First, apologies if this has been done before. I don't think it has, or at least I don't remember seeing it. Second, my lack of technical skills is probably going to make the cover image above come out small and crappy looking. Sorry.

Now on the topic at hand: I used to spend a lot of time analyzing Prince's album covers looking for clues, subtext, whatever. Sign 'o' the Times is so packed with stuff I know I didn't get it all. So help me out, help each other out, and learn some new stuff. What do you see in the cover?

Some of my observations:
I love the window to heaven at the top.
Is that a coffin in the lower left corner?
The box over Prince's shoulder is from the Golden Dragon in Chicago. They make fortune cookies, which makes it a cool counterbalance to the crystal ball to the left of the drums. Also, they're apparently still open, same address and phone number. I wonder how much they benefited from the free advertising on this cover?
Whose car grill/license plate is that?

There's more, but I'd love to hear others' thoughts and observations. And feel free to add analysis of other covers or interior album artwork. I'd love to find out what I've been missing or not seeing all these years.
[Edited 6/9/07 16:18pm]

4 what it's worth....
When I bought Sign O The Times on CD, it was packaged in a long box with 2 separate CDs in their own individual jewel cases. On Disc 1's album cover, the Golden Dragon name and address on that box is blurred out...but on Disc 2's album cover, it's all there.

I just thought I would add that the S.O.T.T. backdrop was on display at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater a long,long time ago.


[Edited 6/9/07 23:35pm]

looking at the same picture on the back of the cd I noticed a couple of things. Firstly some of the colour is different e.g. the car part and also the picture has been extended on the left by mirroring the image slightly and by doing this it creates a heart shape where the lamp is mirrored at the top and my cd still has a heart shaped sticker on the front of the cd

mozfather said:

So does my lp!

paisley2002 said:

Yeah, it's blurred out on my CD too. I also hate that the CD is missing the two photos that were inside the lp (the fuzzy one with Prince wearing glasses and the cool leg shot with Cat holding the heart in front of her).

I was similarly disappointed that the Parade CD had the photo montage but not the written messages from all the band. Guess it doesn't matter since I have the LPs, but still.

DigMeNow said:

That's interesting. Does the Chanhassen Dinner Theater have any affiliation with Prince? I always thought the cover backdrop (which also became the backdrop for the SOTT tour) was an original or something Prince commissioned just for the album. Is that not the case?

At first glance it's a montage of the eccletic songs of the album. But what I love the most is Prince himself. He's somewhat blurred and his hair is ambiguous like the SOTT 12 inch single, which leads me to think that he still wanted the Camille ego to be present. It's almost like "Guess Who?" The left side of the album is bright with flowers and the right is dark, remember the line from The Cross? Also it shows Prince's two sides and he's on the dark side because WB made him butcher his masterpiece. That's why he's on the dark side of the cover as I'm sure he was pissed. Samething with the headlights on the car. One is bright yellow and the other is broke out and dark. I'm sure there more to pull out if we look harder.

joyinrepetition said:

That's a good observation. The cover image shows Prince's drift into the dark side, which would eventually take shape as The Black Album. Also, he's walking away from the stage, from the spotlight, as if he's through performing and ready to take off his mask and reveal his true self. 'U Got the Look' mentions how it 'takes an hour just to make up your face,' and 'ugly lights, everybody's inspected,' like the unreality of show business is wearing on him. The video for the song even equates stage performance with dreaming.

His face has a spectral quality to it, and it's cropped in half, maybe an indication that he's feeling incomplete, lacking his other half--perhaps a comment on Warner Brothers cutting it down from a 3 disc set. The album does, however, end with a supreme vow of interconnectedness: "Without U there is no me," like Prince's identity has dissolved into another. And his portrait has that smoky sfumato effect that obscures his contours and expression. That the stage is vividly hi-def and dominates the photograph, while his own image is fuzzy and relegated to the corner, seems to convey how Prince's stage life and public persona are swamping his true identity.

It's Prince's most evocative album cover, I think because there's so much loving attention to something other than himself. It communicates his love of the stage, his love of performance, how much artifice and self-immolation it demands and the spiritual toll that takes.

Is anyone sure that it's Prince on the cover? I've read in a couple of articles in the past that it's really Cat on the cover often mistaken for Prince.

padawan said:

Ever notice how often Prince appears on albums and in photos with only part of his face visible? I think it's part of his personality, like he doesn't want to reveal himself totally. He always wants to keep a part under wraps - so much like him, isn't it?

PicassoFace said:

Cat's on the cover of the Sign 'O' The Times single.

Efan said:

From what I read, as usual, Prince rushes production to get things done fast, and this backdrop was up from a production of Guys and Dolls somewhere, and he just decided to use it for the background.

PicassoFace said:

are you sure that a crystal ball?

I had one of those "electric current"balls in the 90's

looks like one of those....

glt said:

That is an "eye of the storm" electric current ball.

Very amusing to watch,especially when the current moved to music.

DigMeNow said:

and if you touched it,current went to your finger tips

glt said:

Yes it did. Sometimes I use to run my fingers around the ball to watch the current move in patterns. Mine had two functions for operation reg mode/music mode.

Here is a website that explains how they work and if anyone is ambitious enough you can make one.

http://www.powerlabs.org/...globes.htm


[Edited 6/11/07 13:54pm]

DigMeNow said: