Prince is like the John McCain of the music business. By this, I don’t mean that he’s really old and likes to select talentless, stupid, clueless, portages half his age to work with
What I mean is that he’s a maverick. Always has been and always will be. He faced hip hop in the eye wearing lace stockings and looking like little bo peep and said, “Negroes from broykyln play the bass really good, but the ones from Minneapolis play it like it oughta-should ”, and though I’d imagine Shug Night trying to repress an involuntary yelp or laughter after Prince broke out the spandex and polka dots, Prince proved the point of his musical superiority well before the release of LoveSexy, and he proved his staying power well after the release of LoveSexy. Ergo, Game! Blouses!

A Maverick he is indeed.

So with the tremendous success of Micheal Jackson’s 1987 release, bad , a desperate commercial followup to Thriller, Warner brothers needed Prince to produce a hit record. ATWIAD, Parade, and SOTT were all considered either flops or missing the mark of superstardom (which Prince didn’t really need to pursue any longer). I would imagine Prince was under a lot of pressure to produce a hit album.
Alos, new jacks in the hip hop and R&B scene were coming of age, and Prince was no longer being viewed as the cutting edge artist he once was. Perhaps this is the reason for the “Black” album, which was shelved after it had already been placed on shipping crates.
But Warners, no doubt, wanted another “Purple Rain”, another answer to Michael Jackson’s bad album.
Prince responded by retreating into his world for 7 weeks and producing, LoveSexy.


LoveSexy is a very strange album. Prince calls it a gospel album. Others call it a psychedelic album. Prince dubs the new freaky sound “New Power Soul”.

I’ll be honest, when I first picked up a copy of LoveSexy, it was NOT a fun experience. I had grown up in Birmingham Alabama during the 80’s and lawd hammercy handing the clerk 10 bucks for the casette wit his naked ass on the front cover looking like Beyonce on hormone therapy was NOT fun.
But what struck me most about LoveSexy was how different it was from SOTT. Where SOTT , for the most part, subdued much of the Beatle-esch psycodelica and New Wave influences in his last 3 or 4 albums with more traditional , sparse arrangements (traditional for the 80’s period Prince that is), LoveSexy embraced it again in a whole new way. The sound is tighter, more focused, than on his previous efforts. More soulful in many ways, and all the more insane. And finally...more joyous. The arrangements and time signature are equally confounding. In short, LoveSexy is the little album that said it could...and did.

know kicks the album off and sets the tone for half of the record (the other half being set by Anna Stesia a few songs later). Apparently Know was a reworking of “The Ball” (Langlue or someone who can verify, am I correct?), and the first time the “Eye” appears Princebonics. It’s a riot of a song with horns, chirping noises, gospel ferver, and fuzzy guitar work dissolving in the end to Alphabet Street, Prince’s obvious single for the album. I’m going to be honest, I hate the rap on Alphabet street, and the fact that a letter is skipped at the end irks me to no end. But the song itself is a fun retro-like bop with a heavy dose of a modern bump to it. I swear to God, when I first heard it on the radio , I was thinking, “Is he joking? This is a weirdass song!”
Glam Slam has gorgeous keyboard-string moments, and some very nasty lyrics.

Come a butter fly straight on your skin. you go for me and I come again.

It’s Prince at his best--being weird in celebration of the flesh and turning that into a spiritual experience, kind of like some Catholic Preists were doing at the time--only this was consensual adult legal fun.
Anna Stesia is one of the best songs Prince has ever written. It bridges the gap between good and evil, depression and hope, girl and boy, Camille and Spooky Electric. And in the end, hope wins as Prince proclaims “God is love, love is god--Girls and boys love God above”
Notable songs in the album are also Dance On, a really strange gunfire dance song sounding like a hazy dream leftover from the themes presented in the song Sign of The Times and the two back-to-back ballads, “When 2 R In Love” and “I wish U Heaven”.
I have a confession to make. I wish U Heaven is one of my favorite songs ever. It ranks right up there with If I was Ur Girlfriend. And when I finally saw the video of the doe-eyed Prince with his cute little bow-tie hairdo, pouty lips, looking like a hot ass Frankfurt hooker--and not the jankity 4th floor type either. I’m talking first floor hotness --I lost my damned mind. Prince was gorgeous! And what’s more important, his music was gorgeous as well as the lyrics.
Doubts of our conviction
Follow where we go
And when this world’s compassion
ceases, still I know….


Lord have mercy, it was perfection.

The album does end on a strange down-beat with the ironically named “Positivity”--a song that , to me evokes more a foreboding sense of gloom than upfiftment. Prince is saying, hold on to your soul (as if predicting the end times), we got a long way to go. Apparently the rap that was originally featured on the Black Album’s Cindy C. was originally featured on Positivity, but didn’t make it to release.

