I still have weird feelings about this album and its tour.

It was undeniably postive and uplifting with a strong and loving message. But it was SO soaked in...PrinceWorldView...that's hard to digest and a lot to take in. He was aiming high here and still trying to shift gears like he did with everything after Purple Rain. It's remarkable in a lot of ways and passes the headphone test for sure but I don't rank it as high as a lot of fans and I can't put my finger on exactly why.

Even the concert, which I enjoyed, I found overdone and a little too over the top for me to fully relate to. Like it was trying too hard or something. Some of it is alienating in ways and hard to parse, as if it's preaching something, similar to The Rainbow Children, his "other 'religious' album".

Only with this one it's like some weird religion Prince just made up himself and a lot of it feels overly self indulgent (the single tracking on the CD for instance) in ways that make the listener assume its artistry. And while I love the dense layers of the songs, some of it seems like overkill where he was adding more sounds just to add them and make it more orchestral. Which I suppose makes sense given he was playing with his new studio here and it mostly works for me.

But, like Parade, I really have to be in the mood for it to put it on.

herb4 said:

I still have weird feelings about this album and its tour.

It was undeniably postive and uplifting with a strong and loving message. But it was SO soaked in...PrinceWorldView...that's hard to digest and a lot to take in. He was aiming high here and still trying to shift gears like he did with everything after Purple Rain. It's remarkable in a lot of ways and passes the headphone test for sure but I don't rank it as high as a lot of fans and I can't put my finger on exactly why.

Even the concert, which I enjoyed, I found overdone and a little too over the top for me to fully relate to. Like it was trying too hard or something. Some of it is alienating in ways and hard to parse, as if it's preaching something, similar to The Rainbow Children, his "other 'religious' album".

Only with this one it's like some weird religion Prince just made up himself and a lot of it feels overly self indulgent (the single tracking on the CD for instance) in ways that make the listener assume its artistry. And while I love the dense layers of the songs, some of it seems like overkill where he was adding more sounds just to add them and make it more orchestral. Which I suppose makes sense given he was playing with his new studio here and it mostly works for me.

But, like Parade, I really have to be in the mood for it to put it on.

There was an element of 'Cokehead' to the Lovesexy Live tour, same as on the Purple Rain tour. And that's coming the year after Sign of the Times concert which I consider the greatest concert ever recorded, party because it was so bold; even ostentatious. Lovesexy the record was definitely bold and a tad brash. There's no way Bob Dylan for instance is going to like the song 'Dance On'.

Vannormal said:

Total 100% Masterpiece in my view. I was in a band in my community college that was run by these two musicians who were Muslim. One day the band was in their studio rehearsing and I saw the cassette sitting on a keyboard and I thought to myself "well this is out of place" but they were big Prince fans. I admit I didn't know much about Muslims back then but had my assumptions (please don't attack me). They actually compared Lovesexy to Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye and how Sign O The Times was this artistic peak like What's Goin' On was for Marvin Gaye but then he released Let's Get It On and the public reaction wasn't the same. Anyway, I borrowed the cassette and listened to it on the way home and wow did it rock. I have a very specific memory of listening to the rhythm guitar part while walking through my neighbourhood and thinking how chuncky it was.

Then I was visiting cousins in Massachusetts in around 1990 and I still didn't have the album by then but I came across it in a store. It was used but I still got it but thought I'd better hide it from my heavy metal loving cousins. Lol so dumb.

I love that album.

Milty2 said:

Total 100% Masterpiece in my view. I was in a band in my community college that was run by these two musicians who were Muslim. One day the band was in their studio rehearsing and I saw the cassette sitting on a keyboard and I thought to myself "well this is out of place" but they were big Prince fans. I admit I didn't know much about Muslims back then but had my assumptions (please don't attack me). They actually compared Lovesexy to Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye and how Sign O The Times was this artistic peak like What's Goin' On was for Marvin Gaye but then he released Let's Get It On and the public reaction wasn't the same. Anyway, I borrowed the cassette and listened to it on the way home and wow did it rock. I have a very specific memory of listening to the rhythm guitar part while walking through my neighbourhood and thinking how chuncky it was.

Then I was visiting cousins in Massachusetts in around 1990 and I still didn't have the album by then but I came across it in a store. It was used but I still got it but thought I'd better hide it from my heavy metal loving cousins. Lol so dumb.

I love that album.

Lovesexy. An album so powerful it can convert Muslims away from haram. Who needs halal ice cream when you got Lovesexy. Who needs sharia when you're loved up and sexy?

fortuneandserendipity said:

herb4 said:

SantanaMaitreya said:

herb4 said:

I still have weird feelings about this album and its tour.

It was undeniably postive and uplifting with a strong and loving message. But it was SO soaked in...PrinceWorldView...that's hard to digest and a lot to take in. He was aiming high here and still trying to shift gears like he did with everything after Purple Rain. It's remarkable in a lot of ways and passes the headphone test for sure but I don't rank it as high as a lot of fans and I can't put my finger on exactly why.

Even the concert, which I enjoyed, I found overdone and a little too over the top for me to fully relate to. Like it was trying too hard or something. Some of it is alienating in ways and hard to parse, as if it's preaching something, similar to The Rainbow Children, his "other 'religious' album".

Only with this one it's like some weird religion Prince just made up himself and a lot of it feels overly self indulgent (the single tracking on the CD for instance) in ways that make the listener assume its artistry. And while I love the dense layers of the songs, some of it seems like overkill where he was adding more sounds just to add them and make it more orchestral. Which I suppose makes sense given he was playing with his new studio here and it mostly works for me.

But, like Parade, I really have to be in the mood for it to put it on.

