there's no funk in PR). I think each of the songs is among his best (with the exception of U got the look and Adore which I think are overrated) and yes, it's his most varied/eclectic album before he started sounding like a one man sampler-disc show off.

paintsprayer said:

sign of the times is way better then those albums (especially rainbow children!!!!!)