1987, Part 3: Everybody Still Wants To Fly
“Sign O The Times” is a watershed moment in Prince’s career. For many people, it is simply his best album. It would be unfair to regard it as anything less than a major contender for that prize. Personally, it’s a toss up between SOTT and The Gold Experience. Generally speaking, I do not associate music or albums with places, times or events. Most people seem to tie their favorite music to what was going on at the time they originally heard it. The quality of the music is inextricably tied to the quality of the moment. I do not have this, but I can tell you exactly where I was when I got SOTT and The Gold Experience, and that has less to do with the quality of the moment as it does the quality of the music. If you only buy one Prince album, most critics will tell you to buy SOTT, and they would not steer you wrong.
Black Day, Stormy Night
Change was an inescapable element of Prince’s life in 1986. The Revolution had been demolished, his relationship with Susannah Melvoin had disintegrated, Paisley Park had opened for business, and in the wake of the spectacular failure of “Under the Cherry Moon,” Warner Bros. was looking with a jaundiced eye at Prince’s grand visions for his future. Prince wanted to release a triple album? Nope. Prince wanted to release a single album…under an alias. The response was certainly less negative, but far from positive.
If anything, Warner Bros. felt they were being indulgent enough with Prince, and not without good reason. They had, after all, paid for Paisley Park’s construction, promoted “Parade” as an album and tour in spite of “Under the Cherry Moon” tanking, and were supporting the Madhouse project, even though it honestly had no audience to speak of. And it’s safe to say Warner Bros. had no idea why Prince would jettison the Revolution. He had finally hit the stratosphere as “Prince and the Revolution” – why, oh why, would you tamper with a formula for success?
There don’t seem to be any clear answers. Even if Prince were still with us and in a mood to be chatty about it, it’s unlikely he would give us any kind of reason that would create a satisfying narrative. He just felt like he had to get clear of some things and immediately removed anything that made him feel weighed down. Personally, I suspect as his relationship with Susannah became untenable, so did his continued working relationship with Lisa & Wendy, Mark Brown had already given notice, and well, from there it all just snowballed. But again, I only suspect. We’ll never really know.
Color You Peach And Black, Color Me Taken Aback
In 2020, the Estate released a Super Deluxe version of SOTT. The centerpiece of which is the long overdue remastering of the original album and accompanying b-sides, however, there was also a whopping three discs of material from the vault, almost all of which was completely new. Highlights include “A Large Room With No Light,” “Rebirth of the Flesh” and “Soul Psychodelicide,” a 12-minute instrumental jam that has become the stuff of legend among fans. All of this material is available on Tidal, and I cannot give it a stronger recommendation. It’s awesome.
In the end, after a year of manic recording, personal upheaval, and restless creativity, “Sign O The Times” was at last finalized in the second week of January 1987. The album was released at the end of March, Prince’s second double album in five years. Prince needed a hit, and a hit it was. One of the things I continue to find appealing about it is Prince uses the additional runtime of the double album to spread out stylistically as opposed to simply making longer songs. Like the Beatles’ “White Album” there is a breadth of material here that justifies the time spent listening.
Tracklist
Sign O The Times
Prince felt that an album should be titled after a likely hit single from the album, preferably one that dovetailed well with the album’s themes. In this respect, “Sign O The Times” fulfills its function perfectly. For an artist known for being over the top, an avatar for the 1980’s brand of excess, this is a complete 180 degree turn. The atmosphere of the song is possibly even more arid than “When Doves Cry.” The majority of it is just a sequencer, a guitar and a single voice. It also shows Prince stretching himself as a lyricist a bit more. It’s not hard to see a little more thought and effort went into “In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name / By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon he did the same” than “I love you baby, I love you so much / Maybe we should stay in touch.” And those two lyrics were recorded almost exactly a year apart.
B-Side: La La La He He Hee
This probably came from the same sessions with Sheena Easton that produced “U Got The Look,” as at least the initial idea of the song seems to have come from her. I hate to say this, but of all Prince’s non-album B-Sides thus far, only “(Gotta Stop) Messin’ About” is less interesting. It’s there on Tidal, but you have been warned.
Play in the Sunshine
Functionally, this serves the same purpose as “Let’s Go Crazy,” and the lyrics reflect that: they are a restatement of all the same sentiments. This was recorded at the end of November 1986 and was included on the last versions of “Crystal Ball.” It was also the last session for Susannah Melvoin. Interestingly, Prince is credited as himself, although at least in some sections the “Camille” effects are definitely applied to his vocals.
Housequake
By 1987, anyone who was eligible for the “Black” charts (yup, we’re still talking about those. In fact, I’ll just tell you right now. It was called “Hot Black Singles” – you may cringe now – until 1990). Anyway, as I was saying, anyone who was eligible for the “Black” charts could no longer completely ignore Hip-Hop. Prince would wrestle with this musical movement for years, and never quite come to terms with it, but this was his first attempt to synthesize it somehow, and it comes off better than most of his attempts. The ”rapped” bits read more as what would be called “patter” in musical theatre parlance, and as such are more effective than his out-and-out raps will ever be. This one doesn’t really resonate on the record, but trust me, it burned the place down live every time it was played.
The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
This is the best damn song on the album. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. My partner asked me which song I was most excited to write about this week, and before she could even finish the sentence I was saying “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker.” Remember when I said I remember exactly where I was when I got this album? I was at the mall in Champaign, IL. I was visiting my high school girlfriend. Going to her prom, actually. Anyway, before I left town we dropped by the mall, and as was already my habit, I looked at the Prince CDs. I already had “The Hits”, and I knew I liked everything from this album, so I grabbed it as a safe bet for the drive home. I liked the first few tracks, especially the extended bit on the tail end of the title track, but then “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” came on, and I knew I was going to get everything I could that Prince ever released ever.
“The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” is atmospheric, the instrumentation, especially the bass (which still sounds impossible to play, even though I have seen both Prince and Rhonda Smith do it) bubbles and almost seems to disappear sometimes beneath the lyrics. Unusually for a Prince song, it’s a narrative. Essentially, Prince is fighting with his girlfriend, so he goes to a local diner and orders a fruit cocktail and then picks up his waitress (the titular Dorothy). They go back to her place. They may or may not actually have sex, but he seems to take a bath in her tub with his pants on while she plays Joni Mitchell records. He goes home and makes up with his girlfriend. That’s it.
Part of that atmosphere (in fact maybe most or all of it) comes from an accident. New recording gear had just been set up in Prince’s house. During that process, the house lost power, which blew out half the power supply of the board, so everything sounds a bit murky and dull. Of course, since it was Prince, there was no time to test anything before it was used. The engineer (Susan Rogers) noticed things didn’t sound right when Prince started recording, but by that point knew better than to stop him recording for what was then an unknown technical fault that could take any amount of time to fix. After the day was done, Rogers told Prince about the problem, but when he listened back to the song, he liked the way it sounded, so he never re-recorded it. Not to be pedantic, but there’s a lesson there.
Anyway, when they released the Super Deluxe version, I was excited to see they included a track called “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker (with horns)”. I imagined how much cooler it would sound with saxophone and whatnot.
I was wrong. It’s bad. It just sounds too busy. Honestly, it sounds like a saxophone player is practicing by creating imaginary lead sheets for a Prince song. Prince, in an unusual move for him, wisely pulled back on his excess and took the horns out for the album.
It
Hurr Hurr Hurr guess what this one’s about. Yeah, this was Prince hollering about sex over his synthesizers. I don’t skip it when it comes up on my jogging playlist, but what else am I supposed to say about this one? Honestly.
Starfish And Coffee
Another fantastic track. When I first heard it I couldn’t believe how many absolute classic-sounding songs were on this album. On just the first disc! It’s a simple, whimsical song about a girl in elementary school who sees the world in a unique way. I listened to this album for many years before I realized the drums were backmasked.
Susannah Melvoin has a co-writing credit on this song, because the story is hers. She knew Cynthia Rose, went to school with her, and every other detail of the story.
Slow Love
This is a very unusual song. For one thing, it sounds like Prince doing his best to do show he can run with the best R&B Crooners ever – from the arrangement to the vocals, to even the structure of the song, it is classic R&B. If Marvin Gaye, The Temptations or Al Green had recorded it, it would have sounded almost exactly like this. This effect was helped along by the fact that Prince did not write it. In fact, it was written by Carole Davis. She’s pretty rad, look her up. She’s a kind of Renaissance woman, there is very little she hasn’t done. She only gets co-writing credit here, but apart from some work on the bridge, Prince did very little writing or composing here. This probably accounts for how quickly it was phased out of his live show. The last performance was in 1989.
Hot Thing
Again, guess what this one’s about? In this case, however, the arrangement and overall quality of the song merit a bit more of a mention. Prince used a few production techniques here that he used for many years and may have first been tried out here. You may have to listen carefully for it (although it’s less difficult to hear on the remastered version), but the main hook of the song is actually an electric guitar doubled with a keyboard. The result is a strange kind of attack to the notes. Eric Leeds also has an engaging, if meandering, sax part here.
Forever In My Life
Yet again, a classic. “Forever In My Life” is not groundbreaking in any kind of lyrical sense, but the sincerity of delivery, sparce instrumentation and quirky vocal arrangement make this one of Prince’s most engaging ballads. The fact that so few people seem to have heard it puzzles me.
But back to the quirky vocal arrangement. Again, we have a technical accident that led to a changed song. In most call-and-response songs, the lead voice calls and the background vocals respond. So you would have:
Prince: When I am with you / I have no past
Background: (no past)
This is how the song was originally intended to be heard. During overdubs, the engineer (Susan Rogers again) accidentally played back the layered background vocals at the wrong intervals. So instead, you get what would normally be the response followed by the call:
Background: (no past)
Prince: When I am with you / I have no past
As complicated and overwrought as this feels as I type it out, when you hear it, the song gets an interesting kind of syncopation from it, an extra “swing” if you will. Prince, again, liked it, and that’s how the song was performed from then on.
U Got The Look
There are very few songs in Prince’s catalog that were written expressly for the purpose of being a commercial hit. “U Got The Look” is definitely one of them, and probably the most effective as both a song and a commercial single.
Apparently written with a guitar hook that deliberately references “Addicted to Love” by Robert Palmer, “U Got The Look” is the only “new” song on this album, in the sense that it did not appear on “Dream Factory,” “Camille,” “Crystal Ball” or any other project before landing on SOTT. I am guessing that after all the running around and back and forth with Warner Bros, Prince wanted to make sure the next time he submitted an album everyone was happy with the product, so he threw in an obvious pop hit (with Sheena Easton) just to be sure.
If I Was Your Girlfriend
I used to work in a shop that sold used books, cds, games, etc. I worked with people that were, and I don’t mean this in a mean way, extremely Country. The kind of people who are on a first name basis with Toby Keith, Reba McEntire and Hank Williams, Jr. despite never having met them.
One day my manager discovers I like Prince and says “Owe mah Gawd! Ah LUV me sum Prance! Yew know mah fav’rit sawng? That If Ah Wuz Yer Girlfren! Hoo dawgies!” (fans self)
It says something about the quality of the song that despite not being a major hit, that this woman not only heard and remembered it, but loved it. I have to say, I have to agree with my former manager’s assessment. It is probably my favorite Prince ballad.
B-Side: Shockadelica
“Shockadelica” is everything “La La La He He Hee” isn’t. It’s one of the best B-Sides Prince ever released and is practically essential to any fan. This was actually written when Prince found out Jesse Johnson (formerly of The Time) had a new album out called “Shockadelica” but it didn’t have a title track.
Strange Relationship
One of the features of this album is a large number of songs that are genuine classics but are never going to be radio hits. “If I Was Your Girlfriend” was the one sincere attempt at making one of those songs a hit, and the only place it broke the Top 10 was Ireland, so there was no way “Strange Relationship” was going to get a chance for airplay.
This song was originally recorded in 1983, and some of those original tracks are still present on the 1987 version, but by and large this is a new recording. The song itself is a boppy, jaunty, almost frothy instrumentation over some of the darkest lyrics Prince ever wrote. It’s right up there with “Every Breath You Take” in terms of its chances of being misunderstood lyrically based on the instrumental content. For example:
"I came and took your love, I took your body I took all the self-respect you ever had I took you for a ride and, baby, I'm sorry The more you love me, sugar, the more it makes me mad"
That said, it’s a cult classic among fans for three reasons: 1. It slaps. 2. It’s on this album, and 3. Prince refused to stop playing it live. The last performance of “Strange Relationship” was the third to last performance of his life.
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
I think this song might have the longest title in Prince’s catalog. Back in the late 90’s when I was converting my CDs to digital, I remember I had to abbreviate this song because my naming conventions used so many characters. I think it ended up being something like: “02-04-Prince-ICudNeve-1987-SignOTheTimes.mp3”
Seriously, it took me years to figure out I could save three characters by just removing the disc number and calling it 13. Years, y’all. I was in college. (For theater)
Anyway, this is an up-tempo, Four-on-the-floor rock and roller that was as guaranteed to get airplay as “Strange Relationship” wasn’t. Interesting, then, that this song had sat around since 1979 before being dusted off and completely re-made. Some really lovely guitar work on this one - and an example of what I’m talking about when I talk about Prince burying acoustic guitars in the mix. Listen close – it’s in there…
The Cross
There are more than a few instances of bare-faced God Rock in Prince’s catalog, but few this blatant. And God Rock it is, complete with sparse, quiet beginning and thundering, anthemic end. It uses all the cheap tricks available to the musician to get the crowd on its feet with their lighters in the air and does it with no shame whatsoever. The problem with these cheap tricks, of course, is that they are highly effective. They work. As does this song, even if you do feel gross 10 seconds after the song is done.
It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night
As you may have guessed from my mp3 reminiscence above, I like my music organized a certain way. I have spent two decades now figuring out how I like things to be, and which labels I like to use. My problem, however, is that I tend to like artists who give the finger to labels and seem to deliberately work to undermine their effectiveness. Take “live” for instance. If there is a studio version of a track, you would call it “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night”, and then if it gets a release on a live album “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night (live)”
Except…Prince doesn’t really work like that. This track, in all honesty, is neither a live nor a studio recording. The track started out as a live recording by Prince and the Revolution from August 25, 1986. Then, in late November (by which time Prince had hit the quick-release on the Revolution), that original recording was taken to Sunset Sound, where Prince overdubbed several tracks of vocals, a piano, a horn arrangement (all on the 22nd and 23rd), vocals from Jill Jones (26th), a rap verse from Sheila E literally recorded over the phone (early morning on the 27th), and then further overdubs and editing on the 27th 28th, 29th and 30th. The result of all this hard work, while fun to listen to, is no longer what you would call a live track. In many places the overdubs drown out the live stuff almost entirely. If you listen closely, you can hear Prince leading the crowd in a chant, while someone in the studio sings a verse over the top of it all.
So yeah, sometimes there is no clear line between “live” and “studio” recordings and that’s fine. Thank God I learned that before I got into Frank Zappa…
Adore
Prince closes out the album in full Al Green mode. The paranoia and impending doom of the title track are forgotten in the swirling confection of Prince chirping at some beloved woman or other. It’s the perfect counterpoint to the title track and a good representation of the wide stylistic range this album has. People who don’t know will tell you “Purple Rain” is where it’s at, but really what you’re looking for, if you want a real representation of what Prince tried to do throughout his career, your first opportunity is here, with “Sign O The Times.”
***Special thanks are due to princevault.com for providing all of the tiny details. They are awesome.***
NEXT WEEK: Don’t Buy The Black Album, I’m Sorry
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