I was just listening to Sign O The Times and pondering why this cd was quite so good. It is alright, but is not really that amazing. And why does Prince use that cartoonish high voice sung in songs such as Housequake,and If I Was Your Girlfriend? What do you propose about that voice? And again looking back on this cd I just (yes I know I just realized it) but he does not use his signature eye in the title of If I Was Your Girlfriend...?????

I dont like it much at all. But then Iam strictly a pop or rnb fan. Thus I like the title track, u got the look and strange relationship only really. And play in the sunshine. I never hear them mind.


I only hear "u got the look", which the hardcore proberly skip

I dont like "forever in my life" much either. Its his voice. A real turn off.

blasphemy !


the speeded up voice is his female alter ego Camille
[Edited 6/28/05 16:37pm]

That high voice is the Camille voice. Just another of his alter ego thingies for writing songs and using different techniques. Personally i think "If i was your girlfriend" is just a classic, i love "Adore" and "Beautiful Night" is great to jam to. And i cant be arsed to talk about more songs. I think you just need to give it a chance really, i didnt like it much at first. The movie might help.

thesexofit said:

Lariza said:

u can find stuff on the Camille voice in the FAQ(not the regular one, but the new one at the top of the Prince forum). I like the album more now than I used to, and I've always thought it had great music, but I never believed it was the PRince Bible people say it is. And I still believe that Adore is vastly overrated(and people who like Adore can't say that Diamonds and Pearls is too sugary. U have no right. I mean damn). But Dirty Mind is by far his most overrated effort. I mean, SOTT had a lot of diverse songs showing off different parts of his talents, but the songs on DM were so average and bland.

Diamonds And Pearls has corny lyrics ,Adore is beautiful !
no comparison !
And Dirty Mind is classic , imo
[Edited 6/28/05 16:54pm]

thesexofit said:

That (especially the live version on the SOTT DVD) is one of my favourite Prince songs.. I'm shocked u cld say such a thing. lol

It's a great album.

Dear God.

May Larry have mercy on your soul.
[Edited 6/28/05 17:07pm]

the didn't show up until the album in 1992
and I don't think he used it in a song title until 94/95
with the song " Hate U" on The Gold Experience album

and the first time he used the word "Eye" to replace "I"
was on the 1988 Lovesexy album with the song "Eye No"
before then he was just using 2, 4, and U to replace words
and that didn't start until the 1999 album in 1982
with many of the lyrics found on the inner record sleeves
his first song to use "U" to replace "you" was "Jack U Off"
on the Controversy album in 1981
but he really didn't become known for any of this until 1984
with the Purple Rain album and a song called "I Would Die 4 U"

That is because SOTT is the edited version of what is Prince's greatest achievement music wise. The reason is in the making of this album which went through many phases encompasses all of Prince's musical styles. From the Dream Factory to Camille to Crystal Ball to SOTT Prince wrote his best material to date with much of it still unreleased. If Prince was allowed to put out Crystal Ball in it's original 1987 3 record format, it would be the greatest album on everyone's list of the best albums of all time. SOTT just cover so many musical genres. That why people love it so much as do I. The best Prince album of all time by far.

I love reading this stuff, but sometimes....i just sit here and go

This has to be trollery. I mean c'mon.

Dewrede said:

Camille is a boy

yeah , i heard , but i don't believe that

Dewrede said:

maybe he's a girly boy?

Why do you think Camille is a boy ?
(i remember reading about it before , but i can't remember what was said)
[Edited 6/28/05 21:09pm]

Dewrede said:

The Lovesexy tour book....

Dewrede said:

The Lovesexy tourbook describes a "boy named Camille." That's the reason I've always thought Camille was a boy.

ok , thanks for your replies

Lariza said:

How old are you?

I mean, I remember hearing this CD in high school, having just turned 17 and being perplexed. I didn't like any of it on the first spin. But by the end of the week, I was head-over-heels absolutely in love with it.

