I'd like to have your opinions...

Which albums or periods do you believe were spiritual peaks for Prince?

I'm thinking the three majors are Controversy, Lovesexy and TRC (which brought him artistically full-circle themewise from the time of Controversy, I believe), but I believe that Purple Rain, ATWIAD and SOTT are very relevant as well...

I'm formulating some theories about Prince as an artist; am meeting with an advisor at my University next week... First theme I'm planning to explore is Apollonian and Dionysian elements - obvious, but haven't seen any major scholarship on this yet. (Thanks again to those who responded to my thread on Prince-based academic writing a few months ago...)

For those who do not know me, I've been a fan since his Controversy days, more or less.

Another thing...

Does anyone else find "Temptation," with its overt discussion of spirituality and sexuality, significant to Prince's spiritual journey?

I'm thinking about it in contrast to the overt "Darling Nikki" and that odd spiritual trill at the end, in the form of backward masking.

OH gracious, no replies.

So am I to believe that my suppositions are correct?

Yes, I do agree pretty much. I believe the entire body of work has been peppered with spirituality here and there, with dramatic peaks like Lovesexy and TRC. I think these are the two most obvious.
You may have a point with "Temptation". At the time, it seemed to summarize his ongoing blend of spirituality and sexuality. Today though, it looks like a stepping stone on the way to the mountains that were Lovesexy and TRC.

In a sense, one may argue that Come was part of Prince's spiritual evolution. In came at a time when Prince may have been in a deep search for his spiritual and musical self. It seems to delve into questions like, "who am I? What am I doing here? What hairstyle should I go to after this 'typhoon' thing loses its flavor?"

I agree with you so far. I think i'd add emancipation to the list. It was a time he was looking forward to fatherhood, songs like holy river and saviour. even tho itz not my favorite Album still its a step in his spiritual direction.

After watching Graffiti Bridge, it's hard to imagine him being any more religious. It's a movie that should be shown at every Sunday School. But I heard TRC was an informercial for the Witnesses.

doctamario said:

Maybe it is. Maybe you should listen to it for yourself.

doctamario said:

(prince-as-darth-vader voice) The following is a paid advertisement for Witnessco, LLC.



....hardly. may as well say that all the other religious inklings he did pre-trc are all infomercials too.

During the Emancipation period he was worshiping at the
holy temple of Mayte. I always thought they
were just the epitamy of love bordering on obsession
Personally I find it really romantic

doctamario said:

That is so unoriginal. I saw a few reviews online that said the exact same thing.

But I see what thekidsgirl is saying about his near obsession over Mayte (and who can blame him shes quite a fox and so is Mani and every other prince girl). But I think that becoming a dad and wanting to pass something on spiritually was a motivation during emancipation just look at the Holy River video. But Lovesexy And TRC are definatley the peaks. I think TRC went over many peoples heads but i think many of his JW fans could clearly understand what was going on in that record, so unfourtunatley he exculded some fans by not giving a more general story line.

do not forget about diamonds and pearls
thunder

I haven't heard TRC, but that's just what I heard.
[Edited 2/1/05 18:37pm]

OdysseyMiles said:

You're right, identity for him has been a big part of spirituality - "do I believe in God, do I believe in me?" etc...

(Adding album to my list.)

Soulchild82 said:

Yes, in conjunction with what Odyssey said about "Come," this one is a good choice.

(Adding another album to list).

Whew, this is a big job! Thank youall for helping. I think I'm going to end up with a fat book at the end of it all... Prince is only part of it.

doctamario said:

Ya know, I never got through Graffiti Bridge. Maybe it had something to do with trying to watch it in a loud pool hall (don't ask)? I'll try again...

RE TRC - it's so very metaphorical, so very PRINCE that I could hardly call it an infomercial for anything but "prince-ness."

Yes, please do hear TRC for yourself, and hear it more than once - it took me about three listens to really "get it" and from that time on, it became one of my favorite albums.

christtracy said:

I have diamond & pearl noted under the category of twinship themes, and apollonianism. I'll be digging into that one.

Going to need 10 years for all of this! But it shore is fun.

thekidsgirl said:

Once again, the gemini thing. Romanticism.

Soulchild82 said:

Even for Witnesses, there was quite a bit to figure out. His metaphors were definitely his own.

I would have to say that most of Prince's albums have some element of spirituality since Controversy. What's more, they are wrapped up in his own personal mythology, which actually began with the Dirty Mind track "Uptown" (a song that depicted a utopian society, Prince style. It was pretty pedestrian compared to the more metaphysical ideal of "Paisley Park", but it has to be acknowledged as the starting point for this aspect of his music). If you'll indulge me, I'll present my views on his spiritual highlights (I'm doing through 1989 here, for simplicity sake. I'll examine his 90s and 00s stuff later)

Controversy kicked off his obsession with spirituality, and first coupled it with his overt sexuality. The title track incorporates the Lord's Prayer, which is the first song in his catalogue to reference God in any way. Many religious critics have blasted P's use of the prayer in the song, claiming it to be for mere shock value. While shock is certainly a part of it (the track IS called "Controversy, after all) it goes a little deeper. In many ways, it is the answer to the question he poses earlier in the song, "do I believe in God, do I believe in me?". the second track on the album, "Sexuality", furthers this theme. Prince sings of the "second coming" of Christ, and imagines it as a sexual revolution of sorts. He truly starts to create his own mythology here, calling for a "New Breed" to populate his sexual/spiritual utopia. As the album progresses, he also takes on the Devil, in the form of "Annie Christian". Satan is recast as a woman, responsible for all the evils of the world. Prince calls for her execution, as she is the primary obstacle to his paradise.