All in all, LoveSexy took me a long time to get used to in the shaddow of the incredible “Sign of The Times”, but it grew on me. It’s every bit as strong in concept as the Rainbow Children without the silly narration, and much more uplifting.

I love this album.






[Edited 11/20/08 14:17pm]

Live Proud against "The Way, The Truth, & The Life," Die Wrong.

Very interesting take on the album

Anna Stesia definitely is one of the best songs he's ever written. That goes without saying. I also think its one of those ones that hit closest to home for him. We all know the stories about what happened the night he decided to pull The Black Album.
The way you phrased it bridging the gap between good & evil, depression & hope, girl & boy, Camille & Spooky Electric. That pretty much sums it up and a really well written statement

My first impression was that I wanted to spend more time listening to it. I liked it more than I though I would. I was under the impression it would be highly religious (not my cup of tea), but its more about spirituality and believing in one's self.

The fact that its one endless track rather than broken down does make sense to a degree because its like they all take place one after the other. First he begins with the things he knows for sure are true, goes into what his relationships are like and then comes to a realization that something isn't quite right with him (Anna Stesia). From there, his tracks are about the lessons he'd learned after the epiphany. Dance On despite the bad things going on in the around and around him. Remain Positive no matter how things look.

And then some... I could go on this album for a while I find it hard to go a week or two without hearing at least one track

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Very true!!
And thanks boo

Can you please tell me what Tame said above you? I read that like 5 times and I still can't figure it out

No matter. I actually love Tame, and think she makes this site more entertaining for the better!

Tame said:

Erm. Thanks Love

I was just thinking... it would be interesting to compare it to SoTT, which was the last album he had released b4 this one.

The idea of The Black Album being the yin to Lovesexy's yang has been pounded into my head a lot since I got here. People were saying how those two albums have themes that offset one another.
When looked at objectively, though, it does make sense. Both have the same number of tracks. Both end with a song that doesn't quite do justice to the rest of the album, though Positivity is a better conclusion than Rockhard in a Funky Place.

SoTT & LoveSexy would be an interesting idea, though something I ought to do later on.

When I first listened to Lovesexy, it was after I listened to The Black Album that night, but it was so new that I couldn't conclude anything from it. That's something I also gotta do again.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

The way I look at it is that the Black album and LoveSexy represented forks in the road. I don't really think they compliment each other at all, honestly

The asthetics don't match, the sounds are really different, and The Black Album even sounds almost like a SOTT era afterparty recording session that was cleaned up and made it to record.

LoveSexy , to me, sounds like a deliberate departure from the stuff he was creating at the time.

Of course, I'm only talking about the studio soundscape. He manages to effortless bring the songs from the various albums together during his LoveSexy tour live, and you'd think they all came from the same album.

brilliant.

Imago said:

forks in the road? Interesting...
I'll be back later to comment on other's posts, I know for sure.

But I think a day of to SoTT/The Black Album/LoveSexy back to back is in order ill see what I come out with, if anything or maybe even SoTT & LoveSexy back to back... the late 80's sure were an interesting part in his career for multiple reasons. I know that much.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

AGAIN, I totally agree with this! It *was* his most interesting artistically.

I Lovesexy,and I Wish You Heaven is one of my favorites off of it as well.



the first time I saw the video the thing that really caught my eye was the apple swirling through the air. Since it was a "Heavenly" song I took the apple to represent the one that Eve ate,the reason it really caught my eye was that for some reason I always pictures "the apple" as being red not green..

Good review Imago!

this album was my lullyby for awhile. it felt like a hug right before bed.

Excellent review.

Imago said:

That's funny. Just don't ever hint that about Sheila E. That would be inflammatory.

I don't understand all the hate on Positivity. I love that song. And YES, I got a tracked version so I could hear that song first...

although lately I've been playing Dance On first... but whatever!

I think Lovesexy is the weakest track on this album. Depending on my mood, however, I can really get into that song.

Lovesexy is basically flawless to me. This is the perfect album to make into one track (however irritating I find that to be in practical application). His late 80's work is pretty much as bad-ass as it gets. For me, this is the holiest of the Holy Four (which includes Parade, Around The World In A Day, and Sign O' The Times).

Go Imago.



And if Prince was doing just enough of the really, really good coke maybe all of his subsequent albums could have sounded this good.

FirstCircle said:

My reviews prove that I'm a much more devout fan than pplrain.

