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The remastered Sign O’ The Times on
ì180g vinyl is available to order online
at www.roughtrade.com at £39.99

remember. Sign O’ The Times, though, was
his zenith. His ninth overall, it was released
as a double in 1987, perilously balanced
between his absolute genius and the crazy
self-confi dence that fi nally overwhelmed

his talent and opened the floodgates to a
string of releases that, in refusing to self-
edit and assuming everything he did was
wonderful, proved that you defi nitely can
have too much of a good thing.

ENTER CAMILLE
The project began with Prince recording
with his backing band The Revolution for speed up his vocals. Intrigued with the a grab bag of supreme Princeness. The
what was to be something called Dream result and fascinated by the fact that it stand-out songs are the electro funky social
Factory. With several tracks in the can, made him sound female, he continued the documentary title track, the poppy ‘U Got
Prince fell out with beloved confederates process throughout the whole album and The Look’ (with Sheena Easton), the saucy
Wendy & Lisa and became disillusioned decided to release the complete shebang sweet soul of ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend’ and
or bored, or both, and sacked the band, under the pseudonym Camille. ‘I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man’
whereupon the songs already recorded Another stipulation was that it was to and the religio-epic ‘The Cross’.
were incorporated into Crystal Ball with feature no picture of him on the cover so Artistically, it was all freewheeling
the band’s contributions downplayed. the public would have no clue as to the downhill from here. More record company
Crystal Ball was planned as a triple album – artist’s identity. It would be designed to struggles, becoming ‘The Artist Formerly
seldom a good idea and already a bad sign be a true test of the great man’s pulling Known As…’, then scrawling ‘Slave’ on his
of a rampant ego – and here’s where it tips power and commercial clout. face… In essence, after Sign O’ The Times
over into the Twilight Zone. Prince was kinda done, stuck on thematic

One of the first new tracks to be put EVIL INFLUENCE repeat and musical recycle.
down on tape was something called Not surprisingly, alarm bells started to
‘Housequake’ in which Prince decided to ring at Warner Brothers HQ and, after a
period of, shall we say, heated debates, RE-RELEASE VERDICT
a compromise was reached whereupon Sign O’ The Times was fi rst released
Prince backed down a bit and agreed to as a 2LP set in Europe in 1987 on the
cull some material, add a little to leaven Paisley Park label. Working with the
the Camille stuff and release it as a double Prince Estate, Warner has recently
called Sign O’ The Times. issued a Super Deluxe set which
Before we wave her bye-bye, it might includes more than 60 previously
be fun to note that Prince later invoked unreleased tracks, and two complete
Camille as the guiding force responsible concert recordings (including Prince’s
for his next project, The Black Album, also only on-stage collaboration with Miles
shelved shortly before its intended release Davis). But the basic 16-track album is
after the artist experienced a spiritual also available on 180g vinyl [Cat No:
epiphany, became convinced the record 0603497846528]. Remastering is by
was ‘evil’ and had been created under the Bernie Grundman. HFN
influence of Spooky Electric, a demonic Sound Quality: 90%

alter-ego induced by Camille.
Prince pictured at the Paisley Park OK then. Anyway, as it turned out, 0 - - - - - - - - 100
ìcomplex by photographer Jeff Katz Sign O’ The Times worked out just fi ne as

DECEMBER 2020 | www.hifi news.co.uk | 83