This was Prince’s third album and once again he played all the instruments himself, resulting in an attractive mix of funk, pop, soul, rock and new wave. It is a short album, at less than thirty minutes, but it was one that started to get Prince properly noticed and it was here that he really started to go full on with the blatantly sexual lyrics. No double entendres for him, he said what was on his “dirty mind”. Also, he poses shamelessly in his skimpy undies on the cover.
Dirty Mind is a big thumping piece of early eighties disco-pop-funk, driven along by synthesiser riffs so typical of the time and pounding drums. Prince’s vocals are seductive and insistent, despite their falsetto tones. Van Halen surely used the riff on Jump three years later. When You Were Mine is irresistibly catchy, loaded to the brim with poppy hooks. The drum sound is reassuringly “proper” and the organ breaks are very new wave (think Blondie or Elvis Costello & The Attractions).
Do It All Night is very much of the period but once again it is in possession of a catchy, funky attractiveness that makes it still eminently listenable all these years later. It certainly doesn’t sound as if it is forty years old (as I write). Gotta Broken Heart Again is a lovely, slow tempo seductive groove with a sumptuous bass line and some excellent guitar backing up Prince’s naturally melodic vocals. It comes to a bit of an abrupt end, however.
Beginning the side is the lively pop funk of Uptown, with its addictive backing beat and confident, funky guitar. Its funky pace never lets up. This stuff was quite ahead of its time, but, strangely, it still didn’t take off as it should have done at the time. I have to admit that at the time I was in my early twenties and I did not take proper notice of Prince until 1982’s 1999 album. I had noticed his albums while trawling through record shops, I think, but that was as far as it went. That was a shame because just check out that superb guitar on this track. It was worthy of my attention. It wasn't just me either, Prince really didn't get too much music media attention at this time, either. A few of the cognoscenti were more than aware of him, sure, but certainly not everybody, in the way they would be in a few years' time.
Head is another intoxicating, sexy number with generous helpings of funk. Talking Heads were surely hugely influenced by the merging of funky rhythms and rock guitar on this one. Its lyrics are gloriously lascivious. Sister (with its dodgy tale of sex with the song’s character’s elder sister) finds Prince using a frantic punky, rock ‘n’ roll beat that takes in some of the contemporary sounds of the day. It serves to remind us that Prince could rock out with the best of them. For all his r’n’b stylings he was always a rock guitarist at heart. The track neatly segues into the enjoyable good time funk of Party Up.
Although this was a short offering, there was something about its poppy conciseness which held great appeal. Good as though 1999 undoubtedly was, there was a certain amount of indulgence in it that doesn’t occur on this free-spirited, enthusiastic little gem of an album. Unusually for a Prince album, the sound on it is great too, nice and warm with a good deep bass.
