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Prince- Sign O’ The Times
Prince has been a huge part of my life since I was very young, really since I can remember. My brother is seven years older than me, and he was coming up on Prince as all of that was happening. So that was kind of the soundtrack to my youth; Purple Rain, Parade, Around the World in a Day. I was reared on Prince; it’s been literally the background to my life since I can remember. So yeah, his passing hit me really hard. I think a lot of people in those scenarios either can’t listen to the artist, because it’s too difficult, or they go into a wormhole of only listening to that artist. And I chose the latter and just revisited everything. And Sign O’ The Times, I think if I were to pick a favourite Prince record it’s always been my favourite. I think it’s his masterpiece. I know that so many people point to Purple Rain,, and I’ve listened to that record many times since his passing and revisited that too, and it’s certainly a completely ground-breaking record. But Sign O’ The Times is so sophisticated and so crafted, and it’s also incredibly spare, musically. It’s very minimal, incredibly soulful and filled with ideas. The tone of the songs changes from song to song. There’s psychedelic expression, there’s funk, there’s dance, there’s rock & roll; it kind of represents a massive plethora of his musical palette. It also contains two of my favourite Prince songs: ‘Ballad Of Dorothy Parker’ and ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend’, which I could just listen to endlessly. So yeah, Sign O’ The Times; it’ll forever be my favourite Prince record and something that I will constantly be revisiting.