Describing SOTT as "alright" is an indication that you haven't really given the album a good and proper listen. Keep at it.

TheBigBang said:

I think he's andogynous.

THere's a whole (if modestly sized...) book on this album if you want to learn more...

"Prince's Sign O' the Times (Thirty Three and a Third series)"
Michaelangelo Matos; Paperback; $9.95

available through Amazon...

Green said:

Is it good?

silverchild said:

I knew someone would ask this...still awaiting the arrival of my copy - will keep you posted. But someone else may already have read it and let us know...

Lariza said:

I;m not sure,but I seem to remember hearing the cartoonish voice came about as an accident in the studio. Anyway, it was first used on Erotic City. Prince used the voice as an 'alter ego' named Camille (according to The Vault "Prince has hinted that the name was inspired by Herculine Barbin, a famous 19th Century hermaphrodite who was nicknamed Camille. He was raised as a female but lived as a male in his 20s).

Later Prince decided to do an whole album of Camille tracks, but it was eventually shelved, though all of the tracks from this project have been released except for the studio version of Rebirth Of The Flesh: Housequake/Strange Relationship/Feel U Up/Shockadelica/Good Love/If I Was Your Girlfriend/Rockhard In A Funk Place.

As for Sign O' The Times, I kinda agree with you that listening to it fresh now you would wonder why it is considered so great. Actually at the time it took me a long time to really get into it. You really have to look at it in context of the 80s and the music around then - most artists at that point in their careers, after releasing a few outstanding albums, would start to lose steam, but Prince actually seemed to be accelerating and becoming more talented and more interested in creating new challenging music. It showcased a great range of musical styles for one person, and was so diverse that there was something for everyone. The title song itself managed to pretty much encapsulate the whole decade of the 80s.

It was the album that really cemented the perception of Prince as not just a flamboyant pop star but also someone truly musically gifted.

I think a lot of albums that people rave as 'classics' from the past often sound dated when you eventually hear them, but that's usually because what they pioneered has been endlessly copied since.

Lariza said:

The first time He used the was in 1988...

Ok - still haven't read the book SOTT by Matos- but it arrived today. Back cover reads:

"The most immediately striking thing about SoTT is the jazzy sensibility running through it. Prince's father was a jazz musician, his mother a vocalist; he'd been a fan of chops-heavy jazz-fusion as well as rock and R&B growing up. But when Prince began recording for Warner Bros, he abjured [?!] the brass sections that dominated groups like Earth, Wind & Fire and Parliament-Funkadelic, opting instead for stacked synthesizer patterns and a spare, cold feel that markedly contrasted with lush, overarranged disco and the wild, think underbrush of the era's giant funk ensembles; author Rickey Vincent dubbed it "naked funk". Getting away from traditional R&B instrumentation is an underappreciated aspect of Prince's crossover success; Prince is also said to have actively disliked the sound of horns early in his career.

One of the greatest double albums of the vinyl era SOTT shows Prince at his peak. Here, Michelangelo Matos tells the story of how it emerged from an extraordinary period of creativity to become one of the landmark recordings of the 1980s. He also illustrates beautifully how - if a record is great enough and lucky enough to hit you at the right time - it can change your way of looking at the world.

Michelangelo Matos is Music Editor at Seattle Weekly"


Phew.... !

SOTT is a classic.....HOWEVER, I would say that I dont really listen to it in its original form. I love a lot of the songs on there, and there are some out and out classics (SOTT, Housequake, Forever In My Life, If I Was Your Girlfriend, ICNTTPOYM, The Cross, Adore), however I think albums such as Dirty Mind, Purple Rain and Parade are more focused & listenable albums (not necessarily better though). SOTT sounds like various cuts from an number of epic sessions, and thats what it is. Its not even the best tracks from these sessions, so I guess a lot of Prince fans always revert to listening to the best tracks of this era, not just this album.

SOTT is Prince's best album, however if i were to recommend an album to a first time listener, I would never suggest this, its too much of a challenge.