SOTT is a terrific album, though I've always wondered why it is normally considered his best album by alot of critics.


For me, I think it was timing. During a time when MJ, heavy metal, and the Minneapolis-copycat sound was out, Prince delivered something...different.

It was like he shelved the fat bass sound and the pyschedelia (sp) to a large extent and started just merging traditional sounds. When the album was released the genre mixing that's many times more common now was like a slap in peoples faces back then--it was fresh and new.

The songs are very tight. It has two of his best ballads "If I was Ur Girlfriend", and "Adore", among some of his best pop tunes "U got the Look" and "I could never take the place of your man."

And I adore "It". I love the sparse instrumentation, the simple repitious vibe, and the dark landscape it paints.

I don't think it's a "perfect" album, but Prince albums don't need to be perfect to be absolute genius. This was a man who had no desire to release Purple Rain pt.2, and the ATWIAD/Parade/SOTT/LoveSexy string of albums proved it. I just love this period, and love the fact that I got to be a teenager during that time--being fanactical about these albums when they were released is a memory I treasure.

Hot Thing's pretty much my favorite track on the album. It's dirty funk that's pretty much impossible not to dance to. And that sax solo? Heaven.
[Edited 6/28/07 13:39pm]

Everyone to their own my friend, but you'll be heavily outnumbered with regards to the people who like/dislike this album. Where were your ears in 1987???

Sign'O'The Times is one my top ten favs. I think it's a classic. I guess it depends on when you became a Prince fan. Either you like this cd, or you find it so so compared to his other albums. I know people who are not big Prince fans & dislike a lot of his albums...but they like SOTT.

thesexofit said:

It is one of my favs of all time. The beat, the intensity of
the vocals, the way it reminds me of being heavily attracted
to some one - the live version. "It" is the sh__

Huh!!!!

DIRTY MIND, AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY & SIGN "O" THE TIMES ARE MY TOP THREE!!!! THE BLUE ALBUM FROM '79 IS A CLOSE 4TH!!!!!
THE ONLY THING BAD IS THE MASTERING.....WE CAN WISH 4 REMASTERS ALL WE WANT, BUT THAT WON'T HAPPEN UNTIL P GETS HIS MASTRES FROM WB!!!!!
I WORE OUT SIDES 2 & 3 OF THIS ALBUM SO MUCH, U COULD PRACTICALLY SEE THRU THA MUTHA!!!!!

Imago said:

well said!

woogiebear said:

yeah your right

thesexofit said:

lol that song has always bugged me as well.very hollow and cheap sounding.

did u like ballad of dorthy parker at least?

you must be....

Jeez, I just spent 20 minutes reading this entire thread and all I can say is we've got waaaaay too much time on our hands.

I hope 7-24 gets here soon so we can talk about something truly relevant.

Who gives a rip what songs certain people like or don't like? It's not the song that's good or bad; it's just the listener's opinion (and you know what they say about opinions).

Here's my vote: If you get to a song you don't like on a Prince disc just skip it and go to the next track.

I will never get the 20 minutes of life back that I just wasted on reading all this meaningless carping.

Double post. My bad...
[Edited 6/29/07 23:27pm]

Now now, lets all keep in mind that this dude adores MC Hammer & other cheesy as fuck "artists" I'm just gonna hammer you for not digging a stellar album (w/ the exception of "Play in the Sunshine", that shit is horrid)...


thesexofit

Sign 'o' the Times is my personal favorite Prince album, it's perfect
[Edited 6/30/07 2:36am]

emesem said:

For Real!

Christopher said:

Remastering would help with that. Listen to the track SOTT off Ultimate; it souns way better than the album

CalhounSq said:

You beat me to it. This guy not liking it is definitive proof of how good it is.

SOTT, not a good album? You must be kidding...
I guess everybody's entitled to their opinion.

U r insane my friend...the consumate Prince experience
IS that album...by the way..anyone who name checks Michael
W. Smith must listen to him...sad

Sign O The Times can never be over-rated or over-praised , its simply one of the best albums ever made , by any artist . not just by Prince . Its Prince showing the world " yeah you suspected I could do this style of music , did you know I could do this style too , and this , and this " . Yes it isnt a coherent album like 1999 and Parade , but making it coherent would limit the sheer variety of musical styles he wanted to show us at that time .
Oh . and I need to give my vote to "It" as being a great track too , I love it to pieces.

thesexofit said:

If you turn that pic upside down you can see the face of satan staring right back atcha

moonshine said:

well said.

And I also need to say IT is one of my favorite P songs of all time. I don't understand the It haters that come out whenever there is a discussion of SOTT.

U Got the Look and Slow Love I could live without. And I have to be really in the mood for Play in the Sunshine. That being said, SOTT remains in my top 3 P albums (the others would be 1999 and ATWIAD).

moonshine said:

You don't have to turn it upside down to see that!

thesexofit said:

YOU ARE NOT ALONE! I ONLY LIKE SLOW LOVE, ADORE AND SOTT. I WAS HANGING OUT A CABERETS WHEN THIS ALBUM CAME OUT AND IF YOU WANT TO CLEAR A DANCE FLOOR PLAY HOUSEQUAKE. THIS ALBUM IS TOO POP MUSIC FOR ME. I HAVE MY ADULT DIAPER ON STAND BY BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I'M ABOUT TO GET MY ASS RIPPED

Fucking crazy..... I guess when an artist has been around over 25 years everyone has their own preferences of what PRINCE they like.

To me, this was the ULTIMATE ALBUM.....a double LP with every track being STRONG!

This is still my #1 Prince album.

I don't necessarily think the album "ain't that good" but I do think it is the single most overrated Prince album by fans and it contains the single most overrated song, as well: Adore.

The songs on the album that I like, I really like:

Forever in My Life
Strange Relationship
IIWYGF
It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night

but the first three all sound much better live than the album version.

SOTT and HQ are close behind those 4 (and again, are better live), but the rest of the songs, I could honestly take or leave. And I really dislike U Got the Look, Starfish & Coffee and Adore. I'm not saying any of them are bad songs, they just don't really do anything for me. If I ranked all Prince's albums, I'm not sure SOTT would even make my top 10.


And yet, unexplicably, I subjected myself to going to hear a band "re-create" SOTT a couple weekends ago in honor of its 20 anniversary. The best thing about that was their versions were not so great so it made me appreciate Prince's musicianship even more, and further supports my belief that no one should cover Prince because, quite frankly, they'll fuck it up.

DevotedPuppy said:

I'll agree that things that are really good tend to become overrated. But that's ok. Something's got to be, and I'd prefer it to be something fan-fucking-tastic to something that doesn't deserve to be.