While I don't like the idea of looking back and saying what Prince "should" have done to extend his peak popularity period (which I don't even care about as a young person who wasn't alive back then, and someone who loves the 2nd half of his album releases as much as his 1st half of releases), but the thing that really intrigues me is how Lovesexy and The Black Album represent the Angel and the Devil, two polar opposites within his identity. In hindsight, I believe both albums would have benefitted from a double release on the same day. You choose which album you want, the dark one, the light one... or both. Almost everyone would want both.

[Edited 11/15/16 1:19am]

LOVESEXY.......... is just excellent and actually it did sell pretty good in Europe (UK number 1)

Shame on you americans tsk tsk......... for trashing this fine piece of music, one of the best Prince albums in his career, imo... (I'm european).

Great piece of music....


Pop funk, new power soul lots of layers in the music and lots of screaming guitars, imho LOVESEXY is a highlight in Prince's career.

The music,
the tour,
the socalled (beautyful) offensive coverart,
the cloths,
the hair,
the band,
the musicvideos wow.

I everything about this excellent time period (1988),

Take a listen once again, the album is actually a Prince masterpiece...

The Black Album is dirtier... imo it's the Sign O The Times' littlebrother.

Excellent album, only When 2 R In Love doesn't fit in (this ballad works much better on Lovesexy),

I rate The Black Album very strong, (9.5/ 10)

Lovesexy I rate a masterpiece, maximum (10)

thedance said:

LOVESEXY.......... is just excellent and actually it did sell pretty good in Europe (UK number 1)

Shame on you americans tsk tsk......... for trashing this fine piece of music, one of the best Prince albums in his career, imo... (I'm european).

Great piece of music....


Pop funk, new power soul lots of layers in the music and lots of screaming guitars, imho LOVESEXY is a highlight in Prince's career.

The music,
the tour,
the socalled (beautyful) offensive coverart,
the cloths,
the hair,
the band,
the musicvideos wow.

I everything about this excellent time period (1988),

Take a listen once again, the album is actually a Prince masterpiece...

I wholeheartedly CONCUR!!!

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

thedance said:

LOVESEXY.......... is just excellent and actually it did sell pretty good in Europe (UK number 1)

Shame on you americans tsk tsk......... for trashing this fine piece of music, one of the best Prince albums in his career, imo... (I'm european).

Great piece of music....


Pop funk, new power soul lots of layers in the music and lots of screaming guitars, imho LOVESEXY is a highlight in Prince's career.

The music,
the tour,
the socalled (beautyful) offensive coverart,
the cloths,
the hair,
the band,
the musicvideos wow.

I everything about this excellent time period (1988),

Take a listen once again, the album is actually a Prince masterpiece...

I wholeheartedly CONCUR!!!

I agree with you as well. I just think the message for Lovesexy was confussing because the main stream did not have much knowledge of TBA.

nelcp777 said:

No doubt that TBA would have taken off. Once the Alphabet St. video came out, TBA was highly sought out and made Prince a huge bootleg commodity.

I often think how Lovsexy could have been more, if TBA was released first, then Lovesexy after. The message from Lovesexy may have been understood more. I don't know. Pure speculation.

SOTT was incredible. A compilation of the years of Prince behind the scenes. His decision not to continue the tour in the US hurt the sales. The movie was on point.

I just think LS stalled cos the general public did not know about TBA and the message was confusing and lost.

Same shit with Come/TGE.
Stoopid WB.

rob1965 said:

The decision not to tour the US hurt sales and the above mentioned hiphop which was on its way and was more streetwise, appealed to a lot of people. Furthermore, Lovesexy was a difficult album: off the beaten paths and using more of the wall of sound. And a lot of Love is God stuff which didn't appeal to everyone. To have released TBA would have been a mistake: lots of people like it because it was so scarse. But a really good album? Naah. It was fun, but that's it. The Black Album already got airplay before it was decided to not release it. Lots of people already heard portions and everything from Prince was digested by the masses. TBA was more of a way to understand Lovesexy better. I think it was all carefully planned.

I would like to think so as well, but high-ranked Orgers gave repeated proofs that the ecstasy incident and the Ingrid Chavez infatuation is the real reason behind TBA withdrawal.

Pity though, it would have been a brilliant music business move.

In all fairness, poor WB. They dealt with his eccentricities
as much as they could, for a corporation.

NorthC said:

That's right, The Black Album was supposed to be a low profile, dancefloor only album released incognito. It was never intended to be a hit album and without a catchy pop tune, wouldn't have been a hit. As Rob pointed out, it's fun, but nothing great. Legend has made it bigger than it is.

It's still the most thick, sticky, dark, icky stuff he had ever put in an (un)official album.
Superfunkycalifragisexy (especially the "30 years" version), "Bob George", "When 2 Are In Love", "Rockhard In A Funky Place" and even "Dead On It" are amongst his most interesting experimental/bizarre/koo-koo stuff.

