I love Sign o' the Times. A number of my favorite tracks (Adore, Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Forever in my Life) are on the album. Still, I find it interesting that SOTT is widely hailed as the best album Prince ever released. It is not just org types that say this; I have heard it from many others. SOTT has no highly recognizable song, such as other great albums like 1999 (1999 and LRC), Purple Rain (LGC, WDC, PR). Even albums that are not widely hailed as greats, such as Parade and ATWIAD have top hits.
I have a couple of theories why SOTT is considered a great:

1) Consistent strength from beginning to end. Very few Prince (or anyone for that matter) albums have such a lack of weak spots.
2) High quantity of (really good) songs. This could be a reason that org types like it.
3) It was released at the peak of Princes greatness. This doesn't work for me very much, because I think his stuff from 91-95 was top shelf, but the general consensus is that his music tailed off after SOTT

I would love to know what others think.

I think that there being a video of the show helped mainstream...

Darwintheorgangrinder said:

Now I understand why you don't think SOTT is a great album

i also think SOTT was great because it had elements of prince's prior work. you had the funk, the rock, the sex, the social message , the playfulness. its a great compilation and representation of how far Prince can go in his work. for me SOTT and 1999 along with emancipation are among his best. rarely do you have an album where every song on it is killer.

kanamit said:

I do think SOTT is a great album. Nowhere did I imply that it wasn't. Just because I really like stuff from 91-95 doesn't mean I think less of the 80s stuff. The only Prince music I am not in love with is most of the stuff released between 96 and 2002, with some exceptions.

not to be pretentious about it but the first 4 songs alone are a master class right there. if he released that as an EP, it would have been a classic anyway.

Darwintheorgangrinder said:

this was the 1st album I was drawn 2 at 5 years old, so it will always hold a special place in my heart.....and no his music didn't trail off, he like James Brown, Stevie, George Clinton, Miles, and Sly believed in raising the bar every time....
[Edited 12/30/08 13:35pm]

I believe that "Sign 'O' The Times," was ahead of it's time musically and spiritually. The album is loaded with heart seeds that grow into other Prince songs and have grown into beautiful trains of thought 4 the listener.

Darwintheorgangrinder said:

Highly recognizable songs:
Sign O' The Times
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Housequake (maybe a lil lesser)
U Got The Look
Adore
Hot Thing (maybe a lil lesser)
Forever In My Life (a lil lesser)

yup, and I agree.... Susannah was great inspiration for this album

Darwintheorgangrinder said:

4 me the vibe is just so different from any other P record. I think when God taps you on the shoulder and you can go beyond yourself, people can recognize it.

Tame said:

Very well said, Tame.

Darwintheorgangrinder said:

I think U Got The Look and, to a lesser extent, SOTT (the single) should be regarded just as highly as those from Parade and ATWIAD, at least. They performed extremely well in the charts. In fact, along with those hits plus "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man", the album spawned more top ten hits than either of the prior two releases.

Tame said:

Aannastesia2 said:

that too

Darwintheorgangrinder said:

point 3 Released at peak of his greatness
I don't know.
Commercially he was on the way down from the high of Purple Rain

It's Commercial success is soully down to the fact it is a great album
He was playing with alot of projects at the time (camille, crystal ball and madhouse). He wanted to release a triple album but WB said no and asked him to edit it down .So the Question is are WB resposible for possible the greatest album of the 20th century

jfrost said:

That depends on if you think the original 3CD set is better or not.

Tame said:

NICE! Your positivity is always refreshing.