1999 lightens up a bit, but it still features bits of this. The title track has Prince facing judgement day. What does he do? Parties, of course! Naturally, a Prince party has lots of sex involved (hey, he has a lion in his pocket, and its ready to roar!!).

A rather bizzare sexual/spiritual connection is made at the end of the explicit "Let's Pretend We're Married". After going on about wanting to "fuck the taste" out of his lover's mouth, he declares he's in love with God. He then states that, because of this, he's "gonna have fun every motherfucking night". Its the same bizzare Prince logic that connected the two on "Sexuality".

Purple Rain made this theme a little clearer, but not much. "Let's Go Crazy" was another party-until-the-apocalypse track, this time recasting the Devil as an elevator. "Darling Nikki" has another wierd connection, with a song about a night of hardcore sex coupled with a backwards mask of Prince singing he's "fine, because The Lord is coming soon". Its obvious at this point that Prince is becoming a little conflicted with his joining of the pleasures of the flesh with the affairs of the Spirit.

"I Would Die 4 U" is Prince singing from the viewpoint of God (at least, as he imagines him). To illustrate this point further, he would change the lyrics when playing the song live from "I'm your messiah" to "HE'S your messiah". Cleary, Prince's theology is still a bit in flux here. On the b-side "God", from this era, we hear him starting to form an idea of just who exactly the diety is. Its not fully realised, but it is starting to become a conviction here.

On the surface, the title track is just another "breakup" song, but it goes so much deeper. The color Purple is often associated with royalty, and is often used in churches as a symbol of God as "King of kings and Lord of lords". Rain, and water in general, are often symbols of purification, and renewal of life. Prince tells his former paramour he only had the best of intentions for her, and wishes to see her "bathing in the Purple Rain", obviously a symbolic baptism of sorts. Prince concludes the song by offering his leadership to guide her through this spiritual renewal. Here again, we see a sort of personal mythology forming, with Prince as a spiritual leader of sorts. On the tour for this album, Prince would have long "conversations" with God, where he was chastied for his lustful ways. This would set the stage for his next album.

It is also of note that, between Purple Rain and ATWIAD Prince contributed a track to the USA For Africa album entitled "4 The Tears In Your Eyes", an overt song referencing Jesus.

Around The World In A Day was probably Prince's first real attempt to define his beliefs, and his own myth. Prior to the album's release, he announced to the world that he was retiring from touring to "look for the ladder". No one knew what the hell he was talking about until ATWIAD hit, with the track defining it as some sort of ladder to Heaven (of course, he didn't quite touring). Here, Prince really started to formulate his own personal metaphors. "Paisley Park" describes some sort of metaphysical oasis, a more spiritual version of "Uptown" (and much akin to the Beatles "Strawberry Fields"). Here, people can come to commune with the spiritual, forgive those who've wronged them, and escape from the drudgery of everyday life. Once again, we have a utopian society described, only here it is much more clearly defined. Prince offers on the title track to take us on a journey around the world, if we just open our hearts and minds to him. He is once again taking a sort of spiritual leader role.

The album closes with the track "Temptation", with Prince once again in heat. This time, however, "God" intervenes (much as he did on the PR tour). "God" tells Prince that he has to want sex for "the right reasons", and then tells him to die. After much dying, Prince is apparently resurrected with the knowledge now that love is more important than sex. (This marks the beginning of a new theme for Prince: rebirth. It would be revisted MANY times over the course of his career). Certainly, this did mark a toning down of sorts for him, although he hardly abandoned lust as a favorite topic. Apparently, lust is just fine, so long as you also love the person. Whether he actually was IN love is beside the point.

Parade is much less spiritual on the outside, yet there are certainly hints of his views on tracks like "Mountains" (which has him telling his lover that they can defy the Devil himself) and the mournful "Sometimes It Snows In April", which has him lamenting a lost friend, yet hopeful that he will see him in the next life. It is also interesting to note that the character in the song that leads off the album (Christopher Tracy, his character from the "Under The Cherry Moon") seems to possess almost magical powers (his piano can even drive away the Devil!). Of course, the character as presented in the film is hardly depicted as such, so its logical to assume that we are, once again, being presented with a Prince alter-ego who is a sort of spiritual mentor or leader, chosen by God for a higher purpose.

