I have had several orger's PM me to roll out the celebration album by album review again. As it has been over a year, there might be new people who want to take part in the discussion.

Basically each day we focus a discussion on Prince's work - one album a day.

If you've been here before - see if your thoughts have changed. If you're new - add your thoughts. This is not the be all and end all - it's just the kick off point.

Swa

--------------------------------

FOR YOU

I first discovered Prince during the Controversy album. I was 8 years old and had just bought my first ever 7” record, a song called Sexuality. From there my journey began.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I found out that he had albums prior to Controversy. By this stage I was well into the whole 1999 album, and slowly would use my hard earned pocket money to buy up his back catalogue. I distinctly remember having for you on cassette but I don’t think I played it that much, and it wasn’t until I bought the album on CD that I really gave it a good listen.

Kicking off the album with FOR YOU, the speakers fill with a choir of purple voices and for me there were moments that would be echoed in the infamous backwards voices at the end of Darling Nikki. There is something so rich and lush about the way the harmonies work here, just washing over and swirling around you as they rise and fall.

Leading into IN LOVE, a track that feels pretty true to the disco synth driven songs of that era. To this day it seems cute and inoffensive but nothing overly remarkable.

The first time I heard SOFT N WET I was blown away. The synth line and groove just infect your body and take control. And when it hits that bridge in all its disco shuffle glory, you feel as though you have been given a glimpse of what would bloom in the following years. Of course the lyrical content as a 13 year old seemed extra explicit, and today still make me break out in a naughty schoolboy smile.

CRAZY YOU upon reflection doesn’t sound as dated as I expected it to be. Maybe it’s because Prince has recently revisited this style of stripped back guitar and groove, very Te Amo Corazon. The track though seems to begin nicely but then just seems to drift off without truly meeting its destination.

The whole vibe of JUST AS LONG AS WE’RE TOGETHER is like Soft n Wet part two. Again an infectious groove and climbing synth line, but this time it feels less cohesive. And maybe it’s hearing it again with a back catalogue of tracks swirling in my head, but I keep hearing snatches of what would be Glamorous Life in it.

BABY is another song that I dismissed but in later life would revisit. For me it’s got that classic Prince pleading ballad blueprint with striking accents and climatic orchestral crescendos. Lyrically I never really got the whole unplanned pregnancy vibe of the track until many years later. Again naiveté won out. Listening to it now it’s striking how similar the arrangement is to I Hate U - the first of many Gemini Twins that would emerge in his career.

MY LOVE IS FOREVER is your typical r’n’b song. It suffers more from Prince reflecting the sound around him than moving forward and trying to find his own sound. Something that would come over the next few albums.

SO BLUE suffers from the same issue. It’s fairly generic, but when listening in retrospect you do hear a hint of where the future would lead when it came to Prince crafted ballads.

I’M YOURS always seemed like it was the odd man out on the track. It’s got more of a Funkadelic vibe to it with Prince moving into more of a rock funk vibe. Again, there is no faulty the production, but the song just seems to have something missing.

All in all the album gives you a hint of what would follow, and a peek inside the work of an artist that would go on to change and shape popular music.

[Edited 9/14/10 0:56am]

I rarely go back and listen to "For You" but it does have some glimpses of what he would become. Particularly "Soft and Wet", and "Just as Long as We're Together" which is a terrific pop song.

YES, great album, the album title song is brilliant, fantastic way of starting a career:

I really love For You........

Soft & Wet, I'm Yours are my fave songs.

It took me a LONG minute to get into For You. I was one of those people who thought P's discography began with 1999 because that's when he started getting that MTV attention.

I always say For You is the cutest debut album because knowing what we know now, it really shows how talented he was, how hungry he was, how perfect he wanted this album to be, and how he began crafting an image for himself as someone who could do it all and do it all WELL.

And he was SO young! When I was 19, I was in my first year of college, cutting class to go shoplift at the Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey. This guy was crafting his debut album. playing all instruments AND basicaly producing himself. Crazy.

[Edited 9/13/10 8:22am]

jaybendy said:

It took me a LONG minute to get into For You. I was one of those people who thought P's discography began with 1999 because that's when he started getting that MTV attention.

I always say For You is the cutest debut album because knowing what we know now, it really shows how talented he was, how hungry he was, how perfect he wanted this album to be, and how he began crafting an image for himself as someone who could do it all and do it all WELL.

And he was SO young! When I was 19, I was in my first year of college, cutting class to go shoplift at the Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey. This guy was crafting his debut album. playing all instruments AND basicaly producing himself. Crazy.

[Edited 9/13/10 8:22am]

I live in Jersey right near that mall! Weird...

