Review: “Lovesexy” by Prince (CD, 1988)

Today’s POP RESCUE from a fate unknown, is the 1988 tenth album Lovesexy by the late American singer, songwriter, musician, and producer, Prince. Will this album make you feel all Sexy, or should you Slam it in the bin? Read on…

Prince - Lovesexy (1988) album — Prince – Lovesexy (1988) album.

This 9 track CD is from the first pressing, and therefore plays as one continuous track. I’m using the wikipedia page to help me determine the track times and changes. The album opens with 👁️ No, and the song bursts open in an almost chaos of handclaps, Muppet-esque brass riffs, funky bass and loud beats. A female vocalist kicks off a spoken intro on the mic before Prince joins in with his unmistakably soaring and rasping vocals. Whilst it’s a great opening track, its busy sound makes it a bit too party. The cheering and clapping, along with brass notes take us into the next part of this mega track.

Next up is hit Alphabet Street, which opens with a hard beat and an almost clear start. Here, Prince feels familiar – with his sultry vocals which are flanked by guitars and female vocalists. Cat Glover not only takes backing vocals, but also gets a rap in the mid section. This track is far more tuneful, and that familiarity is no doubt down to this having been the lead single in 1988, which took him to #9 in the UK singles chart. However, as the song progresses towards its conclusion, it returns to the meandering sound until it fades away.

That’s followed by Glam Slam, the album’s second single. There’s some sort of early 80’s synth pop meets growling stadium rock going on here. The chorus does allow for it to feel somewhat singalong and catchy, and it sees Prince throw his vocal range around with seeming great ease. However, it feels a little unfinished towards the end. This not-quite-ness perhaps led it to stall in the UK charts, where it reached #29.

Then it’s a tinny piano intro for Anna Stesia. Prince’s vocals here are mellow to start with, and he’s joined by some synth pads before a beat drops in with guitar growls. The track is somewhat sinister musically and vocally – between the singing and spoken word parts that Prince delivers.

Dance On follows this with some crazy beats that might make a skiffle band twitch, pitched against a machine-gun-esque guitar that chuggs heavily – although it does get some nice solo moments. Prince gets to show off some simple vocals alongside some range roaring ones too. I have no idea how you could possibly dance to this track. I bet Prince could.

That’s then followed by the titular Lovesexy, and this again returns us to a more fuller band sound, as Prince sings ‘New Power, New Power give it to me‘. It’s a shame that this song didn’t get released as a single, as it’s one of the most musically and structurally coherent here, and Prince’s vocals, backing vocals, and harmonies are wonderfully rich.

When 2 R In Love follows that, and gives us a mid-tempo love song, with a simple beat and plodding slow bass. It’s a fairly nice calm song in which Prince basically has vocals in every key, showing off his vocal diversity.

Next is the album’s third and final single I Wish U Heaven, and it feels like a warm welcome back to form here. Prince’s delicate vocals in this track allow us to hear him with plenty of time and space around him. He throws in some more wonderful harmonies, set against a simple beat and electric guitars that compliment the sound rather than dominate. The track was robbed of being a hit, giving him just a moderate one at #24.

The album rightly closes with Positivity (and why not?), which starts with some nice up-beat percussion and synth sounds, as backing vocals off-set Prince’s lower vocals well, with lots of ‘Yes!’ vocals. It’s a foot-tapper, and it evolves quite nicely, with electric guitars roaring in the background just enough to not distract. Raps towards the end fit perfectly as Prince takes on a purring near ASMR levels, and the album closes with the sound of what seems to be someone paddling off Lowestoft to the prolonged sound of a Windows power-up noise.

Prince’s lead single Alphabet Street (1988)

Verdict

Over all, this album is a mixture of familiar Prince sounds, and a whole load of chaos.

I Wish U Heaven is the best track, but closely followed by the titular Lovesexy too, as both sound like fully rounded songs that are enough Prince to feel good, but enough fully-fledged to feel tuneful and memorable too. Alphabet Street feels somewhat self-indulgent, and its 5m 38s length feels just a bit too long to keep it interesting.

The lowest point is Dance On, which probably sounded amazing in 1988, but now it just sounds cheap. I appreciate the risk in taking on a modern style or sound and the success that it might bring, but 36 years later some of those sounds just don’t work anymore. I suspect it’s more a victim of this, than of actually being rubbish.

If you’re a strong Prince fan, then perhaps you’re raging at this review – and to be honest we tend to struggle a bit to love everything we’ve heard from him so far, but whilst there are some bumpy and weaker songs here, there are 2, 3 at a push, gems tucked in here too.