REMEMBERING PRINCE: 1988







Like Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, Prince's success in the pop charts came with accusations of abandoning his "black" sound for a more mainstream pop one. Truth is Prince's first 5 albums were well within the so-called black music genre and he did shoot to fame with the 5th of those ("1999") but superstardom only came when he switched to pop/rock with "Purple Rain". What is also true is that Prince always stayed faithful to his R&B roots: even when he was releasing pop/rock albums, he was still composing R&B/funk albums and songs for his army of proteges. Despite this, Prince felt the need to return back to his R&B roots in late 1987 with an album originally called "The Funk Bible" but with a sleeve which featured no title, no artist name and no tracklist and was thus dubbed "The Black Album" (R&B #18, UK #36).
To make things even more complicated, Prince changed his mind about this release at the very last moment and withdrew and destroyed all copies, leaving just about 100 odd copies mostly in Europe. The result was the most famous bootleg ever for Prince and a 1987 release which costs a small fortune nowadays. The album finally got a proper release in 1994 (with a sticker providing proper credits) and that's when it reached the chart positions mentioned above.
Indeed this is a very different album compared to "Sign O' The Times" and is a very profound return to Prince's R&B/funk roots. The album is not a trip back to memory lane though, 1987 was the year rap exploded big time with artists such as Public Enemy, LL Cool J. and Rakim and the album features more than a few nods to this upcoming genre that would change R&B beyond recognition. The album's funkiness is obvious right from opening track "Le Grind" a long jam that gives the listener the feeling of being in a Prince aftershow. Things get even funkier with "Cindy C.", a song about Mrs. Crawford with added spirituality coming courtesy of a rap by Prince's ultra-talented choreographer/rapper Cat. But from there on the album abandons proper funk and moves straight into rap territory. "Dead On It" is the first rap track Prince ever did (although he had experimented with rap in a few of his compositions for Sheila E. before such as "Holly Rock" and "Koo Koo") and it's quite nice (albeit not great) in a very 80s way. "When 2 R In Love" is the album's ballad, a rather sweet and nice one but it does feel a little out of place here. "Bob George" is clearly the highlight of the "rap" songs in the album. Featuring a break-dance beat and electric guitar, Prince performs it with an altered deeper voice. Thematically it's a comic depiction of life in the hood complete with a murder ending the song. "Superfunkycalifragisexy" is a mix of rap lyrics with a very Prince-y funky musical basis. "2 Nigs United 4 West Compton"'s title may sound very Public Enemy but this is essentially a long and fabulous jazz instrumental. The album closes with "Rockhard In A Funky Place", a track originally meant to be included in the "Camille" and "Crystal Ball" albums. In all fairness this does sound more similar to other "Camille" tracks such as "Shockadelica" than to anything else in here and that perhaps makes it one of the album's clear highlights. It's just great as is the whole album really.
So after abandoning "The Black Album", Prince composed a much less R&B-leaning album in less than 2 months and released it in early 1988. "Lovesexy" (R&B #5, BB 200 #11, UK #1) may have had a proper cover but it was not like we could show it easily to anyone. That legendary cover art probably led to loads of copies being hidden in various places out of embarrassment.
So was "Lovesexy" an improvement over the abandoned "Black Album"? Well, yes and no. The "Black Album" is pretty stable in terms of songs' quality whereas "Lovesexy" seems to fluctuate between great, average and forgettable tracks. The continuous flow of the songs as one long track does nothing to hide this variation in quality. However, the best songs of "Lovesexy" are far far better than anything on "The Black Album" and can easily compete in terms of quality with even the best songs in Prince's whole discography.
First single "Alphabet St." (R&B #3, BB Hot 100 #8, UK #9) is a pop song which sounds composed with the charts in mind. Perhaps that's why this may be the only Prince '80s lead single which has not stood the test of time all that well. Thankfully the album includes its fair share of gems, songs much much better than "Alphabet St." Listen for example to second single "Glam Slam" (UK #29). A terrific dark pop song which is everything "Alphabet St." fails to be, a real Prince classic. Then there is the haunting "Anna Stesia". That song begins slowly, develops into a dark pop song before reaching its mega-ending with both funk and gospel ("Love Is God, God Is love, Girls And Boys Love God Above") elements. Then there is the break-dance jam "Dance On" which manages to be pop while sounding very underground at the same time. "Lovesexy" attempts a marriage of pop and gospel in a way not dissimilar to "Anna Stesia" but it's not as successful despite featuring a glorious instrumental ending. The ballad "I Wish U Heaven" (R&B #18, UK #24) features a heavy beat and a mellow rhythm making it a magnificent single of the type only the '80s could provide. The dreamy video was nominated for "Best Special Effects In A Video" award at the MTV Awards. Those 4 songs ("Glam Slam", "Anna Stesia", "Dance On" and "Wish U Heaven") are among Prince's all time classics in a way no "Black Album" song is. The rest of the album though, although not bad by any means, leaves a lot to be desired if compared to Prince's previous releases. This is further illustrated by taking into account the era's b-sides: "Escape" (b-side to and sampling "Glam Slam") is a rap/break-dance song which sounds as good (if not better) as half the tracks in "Lovesexy". "Scarlet Pussy" (b-side to "I Wish U Heaven") on the other hand is pure funk and is a far better track than anything on either "Black Album" or "Lovesexy".
