I'm surpised at how many fans are trashing this album, I've always considered it to be amongst his best work and assumed it was something of a fan-favourite. Am I wrong?

OldFriends4Sale said:

All those puritans went to the US.....

remko said:

Very good

I think Lovesexy failed because it was not really an album that people canbuy into on the offchance. There are no real singles and for many would seem very indulgent. Dont get me wrong I like the album very much (It's light and breezy) but for a non commited fan it is rather indulgent. This is an album for people who want to buy into the artist themselves, not really for people who want to buy into an album. If Prince thought any other outcome was possible I think he must be a little bit delusional.

MattyJam said:

I don't know if it's trashing, as much as pointing out the weak points

If we did an 'honest' poll, I wonder how many prefere ATWIAD over Lovesexy
and why

Most of the people who had problems with the album were CRAZY for the tour and the lovesexy songs performed

I really like Lovesexy, but even in the top 10 of my favorite Prince album I think he missed the mark. And we/I am just posting about what might be the possibilities of it not doing so well (For U & Prince rank higher for me)

I usually create a playlist of each album era including B sides live stuff,long versions /protege music, unreleased songs and I do it for Lovesexy and it doesn't hold my attention the way all the other previous album playlists I create does.

I'll mix in Batman material too because a lot of that was created with the Lovesexy band or during the era and has similar feels

To me it has always seemed rather 'obvious': two reasons

1. The cover
Maybe people in Northern and western europe weren't so offended by it, but i think in the US, southern Europe and other parts of the world a naked guy was still too much for a lot of 'puritans').

2. The complexity / difficulty of the music: Prince did experiment too on SOTT, but the experimental touches were more subtly incorporated in the songs. In essence most songs were rather straightforward / catchy or danceable. The songs on Lovesexy are full of rhythem changes, dissonant harmonies, instruments playing in different keys, weird amalgams of several musical styles (songs like Eye No, Lovesexy and Positivy are rather 'demanding' to the listener in that sense).
It simply wasnt an album you could immediately 'appreciate' on face value. A song like U got the Look could immediately 'strike' you as a catchy dance-tune when it was played in a club, the simplicity of a the music and lyrics of a song like the Cross make its easy to resonate too, while, on the other hand: Alphabet Street, how sing-along the melody might be, is a rather weird amalgam of complex syncopated beats, a Sly Stone-like melody and touches of reggae, dance and rap, and a song like Eye No has such a complex and complicated arrangement that it can sound like a mess at first.
Some people (especially the die hard Prince-fans, i assume) maybe were willing to take the effort to get 'used' to the music, but i think a lot of the people who loved 'Sign' simply considered the music 'too difficult' for their taste.

Maybe i am chargating a bit here, but going from 'Sign' to Lovesexy, is like going from MJ's Thriller to a Frank Zappa album.

On thing i would like to ad:

I never understand the problem some people here have with the choice of 'Glam Slam' as the second single.

I mean, apart from the semi-classical 'coda' its a typical Prince-composition in the 'classic pop'-vein. Its a song in the line of songs like When you were mine - Raspberry Beret - Starfish and Coffee - (later on) Dolphin.
Maybe a bit silly on a lyrical level, but with its sing along-chorus and these catchy guitar-lines 'dubbing' the vocal melodies, its by far the most accessible song on Lovesexy, right after the edited version of Alphabet Street.

Tame said:

cd's and cd-players were not that common back in 1988... it was albums back then

Riverpoet31 said:

Right and if we listen to the original version of Eye No ie Ball with the Revolution/Dream Factory(?) it's much more straight 4ward, simple song about partying and having fun and it works


I remember reading some stuff on how the Prince camp:band and others had a weird reaction to Ingrid, who many said seemed to have too much of an influence in what was happening musically/lyrically

Riverpoet31 said:

Same here, I loved Glam Slam the song and video

In the UK and Europe Lovesexy made Prince a superstar. he was far far bigger than he was when Purple Rain came out. It was almost like his career trajectory was reversed depending on where you were in the world.

Because the "Old Prince" still had not returned and after three albums of trickery such....

"Around The World In A Day" - Releasing it without a lead single as a warning of the style change.

"Parade" - Releasing a misleading first single like "Kiss" and then getting an album which was even more far out down the artsy/fartsy path.

"Sign O The Times" - Announcing beforehand that he had fired The Revolution, which many people blamed for his style change, and was going back to doing everything himself like the old days. Then getting the album "Sign O The Times" and it was still Prince gone artsy/fartsy.

By the time "Lovesexy" came out, people were fed up and sick of being burned and the only ones that remained were the extreme hardcore fans.

WildheartXXX said:

I agree to a degree. I think this was in part due to us Europeans being able to experience the tour. We also got to see the televised live (and undubbed) concert just before the tour kicked off here in the UK.

I remember the stories of U.S. stores selling the album under the counter, but I don't know that it was such an issue over here (I could be wrong though).

They didn't sell it under the counter in my area and I live in Mississippi which is supposedly the "Bible Belt" (although those hypocrits don't practice what they preach). There's nothing obscene about the album cover because it doesn't show anything. The only way they would have sold it under the counter is if it showed his dick. It was announced prior to it's release, that Prince was posing nude on the cover. When I got to the record store, I was expecting it to be wrapped in a plain brown wrapper. When I got in the store and saw it on the wall with the other new releases, I was disappointed as hell. Prince was nude alright but you couldn't even see a hint of the dick.
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[Edited 9/7/09 9:09am]

Rightly said:

A big part of Prince's controversial image that he thrived off of required a society that was relatively conservative. What's there to react against if everyone's controversial?

p.s. I bought my copy of lovesexy right off the shelves of the wrecka stow, so the stories of it being sold under the counter seemed a little overexaggerated to me. Not saying it didn't happen, but I do remember seeing it at plenty of stores.

vainandy said:

ah! That's why it failed.

jcurley said:

To my ears, it's anything but "light and breezy."

Celebratory maybe, but no way is it "light."

jcurley said:

Dont get me wrong I like the album very much (It's light and breezy)


To my ears, it's anything but "light and breezy."

Celebratory maybe, but no way is it "light."


I really agree with Matty Jam here. The Parade album to me sounds 'light and breezy', but Lovesexy on the other hand sounds really 'dense' to me. The arrangements are crammed SO full that the music hardly has space to breathe.
I really have to be in the mood to listen to Lovesexy, because its such a demanding album in terms of the whole 'sonic palette'.

Riverpoet31 said:

Gotta agree with this sentiment also. I think the imagery of Lovesexy is "light and breezy", but the sound is anything but that.

Lovesexy has, over the years, become my personal favourite and probably the Prince album I listen to most often.

Unlike some songs on Parade, Lovesexy doesn't at all sound rushed or throw-away. I love that it has a beginning, a middle and an ending. The lyrical content is thought-provoking on both spiritual and social matters. The arrangements are brimming with life - everytime I listen to the album I hear something I've never noticed before.

I think he took great care making this album and I find listening to it such a rewarding experience.

MattyJam said:

Even though I understand the comparison with Parade, Parade was still a movie soundtrack that was meant 2 move swiftly, the movie being added with nice orchastrated fill in similar to PR

Parade doesn't sound rushed or throwaway at all, the lyrics as well as the experimentation on songs like Christopher Tracey's Parade, Life Can Be So Nice, Girls & Boys, Another Lover, Mountains

the use of Steel drums in New Position the greater usage of those sexy finger cymbals the wide variety of wind instruments used, C.Fischers work along with Lisa's compostions, the debth of Sometimes It Snows yet accoustic, the musical climactic feel of I Wonder U

not rushed at all, Yet Lovesexy as dense and filled with sound 'was rushed' yet it's just a different vision and sound, which I like as a Prince fan, but again the public wasn't able to recieve it as wholeheartily,
lol even Parade had a bit of hurdle in that some said it was to European

ElCapitan said:

Prince became Prince because America was so conserative. As a marketing gimmick that garnered attention in a conservative era.

Zinzi said:

Regardless, my statement still stands.

xlr8r said:

That statement strikes me as a little extreme on both sides of it. America was certainly relatively conservative in the 80's, yet it managed to elevate a number of celebrities who were anything but conservative. While the masses may have voted for Reagan, they were fucking to Prince's music.

Also, Prince definitely marketed his freakness, but it wasn't all gimmick. You can't fake the freak that well.

ElCapitan said:

Right, there was no gimmick behind that
America already had country music, christian & gospel to fill that conservative - religious feel

It thrives with the dual culture, it was more fun when things were more underground, instead of in your face

ElCapitan said:

That's th e point. Going against the grain to make a splash.

ElCapitan said:

Prince was never a freak. It was all fake. He was a conservative good-boy who waved a fake flag as his schtick/marketing tool. The Prince of now is the actual Prince he has always been.


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[Edited 9/7/09 11:00am]

xlr8r said:





Let's just agree to disagree on this one.
[Edited 9/7/09 11:17am]

ElCapitan said:

Sorry I can see what you mean. the sound is quite dense in parts but its the prevading image of I wish you Heaven that sticks with me. But yes Anastasia and even Positivity have a very dark sound. also I think it is light because however much people go on about the musical complexity of the album I don't see it as complex as something like Crystal Ball-the track. There is still an element that Prince could have farted this out (Even tho I like it). However good it was it was rather arrogant of Prince to release this at this point in his career. For people in 1988 they would have received this the NEWS album

After all's said and done, Lovesexy was very well recieved in Europe.
praps da man is a bit too much of a wildcard to for american public.