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Sign “☮︎” the Times (1987)

Where the lyrics of Sign “☮︎” the Times take you, and where it was really made.

The album started as a triple album called Crystal Ball, which the label forced Prince to cut down to a double album.

Key places

Overdubs at Sunset Sound (1987)

Recording site Sunset Sound — Vocals, Sheila E.'s rap and instrumental overdubs for the album were recorded at this Los Angeles studio on 22 November. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Cover shoot in Eden Prairie (1987)

Album cover Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse — Photographer Jeff Katz shot the album cover at a warehouse in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, close to where Paisley Park Studios was set up later. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Sign o' the Times: ninth studio album by American singer and songwriter Prince
• Released 31 March 1987 as a double album by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records
• Follow-up to Parade and Prince's first solo album after disbanding the Revolution
• A drastic departure from his earlier works, drawing on social issues and spirituality
• Most songs were recorded from 1986 to 1987

Background

• Songs came from sessions for Dream Factory, the Camille project, and the triple album Crystal Ball
• Warner Bros. refused to sell a triple album, so Prince cut seven tracks to make a double album
• Purple Rain (1984) had dominated American pop culture, and the record company wanted a second Purple Rain
• Dream Factory included input from the band and lead vocals by Wendy & Lisa, but Prince feared losing control and abandoned it
• Camille was an androgynous persona singing in a higher, female-sounding voice

Recording

• The Linn LM-1 drum machine appears on most songs
• The title track was built from the stock sounds of the Fairlight CMI synthesizer
• Four songs, including Housequake and U Got the Look, use pitch-shifted vocals to create the Camille voice
• Prince recorded his vocals in the control room, with engineer Susan Rogers asked to leave the room

Cover

• Photographer Jeff Katz shot the cover at a warehouse in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
• The cover shows a drum set on top of a 1971 Pontiac Grand Prix, with bouquets, a plasma globe and a guitar
• Prince's face appears in the foreground, blurred

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Prince Rogers Nelson, born June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota; died April 21, 2016 at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
• Signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1977 at age 18; first album For You released April 7, 1978.
• Career spanned funk, rock, R&B and pop, with estimated sales over 100 million records.

Career

• Breakthrough with Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981) and 1999 (1982).
• Purple Rain (1984) made him the first singer to hold the number-one film, album and single in the US at the same time.
• Sign o' the Times (1987) is widely considered his greatest work.
• Changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993, becoming known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince; reverted to Prince in 2000.
• Won seven Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Spin: Bart Bull wrote in 1987 that the loosely organized songs were genius rather than indulgent
• Chicago Sun-Times: Don McLeese hailed the album as a one-man show and a tour de force
• The Village Voice: Robert Christgau said the album was not a formal breakthrough but proof of Prince's gifts across two discs
• Rolling Stone described it as the most expansive R&B record of the 1980s
• Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the album moves through genres from electro-funk and smooth soul to pseudo-psychedelic pop and hard rock

Reappraisal

• BBC News: John McKie cited it as one of the most acclaimed albums of the second half of the 20th century
• The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004): Michaelangelo Matos called it the most complete example of Prince's artistry
• Pitchfork: Nelson George regarded the artistry on the album as Prince's peak
• Many critics regard it as Prince's best album and often hail it as a masterpiece

Records

• Billboard 200: peaked at number six
• Top 10 in Austria, France, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the UK; number one in Switzerland
• Hot 100 singles: Sign o' the Times number three, U Got the Look number two, I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man number ten
• Certified platinum by the RIAA about four months after release
• Nominated for Album of the Year at the 30th Grammy Awards
• Voted best album of 1987 in the Pazz & Jop critics poll
• Ranked second among albums of the year in the NME critics poll for 1987
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017
• Re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 20 after Prince's death in 2016

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The cover was shot at a warehouse in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, close to where Paisley Park Studios was later set up.
• Prince used a Sennheiser 441 dynamic microphone for vocals at this stage, a model recommended to him by Stevie Nicks.
• Susan Rogers recalled that the songs came out quickly, one track after the next.
• Vocals, Sheila E.'s rap and instrumental overdubs were recorded at Sunset Sound on 22 November.
• The audience on It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night is credited as 6,000 wonderful Parisians, recorded at a Parade Tour show in Paris in 1986.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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