Sign “☮︎” the Times

Suffers a little bit from how good "peak" Prince was I think. It's still good, and all the elements are there - the songmanship, the vocals etc, but that little bit of magic that made some of his work elite tier gold isn't quite there somehow

(6/1089)
It was an interesting experience for me. I liked the energy of this album. But some songs are too long for what they have to offer. Also some of the songs feel a bit flat and bland - for instance, "Forever in My Life".

Favorite: Slow Love, Hot Thing, U Got the Look
Least favorite: Forever in My Life
5/10

Really not even close to the same tight quality of Purple Rain. Starfish and Coffee really makes Side A - the others are mostly a mixed bag of 2s and 3s. Side B is shorter but the song quality goes down a little. Especially if I was your Girlfriend and the cross which are both bad for different reasons.
Side A: 2.6/5
Side B: 2.2/5
Total: 2.4/5 -> 2/5

In a rare case for me, I'm really glad the record company exerted their control over an artist. "No tthird disc to listen to" is probably the best part of this album for me. I am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE Prince is an excellent musician; I've seen it before. Though excellent musicianship does not a good album make.

This all felt like album filler to me. Nothing stood out as exceptional, but nothing was bad either. I'm not seeing the "Prince's beat album" here at all. If anything with this overly long round-up of pretty average tracks, it's my least favorite of his.

⭐⭐⭐

It's groovy! It remains to be seen how this compares to others like Purple Rain (been a while since I listened) but my suspicion is that I prefer that one. Still, a good album.

Drum machine-heavy funk on the first CD side and more rock on the second. Some tracks on this record seem to have anticipated the later 90s R&B sound. It sounds so varied yet so cohesive too; Prince knew how to stick to a vibe while still keeping it fresh. And this was what made the length of this double album not as bad (3.5).

Prince succeeded a seminal record with one that was not your typical disappointing follow up. It’s not overwrought, or a failed experiment. The songs are actually intentionally de-weighted and made more low key, and as a result its 80 minute runtime ends up being pretty ho-hum save for a few good tracks on its second half. Non-committal to a sound, okay instrumentation, and mere glimpses of his boundary-pushing “demisexuality” on only some songs make the record strike a merely average reading.

mehhh 2.5 .. there’s moments i like and i love prince and his voice and whole thing obviously but im sorry to say he’s just not as good without wendy and lisa and the revolution . lesbians really make everything better sorry
i really hope controversy is on the list. also i think we’ve been spoiled by all these 40 minute albums so an hour 20 double lp really feels like a slog

Probably my favorite album of all time

I don't really care for whatever style of music is that Prince does, acknowledging that he does have a few certified bangers. Those bangers were not present on this album though, so it gets 2/5 what else do you want from me

Always great, but far from his best

The artistry and musicianship of Minneapolis-born Prince is always understated in this sort of reviews. This is yet another proof of his talents, but the added runtime makes it feel less exceptional than '1999' or 'Purple Rain'.

8/10 [KEEP]

This album felt more like a concert than an album. And that’s not like, my favorite thing? It was a good album but I thought I was close to the end and then It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night just kept going forever. This is like, a very high 3 for me.

Season: True Summer
Favorite Song: Housequake

Second disc is one of the best albums of the decade, first disc is good but has some weak tracks. Tempted to go 5* anyways but think it's more of a 4 for now

Widely considered by many to be Prince’s Magnum Opus, his greatest accomplishment, his masterpiece. I don’t really disagree with it but I’m personally way more of a Purple Rain and Dirty Mind fan. 7/10

I thought this was good, man! It’s a double album... but it didn’t feel like it dragged at any point. It’s an 80’s album with lots of synthesisers... but didn’t feel particularly dated. And I’ve never really been a Prince fan… but I dig his style here! Musically I think this album is on-point. I really like the range of instruments and approaches. There’s a lot of good hooks and funky upbeat grooves, and like some of his other albums it seems to get better as it goes on. Maybe he just gets under your skin a bit.

It’s not necessarily one I’ll revisit, but my stance on Prince has maybe shifted that little bit more. He’s a real artist.

3.5 rounded up.

It seems a bit unfair that one man has this much talent.

There's a concert video of him performing songs from this album and it shows him hitting the stage and working the crowd like a mix of James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Cab Calloway. It's amazing to watch.

There are songs here that are as good as anything Michael Jackson ever did and the album probably should be mentioned in the same breath as Innervisions or Songs in the Key of Life as peak R&B.

It might be suggested that some of the songs go on a bit long, but when the grooves are this tight - and no-one could hit a Groove like Prince - who's complaining?

Spirituality, politics, sex, relationships, more sex - it's all here and it's all good.

Masterpiece.

Disc 2 of this is vastly better than disc 1 (excepting the title track which is great), and if it were just that it'd be an easy five stars. Excess filler on disc 1 takes it to a four.

The musical equivalent of a neck tattoo … YOU might think it’s cool, but there should have been more than a few people telling you not to do it and you should have listened to them. This is what happens when a great musician is given too much creative control and stops listening to the advice of others.

I thought of Purple Rain as good but slightly overrated, so I wonder whether this is overrated too. It sounds less dramatic and more rooted in classic funk than Purple Rain was, being more politically and socially charged. The sound is more stripped-down, with a focus on rhythm and lyrics rather than theatrical crescendos. The rhythms are fairly catchy, and the album's minimalist sound works somewhat in its favor. Prince's vocals, especially on tracks like "Housequake" can be annoying at times but are usually tolerable. The lyrics contain just the right amount of humor and political messaging to make them engaging yet palatable(though there are some weak spots). This is a pretty good album that, again, falls just short of masterpiece level.