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Sign O’ The Times

Warner Bros. Records

The release of Sign O’ The Times heralded Prince’s return as a solo artist since his disbanding of The Revolution in October 1986 – causing much of the album’s original content to be reworked to purge the band’s input from the project’s original sessions. The Revolution do feature in the configuration of the finished album, in It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night recorded during a pre-show sound check at Le Zenith in Paris on 25 August 1986 during Parade Tour, a performance that unbeknownst then was the band’s final recording with Prince together as a group. Jill Jones, Susannah Melvoin and Sheila E‘s vocals were added later.

I’m not saying I’m better than anybody else. But you’ll be sitting there at the Grammys, and U2 will beat you. And you say to yourself: Wait a minute. I can play that kind of music, too. But you will not do Housequake.

Sign O’ The Times has since been regarded as Prince’s best LP, and certainly his most critically acclaimed. Reviewing Sign O’ The Times Melody Maker simply remarked: “Truly, this man is a genius.” Yet believing Prince had strayed too far from his black roots, the album retailed only 1.8 million units in the US but 1.3 million in other markets. On 2 July 1987, the album was certified Platinum by RIAA. The sales belied the album’s status. Ranked by UK’s The Times newspaper 23rd on its list of top albums of all time. Rolling Stone ranked it #45 in their version of the list. Sign O’ The Times garnered three Grammy nominations in 1987 but no wins. The nominations were for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song (U Got The Look – the final track recorded for the album) and Album Of The Year – losing out to U2’s The Joshua Tree (even Bono was embarrassed to accept the award). When considered aside all of Prince’s albums Sign O’ The Times stands highest.

The supporting Sign O’ The Times Tour was filmed to produce the concert movie titled Sign O’ The Times, with additional scenes staged at Prince’s newly completed and personal studio complex Paisley Park. It was therefore a project that spans the most instrumental phase in Prince’s career – his journey between The Revolution, actor having completed his second movie, to becoming a solo artist again, and the inauguration of his personally funded $10 million Paisley Park Studios. That is except for the segment for U Got The Look which was shot onstage in Paris where Sheena Easton happened to be making a guest appearance at the live show. Prince had known Easton since 1984 and wrote for her the track Sugar Walls, a top 10 in the Billboard Hot 100. In December 1986, she dropped by Sunset Sound Studios simply to call in on Prince, then to her surprise he invited her to add backing vocals to his new track, having no idea it would be developed into a duet. In all, Sign O’ The Times was supported by four promotional singles, each issuing both 7″ and 12″ cuts of the main track. The title track was the lead single 1 month ahead of the LP. Being Prince’s first release since disbanding The Revolution the previous October, it charted 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Its cover caused debate as Prince’s dancer Cat Glover pictured on the single was widely mistaken for Prince himself. If I Was Your Girlfriend, the album’s second single, was released on the eve of the European tour, charted a lowly 67 in the US, yet 13 in the UK. The third single U Got The Look met the greatest success, peaking at number 2 in the US. The final single I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man, backed with Prince’s first release to contain a mix created by an external producer – Shep Pettibone’s remix of Hot Thing – issued as the B-side, delivered the album its third US top-10 hit.

Sign O' The Times | Paisley Park Records (1987) — Colour you peach and black

Evolution of the album

Prince isn’t a star, he’s an event.

The album’s peak of 6 in the US chart belies its widely held acclaim as Prince’s masterpiece. Sign O’ The Times is the evolution from three projects created in 1986, Prince’s most prolific writing year. Here is the journey:

Dream Factory

The initial sessions for what was intended to produce the fourth LP for Prince and The Revolution began at the Washington Avenue warehouse on 30 November 1985, when what would become the project’s title track Dream Factory was recorded. The main recording continued until April 1986 at Prince’s newly installed home studio at Galpin Blvd, Chanhassen, and in July continued at Sunset Sound, Hollywood. Prince, with The Revolution, created an 18-track double LP titled Dream Factory. Prince had been unable to record at his new home studio for almost a year due to filming in France for Under The Cherry Moon and that on his return that November the Galpin studio was still not complete. Once completed in early 1986, Prince threw himself to work in his studio, producing what was to be the most prolific writing year of his career. With the home setup still with spatial limitations, he ensconced himself at Sunset Sound throughout the summer laying down tracks for Dream Factory. These sessions produced The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker, It, Starfish And Coffee, Slow Love, I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man, The Cross and Sign O’ The Times. The track Slow Love dates from July 1984, its lyrics were written by a former glamour model who developed a friendship with Prince, adding a verse – it was reworked in 1986 for Dream Factory. Shortly after Dream Factory was completed that July, Prince and The Revolution headed to Europe to stage what would become their final tour. Disagreements and infighting on the road led to Prince disbanding The Revolution on his return to the US that September, causing Dream Factory to be abandoned.

Camille

With The Revolution gone, Prince turned his attention to creating something entirely different and that September started writing tracks for stage musical he titled The Dawn. But the desire to craft a solo album proved too strong, The Dawn was aborted and that October Prince set to work on an entirely new 8-track solo LP named Camille. He recorded this at Sunset Sound over a short space that winter, producing Housequake, Strange Relationship and If I Was Your Girlfriend, as well as Shockadelica, Rockhard In A Funky Place, Feel U Up, Good Love and Rebirth Of The Flesh. Camille was not going to be a conventional ‘Prince’ album but credited to a male/female pseudonym Camille; he would not even be pictured on the cover. The concept had come about by accident when engineer Susan Rogers queued Prince’s vocal pitch too high. Rather than be annoyed, it planted the idea in Prince’s mind and what resulted became the stuff of legend. Camille got 100 test pressings printed and was assigned a Warner Bros catalogue number (9)25543. The very few copies still in circulation since command near $60,000.

Crystal Ball

Come November 1986, Prince revisited Dream Factory and decided to reconfigure the tracks from both it and Camille to form a 22-track triple LP named Crystal Ball which introduced Play In The Sunshine, Hot Thing, Forever In My Life, Adore and It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night, with all the songs credited to Prince under his pseudonym Camille. When presenting Warner its master tape, the label felt that the sheer volume of tracks proposed for Crystal Ball would meet better success reduced to a double album. The task fell to Warner executive Lenny Waronker to phone Prince and convince him to pare down the configuration. Prince reluctantly obliged and again reworked the project. This led to the creation of U Got The Look just before Christmas 1986 and make the final cut of the album that was completed in January 1987 when the project was yet again renamed, Sign O’ The Times (stylised with the CND symbol in place of O’). His magnum opus was finally issued on 30 March under Paisley Park Records, exactly 365 days after the release of Parade. Sign O’ The Times was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2017.

2020 reissue

1986 is considered the golden year of Prince’s creativity, a year during which he worked on three albums of his own in addition to three others for his side-projects Jill Jones, Madhouse and Sheila E. Sign O’ The Times was remastered 33 years after the original and reissued on 25 September 2020 by Warner Records, as a 9-disk set titled Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition. The set is the most ambitious Prince release to date, its sheer scale giving testament to that prolific and legendary year which Prince conceived a considerable volume of output and at such high calibre. The reissued album returned Sign O’ The Times to the Billboard chart, entering at number 20. The Deluxe Edition is rated by Record Collector “The most generous single-album box-set of all time”.

Cover story

Sign O' The Times album cover trivia — Considered album cover | Fortune cookie labelling airbrushed out in later reissues. Photography by Jeff Katz

The cover photo for Sign O’ The Times is of a drum kit sat on a stage riser laid out for rehearsals for Sign O’ The Times Tour at Prince’s rented warehouse at 6953 Washington Avenue, Edina, Minnesota. The very warehouse the Dream Factory project was conceived in November 1985. Oddly included and positioned just above Prince’s left shoulder, close inspection will reveal a white box of Golden Dragon Inc. fortune cookies. This mishmash of instruments (Fender Rhodes, Peach Cloud Guitar, Parade Tour paisley speakers), houseplants, plasma ball (harking to the Crystal Ball project), flowers, trash, and items brought over from Prince’s home, symbolise the detritus of Prince’s career now at his ninth LP. Peach and black replace purple as Prince’s colour of choice as if to emphasise in visual The Revolution era was well and truly finished. Two colour schemes were considered for the cover; one with the drums and its mic stand drapes turquoise; and a whole other drum kit and matching drapes in peach – Prince wearing a matching suit in each (there was no colour treatment software in 1987). The backdrop itself was borrowed from Chanhassen Dinner Theatres production of Guys And Dolls and while this was afterwards returned to the theatre, the concept was recreated as a real set with neon lights for the tour. Although Prince wears glasses in this photo and for his live shows in 1987, they were simply a fashion accessory and non-prescription. Despite how it appears, Prince is not superimposed in the foreground but sat on an apple crate positioned so close to the lens he is slightly out of focus. When photographer Jeff Katz captured this iconic image, even before seeing it Prince declared “That’s the cover”. Warner Brothers was reputedly unconvinced about the choice, however it is since regarded Prince’s most iconic cover.

Performers

Vocals / all Instr: Prince
Drums: Bobby Z ^{It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night}; Shelia E ^{U Got The Look}
Guitar: Wendy Melvoin ^{Slow Love}; Miko Weaver ^{It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night}
Keyboards: Lisa Coleman ^{It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night}; Matt "Dr" Fink ^{It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night}
Bass Guitar: Brownmark ^{It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night}
Saxophone: Eric Leeds
Trumpet: Matthew Blistan "Atlanta Bliss"
Orchestration: Clare Fischer ^{Slow Love}

