TrivialPursuit said:

IanRG said:

The selective outrage from you pair is all too reliant on your desire to accuse all other fans as being not as good you.

Dude, pump the breaks. I was speaking in general terms. I've said this before about Prince fans across the board. If you put weight on it for yourself, that's on you, bruh.

Stop being so angsty, man. It's unnecessary.

Nothing here is necessary - and little of what you say is believable.

Obviously most of your scattergun attack on all Prince fans across the board was a gross generalisation and not specifically targeted at any individual. This was always clear fom your words and mine - see the highlighted section. However, the list of record covers you presented to me that started as some were less tame, moved to all were similar and finished on all were far more offensive was NOT about Prince fans across the board.

don't really care so much what you say about me because it is a reflection of who you r.

JustJustin said:

I can remember the first time I heard this album, like it was yesterday. I went down-town to buy the album on cassette, and bought a load of AA batteries for my Walkman too. As soon as I got back on the bus home, I put the tape into my Walkman and listened to the whole of side one on my way home. I miss those days!!!

yeah I had the cassette too those were fun days....listening to it on a Walkman.

My favorite songs on this album: "Anna Stesia","I Wish U Heaven","When 2 R In Love" and the title track.

IanRG said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

IanRG said:

Yes I do. This is based on facts.

DM - It is common knowledge that Prince knew he needed to perform as the record company was getting concerned about the deal. He marketed this album and tour with a vigour that was uncommonly high. The lyrics were to stand out from the crowd as people scrambled with the disco era ending - He said "Sex is always the most interesting thing to write about. It’s the one subject people can’t talk about without losing their cool … My family, my father and my mother, life and death are far more personal to me than sex". He tried new instruments, different ways of putting the album together. It got critical success more than sales success but it saved his deal and lead to Controversy, 1999 and PR.

SOTT - And instead he made it much more marketable because he knew it had to be a success following him sacking the Revolution.

[Edited 5/14/23 14:24pm]

The facts? You need to stop acting like youre the gospel. Or some all knowing authority. Youre not per nielsen. Youre not even Toure. That album was a risk. Everyone knew it. And that gamble sold less than both the album before and after it. [Edited 5/14/23 22:18pm]

Obviously it was a risk but it was a risk taken in the hopes of being successful - hence how much he promoted this album compared to ATWIAD etc. Hoping to be successful was the point in question, not whether it was ultimately successful. This followed the false claim that Prince was never concerned about sales in the 1980s. In this way DM was like Lovesexy - there is no indication that Prince did not want either of these albums to be successful. It is documented that there were concerns by his record company leading up to Dirty Mind and Prince knew it and knew he had to perform.

I don't need to be anyone or have any special insight. All I need to do is be able to read what was written at the time and subsequently. PS a person cannot the gospel.

Next you will be telling me that with all the effort to promote SOTT, the SOTT tours and the SOTT film that Prince did not hope that this album would succeed because with 20/20 hindsight it did not sell as well as PR.

[Edited 5/14/23 22:59pm]

I dont think Lovesexy or The Black Album were at the level of the previous 4 albums (PR, ATWIAD, Parade & SOTT). I often wonder if The Black Album had come out in the winter of '87 what would of transpired. Almost certainly Lovesexy would of not come out. I don't think The Black Album would of done well at all commercially so Prince may of hit the reset button, or moved straight to the Batman project.

As for Lovesexy the album...There are bits I love (Alphabet St (single version), Anna Stesia, Title song and I Wish U Heaven). The rest is simply OK.

RJOrion said:

bozojones said:

Weird that people are arguing that the album cover was a bad choice because it "hurt sales", when Prince clearly didn't give a shit about sales through most of the 80s. If he really cared about pandering to the widest possible audience, we never would have gotten stuff like ATWIAD or Parade.
If you're uncomfortable with the cover because you don't like seeing a naked dude, just be honest about that up front instead of feigning concern over Prince's business choices

And its not like his dick, balls or ass was showing...all thats showing is chest arms and legs...meanwhile on prior albums he sings about getting head, having sex with his sister, masturbating in magazines,etc...the selective outrage that some Prince "fans" display, regarding that album cover, is totally asinine.

I totally agree.

You can barely see his nipples.

I wonder if they photoshopped (bleached) them for the album cover.

Actually it is just art.

And if some prince fans think like that, then it says everything about the completely skewed

narrow-mindedness, partly determined by backward religions and the anally tenacious adherents of the so-called

decency, completely determined by hypocritical incessant appearances.

Don't forget, the biggest porn industry worldwide is still American.

SquirrelMeat76 said:

IanRG said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

IanRG said: The facts? You need to stop acting like youre the gospel. Or some all knowing authority. Youre not per nielsen. Youre not even Toure. That album was a risk. Everyone knew it. And that gamble sold less than both the album before and after it. [Edited 5/14/23 22:18pm]

Obviously it was a risk but it was a risk taken in the hopes of being successful - hence how much he promoted this album compared to ATWIAD etc. Hoping to be successful was the point in question, not whether it was ultimately successful. This followed the false claim that Prince was never concerned about sales in the 1980s. In this way DM was like Lovesexy - there is no indication that Prince did not want either of these albums to be successful. It is documented that there were concerns by his record company leading up to Dirty Mind and Prince knew it and knew he had to perform.

I don't need to be anyone or have any special insight. All I need to do is be able to read what was written at the time and subsequently. PS a person cannot the gospel.

Next you will be telling me that with all the effort to promote SOTT, the SOTT tours and the SOTT film that Prince did not hope that this album would succeed because with 20/20 hindsight it did not sell as well as PR.

[Edited 5/14/23 22:59pm]

hoping it would be 'successful' isnt the same as trying to score sales, which is what you originally said, before changing your wording.

promoting and working an album isnt the same as designing how an album sounds to score chart success (eg diamonds and pearls).

dirty mind was calculated somewhat to be a criticial success, to get attention from new wave circles, to get rock critics to pay attention, to show prince had something outside of rnb, that he had an 'edge'. but not to score great sales.

prince knew it most likely wasnt going to be a big seller. the commercial hopes and calculations for purple rain however were another story.

prince always straddled both his artistic and commercial ambitions, which is often what made for his best stuff, but there were moments where one was more dominant than the other. im not sure you can see when those were or can parse the balance lol.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

IanRG said:

Obviously it was a risk but it was a risk taken in the hopes of being successful - hence how much he promoted this album compared to ATWIAD etc. Hoping to be successful was the point in question, not whether it was ultimately successful. This followed the false claim that Prince was never concerned about sales in the 1980s. In this way DM was like Lovesexy - there is no indication that Prince did not want either of these albums to be successful. It is documented that there were concerns by his record company leading up to Dirty Mind and Prince knew it and knew he had to perform.

I don't need to be anyone or have any special insight. All I need to do is be able to read what was written at the time and subsequently. PS a person cannot the gospel.

Next you will be telling me that with all the effort to promote SOTT, the SOTT tours and the SOTT film that Prince did not hope that this album would succeed because with 20/20 hindsight it did not sell as well as PR.

[Edited 5/14/23 22:59pm]

hoping it would be 'successful' isnt the same as trying to score sales, which is what you originally said, before changing your wording.

promoting and working an album isnt the same as designing how an album sounds to score chart success (eg diamonds and pearls).

dirty mind was calculated somewhat to be a criticial success, to get attention from new wave circles, to get rock critics to pay attention, to show prince had something outside of rnb, that he had an 'edge'. but not to score great sales.

prince knew it most likely wasnt going to be a big seller. the commercial hopes and calculations for purple rain however were another story.

prince always straddled both his artistic and commercial ambitions, which is often what made for his best stuff, but there were moments where one was more dominant than the other. im not sure you can see when those were or can parse the balance lol.

Do you realise you are saying just about the same thing I said and you are claiming to know what Prince knew?

Hoping it is successful is the same as trying to score sales. Nowhere did I say GREAT sales - This is your obsession, hence my comment to you on SOTT. I already explained that it was crucial that it needed to be critically successful (and it was) because of the change in sound - I said that this was because of the end of the disco era, you say it was show he was more than RnB. Either way it was a risk to stand out from the crowd. DM was not like ATWIAD because Prince needed DM to succeed with sufficient sales with the new sound or he risked being dumped or having restricted support, hence he actively promoted this album - insuffient sales and it all could have died right there. For AWIAD had no such threat so Prince did the bear minimum to pursue any sales. Without DM succeeding as it did, PR would never have occurred. Hence it can be listed as one of the 1980s albums where Price was concerned about sales - sufficient sales, not PR mega sales.

Given your flip/flops, I know you want to imagine that me changing wording is something more that it actually was. I was explaining the same thing by clarifying what I meant - This remains exactly the same - Prince was concerned about making sales in DM for the publicly known reasons we now both agree on. This is not like you claiming 319 as a whole song was from 1980s and then claiming you only ever meant certain elements not whole songs - this change made because a number of people pointed out other whole throwback songs before 319.

Vannormal said:

RJOrion said:

bozojones said: And its not like his dick, balls or ass was showing...all thats showing is chest arms and legs...meanwhile on prior albums he sings about getting head, having sex with his sister, masturbating in magazines,etc...the selective outrage that some Prince "fans" display, regarding that album cover, is totally asinine.

I totally agree.

You can barely see his nipples.

I wonder if they photoshopped (bleached) them for the album cover.

Actually it is just art.

And if some prince fans think like that, then it says everything about the completely skewed

narrow-mindedness, partly determined by backward religions and the anally tenacious adherents of the so-called

decency, completely determined by hypocritical incessant appearances.

Don't forget, the biggest porn industry worldwide is still American.

So most of us agree that the album art did not deserve the issues that it created. Most of us fans have the album and have no problem with it.

This does not mean that the album art did not contribute to the sales issues it created in USA (but not in most other places where the album was sold). It is not the fans, it was the record company, the wrecka stows, the radio stations and the general buying public that lead to this excellent album suffering low sales. Prince learned from this and did not do this again.

Re the US porn industry: Victorian public prudeness was also accompanied by the rise of men's private sex clubs back in the day.

What do y'all think Prince missed doing for Lovesexy that would've made it bigger in the U.S, touring aside. Another single, better videos, more TV appearances, what?

TrivialPursuit said:

What do y'all think Prince missed doing for Lovesexy that would've made it bigger in the U.S, touring aside. Another single, better videos, more TV appearances, what?

Given the cover meant too little radio play and sales, another single would not have worked by itself. The second and third single did not chart , the only single that charted was the one before the cover went public.

A re-release as tracked album with a "promotional" new cover with, say Anna Stesia and When 2 R in Love as 4th single might have worked. It could have had the original cover on the inside with the words etc. This could have even sparked sales of the original as people snapped them up as collectibles.

TrivialPursuit said:

SoulAlive said:

CAL3 said:

lovesexy sounds the most 'inspired' i think of all his albums, divinely inspired

but it also lacks the kind of formal control and craft he had on SOTT (understandable i suppose, he was never going to get that every time)

its def one of his 'quickie' type of albums, which is weird as eric leeds also thinks its overproduced, or in part anyway.

alphabet st is one of his all time best singles, anna stesia just one of the best things he did in the 80s, and i do love glam slam a lot and IWUH, but i kinda wish they didnt just repeat the same verses. dance on's drumming absolutely kills, esp with that machine gun riff, but its more like a b-side i think.

that cover really does make it a bit more special i think. id really like to see the original photos to compare it with the finished image.

makes me think, if only the later albums had better/more memorable covers, i might like them more, haha

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

that cover really does make it a bit more special i think. id really like to see the original photos to compare it with the finished image.

Imagine the drama on here if a deluxe was released with alternative versions of the art.

who knows, there might be some even more naked shots from the shoot in the archive looool

mb71 said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

that cover really does make it a bit more special i think. id really like to see the original photos to compare it with the finished image.

Imagine the drama on here if a deluxe was released with alternative versions of the art.

Or an art book of photo shoots - This would much better than duvet covers and re-releases but with different colour vinyl.

Bought it aged 18 on day of release and still one of my most played albums.. Really wished they released Lovesexy as a single. Great year 1988 for us UK prince fans, Saw him live, watched SOTT movie and got my Lovesexy album signed, all on the same day

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

who knows, there might be some even more naked shots from the shoot in the archive looool

https://i-d.vice.com/en/a...-his-spell

With Prince you did just one shot, but it certainly made its mark. How did that cover come about?
Before I met him, I was completely under Prince's spell. There was no one above him. Sure there'd been Talking Heads, Devo, and a few others… But Prince! He was doing pop, electro, funk, he sang like an angel, he could play everything, he had the look, he had Wendy and Lisa. I fell head over heels in love with Prince. He asked me to make a video for him. I spent a week in his company at the time of Lovesexy. We were in the studio in Minneapolis and he said we were leaving the next day for Los Angeles and suggested I do the album cover. We were supposed to talk and find ideas in the plane. But then we weren't together and so when we got to L.A. he invited me to come find and him at a club that night. And there he was with his Los Angeles entourage, Sheila E, Mike Tyson… As the night went on I began to get anxious, the studio was booked. Later he told me we'd talk over breakfast. Obviously I didn't sleep a wink. So I went to the essence of a choir boy: the Sistine Chapel. Prince's discourse is pretty apocalyptic, Sign O' The Times, 1999, and yet at the same time kind of tantric, that way he talks about spirituality and sexuality. I did a little drawing during the night, starting from the idea of a nude. In the morning he said, "It's perfect." That same night we chose just one Ekta which I took back to Paris with me. Then I scanned that photo and used the only machine that could retouch in Paris. It was my friend Kiki Picasso who had the demonstration model. Prince took a plane and we all found ourselves in the kitchen, the kids horsing around with his bodyguards. In the end Prince destroyed everything, and he said to me, "I think what you did with the flowers was best." The cover came out and got banned in quite a few states. It's a religious image par excellence.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

The i wish u heaven video is also brilliant btw I liked how that and the alphabet st video both had that slightly cheap look

I like all three videos from this album.The "Alphabet St." video seems like a fun throwback to the early days of music video.It's simple and some would say "cheap" looking but I think it captures the excitement and the spirit of the album.The "Glam Slam" video is a simple performance video but there is some cool choreography near the end.....Prince,Cat and the two guitarists.Very well done.The "I Wish U Heaven" is indeed brilliant.One of Prince's finest,most unique videos.

Bighead909 said:

Never bought that album. the cover ruined it for me.

You must be a real fun person

Just a long, long hour ago, the DJ on the german radio station HR1 acknowlegded the anniversary of 'Lovesexy' and played the almost full version of "Alphabet St."

NICE!

IanRG said:

Vannormal said:

I totally agree.

You can barely see his nipples.

I wonder if they photoshopped (bleached) them for the album cover.

Actually it is just art.

And if some prince fans think like that, then it says everything about the completely skewed

narrow-mindedness, partly determined by backward religions and the anally tenacious adherents of the so-called

decency, completely determined by hypocritical incessant appearances.

Don't forget, the biggest porn industry worldwide is still American.

So most of us agree that the album art did not deserve the issues that it created. Most of us fans have the album and have no problem with it.

This does not mean that the album art did not contribute to the sales issues it created in USA (but not in most other places where the album was sold). It is not the fans, it was the record company, the wrecka stows, the radio stations and the general buying public that lead to this excellent album suffering low sales. Prince learned from this and did not do this again.

Re the US porn industry: Victorian public prudeness was also accompanied by the rise of men's private sex clubs back in the day.

Agree on the suffering low sales story.

But did Prince learned? True and not true.

He performed with his assless pants, to me far moer shocking than this album cover.

A decade and a half later he performed Superbowl with his guitar/dick reflection in that curtain...

I'm (central) European and i couldn't care less.

We mostly don't give a flying fuck about this kind of far-fetched childish and unimportant approach of this so called scandalous nudity. We even can't understand all the fuzz.

My opinion is that Prince did wrong with releasing the album too early after SOTT, not touring SOTT in the US (plus the wrong single choices of SOTT in genral), and making Lovesexy album available as 'one continuous song' (CD) plus the withdrawl of the Black Album... etc.

I mean, there was a lot going on at the same time in less then 1 year!

It just wasn't one thing like the album cover.

Prince was in some sort of musical crisis, being huge, maybe not able to please all his different crowds, receiving also a change in love as a true artist, in the US and Europe...

It was a very complex and interesting year.