Sound Advice: CD Reviews - Prince (Controversy)

CD Review:
This is Prince's fourth album. He continues the theme of explicit sexuality from his last album Dirty Mind. He adds some political commentary although it is mostly lightweight. He doesn't really expand his music much from the previous album. He is basking in the success he is now receiving since Dirty Mind hit it big. After the mediocre response from the public and critics for his first two releases, he has every right.

Controversy has some ups and downs but it definitely isn't from his music or voice. The lyrics could be better on some of the tracks. Also a few songs' enjoyment will rest on whether you believe his sincerity with his more emotional outbursts.

On "Do Me Baby," a slow sexy song, Prince lets his voice grind like a dog in heat. Personally, the end to the song when he says "oh oh help me..right there...ok..ok..i'm so cold...just hold me" was a bit over the top and the song's worth rests on your belief in his sincerity while singing it. If you do, the song is great, if you don't, then it becomes a bit much.

The political oriented song "Ronnie, Talk to Russia" was a simple song telling Reagan to open diplomatic dialogue with the Kremlin before bombs start exploding. But overall, it's not in-depth enough to consider it anything but filler on the album.

The rest of the album lyrically was enjoyable. The explicit song "Jack U Off" is typical Prince and these types of songs are what garnered the bulk of attention from critics and fans alike towards the man. This song as well as all the others in like fashion is probably the line where fans and non-fans meet. Those that realize that Prince was one of the first to take sexuality and speak about it forthrightly without any cute innuendo will probably enjoy it. Those that think that graphic sexual references are adolescent and uncreative will probably dislike Prince as an artist.

My personal favourite on the album is "Annie Christian." It grabs my attention by making references to four major events in American history. The first was the Atlanta Child Murders of the late '70s. There were more than 20 murders of mostly black adolescent males. Although Wayne Williams was convicted of the crimes there were links to a Satanist cult working in the city at the time.

The next event was the attempted assassination of Reagan. The third was the murder of John Lennon. The Lennon murder by Chapman was also linked to Satanism as Chapman was involved in it at the time. The fourth was the ABSCAM scandal whereby the FBI set up a sting operation that netted some politicians from Congress for bribery. The song continues to intrigue me since I'm still trying to figure out how these four events are connected with the Christian church and Satanism (thinking that Annie Christian/Annie Christ is a personification of the two institutions).

With the mix of R&B, funk, pop and the vocal gymnastics Prince is so blessed with, this album is quite enjoyable. It sits somewhere below Purple Rain and Dirty Mind but above his first two releases, and Around the World in a Day and his later '80s early '90s Stuff (eg. Graffiti Bridge). I recommend this album but only after the better ones mentioned.

Prince is the perfect example of an artist that developed and shined with talent that others during the miserable music decade of the '80s should have aspired to emulate.

Scott D. Brown