Prince's magnum-opus, Sign O' The Times also revisted these themes. "Play In The Sunshine" is, once more, a frolic through Prince's utopian dream world, while "The Cross" is his most heartfelt spiritual track to date. The latter would become a fan favorite, and was often played in concert with quite a bit of passion.

If anything, this set the stage for Lovesexy, his most spiritual album up to this point. After deciding to shelve the salacious "Black album", due to a long, dark night of the soul that was supposedly the result of an X trip, Prince went to work on his ultimate love letter to the Almightly. While a few tracks don't touch on the spritual theme ("When 2 R In Love", "Dance On"), they don't contradict it either. "Lovesexy" is decribed as "the feeling U get when U fall in love, not with a girl or boy, but with the Heavens Above". Prince's myth-making is in full force here, with him creating terms for just about every aspect of his spirituality. "Welcome 2 The New Power Generation", he declares in the opening line from " No". The NPG would eventually come to be his band's name, but it also defined Prince's fans (which were also his "followers" of a sort). He battled with "Spooky Electric" (which could either be his "evil" side, or another name for Satan, depending on your interpretation), promoted "New Power Soul" and shouted out "Hundalasiliah" (which I still have no idea what that means). Prince is seeing himself fully in the role of preacher, rabbi or prophet (take your pick), and takes it upon himself to spread a message of hope, joy, unity and love. Sexuality is mixed in here as well, but he seems to have truly taken to heart the idea of it being coupled with love. Sex becomes an extension of the spiritual. The album's centerpiece, a track called "Anna Stesia" is probably the single greatest insight into his spiritual belief system of this time period. He describes the loneliness and isolation that led him to a depressive state. Eventually, he is led to God, to whom he cries out to to save him. At this point, he is overcome by the revelation that love is inextricably linked to God. In fact, God is love, so therefore love is God. True love does not exist without God. This track is interesting due to the many layers that the lyrics present. First off, the enigmatic title can be viewed several different ways. Of course, it could be a woman's name (he was dating a girl named Anna at the time), but it could also be a play on anesthesia (perhaps as a metaphor for God killing the pain?). Its also likely that he's playing on the name Annastasia,which literally translated means "resurrection". I believe it probable that its actually a play on all three. His lover, Anna, is more than likely the "beautiful girl" mentioned in the song, "Anna Stesia" could also be the Holy Spirit, guiding him to God and taking away his pain. After his encounter with the title character, he is reborn. The rebirth angle is echoed on the album's cover, with Prince naked as the day he was born.

During the Lovesexy tour, he used "Anna Stesia" as the closer to the first half of the show (which depicted him as sinful and destructive, ultimately leading to his "death" on stage). After the track is played, Prince returns after an intermission to play a set steeped heavily in his "Lovesexy" philosophy. A symbolic "rebirth" once again.

As the 80s closed, Prince released the soundtrack to the first "Batman" film. While the album is quite fluffy compared to most of his 80s output, it still touches on his spiritual battle of good vs. evil, this time using the Batman characters of Bruce Wayne/Batman, The Joker and Vicki Vale. Since comics themselves are a modern revisitation of mythical archetypes, its not surprising that Prince was able to use the characters to further his own myth. Batman crusades for good, and has dedicated himself to destroying evil, while The Joker is psychosis embodied. Batman's obsession with stopping the maniacal Joker are a direct metaphor for Prince's own battle with The Devil.


More later...if I haven't bored you to tears already.

Hmmm, guess I DID bore everyone!

JediMaster

thekidsgirl said:

You might say, romantically speaking, that this was Prince's "Michael Jackson" period?

JediMaster said:

I think everyone's just been digesting this feast of information! I certainly have. Am reevaluating my notes, in the light of your observations...

Will get right back to you! You are the bomb, and you know it!

doctamario said:

So why comment on it if you've never heard it b4? doesnt make much sense.

JediMaster said:

For starters (quite a bit to say here, thanks again Jedi)...

Thanks for mentioning "Uptown."

My theory started at "Sexuality" and ended at "TRC," with his reprisal of the former. I believe TRC brought Prince full-circle in the development of his take on spirituality.

"Uptown" is an inkling of the full-fledged, bold statement contained in "Sexuality." It's a utopian society he describes indeed; I always liked the bit about children not watching television until they know how to read. He has all sorts of ideas about child-rearing, and expresses them here!

The man never fails to amaze me.

Thanks Jedi, great post!

Please, come up with your thoughts about the 90's/00's. Can't wait to read!

Heiress said:

I agree wholeheartedly about "Uptown" & "Sexuality". I fully intend to adress "Sexuality" and its relationship to TRC, once I get to that album. Needless to say, I think you're spot-on.

I'll be doing the 90s in a whole lot smaller installements!
[Edited 2/8/05 13:58pm]

EmancipationLover said:

Thank you! I will definitely get to the 90s/00s soon. Like I told Heiress, I'll be doing them in much smaller installments, to make them easier to read, and easier to write!

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

Thanks!