Data

Production

Prince

Label

Paisley Park Records

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records

Cover/Design

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Released

37 years ago on 30 March 1987

Reissued

25 September 2020 as Reissued as Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition

Running Time

79:58

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

Prince Album

Orig. Formats

Tracklist

Disk 1

Sign O' The Times (5:02)
Play In The Sunshine [feat. Susannah Melvoin] (5:05)
Housequake [Prince as Camille] (4:34)
The Ballad of Dorothy Parker [feat. Susannah Melvoin] (4:04)
It (5:10)
Starfish And Coffee (2:51) ¹
Slow Love (4:18) ²
Hot Thing (5:39)
Forever In My Life (3:38)

Running Time: 39 min, 33 sec

Disk 2

U Got The Look [Prince as Camille; duet with Sheena Easton] (3:58)
If I Was Your Girlfriend [Prince as Camille] (4:54)
Strange Relationship [Prince as Camille] (4:04)
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (6:31)
The Cross (4:46)
It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night [feat. Jill Jones, Susannah Melvoin & Shelia E] (8:59)
Adore (6:29) ³

Running Time: 30 min, 15 sec

Released as a single

¹ Co-written with Susannah Melvoin.
² Co-written with Carole Davis.
³ Co-written with Dr. Fink and Eric Leeds.

Singles from Sign O’ The Times

Sign O' The Times

Paisley Park Records

Released

18 February 1987

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records / WEA Records

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Format

Sign O' The Times [Edit] [duet with Sheena Easton] (3:42)
La La La, He He Hee [feat. Sheila E] (3:21)

Sign O' The Times

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single

Released

18 February 1987

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records / WEA Records

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Formats

Sign O’ The Times [duet with Sheena Easton] (4:57)
La La La, He He Hee [Highly Explosive] [feat. Sheila E] (10:32)

Also available as a 12" picture disc.

If I Was Your Girlfriend

Paisley Park Records

Released

6 May 1987

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records / WEA Records

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Format

If I Was Your Girlfriend [Edit] (3:46)
Shockadelica (3:30)

If I Was Your Girlfriend

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single

Released

13 May 1987

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records / WEA Records

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Formats

If I Was Your Girlfriend (4:54)
Shockadelica [Extended Version] (6:12)

Also available as a 12" picture disc.

U Got The Look

Paisley Park Records

Released

14 July 1987

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records / WEA Records

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Formats

U Got The Look [duet with Sheena Easton] (3:46)
Housequake [Edit] (3:24)

U Got The Look

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single

Released

21 July 1987

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

No Release

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Formats

U Got The Look [Long Look] [duet with Sheena Easton] (6:45)
U Got The Look [duet with Sheena Easton] (3:46)
Housequake (4:38)
Housequake [7 Minutes MoQuake] (7:15)

U Got The Look

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single

Released

3 August 1987

Distribution

WEA Records

US Chart Peak

No Release

UK Chart Peak

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Format

U Got The Look [Long Look] [duet with Sheena Easton] (6:45)
Housequake [7 Minutes MoQuake] (7:15)
U Got The Look [duet with Sheena Easton] (3:46)

Also available as a 12" picture disc.

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

Paisley Park Records

Released

3 November 1987

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records / WEA Records

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Formats

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man [Fade] (3:39)
Hot Thing [Edit] (3:40)

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single

Released

23 November 1987

Distribution

WEA Records

US Chart Peak

No Release

UK Chart Peak

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Format

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (6:31)
Hot Thing [Edit] (3:40)
Hot Thing [Extended Remix] [remix by Shep Pettibone] (8:32)

Also available as a 12" picture disc.

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single

Released

19 December 1987

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

No Release

Cover/Art

Jeff Katz and Laura LiPuma

Formats

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (6:31)
Hot Thing [Edit] (3:40)
Hot Thing [Extended Remix] [remix by Shep Pettibone] (8:32)
Hot Thing [Dub Version] [remix by Shep Pettibone] (6:53)

Supporting tour

Sign O’ The Times Tour

1987

34 shows from 8 May to 29 June, 1987

Sign O’ The Times – review

Sign O’ The Times documents Prince at the pinnacle of his music making career. This double LP, Prince’s second since 1999, produced his most diverse work, which comprise his unsurpassed masterpiece. I risk discrediting this entire website had I not rained considerable paeans of praise on this album. Thankfully bucketing heaps of approval could not be more easier a task. The lyrics to the title track are works of art, serving as the quintessential time capsule of social commentary to modern day woes. Absorb yourself into the beat of It, the power of The Cross, the pop of U Got The Look, the silkiness of The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker, the electricity of Housequake, the charm of Adore, energy of Hot Thing and then marvel at the crescendo of I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man. There are too many favorites to list here but save If I was Your Girlfriend until the early hours, listen to it loud and in complete darkness and awaken to its majesty. And that’s not even the half of it. Sign O’ The Times is a mature, thoughtful and majestic tour de force of an album, which from the first and haunting notes cut so deep into your soul delivers a listening experience like no other. If Sign O’ The Times is the final album you ever here consider your exploration complete. To put it simply, Sign O’ The Times is Prince’s finest achievement.