Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Prince - Sign 'O' The Times (WEA)

In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name. By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same. . . Sign of the times. It was to be expected that the first Prince single from the album of the same name would be nothing like you expected. Stripped down, plain speaking, with no sign of loverswithholesintheirheads, 'Sign Of The Times' sees the little devil veering drastically, but surely, away yet again from his previous creation. (According to Sir Max Bell this resembles New Orleans group The Meters. Thanking you.) A major part of Prince's genius has always been to wiggle his finger one jump ahead of the pulse and with all the crack dance tracks beginning to emerge on both American coasts this tale of the times neatly trumps the lot. How jolly clever he is. (Paul Simper, No 1, March 7, 1987)

Astonishing. His Royal Pervness suddenly decides to give up singing about the joys of senseless bonking and instead turns his attention to the various social evils of life on Planet Earth in 1987. Everything from AIDS to Star Wars comes under the microscope and it's all accompanied by a typically infectious melody. If anybody else tried to turn such a cautionary tale into a brilliant single, they would undoubtedly end up sounding like Billy Bragg. Prince does it with effortless grace and ends up sounding like the voice of, em, God. Life just isn't fair. Single Of The Fortnight. (Barry McIlheney, Smash Hits, March 11, 1987)

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