For You is such a cute album. I liked it instantly. I think all the songs are accessible.

"Crazy You" is one of my all-time favorites from the man. Simple and sweet. I do wish is was longer though. It feels like an interlude.

"In Love" is catchy. Nice groove.

"I'm Yours" is a cool, unexpected way to end the album. I like it a lot.

Love hearing everyone's point of view on this album. Keep em coming.

Bree8016 said:

jaybendy said:

It took me a LONG minute to get into For You. I was one of those people who thought P's discography began with 1999 because that's when he started getting that MTV attention.

I always say For You is the cutest debut album because knowing what we know now, it really shows how talented he was, how hungry he was, how perfect he wanted this album to be, and how he began crafting an image for himself as someone who could do it all and do it all WELL.

And he was SO young! When I was 19, I was in my first year of college, cutting class to go shoplift at the Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey. This guy was crafting his debut album. playing all instruments AND basicaly producing himself. Crazy.

[Edited 9/13/10 8:22am]

I live in Jersey right near that mall! Weird...

I got my Hits/BSides CD from the Tower Records in that mall. I did pay for that one tho, it was too big to shoplift. This was the days before eco friendly packaging.

I heard Pink Cashmere for the first time and was like this:

Listening to My Love Is Forever now... I don't know what that is when the guitar almost sounds like it's gonna split your eardrums or something, like right on the verge of feedback...but then it doesn't... love that part. I have no idea why. kinda cool.

The ony thing that bothers me about For You the album as a whole is the vocals... you can barely hear him sometimes. I'm not sure if he's because they were intentionally mixed that way, or because he felt his vocals were kinda weak or something, but I'm like WHAT? What are you singing? Especially on I'm Yours. I really had to look the words up, I was just making up lyrics.

jaybendy said:

I got my Hits/BSides CD from the Tower Records in that mall. I did pay for that one tho, it was too big to shoplift. This was the days before eco friendly packaging.

I heard Pink Cashmere for the first time and was like this:

Listening to My Love Is Forever now... I don't know what that is when the guitar almost sounds like it's gonna split your eardrums or something, like right on the verge of feedback...but then it doesn't... love that part. I have no idea why. kinda cool.

The ony thing that bothers me about For You the album as a whole is the vocals... you can barely hear him sometimes. I'm not sure if he's because they were intentionally mixed that way, or because he felt his vocals were kinda weak or something, but I'm like WHAT? What are you singing? Especially on I'm Yours. I really had to look the words up, I was just making up lyrics.

I was making up lyrics too! I agree though, the vocals were kinda inaudible at times. His voice definitely gained some more power over time.

Bree8016 said:

jaybendy said:

I got my Hits/BSides CD from the Tower Records in that mall. I did pay for that one tho, it was too big to shoplift. This was the days before eco friendly packaging.

I heard Pink Cashmere for the first time and was like this:

Listening to My Love Is Forever now... I don't know what that is when the guitar almost sounds like it's gonna split your eardrums or something, like right on the verge of feedback...but then it doesn't... love that part. I have no idea why. kinda cool.

The ony thing that bothers me about For You the album as a whole is the vocals... you can barely hear him sometimes. I'm not sure if he's because they were intentionally mixed that way, or because he felt his vocals were kinda weak or something, but I'm like WHAT? What are you singing? Especially on I'm Yours. I really had to look the words up, I was just making up lyrics.

I was making up lyrics too! I agree though, the vocals were kinda inaudible at times. His voice definitely gained some more power over time.

Vocally at times he does come across as a little unsure, maybe a downfall of his own production, but we all know how confidence wouldn't be an issue in later releases.

it's interesting... some artists just have staggering debuts. but some artists, like Prince, had to develop a bit before recording that first knockout album.

He was so young, though.. "For You" wasn't particularly sophisticated, but there was a certain magic to it because it was such an obvious herald for great things.

NoVideo said:

it's interesting... some artists just have staggering debuts. but some artists, like Prince, had to develop a bit before recording that first knockout album.

He was so young, though.. "For You" wasn't particularly sophisticated, but there was a certain magic to it because it was such an obvious herald for great things.

It would be interesting to see how Prince (as this debut artist) would fair today. Without a massive smash, it's likely he would have been dropped by a record label.

Swa said:

I have had several orger's PM me to roll out the celebration album by album review again. As it has been over a year, there might be new people who want to take part in the discussion.

Basically each day we focus a discussion on Prince's work - one album a day.

If you've been here before - see if your thoughts have changed. If you're new - add your thoughts. This is not the be all and end all - it's just the kick off point.