Yes, it feels like he made up his own religion and I think that's exactly why so many fans like this album so much. It's completely unique, so you can't have anything against it like you can with organized religion. A personal Jesus, to quote another act from the 80s. When he started preaching the JW doctrine later, the feeling was very different.

Yes, I totally agree with this! He started it with the song 'Paisley Park' (possibly even with 'Uptown') and this album cemented what Prince was trying to accomplish with his songs/mind set.

SantanaMaitreya said:

herb4 said:

I still have weird feelings about this album and its tour.

It was undeniably postive and uplifting with a strong and loving message. But it was SO soaked in...PrinceWorldView...that's hard to digest and a lot to take in. He was aiming high here and still trying to shift gears like he did with everything after Purple Rain. It's remarkable in a lot of ways and passes the headphone test for sure but I don't rank it as high as a lot of fans and I can't put my finger on exactly why.

Even the concert, which I enjoyed, I found overdone and a little too over the top for me to fully relate to. Like it was trying too hard or something. Some of it is alienating in ways and hard to parse, as if it's preaching something, similar to The Rainbow Children, his "other 'religious' album".

Only with this one it's like some weird religion Prince just made up himself and a lot of it feels overly self indulgent (the single tracking on the CD for instance) in ways that make the listener assume its artistry. And while I love the dense layers of the songs, some of it seems like overkill where he was adding more sounds just to add them and make it more orchestral. Which I suppose makes sense given he was playing with his new studio here and it mostly works for me.

But, like Parade, I really have to be in the mood for it to put it on.

Yes, it feels like he made up his own religion and I think that's exactly why so many fans like this album so much. It's completely unique, so you can't have anything against it like you can with organized religion. A personal Jesus, to quote another act from the 80s. When he started preaching the JW doctrine later, the feeling was very different.

-

I can't remember when exactly but Prince once said that he felt that when you come while having sex is a way of getting close(r) to God.

For some unclear reason this alwyas sticked in my head.

And when I listen to Lovesexy, I somehow feel, nearly understand what he said back then.

-

Yes i agree, af if he orgainised his own religion through that; Love + Sex(y).

And indeed his very own light hearted open and free releigion.

"Hold On To Your Soul. We Got A Long Way To Go. Hold On."

Or the full lyrics of "Eye No".

I alwyas thought he was sort of his own Jesus posed in that flower on the cover.

-

Compare this album, with any album before - that's how unique it is.

It IS beyond funk and pop together, at least to me.

Since it is my favorit album of his, I also have to be in a specific mood to enjoy it.

And obviously it always happens in them midst of spring (over here).

It if for ever attached to the 'new' imho.

-

The preaching he did was the dullest and most aberrant kind.
Light phrases... that was all that was to it. Just a phrase and the right timing to say it. 

He was good at timing, just that. He posed them on award shows, as messages to his fans, as well as in some of the most annoying interviews ever. 

They made absolutely no sense. In fact, they were a bit ridiculously light at the same time.
I am convinced he lost attention because of this.
I mean; "Contract" or "The Truth" or "Love41ANother" ... 

Or even the heavier shit like the idea of ​​"The Banished Ones", "The Rainbow Children", etc ... were frankly cheesy as hell, and smelled like it too.
-
Well, he made it a little bit in the end. Which I think was good for him.
But who am I to think that? 
-

FUNKNROLL said:

PurpleHigh said:

What I'd like to hear is what went through y'alls minds having to place that album on the record store counter with that cover in 1988.

It was a moment of internal conflict that stays with me 33 years later. I was in high school and bought it from a record store located on the campus of a southern state college town. I should have recognized I was in a relatively safe space. But I still felt an intense pressure when I saw the album artwork on the new releases rack. I went to the store with the sole purpose of making the purchase. But found myself lingering and trying to muster the courage to pick up a copy without being seen.

I had to be quite the sight. To shop staff, I must have seemed like a shoplifter. To other customers, I probably seemed like someone losing their virginity. Still, like a creep on the prowl, I managed to find a lull in floor traffic and make the purchase through dissociation; watching myself from within and not making eye contact.

At the time, the few insufferable hipster kids in school were always proclaiming "I'm not a conformist," and I didn't understand what they meant. In hindsight, as I stood there in the record shop, I was confronting something not right in the world and within myself. I had to choose between the external pressure and something that I felt strongly about. By contrast, like many others, I sought out copies of the Black Album without hesitation and without having heard a single song; knowing, per Prince's wishes, it was forbidden fruit.

Prince was many things, including clever. Perhaps he intended for that powerful personal experience to be part of the art itself.

[Edited 5/15/21 5:47am]

What a cool story. Thank you for sharing!

This needs to be added

Cross The Line is an unreleased song by Ingrid Chavez, recorded with an improvised musical backing by Prince in mid-December 1987, at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA (shortly after cancelling the release of "The Black Album", ... Prince's music comprised of reversed synth and organ sounds following Ingrid Chavez's spoken part. Her vocals were later lifted and incorporated into Intermission, which (as a studio track played over the PA) opened the second half of Lovesexy Tour shows. Cross The Line remains unreleased, however.

-PrinceVault

I wonder if this piece from the Line is connected/taken from

Cross the Line

Go 2 School
Get a Job
U can rule
while I'm tending

the garden

I would tend your flowers

How general would it B

by works we speak
funk me

Would taste so beautiful
and smell so sweet

I'll lick your body

from your head 2 your feet

say the sings I want 2 hear
U can be my dame
I'll B your sheik
And your legs

your lover,

your slave the way U B

The reason U keep him

your tongue

your kind

U love it

Suck your man

2 understand

I love U
Cause God gave U 2 me

so 4 ever I will B

your fantasy

I know U R there

Can U feel me?

Cross the Line

Lovesexy is still the one...