Favorite Albums Project #2: Sign 'O' The Times by Prince

 Sign 'O' The Times by Prince

If you're anyone who's familiar with the funk of the '80s, or hell, '80s music in general, there's no doubt that you know who Prince is. Perhaps younger people know him as one of those legends that unfortunately died during the year 2016, but anyone who knows music knows him as a total funk/pop monarch. And the '80s were his hayday, for sure. Prince is one of my favorite musical artists of all time and yet I have to admit that there's a pretty steep dropoff in terms of quality from the earlier stuff to the later stuff. Regardless, he gave us what he gave us, and that's a wealth of excellent music. 

Most music fans know Prince for what's considered his masterpiece, 1984's awe-inspiring Purple Rain. For me, there are a many 10 out of 10 great songs on that album, but nothing tops his true opus, which is this album, Sign 'O' The Times. I find that it sustains the greatness of Prince for a far longer time than Purple Rain did. That is, Sign 'O' The Times is one of THE great double albums of all time. For those who don't know, double albums are when the physical release of the album is long enough to call for two whole vinyl records to be produced for each individual album. So this is a ton of music, and a ton of sustained awesomeness. Somehow, for an hour and twenty minutes, Prince takes us on a funk odyssey exploring many different moods and subjects, and it pretty much never lets up or becomes tiresome. It's an exciting ride from start to finish.

Another thing this has over Purple Rain is that it explores far more serious themes, and a variety of them at that. Not only do you get the typical Prince seduction themes, in songs like "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" and "It", you also get party anthems (like "Housequake") as well as pensive songs about relationships (the fantastic "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" and "Strange Relationship"), calls to action (the title track), and even religious contemplations ("The Cross").

Breaking it down a bit further, I adore the instrumentals on these songs. Prince makes excellent use of all the best drum machines and synthesizers of his time to come up with some of the most spine tinglingly fabulous sounds you could ever imagine, and Sheila E, one of the best drummers of all time, backs many of these tracks. Plus, Prince is truly one of the best vocalists of the twentieth century as well, so you're getting an impossibly fun combo here. 

I feel the need to mention that when doing a little bit of searching around for a picture of the cover of the album, I found some promotional stills for it that are just too great to not show y'all. So, here they are to close this out:

(Poster for the concert film accompanying the album, which is great too).

(Cover for the Super Deluxe reissue of the album which includes a ton of unreleased treats and bonuses. Definitely worth checking out if you like the album!)

Stills: