Prince: Lovesexy - 1988
After the vast soundscape of Sign O' The Times, Prince returned in 1988 with a genuine oddity - an album with no distinction between tracks. I have listed the tracks as nine distinct entities, which is in effect what they are, but they are not separated otherwise and flow into each other, playing as one whole. It replaced the hastily-binned Black Album for reasons that nobody ever really knew. It is pretty much played by Prince with help from various musicians from track to track.
Eye No is a brassy, funky and lively introduction to the album and Alphabet Street was the album's most obviously poppy section. It was a single. It is driven along by infectious, funky percussion and I have to say at this point as well that there is clear improvement in sound quality from earlier albums. It does go on a bit too long, though.
Glam Slam is sort of psychedelic, with sounds swirling all over the place. Its production is frustratingly muffled compared to the previous track. Anna Stesia is a seductive, soulful number with hints of hip-hop in it plus some freaky guitar. Dance On features a programmed, synthesised, frantic dance beat and a lazy-sounding vocal from Prince at times. It is full of staccato, machine gun type rhythms and an irresistible vitality to it.
Lovesexy is an appealing, but heavily synthesised call to be positive (and sexy, of course). It contains some guitar riffs of the type that Michael Jackson would use a lot around this time. It is the best part of the album, for me. The upbeat mood changes for the smooth, late night vibe of When 2 R In Love which is a delicious piece of instinctive Prince romance.
I Wish U Heaven is a catchy, once more guitar-powered number that displays Prince's innate instinct for poppy hooks. Positivity is a pleasant enough groove to end on, but nothing about it particularly memorable, apart from Prince's guitar part. I have to say that I rarely play this album. The inability to select tracks and having to listen to it all should not be a factor, but it does seem to be. Sometimes I might just want to listen to Dance On, for example. It is more than that, though, it all seems a bit disorganised and hurried and if I am going to choose some eighties Prince, there are many other albums I would choose in preference.
