Color U Peach & Black: Prince’s ‘Sign O’ the Times’ Turns 30 (Part 1, Disc 1)
March 31, 1987: Prince released his ninth studio album, Sign O’ the Times. A double-album/two-disc Paisley Park Records collection that arrived on the heels of 1986′s Parade (which was also a March 31st release) and in between that year’s two Madhouse joints--8 (January) and 16 (November), SOTT shuttered the dramatic whimsy of its predecessor in favor of solid, rock steady funk, soul, and social commentary. The album was met with immediate critical acclaim, delivered four chart-topping singles (the title track, “U Got the Look” featuring Scottish pop star Sheena Easton, “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” and “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man”), enjoyed an impressive run on the Billboard 200 chart, and was certified platinum by the RIAA. SOTT received multiple Grammy nominations in 1988, including Album of the Year and Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance by a Group or Duo for “U Got the Look.” An accompanying full-length concert film hit theaters in November, giving stateside fans an opportunity to experience the album live since the Sign O’ the Times tour was a strictly European affair.
Frequently cited as the last official Revolution album and a stark transition between the outgoing and incoming musical personnel (Wendy, Lisa, and Bobby Z. were on their way out [Dr. Fink and Brown Mark remained], while Miko Weaver, Sheila E., Levy Seacer, Jr., Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, dancer Cat Glover, vocalist/keyboard player Boni Boyer, and Wally Safford and Greg Brooks would make up the band featured in the movie; longtime collaborators Susannah Melvoin and Jill Jones were also featured on the album but not in the film), SOTT marks both the end of an era and the inaugural outing of the new sounds and visuals Prince would cultivate throughout the latter part of the 1980s. Having dominated the first part of the decade and, depending on whom you ask, peaked with 1984′s Purple Rain, SOTT moved in an unapologetically different direction than even his immediate post-Purple Rain album, Around the World in a Day. Conceptually, thematically, aesthetically, SOTT was a swift departure from much of what even diehard fans had come to know of Prince’s music of the time, beginning with the album’s first single and album opener, the title track.
Consider for a moment the times during which SOTT was released: still in the midst of the Reagan era, the AIDS crisis, inner-city (and, as more than one cultural historian has suggested, government-sanctioned) crack cocaine epidemic, the song “Sign O’ the Times” paints a grim picture of the present moment, referencing hardcore drug addiction, space shuttle disasters, the ongoing threat of nuclear war, and the pitfalls of the “me” decade. Carried by one of Prince’s slickest bass lines to date and his signature guitar riffs, the song’s narrative does more to serve as a cautionary tale than to offer even the smallest glimmer of hope. Even the seemingly nonsensical closing lyric, “Let’s fall in love, get married, have a baby/we’ll call him Nate if it’s a boy,” feels like surrender. And yet, within just a few measures, Prince encourages us to “Play in the Sunshine.”
With its obvious nod to high-energy gospel (in a similar vein as “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Delirious”), “Play in the Sunshine” is trippy, happy, joyous. Inviting us into a world where we “love all our enemies til the gorilla falls off the wall” and where “we’re not afraid to make love in the sunshine,” the album’s second track, which Prince and crew performed live on the 1987 MTV VMAs, is the perfect segue into the super-funky dance floor favorite, “Housequake.” Featuring Prince’s alter-ego, Camille, on lead vocals, “Housequake” is James Brown funk at its finest. It’s a party banger that still gets in one’s ass good and plenty, all these years later.
The poetic stream of consciousness that is “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” follows, weaving a tale of a bewildered lover who, after “talkin’ stuff in a violent room/fighting with lovers past,” seeks the wisdom and comfort of “someone with a quicker wit.” He stumbles upon a waitress, Dorothy, who invites him to take a bubble bath while they listen to Joni Mitchell after serving him fruit cocktail. He obliges, but refuses to remove his trousers because, well, he’s “kinda goin’ with someone.” Dorothy is unfazed, and the song is a brilliant mix of melancholy and muted keys, intricate drum loops, and slippery-sounding bass.
Because no Prince album is an official Prince album without sex--and lots of it, “It” storms in to shake us from our relatively subdued vibe. Damn near screeching in a most plaintive way, Prince unabashedly lays out his love for “doin’ it,” “in the bed, on the stairs, anywhere.” Alright.
Possibly one his sweetest songs ever, “Starfish and Coffee” is the true story of a real little girl, Cynthia Rose, as told to Prince by the song’s co-writer, Susannah Melvoin. A simple ode to childhood innocence, wonder, and imagination, the song is an instant mood lifter sure to bring a smile to your face.
The horn-heavy, sexy “Slow Love” is a smoldering slow jam espousing the virtues of slipping gently into a romantic movement. With strings arranged by the great Claire Fischer, this tune evokes the seductive build-up of dancing close, temperatures rising, and sweet, sweaty release.
“Hot Thing” brings back the drums, the horns, the funk, and the sweat as the second to last track on SOTT’s first disc. As the B-side for the “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” single, “Hot Thing” got an especially hot work out in the concert film, with Prince and Cat entangled in a particularly erotic dance sequence. The song also received a couple remixes by producer Shepp Pettibone, and was one of the songs featured on the soundtrack for Spike Lee’s film, Girl 6, a decade later.
Closing out the first disc is the divine “Forever in My Life.” One of many tunes from that era said to have been inspired by his one-time fiancée, Susannah Melvoin, “Forever in My Life” opens with an insanely catchy hook before launching full-on into one of Prince’s most heartfelt declarations of love. Pouring his heart out of a driving drum beat and pulsating bass line, Prince makes it known that “there comes a time in everyone’s life when he gets tired of fooling around.” Whether a sincere marriage proposal or a unique way to say “I’m ready to get serious,” the song absolutely goes down as one of his dopest. Don’t believe me? Peep the video below. Them harmonies, chile!
(Meet me back here tomorrow for part 2!)