Swa

--------------------------------

FOR YOU

I first discovered Prince during the Controversy album. I was 8 years old and had just bought my first ever 7” record, a song called Sexuality. From there my journey began.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I found out that he had albums prior to Controversy. By this stage I was well into the whole 1999 album, and slowly would use my hard earned pocket money to buy up his back catalogue. I distinctly remember having for you on cassette but I don’t think I played it that much, and it wasn’t until I bought the album on CD that I really gave it a good listen.

Kicking off the album with FOR YOU, the speakers fill with a choir of purple voices and for me there were moments that would be echoed in the infamous backwards voices at the end of Darling Nikki. There is something so rich and lush about the way the harmonies work here, just washing over and swirling around you as they rise and fall.

Leading into IN LOVE, a track that feels pretty true to the disco synth driven songs of that era. To this day it seems cute and inoffensive but nothing overly remarkable.

The first time I heard SOFT N WET I was blown away. The synth line and groove just infect your body and take control. And when it hits that bridge in all its disco shuffle glory, you feel as though you have been given a glimpse of what would bloom in the following years. Of course the lyrical content as a 13 year old seemed extra explicit, and today still make me break out in a naughty schoolboy smile.

CRAZY YOU upon reflection doesn’t sound as dated as I expected it to be. Maybe it’s because Prince has recently revisited this style of stripped back guitar and groove, very Te Amo Corazon. The track though seems to begin nicely but then just seems to drift off without truly meeting its destination.

The whole vibe of JUST AS LONG AS WE’RE TOGETHER is like Soft n Wet part two. Again an infectious groove and climbing synth line, but this time it feels less cohesive. And maybe it’s hearing it again with a back catalogue of tracks swirling in my head, but I keep hearing snatches of what would be Glamorous Life in it.

BABY is another song that I dismissed but in later life would revisit. For me it’s got that classic Prince pleading ballad blueprint with striking accents and climatic orchestral crescendos. Lyrically I never really got the whole unplanned pregnancy vibe of the track until many years later. Again naiveté won out. Listening to it now it’s striking how similar the arrangement is to I Hate U - the first of many Gemini Twins that would emerge in his career.

MY LOVE IS FOREVER is your typical r’n’b song. It suffers more from Prince reflecting the sound around him than moving forward and trying to find his own sound. Something that would come over the next few albums.

SO BLUE suffers from the same issue. It’s fairly generic, but when listening in retrospect you do hear a hint of where the future would lead when it came to Prince crafted ballads.

I’M YOURS always seemed like it was the odd man out on the track. It’s got more of a Funkadelic vibe to it with Prince moving into more of a rock funk vibe. Again, there is no faulty the production, but the song just seems to have something missing.

All in all the album gives you a hint of what would follow, and a peek inside the work of an artist that would go on to change and shape popular music.

[Edited 9/14/10 0:56am]

The first time I heard "For You" was about a few months ago (because I'm 15). I remember the first track i picked was "My love is forever" i fell in love with that song and it made me wonder even harder why this album wasn't bigger than it was. But this song made me respect him even more than I already do, and made me respect music and production more than i do. It really inspires me to go deeper into thinking when I'm making songs in the creative process.

I didn't get this ablum until way into my Prince days. I wasn't even thought of when it came out and thought it all began with Prince, since we had that ablum. But when I got it, I really enjoyed it!! "Soft and Wet," "Baby," and "I'm Yours" are my jams!!! I also like "My Love is Forever." Overall, I think it was a really great ablum to introduce the world to a genius! And what makes it even better is that Prince played all the instruments on that ablum!! WOW!! Just WOW!! He took the world by a storm and hasn't stopped amazing us since then!!

Swa said:

NoVideo said:

it's interesting... some artists just have staggering debuts. but some artists, like Prince, had to develop a bit before recording that first knockout album.

He was so young, though.. "For You" wasn't particularly sophisticated, but there was a certain magic to it because it was such an obvious herald for great things.

It would be interesting to see how Prince (as this debut artist) would fair today. Without a massive smash, it's likely he would have been dropped by a record label.

He totally woulda been dropped. I wonder if he would have even gotten the record deal considering his desire to produce himself. Record companies these days wouldn't be trying to sign no kid tombout he wanna produce his debut album. And even if they did they'd be pushing Will I Am or Rodney Jerkins or whomever on him every week.

Until today For You is the only album I'm not able to get into, and I think I listened to it not more than three or four times. It's interesting though, when I listen to it with the biographical story of Prince in mind: The way he got his first contract and doing nearly everything in the studio by himself.

It's like thinking about the matrix for a real star - not all the so-called "stars" of nowadays.

With the Peach & Black Podcast confirming Prince has already remastered the first six albums, I would love to hear how this sounds now all polished and clean.

i just adore this cd truly. may be my fave.

Fine debut. Slighty better than Prince'79 as a whole, I think it's more consistent (Prince '79 has three or four awful tracks). My Love is Forever is the only track that I skip, too commercial-too disco...

For You, Crazy You, Soft and Wet and I'm Yours are the highlights, and I also enjoy other ballads like Baby or So Blue, the kind of acoustic/soulful ballads that he didn't revisit again until the mid-90s (Curious Child, Let's Have a Baby, The Truth album, etc.) and that's sayin' something; for some reason, I don't care that much about Just as Long as We're Together; it's a fine jam, but it doesn't blow my mind at all...

Not exactly a masterpiece of the late-70s, but as I've said, a completely fine debut. If Prince had merged the best songs of For You and Prince'79 in one 1979 album, hell, then that would have been a true masterpiece...

Swa said:

I have had several orger's PM me to roll out the celebration album by album review again. As it has been over a year, there might be new people who want to take part in the discussion.

Basically each day we focus a discussion on Prince's work - one album a day.

If you've been here before - see if your thoughts have changed. If you're new - add your thoughts. This is not the be all and end all - it's just the kick off point.

Swa

--------------------------------

FOR YOU

I first discovered Prince during the Controversy album. I was 8 years old and had just bought my first ever 7” record, a song called Sexuality. From there my journey began.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I found out that he had albums prior to Controversy. By this stage I was well into the whole 1999 album, and slowly would use my hard earned pocket money to buy up his back catalogue. I distinctly remember having for you on cassette but I don’t think I played it that much, and it wasn’t until I bought the album on CD that I really gave it a good listen.

Kicking off the album with FOR YOU, the speakers fill with a choir of purple voices and for me there were moments that would be echoed in the infamous backwards voices at the end of Darling Nikki. There is something so rich and lush about the way the harmonies work here, just washing over and swirling around you as they rise and fall.

Leading into IN LOVE, a track that feels pretty true to the disco synth driven songs of that era. To this day it seems cute and inoffensive but nothing overly remarkable.

The first time I heard SOFT N WET I was blown away. The synth line and groove just infect your body and take control. And when it hits that bridge in all its disco shuffle glory, you feel as though you have been given a glimpse of what would bloom in the following years. Of course the lyrical content as a 13 year old seemed extra explicit, and today still make me break out in a naughty schoolboy smile.

CRAZY YOU upon reflection doesn’t sound as dated as I expected it to be. Maybe it’s because Prince has recently revisited this style of stripped back guitar and groove, very Te Amo Corazon. The track though seems to begin nicely but then just seems to drift off without truly meeting its destination.

The whole vibe of JUST AS LONG AS WE’RE TOGETHER is like Soft n Wet part two. Again an infectious groove and climbing synth line, but this time it feels less cohesive. And maybe it’s hearing it again with a back catalogue of tracks swirling in my head, but I keep hearing snatches of what would be Glamorous Life in it.

BABY is another song that I dismissed but in later life would revisit. For me it’s got that classic Prince pleading ballad blueprint with striking accents and climatic orchestral crescendos. Lyrically I never really got the whole unplanned pregnancy vibe of the track until many years later. Again naiveté won out. Listening to it now it’s striking how similar the arrangement is to I Hate U - the first of many Gemini Twins that would emerge in his career.

MY LOVE IS FOREVER is your typical r’n’b song. It suffers more from Prince reflecting the sound around him than moving forward and trying to find his own sound. Something that would come over the next few albums.

SO BLUE suffers from the same issue. It’s fairly generic, but when listening in retrospect you do hear a hint of where the future would lead when it came to Prince crafted ballads.

I’M YOURS always seemed like it was the odd man out on the track. It’s got more of a Funkadelic vibe to it with Prince moving into more of a rock funk vibe. Again, there is no faulty the production, but the song just seems to have something missing.

All in all the album gives you a hint of what would follow, and a peek inside the work of an artist that would go on to change and shape popular music.

[Edited 9/14/10 0:56am]

Swa said:

I have had several orger's PM me to roll out the celebration album by album review again. As it has been over a year, there might be new people who want to take part in the discussion.

Basically each day we focus a discussion on Prince's work - one album a day.

If you've been here before - see if your thoughts have changed. If you're new - add your thoughts. This is not the be all and end all - it's just the kick off point.