BTW, it reads you are acknowledging it's the stuff of legend.
It's difficult to consider it as simply another album because of the history.
But don't let the particular circumstances fool you.
TBA kicks ass. You just have to be in the mood for it.

Squirrel meat? Serve it up, Frankie.

Poplife88 said:

It was always meant to be an underground dance record. My cassette copy back in 88 was at least 4th generation. It was deep, dark, but damn was that bass fonky. That tape got a hell of a lot of play back then...WAY more than Lovesexy. Over the years Lovesexy grew on me, and now, like many others feel Lovesexy is the light compared to the dark Black Album. They sound great together.

My biggest disppointment from that era, is not touring SOTT in the US and giving up on it so fast. That album deserved to be heard by more.

This explains everything: mine was probably the 4th generation of your 4th generation.
But when it comes to TBA, the murkier the better.

MY biggest disappointment was to find how sleek (it's all relative)
in comparison the official CD release sounded.

The only Black Album there is
is a really bad sounding K7
with your own handmade custom sleeve.

Foefur did a somewhat good job with his remaster.

blacksignparade said:

GoldStandard said:

While I don't like the idea of looking back and saying what Prince "should" have done to extend his peak popularity period (which I don't even care about as a young person who wasn't alive back then, and someone who loves the 2nd half of his album releases as much as his 1st half of releases), but the thing that really intrigues me is how Lovesexy and The Black Album represent the Angel and the Devil, two polar opposites within his identity. In hindsight, I believe both albums would have benefitted from a double release on the same day. You choose which album you want, the dark one, the light one... or both. Almost everyone would want both.

[Edited 11/15/16 1:19am]

That would have been great.

RJOrion said:

blacksignparade said:

. The Black Album to my mind is one of the twin peaks in prince's career. The other of course SOTT. Can't be beat. . It would have been better with only 6 songs. When 2 Are In Love doesn't fit and isn't really that good either. Dead On It is an embarrassment to humankind. . The rest though are top notch. I agree that it wouldn't have been a commercial success as only us diehards would have bought it. Casual fans were waiting for crap like, ugh, the Diamonds and Pearls album. . Lovesexy on the other hand was not that great. Is started off well but the backend after the title track was not good at all. A sign of things to come unfortunately. . He was losing me until I heard My Name Is Prince and the love symbol album came out. I was all in again after that. .

same here...and yes, "Dead On It" is one of Prince's worst recordings ever...

Are you kidding? It's an awesomely produced track. Just the guitar work alone has impressed every guitar player I know that's a serious musician.

ufoclub said:

RJOrion said:

blacksignparade said: same here...and yes, "Dead On It" is one of Prince's worst recordings ever...

Are you kidding? It's an awesomely produced track. Just the guitar work alone has impressed every guitar player I know that's a serious musician.

I have always dug this track. That chicken scratch guitar is just funky as hell. "Shall we go back??...Let's go..."

Poplife88 said:

ufoclub said:

Are you kidding? It's an awesomely produced track. Just the guitar work alone has impressed every guitar player I know that's a serious musician.

I have always dug this track. That chicken scratch guitar is just funky as hell. "Shall we go back??...Let's go..."

I have to admit to not liking the song either - likely because I really love hip hop and felt that Prince just didn't understand it yet. Add to that he wasn't really able to make a passable hip hop song yet likely for the same reason.

.

With that said - I know lots of people who like it, and it could grow on me in the future, but for the moment I am not a fan of that track.

.

With that said LoveSexy is my absolute favorite P album - so good - nonstop glory. I just love it so much.

26ten said:

Poplife88 said:

I have always dug this track. That chicken scratch guitar is just funky as hell. "Shall we go back??...Let's go..."

I have to admit to not liking the song either - likely because I really love hip hop and felt that Prince just didn't understand it yet. Add to that he wasn't really able to make a passable hip hop song yet likely for the same reason.

.

With that said - I know lots of people who like it, and it could grow on me in the future, but for the moment I am not a fan of that track.

.

With that said LoveSexy is my absolute favorite P album - so good - nonstop glory. I just love it so much.

Consider that the song was made in what... 1987? If you look at it outside of genre, which is how most Prince music should be taken, it's awesome! Just the transiiton to Sheila E's voice on "wicked witch!" is so cool.

Rockhard and Bob George are the best track out of TBA

"Dead On It" is a good song,but some of the lyrics are ridiculous....

if U don't wanna lick my knees,I'm sho' your mama will

When 2 R In Love is present on both album for a reason. Love is what connects sex (The Black Album) with spirituality (Lovesexy). The song is the link between the two albums.

SoulAlive said:

"Dead On It" is a good song,but some of the lyrics are ridiculous....

[i]if U don't wanna lick my knees,I'm sho' your mama will[/i]