Prince's Sign O' the Times (Thirty Three and a Third series) - Softcover

Matos, Michaelangelo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826415474 ISBN 13: 9780826415479

Publisher: Continuum, 2004

Synopsis

One of the greatest double albums of the vinyl era, Sign 'O' the Times shows Prince at his peak. Here, Michaelangelo Matos tells the story of how it emerged from an extraordinary period of creativity to become one of the landmark recordings of the 1980s. He also illustrates beautifully how - if a record is great enough and lucky enough to hit you at the right time - it can change your way of looking at the world.

About this title

About the Author

MICHAELANGELO MATOS was born and raised in Minneapolis. A former staff writer at Seattle Weekly, he has written extensively for Minneapolis/St. Paul's City Pages, Village Voice, Spin, Nerve.com, Time Out New York, Urb, Stereo-Type, Chicago Reader, Baltimore City Paper, and Creative Loafing Atlanta. He currently lives in Seattle.

From the Inside Flap

The most immediately striking thing about Sign 'O' the Times is the jazzy sensibility running through it. Prince's father was a jazz musician, his mother a vocalist; he'd been a fan of chops-heavy jazz-fusion as well as rock and R&B growing up. But when Prince began recording for Warner Bros., he abjured the brass sections that dominated groups like Earth, Wind & Fire and Parliament-Funkadelic, opting instead for stacked synthesizer patterns and a spare, cold feel that markedly contrasted with lush, overarranged disco and the wild, thick underbrush of the era's giant funk ensembles; Rickey Vincent, author of Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One, dubbed it "naked funk." Getting away from traditional R&B instrumentation is an underappreciated aspect of Prince's crossover success; Prince is also said to have actively disliked the sound of horns early in his career.

Reviews

A new entry in a series about famous LPs. Diminutive, purple-clad funkmeister Prince aimed for more than chart success and danceability in his work (though it had plenty of both), and Sign o' the Times, one of his finest works, still sounds bold, adventurous, and edgy in ways that even critics too old to rock and roll appreciate. If Matos admits to being somewhat nonplussed at Prince's shift in musical direction with Sign o' the Times, his reminiscence of the milieu that midwifed this classic if not definitive Prince album is entirely welcome.

Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Continuum
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826415474
• ISBN 13: 9780826415479
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 121