Prince toured for the last time in the '80s with what was probably his most extravagant tour: The "Lovesexy tour". I don't think there is any other Prince tour to personify so well the excesses of the '80s. It featured a huuuge stage with everything on it from a car, a bed, a swing and even a basketball ring. The tour featured some excellent performances such as "Dirty Mind" and "Superfunkycalifragisexy" done on the bed and then tied on a chair, a beautiful dance solo during "Lovesexy" and iconic synth work during "Anna Stesia" among others. What keeps this tour down IMO is the excessive use of medleys, especially when performing the older songs. Still though it's a fab tour. It was released in a 2-parts VHS early in 1989.
In terms of songs given to other artists, in 1988 Prince gave to singer Dale a song called "So Strong". What is interesting about this song is that it is the most bubblegum pop song Prince had ever done up to that point (or maybe ever, I just can't think of anything more poppish than this right now). Then there is the rather throw-away rock track "Neon Telephone" (originally composed in 1985) given to boy-band Three O' Clock. But more importantly this year Prince composed for two female stars he was sharing a connection from the past. 1988 saw Prince reuniting with Sheena Easton with two fabulous songs he contributed on her album "The Lover In Me". One was the beautiful "Cool Love", a pop carefree song of the type that was really popular in late 80s/early 90s and the (unfortunately flopping) single "101" where Prince creates a dramatic pop/rock '80s jam with a very euro-feel. The other lady he collaborated with in 1988 had never worked with Prince before but had achieved the biggest hit of her solo career with a Prince cover. The lady in question is of course R&B legend Chaka Khan. 1988 saw Prince composing "Sticky Wicked" for her. The song is appropriately (and predictably) a fab long funk jam. Chaka was not alone performing on the song. Making it a kind a legends-meet song, it also features lead solos by Miles Davis and even Prince himself.









Like Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, Prince's success in the pop charts came with accusations of abandoning his "black" sound for a more mainstream pop one. Truth is Prince's first 5 albums were well within the so-called black music genre and he did shoot to fame with the 5th of those ("1999") but superstardom only came when he switched to pop/rock with "Purple Rain". What is also true is that Prince always stayed faithful to his R&B roots: even when he was releasing pop/rock albums, he was still composing R&B/funk albums and songs for his army of proteges. Despite this, Prince felt the need to return back to his R&B roots in late 1987 with an album originally called "The Funk Bible" but with a sleeve which featured no title, no artist name and no tracklist and was thus dubbed "The Black Album" (R&B #18, UK #36).
To make things even more complicated, Prince changed his mind about this release at the very last moment and withdrew and destroyed all copies, leaving just about 100 odd copies mostly in Europe. The result was the most famous bootleg ever for Prince and a 1987 release which costs a small fortune nowadays. The album finally got a proper release in 1994 (with a sticker providing proper credits) and that's when it reached the chart positions mentioned above.
Indeed this is a very different album compared to "Sign O' The Times" and is a very profound return to Prince's R&B/funk roots. The album is not a trip back to memory lane though, 1987 was the year rap exploded big time with artists such as Public Enemy, LL Cool J. and Rakim and the album features more than a few nods to this upcoming genre that would change R&B beyond recognition. The album's funkiness is obvious right from opening track "Le Grind" a long jam that gives the listener the feeling of being in a Prince aftershow. Things get even funkier with "Cindy C.", a song about Mrs. Crawford with added spirituality coming courtesy of a rap by Prince's ultra-talented choreographer/rapper Cat. But from there on the album abandons proper funk and moves straight into rap territory. "Dead On It" is the first rap track Prince ever did (although he had experimented with rap in a few of his compositions for Sheila E. before such as "Holly Rock" and "Koo Koo") and it's quite nice (albeit not great) in a very 80s way. "When 2 R In Love" is the album's ballad, a rather sweet and nice one but it does feel a little out of place here. "Bob George" is clearly the highlight of the "rap" songs in the album. Featuring a break-dance beat and electric guitar, Prince performs it with an altered deeper voice. Thematically it's a comic depiction of life in the hood complete with a murder ending the song. "Superfunkycalifragisexy" is a mix of rap lyrics with a very Prince-y funky musical basis. "2 Nigs United 4 West Compton"'s title may sound very Public Enemy but this is essentially a long and fabulous jazz instrumental. The album closes with "Rockhard In A Funky Place", a track originally meant to be included in the "Camille" and "Crystal Ball" albums. In all fairness this does sound more similar to other "Camille" tracks such as "Shockadelica" than to anything else in here and that perhaps makes it one of the album's clear highlights. It's just great as is the whole album really.
