50 great things about Prince's 'Sign O' The Times'

39. "...well, maybe not the ride"

38. Acoustic guitar sting during the fade of Forever in My Life

40. Prince's cousin developing a smack habit mere months after smoking weed for the first time. Well, that escalated quickly!

lol

41. Prince watching the news and reading papers.

31 wins this walking away

42. "ONE TWO ONE WOOO!" at the very end of I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man

43. GREEN EGGS AND HAM!

44. The piercing shrieks in 'Hot Thing', which make Prince sound like he's auditioning to be the lead vocalist for a grindcore band.

45. The riff at the end of "U Got The Look"

46. The Pontiac Grand Prix front end on the cover.

47. The emotional knottiness-unto-creepiness of "If I Was Your Girlfriend" and "Strange Relationship."

48. That weird pterodactyl shriek that Sheena Easton (?) does at one point in "UGTL"

49. "Step right this way, ladies"

50. The beyond genius "Dorothy Parker" drum programming

48. That weird pterodactyl shriek that Sheena Easton (?) does at one point in "UGTL"

― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, May 11, 2016 1

thought it was Prince himself

51. Prince's shades on the cover

Xpost It's been a minute since I watched it but I think in the video / SOTT film she looks at the camera and does it. It's also never sounded like his voice to me.

Shit 49 s/b "Look at the bargains offered here, ladies" . Mods please correct!

*over here

Sheesh. My memory's failing.

They're not shades, they're glasses! As evidenced by the SOTT movie.

52. The fact that "U Got the Look" is the only hit/single/song ever made to include the word heck-a-slammin'.

53. for you naked i would dance a ballet

54. sometimes i trip on happy we could be....PLEEEEEE-HEEE-HEEE-HEEEEEEEASE!!!!

*how happy... and the way his vocals distort at the end of that phrase

That was already at #15.

(xpost)

55. I just hate 2 see an erection go 2 waste!

56. The 'Hot Thing' bass note being slightly out of tune.

57. The self-aware melancholy in I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man.

Xxpost Wrong album

58. How "Hot Thing" goes from synth menace to a sax breakdown.

59. Play? No! PLAY! NOOOOO!

They're not shades, they're glasses! As evidenced by the SOTT movie.

Ok, in fairness, I haven't seen the movie in 20+ years.

But yes, you are correct. Another reason I thought they were cool, IIRC.

60. How the record is noted for being one of Prince's finest, yet the form it eventually took was not Prince's original vision for it!

61. u got the look's baseball metaphor is the best since paradise by the dashboard light

62. The way everyone slags off 'Slow Love', even though it's absolutely magnificent.

63. the nothing compares 2 u call back in adore

64. The encouraging way he says "Go on, Cynth" at 1:58 of Starfish and Coffee

65. Sheena Easton's "Oh please" in U Got the Look, which will be eternally cool

66. How this album basically introduced Camille. I remember how WEIRD it was to first hear that vocal effect on a Prince song the day I brought the album home (bought it the weekend of release). But this was Prince and he always aaaalways had something new up his sleeve then.

67. the best use of factory presets on a record ever?

68. The literally phoned-in rap in "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night".

69. The Fairlight orchestral stab sound is one of the most memorable parts of the titular song, and yet the stab is heard only two times, towards the end of tune. It takes only about two seconds of the 5 minute song, but Prince sure knew how to use those two seconds most effectively.

70. The ending to 'Play In The Sunshine', which is not so much psychedelic as an utterly bizarre mess that somehow works!

This is one of the few consensus "best albums" that actually is his best album. It really encapsulates everything I love about Prince.

Including those glasses.

71. "Mind if I turn on..." *drum fill* "...the radio?"

72. That there are just enough songs on this that I forget a few and am pleasantly surprised when I remember them every now and then.

73. Side 3 is prob the best run of songs Prince ever did:

U GOT THE LOOK
IF I WAS UR GIRLFRIEND
STRANGE RELATIONSHIP
I COULD NEVER TAKE THE PLACE OF YOUR MAN

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/65/38/98/65389838d91e18c556a6f280aab23df1.jpg

Glasses!

Simon Reynolds with an interesting take on the new edition.

http://blissout.blogspot.com/2020/10/cornucopious.html?m=1

His actual review -
https://4columns.org/reynolds-simon/prince

the only reason I can think of that the estate didn't put on the full "Crystal Ball" recording, "Movie Star" and some other cuts of this vintage on this box is because he threw it out will nilly on the 98 record by the same name? I would think that it would be fundamental to include every recording that was germane to Camille, Dream Factory and Crystal Ball projects…

I can't remember the details, but yes, they couldn't include those tracks because of some legal business with the rights to those songs. It sucks.

I bet we'll eventually see full releases of those albums.

what's this strange relationship
ship
ship
ship

doot doot doodoodoot

14. "BULLSHIT...I MEAN REALLY!"

― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Wednesday, May 11, 2016 4:06 PM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

i mean real-lay!
real-lay!
real-lay!

Shut up, already! Damn.

Times.

Thepantswerewettheycameoffbutshehadntseenthemoviecosshehadntreadthebookfirst