ooh, i'm first.



























...and now, for the wolves

Hmm, I think this is a rather common concept in Prince's music. You know, just dance the troubles of life away. Works perfectly, IMO.

And 'Hot Thing' average??? You're definitely alone on this, man!
[Edited 2/24/06 12:47pm]

i could agree with you today, but that's because i've heard it a kajillion times and i've heard the earlier proposed versions of this project and my senses are dulled by familiarity.

take me back to the first time i heard this album and i would have to give you a steaming cup of WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Heh. Yeah, I know. I don't see why people have to get pissed about this.

So what if I don't find one single 80's album amazing?

PurpleKnight said:

well, that opening sequence makes sense when you watch the concert film....

Almost 20 years after its release, it's easy to say Sign o' the Times is not a brilliant work. Yet, what has been released lately that is as innovative, original, and booty moving all at the same time?

Simple effects such as the just out of time vocal layers of Forever In My Life and If I Was Ur Girlfriend are subtle yet genius. Play in the sunshine, a run of the mill, happy pop song as you put it, can only be MISTAKENLY disregarded as such. It may be happy and poppy but there is a social message within. The title song is of the most urgent message yet it is directed at the listener in a sort of matter-of-fact style. Perfection. Adore is only one of the sexiest, most beautiful songs ever laid down.

Personally, I don't think there's a weak song on the record. Just because something fun is on a socially conscious record doesn't make the fun songs any less fun nor does it make the socially and politically conscious material any less important. Such is life. You have fun sometimes and you have an agenda other times.
[Edited 2/24/06 13:00pm]

I think it's regarded as great because it an amalgamation (or culmination) of styles and themes from Prince's previous albums. All the other albums had more-or-less a consistent sound, this was the first Prince album to have a truly eclectic collection of songs for everyone, from electro/funk/pop/r'n'b/soul/jazz/rock. In the context of the time it was released, it really showed his range.

But everyone has different tastes. Personally, my slightly less favourite songs are Dorothy Parker, Forever In My Life, Slow Love and If I Was Your Girlfriend, though I can still see the genius in them. The rest I absolutely love, even throwaway songs like 'It' which usually gets a rough ride around here.

I don't think it's Prince's greatest album, but I can't really find fault with it. There are some songs I'm not crazy about on there, but it deserves to be praised.

As was said at the time in one review, "SOTT is Prince showing what a motherfucker he is over the course of two discs"...

And the album cover says it all: one man (basically) alone in the studio, churning out one ridiculously good song after another, in such a wide variety of styles that sometimes you just shake your head...and as his barely-visible, barely in focus image conveys, he does it effortlessly then just walks away....just another day in Prince's world.

I don't think any album before or since so perfectly captures what it is that makes Prince, Prince. Whether or not you personally like "Play In The Sunshine" is kinda irrelevant.
[Edited 2/24/06 13:10pm]

All that I can add is that 20 years ago when I was a junior in college there was nothing else out musically that could compare to this album. This shit here was truely the bomb.

Bull said:

AMEN

Bull said:

That' true. A song like Housequake didn't exist before.Prince invented this style.

Sign of the Times is great...no it isn't...yes it is...
It's all subjective.

At the time when it came out, it was amazing. SOTT caught the flavor of what was going on...."Its silly no..when a rocket ship explodes, still everyone wants to fly..." was after the shuttle explosion...and Prince caught the irony perfectly. Drugs were an issue, (still are) and the city (NYC) was coming out of financial crisis..
As far as the other songs...as a body of work, I'd say SOTT is up there with Abbey Road, and Smile...related but not. It's a brilliant album imho

Sign O The Times really isnt all that great?




That is sac-relig statement u mutterfutter!!

thepope2the9s said:

if you're gonna cry "sacrilege", grab a dictionary before you do.
















...i'm a bit of a stickler for correct spelling, so what?

I still like the "Dream Factory" version better.

SexualSuicide said:

oh yeah...

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

xt1000 said:

yeah, i use a spell-checker. it's called my brain.




[Edited 2/24/06 14:14pm]

If Prince could have found a way to drop the filler like 'Hot Thing', 'Strange Relationship' and maybe 'Play in the Sunshine' and added classics like 'Crystal Ball' (imo his greatest single track), Dream Factory', 'Train', 'All My Dreams', 'Movie Star', 'Power Fantastic' and even 'Others Here With Us', SOTT would been pretty god-like. As it is, I feel there is a little too much 'professional music-making'. Yes, there is plenty of genius like the title track, 'Dorothy Parker', 'Girlfriend', 'It' (yep), but it needed more of the 'purple underground avant garde' for it to be truly truly great imo. Also, to be sacreligeous here, 'Adore' gets on my nerves after the 100th hearing.

Excellent as SOTT is, I think 'Parade' is a more consistantly good listen and of course musically 'Rainbow Children' beats them all.

If he made an 'experimental, psychedelic funk album' with the awesome musical imagination of 'Crystal Ball' and 'Rainbow Children', with some of the dark funk of 'Come' and deep but not-majorly religious lyrics, that would be an awesome album indeed.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Oh Ok.....

hot thing is FONKY !!! the synth line and the use of space...the horn riff...shit is baad!!! but as an album i'll take parade over it any day...

I think that album is really neat. - mom

Miles said:

If Warner had let prince release his originally intended 3 disk 'crystal ball', that album would have wiped the floor with anything else released that year!!!

I've always considered it the album where Prince silenced the doubters during his initial "superstar" era, the ones who thought he'd sold out with Purple Rain and had just gone off the deep end with stuff like ATWIAD and Parade.

Basically, I think it marks a return to penning simpler, less overdone pop songs, for better and for worse. For every great song, there's a fairly underwhelming one to match it. It feels like like a collection of stylistic exercises.

That said, I do agree with you - It's certainly a good record, but it barely ranks in my Top 10 of the man's career. Lyrically however, it's one of his best.
[Edited 2/24/06 14:57pm]

Damn you, I won't be able to sleep tonight, after all the disrespect SOTT gets in here!

WHAT!!!
maybe you need to go back and listen to it again!!!

PurpleKnight said:

I always thought that Joy In Repetition should have made the cut on this album,but the full version not the seque out of the Ball.It should have been put at the end of disc 1 or side 2 at the end.