So after abandoning "The Black Album", Prince composed a much less R&B-leaning album in less than 2 months and released it in early 1988. "Lovesexy" (R&B #5, BB 200 #11, UK #1) may have had a proper cover but it was not like we could show it easily to anyone. That legendary cover art probably led to loads of copies being hidden in various places out of embarrassment.
So was "Lovesexy" an improvement over the abandoned "Black Album"? Well, yes and no. The "Black Album" is pretty stable in terms of songs' quality whereas "Lovesexy" seems to fluctuate between great, average and forgettable tracks. The continuous flow of the songs as one long track does nothing to hide this variation in quality. However, the best songs of "Lovesexy" are far far better than anything on "The Black Album" and can easily compete in terms of quality with even the best songs in Prince's whole discography.
First single "Alphabet St." (R&B #3, BB Hot 100 #8, UK #9) is a pop song which sounds composed with the charts in mind. Perhaps that's why this may be the only Prince '80s lead single which has not stood the test of time all that well. Thankfully the album includes its fair share of gems, songs much much better than "Alphabet St." Listen for example to second single "Glam Slam" (UK #29). A terrific dark pop song which is everything "Alphabet St." fails to be, a real Prince classic. Then there is the haunting "Anna Stesia". That song begins slowly, develops into a dark pop song before reaching its mega-ending with both funk and gospel ("Love Is God, God Is love, Girls And Boys Love God Above") elements. Then there is the break-dance jam "Dance On" which manages to be pop while sounding very underground at the same time. "Lovesexy" attempts a marriage of pop and gospel in a way not dissimilar to "Anna Stesia" but it's not as successful despite featuring a glorious instrumental ending. The ballad "I Wish U Heaven" (R&B #18, UK #24) features a heavy beat and a mellow rhythm making it a magnificent single of the type only the '80s could provide. The dreamy video was nominated for "Best Special Effects In A Video" award at the MTV Awards. Those 4 songs ("Glam Slam", "Anna Stesia", "Dance On" and "Wish U Heaven") are among Prince's all time classics in a way no "Black Album" song is. The rest of the album though, although not bad by any means, leaves a lot to be desired if compared to Prince's previous releases. This is further illustrated by taking into account the era's b-sides: "Escape" (b-side to and sampling "Glam Slam") is a rap/break-dance song which sounds as good (if not better) as half the tracks in "Lovesexy". "Scarlet Pussy" (b-side to "I Wish U Heaven") on the other hand is pure funk and is a far better track than anything on either "Black Album" or "Lovesexy".
Prince toured for the last time in the '80s with what was probably his most extravagant tour: The "Lovesexy tour". I don't think there is any other Prince tour to personify so well the excesses of the '80s. It featured a huuuge stage with everything on it from a car, a bed, a swing and even a basketball ring. The tour featured some excellent performances such as "Dirty Mind" and "Superfunkycalifragisexy" done on the bed and then tied on a chair, a beautiful dance solo during "Lovesexy" and iconic synth work during "Anna Stesia" among others. What keeps this tour down IMO is the excessive use of medleys, especially when performing the older songs. Still though it's a fab tour. It was released in a 2-parts VHS early in 1989.
In terms of songs given to other artists, in 1988 Prince gave to singer Dale a song called "So Strong". What is interesting about this song is that it is the most bubblegum pop song Prince had ever done up to that point (or maybe ever, I just can't think of anything more poppish than this right now). Then there is the rather throw-away rock track "Neon Telephone" (originally composed in 1985) given to boy-band Three O' Clock. But more importantly this year Prince composed for two female stars he was sharing a connection from the past. 1988 saw Prince reuniting with Sheena Easton with two fabulous songs he contributed on her album "The Lover In Me". One was the beautiful "Cool Love", a pop carefree song of the type that was really popular in late 80s/early 90s and the (unfortunately flopping) single "101" where Prince creates a dramatic pop/rock '80s jam with a very euro-feel. The other lady he collaborated with in 1988 had never worked with Prince before but had achieved the biggest hit of her solo career with a Prince cover. The lady in question is of course R&B legend Chaka Khan. 1988 saw Prince composing "Sticky Wicked" for her. The song is appropriately (and predictably) a fab long funk jam. Chaka was not alone performing on the song. Making it a kind a legends-meet song, it also features lead solos by Miles Davis and even Prince himself.



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