Prince / Sign "☮" The Times
Artist Prince
Album Title: Sign "☮" The Times
Album Cover:
Primary Genre Rock: Funk Rock
Format CD (2)
Released 03/31/1987
Label Paisley Park/Warner Bros.
Catalog No 9 25577-2
Bar Code No 0 7599-25577-2
Packaging Jewelcase
Tracks
Sign "☮" The Times [disc 1]
1. Sign "☮" The Times (4:56)
2. Play In The Sunshine (5:05)
3. Housequake (4:42)
4. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (4:01)
5. It (5:09)
6. Starfish And Coffee (2:50)
7. Slow Love (4:22)
8. Hot Thing (5:39)
9. Forever In My Life (3:30)
Sign "☮" The Times [disc 2]
1. U Got The Look (3:47)
2. If I Was Your Girlfriend (5:01)
3. Strange Relationship (4:01)
4. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (6:29)
5. The Cross (4:48)
6. It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night (9:01)
7. Adore (6:30)
Date Acquired 10/10/1987
Personal Rating
Acquired from Down In The Valley
Purchase Price 19.00

Web Links

All Music Guide entry:
Discogs Entry: (Close but not actual release)

Notes

This first copy I bought I ruined by taking on a motorcycle trip where I packed these poorly.

2 CD's in 2 individual jewelcases with 2 booklets.

Sign "☮" The Times
"It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night" recorded live in Paris by Prince And The Revolution. "Transmississippi Rap" on "Night" performed by Sheila E.
Arranged By, Written-By – Prince
Art Direction – Laura LiPuma
Engineer – Coke Johnson, Prince, Susan Rogers
Management – Cavallo, Ruffalo & Fargnoli
Mastered By [Originally] – Bernie Grundman
Photography By – Jeff Katz
Producer – Prince
Saxophone – Eric Leeds
Trumpet – Atlanta Bliss
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – WEA International Inc.
Published By – Controversy Music
Copyright (c) – Controversy Music
Manufactured By – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Distributed By – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Copyright © – Paisley Park Records Inc.
Manufactured By – Record Service GmbH
Mixed At – Paisley Park Studios
Mixed At – Sunset Sound
Mixed At – Dierks Studio Mobile Trucks

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Analyzed Folder: PrinceSign ☮ The Times (disc 1)_dr.txt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR            Peak       RMS        Filename                      
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR10       -7.72 dB   -20.35 dB  01 - Sign 'O' The Times.flac  
DR12       -4.66 dB   -18.70 dB  02 - Play In The Sunshine.flac
DR12       -6.00 dB   -19.71 dB  03 - Housequake.flac          
DR14       -4.65 dB   -21.14 dB  04 - The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker.flac
DR13       -3.26 dB   -18.48 dB  05 - It.flac                  
DR16       -1.43 dB   -19.22 dB  06 - Starfish And Coffee.flac
DR13       -4.33 dB   -20.03 dB  07 - Slow Love.flac          
DR16       -1.36 dB   -19.93 dB  08 - Hot Thing.flac          
DR15       -6.12 dB   -23.66 dB  09 - Forever In My Life.flac  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Files: 9
Official DR Value: DR13
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Analyzed Folder: Prince - Sign ☮ The Times (disc 2)_dr.txt
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DR            Peak       RMS          Filename                      
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR13       -4.41 dB   -19.47 dB  01 - U Got The Look.flac      
DR14       -5.21 dB   -22.79 dB  02 - If I Was Your Girlfriend.flac
DR14       -4.42 dB   -20.20 dB  03 - Strange Relationship.flac
DR12       -4.61 dB   -19.37 dB  04 - I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man.flac
DR12       -6.68 dB   -22.51 dB  05 - The Cross.flac          
DR13       -2.99 dB   -18.39 dB  06 - It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night.flac
DR12       -8.31 dB   -23.32 dB  07 - Adore.flac              
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Number of Files: 7
Official DR Value: DR13
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Reviews
All Music Guide Review:

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Fearless, eclectic, and defiantly messy, Prince's Sign "☮" The Times falls into the tradition of tremendous, chaotic double albums like The Beatles, Exile on Main St., and London Calling -- albums that are fantastic because of their overreach, their great sprawl. Prince shows nearly all of his cards here, from bare-bones electro-funk and smooth soul to pseudo-psychedelic pop and crunching hard rock, touching on gospel, blues, and folk along the way. This was the first album Prince recorded without the Revolution since 1982's 1999 (the band does appear on the in-concert rave-up, "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"), and he sounds liberated, diving into territory merely suggested on Around the World in a Day and Parade. While the music overflows with generous spirit, these are among the most cryptic, insular songs he's ever written. Many songs are left over from the aborted triple album Crystal Ball and the abandoned Camille project, a Prince alter ego personified by scarily sped-up tapes on "If I Was Your Girlfriend," the most disarming and bleak psycho-sexual song Prince ever wrote, as well as the equally chilling "Strange Relationship." These fraying relationships echo in the social chaos Prince writes about throughout the album. Apocalyptic imagery of drugs, bombs, empty sex, abandoned babies and mothers, and AIDS pop up again and again, yet he balances the despair with hope, whether it's God, love, or just having a good time. In its own roundabout way, Sign "☮" The Times is the sound of the late '80s -- it's the sound of the good times collapsing and how all that doubt and fear can be ignored if you just dance those problems away.
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