It think timing has something to do with it. Though I liked ATWIAD, after that album and Parade, I was kinda ready for the old Prince to return. I didn't get the old Prince, I got a new and improved one. Sign Of The Times gave me everything I was looking for and more. SOTT was truly a pretty mess. To me, it had all of the best elements from his previous albums masterfully thrown together. Each song so unique from the one before, yet all fitting together so well. It lacked nothing. It was also fun. I loved the whimsical Play In The Sunshine and Starfish and Coffee. No fillers on this album! Don't get me started on the video. Sheila E on drums Cat
[Edited 2/4/05 19:20pm]

xt1000 said:

I love Purple Rain, don't get me wrong, but I'd just like to go on record as saying that I really, really dislike "I Would Die 4 U". And there it is.

jillybean said:

CUZ IT IS!

Welcome2daRevolution said:

Sorry!

jillybean said:

Hi Jilly!
was wondering, have u also ever listened 2 the "I Would die 4 U, Extended Version"?

It is wild with lots of drums and fast electric beats, sizzzzling sax too.

Please give the extended version a try, it is what should have really been on the Purple Rain soundtrack.

OceanOfViolets said:

Thanks for this post. I do have the exteneded version and do you know I've never listened to it (bought it for the B-Side). Thanks again as I can't wait to hear an old song made new!

I will never forget the feeling I got the first time I heard Sign O' The Times.
I was in Italy visiting family with my parents in July of 87' and bought it on tape at a flea market.

I listened to it through my walkman and it completely blew me away.(Mind you I was a fan pretty much since the beginning so I was QUITE familiar with all of his releases since then.)

I thought it was completely fresh and more muture sounding than anything he'd ever done before.For me,there is never a boring moment or sour note on the album.

Several classics are on this album ...Housequake,Forever In My Life,If I was Your Girlfriend,Adore and the title track.

Then there are great gems like Starfish and Coffee,The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker and Strange Relationship.

The rest of the songs are simply quite good to good.

It's my favorite Prince album because it represents the best in Prince's musucal abilities in every aspect.

A close second musically would be The Rainbow Children
[Edited 2/5/05 11:17am]

What is it with you people?!?!?!??!?!?! Sign' is not only Prince's definitive masterpiece (of that era, anyway), it is one of the best albums of a VAPID decade of music. Listen to the arpeggiated strings at the end of "Adore". Listen to the guitar breakdown during the "ICNTTPOYM" jam. Listen to the transitions...The startling cut from "Play in" to "Housequake". Oh, and by the way, there are few Prince lyrics that match the sheer brilliance of "Dorothy Parker". 'Sign' is a mature Prince record. Whearas in the past Prince sang about social injustices with a rockin party beat (see Partyup for example), on the title track "Sign 'o' the times" he actually sounds affected by these injustices.

Oh, and don't forget the fact that Eric Leeds plays like a muthafucka throughout the album!!!

jackmitz said:

Sign is his best album because it showcases his talents more effectively than any other record he’s released.

I’ll grant that it doesn’t have a ‘knock-out punch’ on it – a perfect pop song like Little Red Corvette or a jarringly innovative track like When Doves Cry. I’ll also allow that, as a whole, it doesn’t have the concise, concentrated perfection of Purple Rain. Instead, it is a classic double album in the tradition of Physical Graffiti, Exile on Main Street and The White Album – sprawling, epic messes that have room to stretch out, take odd detours, go off on tangents and let us see what artists are really capable of doing.

Take Play In The Sunshine as an example – a song that I believe to be criminally under-rated. I understand why some fans don’t like this track. It’s certainly not the most profound Prince song ever released, and maybe it’s a touch too cheerful. Put that aside though, and listen to the instrument run that makes up the last 80 seconds of the track. The man’s abilities as a one-man-band have never shone quite as wonderfully as they do here. If you want to convince a doubter of Prince's talent, this is the track to use. I think it’s one the peaks of his career as a recording musician.

All of Sign… is like that – 80 minutes or so of the greatest recording artist of the eighties stretching out and showing us (almost) everything that he can do. Listening to this now, it seems unthinkable (and practically tragic) that just two years later he recorded that by-the-numbers, mechanical Batman soundtrack.
[Edited 2/5/05 17:17pm]

GottaLetitgo said:

jackmitz said:

mancabdriver said:

All of these statements are right on point! These are the very reasons why, I think, SOTT is his best album.

I have never understood when people say that something is too long. You simply turn it off when it starts to bore you. The only complaint I've had about a song being too long, would be the 12 Inch version of "America". You can put the needle anywhere on the record after the album version is finished and it sounds the same. At least the song "Purple Rain" changes up all the way through.

RazzBeret said:

and the award for best actor in a comedy or musical goes to...
[Edited 2/6/05 4:50am]

I wanted 2 say "cuz it is" but it's already been said. Twice!

It's partly a "U had 2 b there" thing, but I also think it stands the test of time. The amazing thing about SOTT is that it is both amazingly diverse AND consistent. Each song was surprising, twisting and turning in different directions, without feeling jumbled (as, say, CB or Rave do). This is why it bears repeated listenings. In another thread I once wrote about how fave songs on the album change over time. For years I was discovering that songs I had dismissed or undervalued grew to be those I most admired. I don't think this process ever stops with the album.

Oh, and whoever was saying that it doesn't have classic, killer songs, what do u call the title track, BoDP, The Cross, Adore???! And that's a fairly arbitrary list!

As someone else stated, this album demonstrated P as a mature, diverse songwriter and performer with DEPTH and RANGE. Now, it is possible that fans who got into P later took these facets for granted and therefore don't appreciate the significance of this album. That said, I still believe the value of the songs and the performances are timeless. And then there's the movie!! Plus, try to name another album that begins with a line as brilliant as:

"In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name"

Fans smitten with Sign O The Times seem to overlook the two most blatant fillers of the album: "Hot Thing" and "It".

Not bad songs by any stretch of the imagination, but if these were tracks on a 90's Prince album, they wouldn't get half the props they get sitting alongside songs like The Cross and Housequake.

In regards to the person who said that Emancipation was his best album, I'd personally pick Face Down, New World, Joint 2 Joint, The Human Body and The Love We Make over most tracks on SOTT.

its about the whole concept of the album hwat makes it his best. how it makes u feel is what is all about. wer not that technical 2 analyse every note of it. wer fans.

SOTT is certainly one of P's best albums, but when you hear that the tracks 'Crystal Ball', 'All My Dreams' and 'Power Fantastic' COULD and SHOULD have been on it, it nearly makes you cry.

I realise this thread relates to what we actually got as the album 'Sign o' the Times', but even so, adding these tracks and others would have made it the truly awesome statement of Prince's abilities at the time it should have been. As is, it's, like 65% there, but not quite.

Prince/ Warners should do a deal (I realise I'm dreaming here) and release a fully remixed, remastered, re-sequenced SOTT, but as 3-4 CD set, showcasing all the great music he was recording in 1986-early '87. Now, THAT would be perhaps the best album of the last 20 years. A sweeping statement, perhaps, but I stand by it.