Sign “☮” the Times by Prince
Sign "O" the Times, stylized as Sign "☮" the Times, is the ninth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on March 31, 1987 by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album is the follow-up to Parade (1986), and Prince's first "solo" album following his departure from The Revolution; the symbol between the quotes is a peace sign. The album's music draws on funk, soul, psychedelic pop, and rock music. Sign o' the Times features lyrical themes such as the depressing state of the world in the title track, gender identity/androgyny in "If I Was Your Girlfriend", party funk in "Housequake", sexual lust in "It", replacing a loved one in "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man", and spiritual enlightenment in "The Cross". The album also had an accompanying concert film of the same name. Michaelangelo Matos of Spin cites the album as "the last classic R&B album prior to hip-hop's takeover of black music and the final four-sided blockbuster of the vinyl era." Keith Harris of Blender dubs it a "masterpiece" and comments that "never has curiousity about women strayed into so many unpredictable corners." In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Matos calls it " best album, the most complete example of his artistry's breadth, and arguably the finest album of the 1980s."
Prince didn’t waste any time in the 1980s. Even before the arrival of his 1986 film <i>Under the Cherry Moon</i>—which turned out to be a royal flop—he was already at work on new music, resulting in the double album that would become perhaps his most obsessed-about record of his career: <i>Sign O’ The Times</i>. Released in 1987, the album marked the end of Prince’s astonishing run with The Revolution, his famed backing band (though the group is credited here on the live jam “It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night”, and members Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman are featured elsewhere). The 16 tracks that make up the original edition of <i>Sign O’ The Times</i> find Prince incorporating the various sounds he’d perfected during The Revolution era—including the psychedelic trippiness of 1985’s <i>Around the World in a Day</i>—along with the funk and R&B innovations he’d made on his own before <i>Purple Rain</i> turned him into a pop-rock supernova. <i>Sign O’ The Times</i> is, in essence, his magnum opus—at once a summary and celebration of everything Prince was capable of during the peak of his powers. And with the hit title tune—the album’s first single, and opening track—the Purple One became the Political One, tackling everything from drug addiction to nuclear war. On an album packed with lushly produced tracks, “Sign O’ The Times” is notably spare—so much so, you really <i>hear</i> the message in the music. It’s one of Prince’s boldest statements, and a spiritual successor to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”. And he was just getting started. <i>Sign O’ The Times</i> also features such crucial cuts as “If I Was Your Girlfriend”, which he sings from the perspective of his female alter ego, Camille; it’s a slinky, slightly sinister piece of freaky funk. “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man”, meanwhile, is a burst of guitar-pop glitter that wouldn’t have been out of place on <i>Purple Rain</i>. And the album closer “Adore” is one of Prince’s all-time best ballads, one that finds him at the top of his game (and his falsetto). In between it all comes “U Got the Look”, <i>Sign O’ The Times</i>’ biggest single, and a bit of pop-rock perfection, with an eroticised Sheena Easton providing heck-a-slammin’ support.
