manci said:

I got into Prince heavily w/ PR & ATWIAD but pretty much feel the same way. SOTT is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a true masterpeice but it's not my fave. Somewhere in the top 3 or 4... and Parade are my top 2 and SOTT and TGE keep fighting for 3rd. heh

Definitely a Masterpiece.

flipwilson said:

I agree that many of the live versions are better, like the two mentioned, Play in the Sunshine, Forever in My Life, the title track.
It's the Lovesexy band performing Sign 'o' the Times.
What more could you want?

There are a few instances where I wish he used a live band instead of doing the written, arranged, produced, & performed by Prince thing
Emancipation
Rave
Musicology

I like the sound of The Rainbow Children, because at least he used John Blackwell on drums, making it sound more live, even though Prince played most of the rest of the instruments.

Sign 'o' the Times was never my favorite album. I liked the shorter, flowing albums like Dirty Mind, Purple Rain, Parade, Lovesexy.
But now, almost 20 years later, I recognise it as a masterpiece for the awsome collection of songs.

I remember when this one was going to be released. I had just gotten out of the 4th grade and had nothing to do. The day it came out, me and my mother went to the mall to buy it. We'd heard that his lyrics were supposed to be toned down a bit but when she saw the title 'Hot Thing', her reaction was "uh-oh!"
I took it home, listened to it and I've been hooked ever since.

this album rules!! i was 15 when it was released and already a bonafied fan. at that time, IF I WAS YOUR GIRLFRIEND was the best song i'd ever heard. STRANGE RELATIONSHIP, IT, THE CROSS, ADORE and FOREVER IN MY LIFE, absolutely RULE!
[This message was edited Sun May 16 23:00:50 2004 by JOEYCOCO]

This one could be in my #2 spot, right after Lovesexy. We all know how good it is, I just wish I could ship one to everybody who has no idea!

and incidentally, has anybody listened to this album in the headphones lately? Take my word for it, and go do it right now!

great album !!! one of my all time faves but NOT well recieved by the average pop music listener upon its release. it may very well have been Prince's masterpiece but at the time nobody really seemed to care all that much. people and music critics like to praise it now but when it came out it sort of floated along. My point is that people like to rewrite history . Dis Purple Rain for not being all that when indeed it WAS ALL THAT and a bag of chips. Call SOTT the bomb now when nobody really gave a darn back when it dropped.

THE BEST OF THE BEST. A MASTERPIECE, EVERY SINGLE SONG IS EXCELLENT. YOU HAVE TO GET IT AND LISTEN TO IT MANY MANY TIMES. THE LYRICS ARE TRULY POETIC.

Scandalous69 said:

Sing O the Times takes my #2 spot right after 1999. A near perfect record.

chrisslope9 said:

I'm not sure what you're talking about. It was hailed by critics when it came out. It may not have been as big a seller as he was used to because double albums usually aren't. But, to say that we're revising history here is nonsense. Personally, it rocked my high school sophomore world.

NouveauDance said:

Good, I was hoping you were.

chrisslope9 said:

That's not quite accurate - it received the best reviews of his career and won the Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll in 87, which was (and still is) the largest critics poll in the world. It sold fairly well for a double album, though sales weren't stellar when judged by superstar standards. However, you have to remember that Prince was just coming off of the UTCM debacle and was trying to repair his reputation.

Also - this has been mentioned before, but I'll say it again - If I Was Your Girlfriend was a horrible choice for a single. That killed the momentum of the album, but it was revived by U Got the Look and ICNTTPOYM.

flipwilson said:

I forgot to mention the biggest mistake that was made with this album - he didn't take it on the road in North America.

It's 2nd 4 me of all time next 2 Purple Rain.
Amazing album. Not one weak track and so musically diverse.
P in his prime.

I remember the day it came out.

Like everyone else has said, it touched on so many different styles that it felt like there was something AWESOME for everybody, from the rock of U Got the Look to the jazzy groove of Dorothy Parker to the electro funk of Hot Thing and It...

I got it the day it came out, and the whole record, song by song, was like listening to a greatest hits collection that I'd never heard before, if that makes sense.
[This message was edited Mon May 17 20:56:25 2004 by otan]

Well this album is the best album only bcuz it has the best song n the world on it, IF I WAS UR GIRLFRIEND. Even my GIRLFRIEND thinks that it is the BEST PRINCE SONG EEEEEVVVVVEEEEERRRRR!!!!! How great is that.

Great f***in' album. Absolutely brilliant. It sounded like nothing else in R&B in 1987. This was Prince at his prime. He could do no wrong. This is proof enough why he is what he is. Genius, in a word. It rocked hard, it was funky, it was jazzy, it was melodic, it was more than enough of
satisfaction in a record. You're not a real Prince fan if you do not own or appreaciate this masterpiece. I don't care what you say or think, that's just a fact. Dig?
































































































































But 2nd in comparison to Purple Rain.