HATED IT

Imago said:

The album is in common time throughout - 4/4. The most common of time signature in modern western music.

i agree, Annastasia is one of the greatest things he wrote. I like the version he did on the ONA live disc, too. Particularly the end section with the rolling piano chords (is that renato? i'm guessing so)

Lovesexy just doesnt sit comfortably with me and i don't know why. I Like parts of it and seldomly i will crave to listen to it in its entirety.

I have made it my new years resolution to beat to death anybody who i hear claim "lovesexy saved my life" - BOLLOCK BOLLOCKS BOLLOCKS!!!!!

I enjoyed your review, Imago. I wish more people would spend time to compose a thread of this nature. It's always nice to read an insight into what an album means for somebody.
[Edited 11/19/08 3:53am]

Imago


Finally someone who has a clue about music and knows how to use it.

It took some time until I got into Lovesexy, but now I lovesexy it. I could never point out a single song from that album I like more than the others, they just belong to each other, which makes it a perfect concept album.

Great review!

You are closer to the John McCain mark than you know; well, closer to the political reality than I am sure you realize.

Most people don't know this, but Prince has been a member in good standing of the Bildebergers for some time now. Even though he says he has "no horse in this race", rest assured that he had maximum input into the Bilderbergers' selection of the last several United States president.

The first-ever clue of Prince's up-to-the-neck involvement with the illuminati occurs on this album, in the underrated masterpiece "Dance On". Almost everybody overlooked the lyric, "What color is your money today?" or, more accurately, didn't understand its true meaning. Those in the know, however, got the message.

And that message is this - the Federal Reserve will at some future date change the color of our money. For instance, they may change the color of greenbacks to brown - just as Prince sang in "Emancipation" - "Your money's turned from green 2 brown and now U best believe". And you thought "Emancipation" was about your freedom? Dream on.

Well, one might ask, what happens if the color of our money changes? The drug trade will be eliminated and the Elders will take outright control of it. That much is obvious to everyone. In case you are uninformed, just remember this - all drug trade is done in cash, and most of it can't be laundered.

So if the Federal Reserve tells you that in one month, your green money will be useless and you have to exchange it for brown money, what choice do the current drug dealers have? They can't bring all their cash to the bank - they'll get arrested on the spot.

The only thing they can do is take the deal offered them by the Elders, and become subservient subcontractors. And at that point, a massive exchange of power will occur.

I applaud Imago for bringing these issues to the surface. Only his insightful musings could have safely unlocked the political diatribe that is "Lovesexy".

hate that album! (love anna stesia and i wish u heaven tho )

my favourite album and it was prince at his best.

went to 2 lovesexy shows that summer and "glam slam" video was shown on tv everyday. anna stesia went dead straight into my soul since the first notes and that never happened before. it was a different from anything album back then and still today. the guitar work is awsome. the sound...the cover...prince eyes...mysterious. i was delighted with SOTT and Lovesexy.

for me it was OBVIOUS prince bet MJ in the battle with these 2 albums and MJ would never be the same. and thats what happened.

i never understood this album. 'love sexy'

who is sexy?
why does prince love sexy?
could prince love less-than-sexy?
is prince himself the sexy?

too complicated and too many mixed messages.

the music rocks though

XxAxX said:

"the feeling u get when u fall in love..."

not familiar with that???

hwbefhbwvfbqiiuvb said:

grrr. don't try to complicate my analysis

hwbefhbwvfbqiiuvb said:

XxAxX worshops zorkon the space god, so any references to boys and girls must be made in context of wha Zorkonians consider boy and girl.

Ultimately what XxAxX is asking is would Prince Love Frumpy?

Imago said:

my personal belief system aside, frumpy is one of cinderella's seven dwarves, the one that was turned into a pumpkin so she could have a ride to the ball.

really now, what does that have to do with prince?

Imago said:

I believe Prince said that LoveSexy is "the feeling u get when u fall in love, not with a boy or girl, but with the heavens above"

Then another source tells me that Lovesexy=God.
As he said in the end of Anna Stesia "Love is God, God is Love, girls & boys love God above"
just as Spooky Electric= the Devil.

The surprising thing about this album was that the title track was in the middle rather at the very beginning (as he typically does with his albums, but not all of them).

I don't know quite what half of the lyrics are about, honestly
so I'm not gonna try to go into them.
But I actually like the song a lot, especially the spoken portions after he says "Tonight we make love with only words" and the Camille vocal makes an appearance halfway through that section. a brilliant move and it adds a little more to the song.

The whole progression from Lovesexy up to wish u heaven is one of my favorites in all of his albums.

I changed the name of my thread so it would fit better in with the other threads today.

Just wanted to make everyone aware.

This is making me laugh in a very gay way!

Dave1992 said: