Sign 'O' the Times (1987)


  
 
Disc One 
 1. Sign 'O' the Times
 2. Play in the Sunshine
 3. Housequake
 4. The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
 5. It
 6. Starfish and Coffee
 7. Slow Love
 8. Hot Thing
 9. Forever in My Life

Disc Two
 1. U Got the Look
 2. If I Was Your Girlfriend
 3. Strange Relationship
 4. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
 5. The Cross
 6. It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night
 7. Adore

 

By the mid-1980s, Prince had already built up a mountain of credibility as one of the most prolific artists of his time. But this album—Sign o’ the Times—is where everything he’d been chasing finally clicked into place. Critics tend to agree. Fans, too. And it’s easy to see why. This is Prince at the peak of his powers—still innovative, still fearless, and somehow able to juggle every style in the book without dropping a single ball.

With the staggering rate at which he released music during this period, it could be tough to keep up. Blink and you’d miss a whole album. My only gripe, minor though it is, was always that he might’ve benefitted from slowing down just a little—give listeners time to absorb it all. Of course, that just wasn’t in his nature. The man had too much pouring out of him. In fact, this album was originally planned as a triple LP. His label wisely suggested trimming it to a double, not out of quality concerns, but probably to avoid sticker shock. You could argue there was a third disc’s worth of brilliance still waiting in the wings—but this tighter version is already more than enough to take in.

It’s not his first double album—1999 came earlier and is a classic in its own right—but where that one was essentially an extended dance party, Sign o’ the Times takes a much broader, deeper route. Funk, soul, pop, psychedelia, rock, gospel—it’s all here. And somehow, it all works. What really sets this one apart is that every detour feels part of a singular journey. The variety doesn’t make it feel scattered—it makes it feel complete.

There’s also a noticeable sparseness to a lot of the production here. Not in a bad way—it’s intentional, focused. A lot of the tracks are driven by tight drum machine patterns and minimal layering, allowing his vocals and melodies to take center stage. The title track Sign o’ the Times is a masterclass in mood with almost no excess. Forever in My Life is similarly stripped down—just a steady pulse, some backing voices, and Prince, dead center. It’s the kind of restraint that lesser artists wouldn’t even attempt.

But that’s only one side of the coin. Elsewhere, he’s throwing everything he’s got at the speakers. Play in the Sunshine and I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man are bursting with instrumentation and color. Then you’ve got the nine-minute funk jam It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night, complete with a rap by Sheila E., and the sweaty, electric duet with Sheena Easton U Got the Look—a chart-ready hit that somehow doesn’t feel like it’s pandering. That’s the balancing act Prince pulls off here. Every track fits, even when they shouldn’t.

If there’s one “new” element in this record, it’s "Camille". That’s the name he gave his high-pitched alter ego, created by speeding up his own voice. Several tracks are credited to this persona, and when Sign o’ the Times first dropped, some listeners even thought Camille was one of Prince’s latest protégées. The trick mostly works, adding a layer of oddness that somehow suits the material. It only really misfires once—on If I Was Your Girlfriend. The track itself is fascinating, but near the end, Prince slips into a breathy monologue that veers into the overtly sexual. Nothing new for him, sure, but sometimes less really is more.

When you consider how many A-grade albums Prince released in the 1980s, it seems like it should be impossible to pick a single high-water mark. But this is it. Hands down. Sign o’ the Times isn’t just a great Prince album—it’s a great album, full stop. Hearing it today, you realize just how rare this kind of creative peak really is. Albums like this don’t happen by accident. They happen when a genius decides to give everything he’s got. And Prince gave us everything here.

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