Skip to main content

Sign "O" The Times

I knew I wanted get a copy of Sign "O" The Times when I heard 'It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night' played in full on the radio. Up to then, I'd been in two minds: the title track had left me a bit cold (as it still does now), but 'U Got the Look' and 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' seemed to hold more promise. Most likely I didn't buy the cassette until the year after its release. By 1990, though, I had two copies - I think I must have lent out the first one, given it up as lost, and obtained a second - only for the original to be returned. When one of the students visiting my flat-mate from Košice asked if I might dub him a copy of the tape, it was my pleasure to just give him the spare one.

The only Prince CDs I ever bought were an unsatisfactory pressing of Purple Rain, and his Greatest Hits, but, soon after getting my first record player, I found a lightly-used vinyl copy of this album, which has since been joined by a few other of his classic '80s LPs. It is, of course, an embrarrasment of riches, and if there are a few tracks I like a little less, there must be ten I dearly love. 'Starfish & Coffee', 'U Got the Look', 'Strange Relationship' and 'I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man' in particular have all been clambering back into my mind unbidden on a regular basis for thirty-five years.

I saw the concert film too: it was screened at Earl's Court as part of some event there - possibly the Ideal Home Exhibition? In '88? I don't recall, but Sheila E's mesmerising drum solo in it certainly left a lasting impression.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All Wrapped Up

Here's another of the compilation cassettes I bought this summer, having taken home a Denon twin-deck hi-fi cassette player from the local charity shop. All Wrapped Up is a 1983 compilation of singles by The Undertones, with Side One filled with A-sides, and B-sides on Side Two. A cassette must be the least desirable medium for such an arrangement, with a long rewind required if one just wants to hear the hits repeatedly. The Undertones were unapologetically provincial and anti-fashionable, with their songs sharply-written slices of life that pointedly avoided any mention of politics, or of the then-continuing violence in their native Derry. My favourite tracks are the obvious choices: 'Teenage Kicks', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Here Comes the Summer', 'My Perfect Cousin' & 'Wednesday Week'. Their later singles showed increased sophistication but lack the some of the straightforward charm of their earlier work. The B-sides, not unexpectedly, are mo...
Post a Comment
Read more

In Heat

Having acquired the soubriquet "the walrus of love", Barry White thereafter became something of a figure of fun, something that misled me (and presumably others) into disregarding his music. Only within the last few years have I begun to pay it more attention. After picking up a copy of his '74 album Can't Get Enough last summer, which I loved, I sought out some of the music by his protegés Love Unlimited. From a Discogs seller I ordered well-used copies of Under the Influence of... ('73) and In Heat ('74) for only £6.25. The only unappealing thing about In Heat is its awful title. The songs and the singing are strong; the arrangements rich & warmly enveloping. As one would expect from White, the thematic focus is firmly fixed on amatory matters. The opening number 'Move Me No Mountain' (the only one on the record not written by White) offers a refreshing rebuttal to the kind of lyrical hyperbole in songs like 'Ain't No Mountain High E...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bananas Are Not Created Equal

I knew Jay Berliner's name from his contributions to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and Charles Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady , so when I saw this curiously-titled LP at the local charity shop I was intrigued, and bought it even though I had no idea what kind of music it might contain. This was after the days when one could still buy records there for a pound apiece, but I don't think I paid more than a fiver for it. The music turned out to be an all-instrumental blend of funk, soul & jazz. Berliner's virtuoso lead guitar is only one of many attractions here. The band of first-rate session musicians behind him are all uniformly excellent too, and, crucially, sound like they're having a blast. Cornell Dupree's supporting guitar work, while less showy than Berliner's, is beautifully-judged, and the rhythm section is terrific. Arranger/conductor Wade Marcus was no slouch either, judging from the way everything comes together. Two of the funk...
Post a Comment
Read more