Sign O’ the Times

“Truly, this man is genius”

- Steve Sutherland, NME Review of the Album, 1987.

This year marks 30 years since the release of Sign O’ the Times. Watch it at HEART on 16th June.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark and epochal Prince album, Sign O’ the Times. The work is considered a Masterpiece, widely being marked a classic upon release and showcasing a breadth of creative vision and talent that marked Prince to be branded a genius.

In 1987, Prince managed to pare down his overly prodigious output to release his 9th studio album in as many years and his second double album in 5 years, following 1999.

Just as that album showcased a singular musician taking and building soundscapes that touched on the fusion of various styles but had a uniquely singular identity, Sign took that even further, with a highly focused and driven 29 year old wanting to build on all of the influences he had taken and prove how adept he was at appropriating them, but then making them his own.

It also marked the departure of the Revolution, the band that had given him the scope and vision to produce the mammoth commercial success of Purple Rain and cemented his presence as a World Superstar.

His following albums were also successes but had failed to match those level of sales. More importantly, they showed an evolution of an artist maturing into new and adventurous territory, with albums that displayed psychedelic and European influences. It showed growth at a startling rate and a drive to innovate and outrun a growing number of imitators at every turn.

The album marked his return to the studio on his own and the return of the one man show. The album has the standard ‘Produced, Arranged, Composed & Performed’ by moniker solely attributed to him. He was wanting to show how virtuosic he was, how well he could craft an album and how he could do this with the person who he trusted the most – himself.

The results are an album full of introspection and a mixture of the most basic techniques and the most advanced recording technology of the time. Within Prince’s cannon the songs from Sign are well known, such as the title track, ‘U got the Look’, and ‘I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man’, all of which hit the top 20 here in the UK, but the non-album tracks mark a progression in an artist who wasn’t just an R&B star, or hedonistic sex symbol, to a man who started seeing and valuing relationships through a deeper emotional intelligence.

The unique and undefinable gender bending track ‘If I was your girlfriend’, was representative of a masculine acceptance and view of the female psyche way before the current push for Women’s and LGBT rights. Like many of the tracks on the album, some of the inclusions were outtakes from other projects, and this track along with ‘Strange Relationship’ were part of the Camille side project that was an album built entirely on Princes female persona.

The title track itself, builds on a basic Fairlight sequencer arrangement and slow blues groove to lament and show that even a Superstar was politically and culturally aware by building a top ten hit which addressed AIDS, gang violence, the Challenger incident and our spiritual approach to death.

His spirituality which was ever present in his personal life and his music also gets an airing here in a lush and brilliant Christian Rock anthem, ‘The Cross’. The slow and almost brooding Drum pattern and lyrics of ‘Forever in my life’ are a mature testament to a man respecting the boundaries and needs of a monogamous relationship, and with all of Prince’s work, his ability to build in ambiguity is ever present as we search for whether this is a mark of his covenant to a Woman or God. His previous allusions as a sex symbol and funk pop master also don’t show any relenting, with tracks like ‘Hot Thing’ and the James Brown updating Housequake. Both ‘Slow Love’ and ‘Adore’ show how Prince could take the slow jam R&B and lush harmonies of his contemporaries such as Sade, Luther Vandross and Anita Baker, and make them better and make them his own, whilst also being some of greatest vocal work laid on record.

The album followed an expansive period where Prince had laid tracks for a triple album and also collaborated with his idols such as Miles Davis, and those sessions show on Sign in an increasingly complex and diverse soundscape that incorporates Jazz horn sections, and blues guitar smatterings which show a depth and musical eclecticism that sets the album apart from the other output from artists in that period.

‘The Ballad of Dorothy Parker’ is perhaps one of the greatest examples and a perfect metaphor for the album as it encompasses so many styles it becomes formless, yet remains a unified piece of work.

It can be seen in its simplicity and the demo like structure of some songs. Like with his previous hit Kiss, Prince knew how to manipulate simplicity to give the listener a song with a simple beat, or a full bodied groove depending on their own interpretation, making Sign a different experience on each listen.

This was made even clearer as he took the album to tour, and built a stage show that continued in his love for a huge funk pop show with a feel of a Jazz revue. The extravagance of the cover art is a depiction of the sets Prince and Roy Bennet put together, with a band set amidst the hustle of a Moulin Rouge backdrop.

The live show which was filmed and shipped to Cinema’s to allow his US audience what Europe were seeing was a complex production arrangement, so complex that his dates at Wembley stadium were cancelled in light of bad weather forecasts. The version that was released combines the live footage from the Ahoy in Rotterdam and other venues across the Continent expertly cut the footage to show what the atmosphere and buzz around a live Prince show was like.

As creative as he was, he was also clever enough to build a set and band full of distractions, yet allow the tour and the footage to keep focused on him. The performances focus on the album and again showcase Princes talent as a bandleader as he commands them to twist and turn on his every whim as he keeps the stage as his playground to show off his funk jams, choreographed dance routines, guitar histrionics and also his musicianship as he jumps from instrument to instrument. This is made all the more remarkable as you realise that Prince directed this himself too.

In the 30 years since the album and the live show, it has remained as a constant with critics and music fans alike, and also the one singular piece of work I refer all people to who want to see Prince for the first time, or Prince at his best.

On its release, the album and live show received immediate and widespread critical acclaim, and since it has very much been the watershed of his career dividing fans between his Pre and post Sign career output, but regardless, it is seen by many, including myself, as his highlight. The music press fell over itself to laud the scope and his ability as vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer. Even though he controversially lost the Best Album Grammy to U2, the albums legacy continues to prove it was sorely overlooked. It regularly features in the best album votes run to this day, being Time Magazine’s Album of the 80’s, and this anniversary has been celebrated by major music and cultural press, with HEART making it the centrepiece of their Prince Anniversary celebrations.

In the celebration of an artist who inspired and influenced millions, Sign O’ the Times is a timeless representation of Prince as the Superstar and Cult artist of his generation. The album and the film are the perfect celebrations of his artistic skill, vision and integrity.

Truly, this man was genius.

Gurj Kang