Prince - Sign O' The Times (1987)

Well, in two days the 13 LP Sign O' The Times Remastered Super Deluxe Edition is being released for the first time, so I thought I'd do a review of what is considered Prince's magnum opus. This is an album I might have played once or twice all the way through and I'm sure there is more to it than I picked up the first time. For example, I really hated U Got The Look on the second cd but now think it's a rock masterpiece. Each song is a world unto itself as are most of Prince's songs are and they quintessentially have that 80's sound. Some are rockers, some are funk jams, some are laid-back soul affairs but each shows the experimental nature that Prince embodied.

It has been said that Purple Rain was the record which defined the 80's but here Prince is able to express himself with less pressure over two cds. This is, famously, the record Prince had to literally fight his record company to release, and it was much longer even than its released form would suggest. Prince was a master and it is very apparent here, although upon first listen this might seem like a colleciton if wildly different styles and therefore might not be that appealing. Once you accept his genius though, it is easier to sit through the songs I find. It is not full of hits but as mentioned finds Prince jamming in a creative but relaxed but precise way, which makes for a magical listening experience. Rock, motown, jazz, 80's synthesizers, soul, all meld together in a tight Prince beat arrangement to what to mind sounds like a party record. After all, just listen to 'Housequake' - it's like some weird kind of house music which is just primal beats repeated again and again which after some time you submit to because you realize it isn't leading into anything else.

I'm just thinking about the timing. 2020 has been a year of the coronavirus affecting most of us in the Western civilised world. It's ironic then that Sign O' The Times is being re-released. I can't wait to see what other tracks were omitted. 

Anyway, the first cd is quite tame and chilled (or is that just the whole of the album?) with quite a lot of acoustic sounding tracks undercut with a strong drum presence as Prince usually liked as an undercurrent that supported his pop/funk/rock songwriting. The second half gets off to a great start but soon gets back to the groove with 'If I Was Your Girlfriend', where Prince's voice becomes very female. It is his ability to go high or low at will which makes him hard to label. Of course, a lot of the appeal with Prince is his inability to censor himself and sexuality mixed with flagrant confidence in his ability and coupled to Prince's returning to spiritual matters makes him a cocktail unique - a complete oddity. In that sense, the only artist I can compare him to is David Bowie who forged ahead with an enormous body of work to the very end, and went through many different stages of transformation.

Sign O' The Times isn't my favourite album but it is likable and I absolutely love the hit 'I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man', which has just made me clap along to it. There is an unbridled innocence to Prince on this song which makes it such a joy to listen to. He is once shy, twice the sexy beast willing to go back into the fire again, and he often emerges with pearls garnered from his experiences of pleasure and pain, good and bad. Prince is uusually aiming for something higher, like a prophet sent to us to show us a different perspective, and when it's wrapped up in this pop feast using cutting edge 80's equipment, we get to see our hero unleashing jam after jam to tell us we need only be ourselves truly at all times otherwise we might not survive what's coming.

We are held in Prince's warm universe for a while away from the cold of the world, and we forget our troubles. When 'The Cross' plays and we hear his rendition of Christ's suffering for us to give us our salvation we realise Prince has a message after all and it is always a hopeful one. there is no time to ruminate on the evil of the world when there is so much pleasure to be had and so many realizations to have. The sitar brings an ethereal sound to this track that we feel Prince wants to universalize his music and make it accessible for everyone, appealing as it does to our very core humanity. There is no time to feel sad, and so much time to dance. In that sense, he is similar to Zorba the Greek who never denied himself anything and yet lived with a kind of wisdom that appreciated the limits of the human life. If we are able to celebrate ourselves and our life maybe we can transcend higher and higher.

That is well and good. Even as it happens, we find we find ourselves in a world full of more possibilities and happiness. When that opening to joy is achieved we find our deepest desires and dreams coming true, and deep down, that's what we all all want. 

Sign O' The Times makes me think of a day from morning to night, from waking to partying. In that way it encapsulates the life of a cool guy/girl who is living life to the full and then some but also finding time to reflect on the deeper aspects of life.

We end on the smooth 'Adore' which is like an after-eight mint, eaten at the end of a hearty dinner, as everyone is sitting around comfortably with the lights dimmed, but in Prince's universe this always happens privately with a beautiful female he can sing his sweet adorations to, promising them and therefore, I think, us, all his love. We have been given a glimpse into what it is to be Prince, and it's something truly fantastic, and something most of us guys can only hope to be, but we try, because that is what art is meant to make us do. Let's make ourselves into a prince, a star from a far-away land, and a leader of others. Let's lead and not follow, change the world into a more beautiful place, bring peace to our friends and live life wholly, because we have now heard the sign of the times, and they are calling.

Chosen track: