I want to know the reasons why, and make it soulful.

It isn't???
It is in my book.

---

I thought it was

It's still my favorite. All his differing styles and sensibilities condensed in one offering. Luv it!

Well, as long as people say TRC is better than anything he's ever done, then it will never reach that level.

u ain't gettin any reasons...i fear u gonna be ripped 2 shreds here, tho'.

Anji, no disrespect, but you must be fucking crazy to not think the Sign O The Times isn't Prince's best work. Just imagine if it was released the way it was supposed to be by being Crystal Ball. Late 1986 to 1990 Prince reached the peak of his abilities musically. I just hope that one day he can recreate the diverse and meaningful songs from that period, or just released all the songs from that time era.

Prince once said that Purple Rain was like an albatross around his neck, but I've always thought Sign o' the Times was more the albatross. Sure, commercially, he will never ever reach the height of PR, but creatively it appears he will never ever reach the heights of Sign.

That album is perfection. Whenever someone ask me what the definitive Prince album is, I ALWAYS say Sign o' the Times. I put Sign o' the Times in my school time capsule 16 years ago. I knew then, just months after its release, that it was important.

SOTT is not on my Top 5.
I don't like songs liek forever in my life, and ballad of dorothy p., i dont care for play in the sunshine and starfish and coffee to.
I luv housequake, IIWYGirfriend, SOTT, and ICNTTPOYM, but those 4 songs that i don't like at all kills the album for me.

cause it doesn't have courtin' time... soulful enough for you?

Upon the release of 'Sign O' The Times' I remember a peculiar thing happened here in the UK. Barring the likes of 'Q' and 'Melody Maker', a large proportion of the music press were very quick to dismiss 'S.O.T.T.' as "a duff LP" and "uneven". Another publication declared it to be full of "demos" and (my all-time favourite) "not a patch on Parade". The founder of Controversy magazine even confessed in conversation that 'S.O.T.T.' had left her "cold".

As a mere concept, the album appeared disjointed and disconnected and, heard cold, it simply did not seem to work.

O, what a difference a few more months were to make...

More peculiar still was observing the subsequent avalanche of praise that was heaped upon 'S.O.T.T'. by both UK and European critics alike. But this peculiar and highly amusing phenomenon manifested itself only after two significant events: the unveiling of the first European concerts, which were my privilege to witness - especially since the tour managed to miss the UK altogether - and the release of the 'S.O.T.T.' concert film.

Upon the above evidence, whether by design or by accident (and I am inclined to believe it was by accident)'S.O.T.T.' has definitely worked as a slow-burn campaign. Indeed, the album's reputation has exponentially grown in stature with the passage of time and seems to forever be gaining new adepts (always only after a couple of listens, though!).

Both the tour and the film were, I believe, catalysts and instrumental in the album embedding itself to such a significant degree in people's hearts and affections. Afterwards, when this triunvirate events were consolidated,when not only the album but now also the tour and the film were catching fire in tandem all over Europe, only then was everybody ready to fall over each other to declare 'S.O.T.T' a masterpiece; even if the album itself and the singles from it had significantly failed to set the charts on fire just a few months back.

The US press remained largely unimpressed, however(Rolling Stone magazine labelled it "incomprehensible")and sales of the album amazingly remained relatively poor on both sides of the Atlantic.

Having said all that, I believe Eric Leeds had a point when he said that they had "momentum" with that album and that the critical success that had been achieved in Europe would have had a ripple effect in the US had Prince decided to take the tour to America. It is widely believed that Prince made the biggest mistake of his career by not touring America with 'S.O.T.T.'

Ironically, and despite the relative lack of album and singles sales, the critical expectation and momentum generated by 'S.O.T.T.'s aftermath, not to mention the buzz that surrounded the live shows at the time, was still so great that it propelled Prince's following release, 'Lovesexy', to the top of the charts.
Arguably on the back of the critical momentum and the expectation 'S.O.T.T.' generated, 'Lovesexy' became Prince's first ever UK number one album.

It would be good to keep a sense of perspective and remember that S.O.T.T. initially received a lukewarm response from fans and critics alike.Commercial success has always eluded 'S.O.T.T.'and it probably continue to do so until the cows come home. But as a critical landmark, it has grown in stature with the passage of time. It's legendary status is now greater than ever.



Note to Anji: I believe the "ultimate Prince album" will never be released.
In my opinion, the album most deserving of this accolade would have been the 'Crystal Ball' triple set, before Prince had to capitulate to the wishes of Warners.

.

MrBliss said:

giotto said:

It is...to date. And just imagine how much better it would have been if released the way he wanted to release it.

7salles said:

I see in your future a painful, horrible death...
[This message was edited Tue Jun 3 5:42:37 PDT 2003 by Rhondab]

It's not because Prince is too versatile an artist to have one ultimate album. But if he had, this would have to be it!

Altho I recall the gradual appreciation curve that giotto describes, he neglects a couple of points: 1. the song SOTT itself which, I think, blew away fans and critics alike. It presented a more mature artist with musical and lyrical depth moving in new directions with greater assurance than ever b4. I think a lot of the album's reputation is tied up with the initial impression made by this song.

I agree that the album was then hard to digest for critics, fans and the industry, but it did receive a lot of positive press off the bat (the Australian reviews were good).

A couple of other tracks on the album which I think made everyone acknowledge its landmark status: Housequake, the Cross, Adore and the highlighting of Prince's live mastery on Beautiful Night.

Others that made the album difficult to digest initially: S&C, FIML, IIWYG etc.

The landmark tracks gave it the mileage which allowed the album to gradually make its long-term impression (at least with fans and critics).

It's his no.1. Always will be.

It is! it's a great electic mix of everything he is about

I have to agree with you once again Anji, and to me that's mainly because the drums work is too poor on too many tracks, repetitive, tiring and sounds out of date today (which was not the case in 1987, which made Sign my favorite album for several years). Partly for this reason, the rock/pop numbers have aged fairly badly (I could never take the place of your man, play in the sunshine, strange relationship -album version, not the live one of course- and even U Got the Look which I used to love so much bores me somewhat). Still some songs on the album are truly innovative (housequake, ballad of Dorothy Parker, If I was your girlfriend) and others are so simply and obviously beautiful (Forever in my life, Adore).

A very good album overall, but others have aged so much better (Parade is forever, 1999 was a visionnary album no house music album has come close to, Lovesexy has got that complexity -which I found excessive at the beginning- which makes you rediscover it every time)

Best test is what you put in your cd player: basically the only old prince albums I listen to on a regular basis are Parade, 1999, Lovesexy to a lesser extent, Purple Rain and Dirty Mind to an even lesser extent (for instance I would rate Around the World higher than Dirty Mind but still fopr some reason I listen to it much less often).

And for you Anji, why isn't Sign THE prince album ?

All children are EQUAL, no?

I am very happy that you started this discussion. It's funny I went to see the movie with some people who expected Purple Rain and they were obviously disappointed. I on the otherhand was amazed. I was in the drumline in my marching band at that time and when they came out with the snares on harnesses I went crazy. I was and am totally into live music and it was excellent. But back to your question. That was his best album to me because it had everything. Before that his albums were excellent but they were, like most artists albums, in the genre of the times. When he first came out he was dropping that funky Minn sound which was still JB and P-funk on the one. Purple Rain was went along with the music of the time (which I love by the way). But Sign of the Times (ironically) had everything. It had jazz (Ballad of Dorothy Parker, funk(Housequake), rock(The Cross), R&B(Everything), Commercial POP (Adore), Conscious Music(Sign of the Times), and some Ol New Funky S...(Starfish and Coffe). It was truly his best aggregation of work on one album. But I don't take anything from any of the other albums. They all have special places in my heart and represent different periods in my life.

i miss-read your post ... It is the ultimate Prince album. You probably think Kenny G is a great saxophone player.