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Sign o' the Times
Sign o' the Times is the ninth studio album by the American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Prince. It was first released on March 31, 1987, as a double album by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album is the follow-up to Parade and is Prince's first solo album following his disbanding of the Revolution. The album's songs were largely recorded during 1986 to 1987 in sessions for releases Prince ultimately aborted: Dream Factory, the pseudonymous Camille, and finally the triple album Crystal Ball. Prince eventually compromised with label executives and shortened the length of the release to a double album.
Sign o' the Times is a drastic departure from Prince's previous works, shifting from his usual sexually-driven and dance oriented music to socially conscious discussion. In particular, the title track and lead single, "Sign o’ the Times", discusses gang violence and the crack cocaine epidemic. Many of the drum sounds on the album came from the Linn LM-1 drum machine, and Prince used the Fairlight CMI synthesizer to replace other instruments. Four songs contain higher-pitched vocals to represent Prince's alter ego "Camille". The album's music touches on a varied range of styles, including funk, soul, psychedelic pop, electro, rock, and hip hop, which was becoming popular in the mainstream.
Despite being Prince's fifth album in five years, Sign o' the Times reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and spawned three top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Sign o' the Times", "U Got the Look" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man". Its release was supported by several singles, among them "Sign o' the Times" and "If I Was Your Girlfriend", in addition to a well-received concert film of the same name. Sign o' the Times was a huge critical success, leading some critics to hail Prince as the greatest musician of his era. Four months after its release, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and following Prince's death in 2016 it re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 20.
Though not as commercially successful as 1984's Purple Rain, Sign o' the Times is one of the most critically acclaimed albums in popular music, widely being regarded as Prince's best album. It was voted the best album of 1987 in the Pazz & Jop critics poll and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 30th Grammy Awards, whilst "Sign o' the Times" was named the best single of 1987 in the poll. The album continues to be lauded by critics, with some praising it as the best album of the 1980s, and is often hailed as a masterpiece. It is a frequent inclusion in lists of the greatest albums of all time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017.
Prior to the disbanding of the Revolution, Prince was working on two separate projects: The Revolution album Dream Factory and a pseudonymous solo effort, Camille. Unlike the three previous band albums, Dream Factory included input from the band members and lead vocals by Wendy & Lisa. The Camille project saw Prince create an androgynous persona primarily singing in a higher, female-sounding voice. With the dismissal of the Revolution, Prince consolidated material from both shelved albums, along with some new songs, into a three-LP album to be titled Crystal Ball. Warner Bros. balked at the idea of trying to sell a triple album and forced Prince to trim it down to a double album. Prince cut seven tracks, and also reformulated the album to accommodate the newly added title track.
As with many of Prince's early 1980s albums, this album features extensive use of the Linn LM-1 drum machine on most songs. In addition, many songs on the album (such as "If I Was Your Girlfriend") feature minimal instrumentation, and use of the Fairlight CMI, a then state-of-the-art synthesizer also containing a digital sampler. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Prince used the stock sounds of the Fairlight to create the title track. Four of the album's standout songs, "Housequake", "Strange Relationship", "U Got the Look" with Sheena Easton, and "If I Was Your Girlfriend" use pitch-shifted vocals to create a higher voice, ostensibly the voice of "Camille", Prince's alter ego of this era.
Prince was known for recording his vocals in the control room area of the studio. Typically, in the recording process, a vocalist records in the recording booth, separated from the control room by a window or soundproof door. To have privacy during the vocal recording process, Prince usually asked his engineer, Susan Rogers, to leave the room. Rogers recalls:
We'd get the track halfway or three-quarters of the way there and then set him up with a microphone in the control room. He'd have certain tracks on the multi-track that he would use and he'd do the vocal completely alone. I think that was the only way he could really get the performance.
Sign o' the Times
Sign o' the Times is the ninth studio album by the American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Prince. It was first released on March 31, 1987, as a double album by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album is the follow-up to Parade and is Prince's first solo album following his disbanding of the Revolution. The album's songs were largely recorded during 1986 to 1987 in sessions for releases Prince ultimately aborted: Dream Factory, the pseudonymous Camille, and finally the triple album Crystal Ball. Prince eventually compromised with label executives and shortened the length of the release to a double album.
Sign o' the Times is a drastic departure from Prince's previous works, shifting from his usual sexually-driven and dance oriented music to socially conscious discussion. In particular, the title track and lead single, "Sign o’ the Times", discusses gang violence and the crack cocaine epidemic. Many of the drum sounds on the album came from the Linn LM-1 drum machine, and Prince used the Fairlight CMI synthesizer to replace other instruments. Four songs contain higher-pitched vocals to represent Prince's alter ego "Camille". The album's music touches on a varied range of styles, including funk, soul, psychedelic pop, electro, rock, and hip hop, which was becoming popular in the mainstream.
Despite being Prince's fifth album in five years, Sign o' the Times reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and spawned three top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Sign o' the Times", "U Got the Look" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man". Its release was supported by several singles, among them "Sign o' the Times" and "If I Was Your Girlfriend", in addition to a well-received concert film of the same name. Sign o' the Times was a huge critical success, leading some critics to hail Prince as the greatest musician of his era. Four months after its release, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and following Prince's death in 2016 it re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 20.
Though not as commercially successful as 1984's Purple Rain, Sign o' the Times is one of the most critically acclaimed albums in popular music, widely being regarded as Prince's best album. It was voted the best album of 1987 in the Pazz & Jop critics poll and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 30th Grammy Awards, whilst "Sign o' the Times" was named the best single of 1987 in the poll. The album continues to be lauded by critics, with some praising it as the best album of the 1980s, and is often hailed as a masterpiece. It is a frequent inclusion in lists of the greatest albums of all time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017.
Prior to the disbanding of the Revolution, Prince was working on two separate projects: The Revolution album Dream Factory and a pseudonymous solo effort, Camille. Unlike the three previous band albums, Dream Factory included input from the band members and lead vocals by Wendy & Lisa. The Camille project saw Prince create an androgynous persona primarily singing in a higher, female-sounding voice. With the dismissal of the Revolution, Prince consolidated material from both shelved albums, along with some new songs, into a three-LP album to be titled Crystal Ball. Warner Bros. balked at the idea of trying to sell a triple album and forced Prince to trim it down to a double album. Prince cut seven tracks, and also reformulated the album to accommodate the newly added title track.
As with many of Prince's early 1980s albums, this album features extensive use of the Linn LM-1 drum machine on most songs. In addition, many songs on the album (such as "If I Was Your Girlfriend") feature minimal instrumentation, and use of the Fairlight CMI, a then state-of-the-art synthesizer also containing a digital sampler. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Prince used the stock sounds of the Fairlight to create the title track. Four of the album's standout songs, "Housequake", "Strange Relationship", "U Got the Look" with Sheena Easton, and "If I Was Your Girlfriend" use pitch-shifted vocals to create a higher voice, ostensibly the voice of "Camille", Prince's alter ego of this era.
Prince was known for recording his vocals in the control room area of the studio. Typically, in the recording process, a vocalist records in the recording booth, separated from the control room by a window or soundproof door. To have privacy during the vocal recording process, Prince usually asked his engineer, Susan Rogers, to leave the room. Rogers recalls:
We'd get the track halfway or three-quarters of the way there and then set him up with a microphone in the control room. He'd have certain tracks on the multi-track that he would use and he'd do the vocal completely alone. I think that was the only way he could really get the performance.