Album Review: Prince, Sign O’ The Times Deluxe
September 27, 2020
During the summer of 1874, James White, an author, minister, and co-founder of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, began publishing a religious newspaper called Signs of the Times. The goal of the newspaper was to be able to reach those in the western states, spreading the gospel of the fledgling, yet burgeoning, Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The newspaper contained writing from James’s wife and co-founder of the Adventist church, Ellen G. White, a prolific author, key figure in the ideological development of the church, and considered one of the most important religious figures in American history.
For the Whites, Signs of the Times was a conduit by which they could espouse their eschatological beliefs of the second coming of Christ, the belief that Saturday is the true Sabbath and a day of rest, spiritual prophecy, vegetarianism, and more. It was, in many ways, radical for that time to eschew many of the beliefs they held. As a result of a series of visions given to her by God, Ellen White believed there would be signs of Christ’s second coming, many of which were outlined in the newspaper. The world, as they saw it, was quickly coming to an end, Christ’s return was imminent, and they must spread the gospel of Christ’s second coming, preparing and saving all they can.
If you’re not Adventist, all of this may sound a bit strange or eccentric. For transparency, my entire immediate family is Adventist, I went to an Adventist school growing up, and continue to attend an Adventist church today. Needless to say, I’m not oblivious to the [sometimes] fringe beliefs, miscalculations, and shortcomings of the church.
If you’re Adventist, or a Prince fan, you’ve probably heard on a number of occasions (like, an obnoxious amount of times) that Prince grew up Adventist. It’s even as much been reported that Prince would often attend the Minneapolis Glendale Seventh-Day Adventist Church with his Grandmother. While Prince’s time as a devout Jehovah’s Witness is well documented, it may be his upbringing in the Adventist church that is most pronounced in the earlier portion of his career.
Could Prince have possibly heard the phrase “sign of the times” while attending church, and buried it deep inside him? It’s not possible to definitively say, but there are some clear overlapping areas: Prince’s desire to not only know, but be in relationship with God, an almost near obsession with the end times and the apocalyptic (1999), and a self-imposed mandate to tell others to prepare for the second coming (The Cross).
-----
On Friday, September 25th, Prince’s estate released the sprawling, genre-shattering box set, and revered Sign O’ The Times (SOTT). The box set includes 45-unreleased tracks from the infamous vault, a remastered version of the original album, a live concert DVD, a photobook complete with photos from the SOTT tour and photo shoots done with photographer, Jeff Katz, hand written lyrics, extensive album credits, and so much more. SOTT is widely considered to be Prince’s magnum opus, showing the artist at one of his creative peaks, and the deluxe box set proves that over and over again. In many ways, Prince was a kaleidoscope of Black music – Funk, Rock, Jazz, R&B, Folk, and so on – and a continuation in the genealogical tradition of Little Richard, James Brown, Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix, George Clinton, and others.
What I appreciate about box sets, Prince’s in particular, is the ways in which they show the beauty in the incomplete, and a look into the process of song creation. I take great joy in being able to hear a song go from melodic mumbling to eloquently crafted stories. I especially love hearing Prince call out changes to the band, directing the flow of traffic (on the song I Need A Man Prince tells the band to skip the changes and just groove).
Prince’s voice was sharp in communicating the joy and angst of the mid- to late-1980s. The AIDS epidemic was in full swing and many were left scared, lost, and confused. Ronald Reagan had entered a second term, and for many Black and poor people, this meant more plunder. There was a crack epidemic ravaging Black and poor neighborhoods, where people were treated as criminals instead of people in need of help. These were the signs of the times in which Prince was writing. SOTT feels just as relevant today as it did 33 years ago when it was released.
After the release of the album, I spoke with my good, as well as friend of the blog, and resident Prince Historian for 808s and Jazz Breaks, Tarick about the release of the new SOTT super deluxe box set! Here’s our conversation:
Stanley: As always, thanks for doing this! What are your general thoughts on the Sign 'O' The Times Box Set?
Tarick: You already know how we do bro! But yeah, after 1999 deluxe I wasn’t sure what was coming next. But I know for a fact SOTT was long overdo for a remaster. It sounded so low and thin on streaming services. When they announced SOTT deluxe, I was ecstatic! Lol
Stanley: You've mentioned that SOTT is your favorite Prince album. For you, what makes this album standout, considering such a broad breadth and spectrum of music Prince made? What were you looking forward to the most with this release?
Tarick: SOTT is and always will be my favorite Prince album. That period of 1986-1987 is special to me in the sense that I believe it was Prince during a transition period but also him really doing whatever he wanted musically; whether it was jazz fusion, rock, pop, r&b, soul, folk, etc. I like that the album has a little bit of everything on it. It has my favorite Prince song of all time (if I was your girlfriend). As far as looking forward to, you know I’m a huge fan so I have a lot of unreleased material (studio and live) so most of the vault tracks I’ve heard before one way or another but I was looking forward to the few I never heard & the live show. Soundboard quality peach cloud guitar!
Stanley: Posthumous releases can be a bit tricky, to put it mildly. SOTT is the third major release the estate has done following the Purple Rain and 1999 Super Deluxe reissues. I'm curious to know how you think Prince's estate has handled the curation of such releases? Which album would you want to see next get the reissue/super deluxe treatment?
Tarick: Well, I feel like Purple Rain Deluxe was rushed. 1999 was a little better. I knew either Parade or SOTT was coming. I heard through the grapevine that Parade was next but because Warner Brothers loses rights to everything except the movie soundtracks (Purple Rain, Parade, Batman, Graffiti Bridge) they moved sign up. All just rumor, and I have my own thoughts but this roll out has been amazing. From the social media presence, to the podcast, to the videos and single releases (poor choices for those but another convo altogether). Then they put the whole concert on YouTube?! That’s amazing. They gave us so much music man. He has so much music.
Next? Personally, I’m one of those Prince fans that loves more than just the 80s. He made great music ‘til he died. After SOTT, I’d love a Parade Deluxe but I’m over the 80s. Give me a Diamonds and Pearls or Gold Box Set!
Stanley: If anything, what do you think the SOTT Box Set adds to Prince's legacy?
Tarick: For me? His legacy had been cemented. Long before his death but especially after. SOTT has always been considered his best album out of the 39. It has been called his Songs in the Key of Life. It’s a double album, wide range of music styles, lyricism and musicianship etc. This release is bananas. It shows that he was definitely in a transition period. His band of the past 3 years was out, his engagement and relationship was ending...there were whispers he abandoned his black audience. A lot was going on. What did that do? It didn’t get him down. It got him determined. Sign was his first compilation album technically. It’s the culmination of just a bunch of recordings and 3 abandoned projects (Dream Factory, Camille, Crystal Ball). Nobody has that much music unreleased or of that quality either. He’s definitely the greatest of all time in ever sense of the word and the hardest working man in show business