Swa

--------------------------------

FOR YOU

I first discovered Prince during the Controversy album. I was 8 years old and had just bought my first ever 7” record, a song called Sexuality. From there my journey began.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I found out that he had albums prior to Controversy. By this stage I was well into the whole 1999 album, and slowly would use my hard earned pocket money to buy up his back catalogue. I distinctly remember having for you on cassette but I don’t think I played it that much, and it wasn’t until I bought the album on CD that I really gave it a good listen.

Kicking off the album with FOR YOU, the speakers fill with a choir of purple voices and for me there were moments that would be echoed in the infamous backwards voices at the end of Darling Nikki. There is something so rich and lush about the way the harmonies work here, just washing over and swirling around you as they rise and fall.

Leading into IN LOVE, a track that feels pretty true to the disco synth driven songs of that era. To this day it seems cute and inoffensive but nothing overly remarkable.

The first time I heard SOFT N WET I was blown away. The synth line and groove just infect your body and take control. And when it hits that bridge in all its disco shuffle glory, you feel as though you have been given a glimpse of what would bloom in the following years. Of course the lyrical content as a 13 year old seemed extra explicit, and today still make me break out in a naughty schoolboy smile.

CRAZY YOU upon reflection doesn’t sound as dated as I expected it to be. Maybe it’s because Prince has recently revisited this style of stripped back guitar and groove, very Te Amo Corazon. The track though seems to begin nicely but then just seems to drift off without truly meeting its destination.

The whole vibe of JUST AS LONG AS WE’RE TOGETHER is like Soft n Wet part two. Again an infectious groove and climbing synth line, but this time it feels less cohesive. And maybe it’s hearing it again with a back catalogue of tracks swirling in my head, but I keep hearing snatches of what would be Glamorous Life in it.

BABY is another song that I dismissed but in later life would revisit. For me it’s got that classic Prince pleading ballad blueprint with striking accents and climatic orchestral crescendos. Lyrically I never really got the whole unplanned pregnancy vibe of the track until many years later. Again naiveté won out. Listening to it now it’s striking how similar the arrangement is to I Hate U - the first of many Gemini Twins that would emerge in his career.

MY LOVE IS FOREVER is your typical r’n’b song. It suffers more from Prince reflecting the sound around him than moving forward and trying to find his own sound. Something that would come over the next few albums.

SO BLUE suffers from the same issue. It’s fairly generic, but when listening in retrospect you do hear a hint of where the future would lead when it came to Prince crafted ballads.

I’M YOURS always seemed like it was the odd man out on the track. It’s got more of a Funkadelic vibe to it with Prince moving into more of a rock funk vibe. Again, there is no faulty the production, but the song just seems to have something missing.

All in all the album gives you a hint of what would follow, and a peek inside the work of an artist that would go on to change and shape popular music.

[Edited 9/14/10 0:56am]

do you want to do something concretely or continue look in the air further

LORILA said:

do you want to do something concretely or continue look in the air further

Funny how I just ordered this record from Amazon & got it today sealed. *Happy*

I'm another one that had to listen to his other albums to come down to appreciate this one. It was adorable and had to take some time to get used to b/c of the complexity and fogginess of the tracks, but I warmed up and came to love "Baby", "Soft and Wet", & "Crazy You". "Just as Long As We're Together" and "So Blue" are cool too but my first three picks is where it's at.

I can dance and sing to "Soft and Wet" all day! Definitely, what Moon had implied, hidden 'naughty sexuality' or something like that, lol. "Baby" had me really thinkin' about what Prince really went through in his younger years, but then he stopped that suspicion when he claimed that he just put himself in various situations with the record. "Crazy You" is just sooooo soothing to me. I throw that jam on and just relax, of course I'd have to put it on repeat. But yeah, those are my three. The other two picks are just something, although good, to listen to you know.

My thoughts about the complexity and foggyness of the record were confirmed through my research of Prince and his music. How he overdubbed and overdubbed to make the album unique and special, which it was, but still his nerves somewhat got the best of him. But, lesson learned, and the album did prety well upon its release.

[Edited 11/3/10 17:04pm]

Swa said:

With the Peach & Black Podcast confirming Prince has already remastered the first six albums, I would love to hear how this sounds now all polished and clean.

Yes, this would be interesting!

For You is just amazing, I love the title track. It takes guts to open on that track. It says to me, that even then Prince had a fundamental belief in his musical gifts to start with such a simple, albeit mesmerising track.

My other favourite on this album is Soft and Wet. Despite this being (arguably) a pretty straightforward debut in terms of the charts of the day, Prince really did start down that dirty road early, another indicator of what was to come, er, so to speak....

i'd love to hear I'M YOURS live now!

The guitar solo in 'My Love Is Forever' is still in my Top 5 favorite Prince guitar solos. 'Blue' is also a favorite.