Would you think that SOTT is the weakest Prince album in the 80's, concept wise?

Esp considering that it was actually based on the ever-so-infamous shelved album Dream Factory/Crystal Ball.

OR

Do you think that the released album is stronger concept wise than the planned shelved albums?



The reason why I thought of this was because, Prince was the master of "concept albums" in the 80s,,,,,up untill SOTT which sounded to me like a compilation of his "shelved albums" in that era(Camille, Crystal Ball & Dream Factory).

Mind you, its FAR from being a "weak album",,,but I don't think its a consistent one,,,,,again, concept-wise.

I tend to believe that Prince knows what he is doing with the material that is released or shelved. "Sign 'o' the times,' in my opinion, is a great concept for the album it is, and for the stepping stone placed where it is in Prince's career.
The record is in a sense...a doorway, into Prince expanding further with his growing musicianship, and spiritual delivery. I have always believed, that the sexual side of Prince, has always been the outside layer of a deep listening journey.

Not to say it IS a concept album, but I think SOTT has a stronger concept than Crystal Ball.

The title of SOTT makes whatever concept there is, like showing a cross-section of life in the mid-80s - with party tracks and more dystopian/bleak sounding tracks and other social-conscious stuff like The Cross, it's a stronger pull-together than CB, IMO.

It's not a concept album at all. Prince is not mining or exploring any style.
It is a concept album in the sense of Prince being experimental. By that standard I think he succeeded admirably.
It also freed Prince from having to lock into something for a period of time to produce an album especially when you keep turning out material that doesn't lend itself to a concept album.

SUPRMAN said:

True although right behind this, he did a concept album with Lovesexy. But yeah, Signs was a combination of tracks taken from different projects, as u know. In that sense, it reminds me a lot of The Beatles White Album. Tracks like Adore, Housequake, U Got The Look were cool. I even dug If I Was Your Girlfriend. After a while. I liked the lyrics from the title track. It kinda reminded me of a stripped down Curtis Mayfield. I just wanted Prince to get back to some funk rock and commit to a whole album of just that. For selfish reasons. That's what I wanted on a personal level. But the album is as versatile as you can get. I wish he would have came out with the Camille album. All of those tracks were bangin'.

blackguitaristz said:

"Rebirth Of The Flesh"

I guess I'm the only one on the fence with this one

Intersting points, never the less.

Harlepolis said:

What are u on the fence about? You hit it dead on the head about about it being a combination of shelved projects. Then Prince was like "Fuck it...I'll just put this and this and this and this..."

Concept-wise SOTT was the best Prince could do at the time. I thought the concept behind "Crystal Ball" was to release a 3-LP record. Warners Bros. would not go for it so SOTT was the compromise.
T
he Revolution was disbanded so there would be no "Dream Factory", The Camille stuff was proabably way too controversal to sell (in the US) in 1986/87. And without "Crystal" Prince needed an album. SOTT was the compromise.

SOTT conceptually fit the times in the Spring of 1987 and Prince's personality then, a little bit of everything at once, all kinds of styles on one album.

Concept-wise as a "message" album Lovesexy and Rainbow Children are the best examples. Gold would have been better if Warner Bros & Prince were on good terms then. Emancipation was OK.