Sign 'O' The Times

Subtle Rock/Pop Poured Blues

In honor of music legend and major media media influence Prince, I wanted to discuss a little of his impact and reflect on his mastery through the review of this song. Just to let you know, it was kind of difficult to listen to any of his stuff, I could only find it on paid spotify and a some of his stuff on google play or iTunes. I did find a place to hear the actual version, but for the blog I had to link a pretty close version of the song with his original voice overlaid, sorry. This song screams uniqueness, from the guitar and bass to his specific voice and blend of electric and real drums, this song oozes creativity. The song’s percussion sections use of snare and fast bass drum combined with the repeated syths parts and the electric drum solo is awesome, we don’t hear such creative use of percussion parts that often. The bass starting almost at the beginning and carrying the song with smooth, cool, and a sort of dark sound is something that you could never get tired of. The guitar sparking strong flares of personality into the song is like the marshmallows in the Lucky Charms that make that good cereal even better. Prince’s voice is lower here for most of the song compared to his normal pitch in other songs, and this just shows how amazing of an artist he was being able to gracefully use his voice in high sopranos or strong tenor depending on the need of the song. But this is not all of his talent, he is an outstanding songwriter, and this song’s magical blend of various and irregular sounds being able to create a superb piece is his greatest feat. I don’t know for sure, but I am sure he could play all the parts of the song and sing at the same time if it were possible. The lyrics are clever and upfront. He has no problem showing the world that things in the world are messed up. He has made expressing oneself in music a part of your songs. He never worried about what people thought, he made music that he wanted to and you can see that by the unique personality in all of his music. I am grateful for his powerful sense of identity that he carried and encouraged through his music. Hats off and heads down in solemn respect to the great Prince and his life, thank you.

Originality:10

Instruments:9

Vocals:9

Longevity:8

Red Score:9