My Top 10 Albums of the 80s: (9) Sign "☮" the Times - Prince

[This is the second in a series of ten posts. The list'll be revealed as entries are written.]

Though few would ever have mistaken Prince's music for something other than the work of the man himself, all of his albums beginning with the breakthrough hit 1999 were co-credited to his backing group, the Revolution. By 1987, Prince had run out of patience with the band. In the beginning of a series of challenges to his established identity - one which would notoriously culminate in replacing his name with a ubiquitous, unpronounceable symbol - Prince disbanded the Revolution and embarked upon a mission to demonstrate the all-encompassing nature of his virtuosity. In the tradition of all great double albums, Sign "☮" the Times is a sprawling hodgepodge of genre and mood which eschews continuity in favor of glorious mess. The low-key foreboding of the title track abruptly gives way to the rollicking psychedelia of "Play in the Sunshine," and before the album is finished, Prince has touched upon every facet of black music that predated him. As ever, The Artist's refusal to be pigeonholed is more than musical: the genuine, austere gospel of "The Cross" lives alongside the bedroom funk of "It" primarily because both, incongruously, are important parts of the man's identity. Indeed, the many sides of Prince's personality are perhaps more prominently on display here than anywhere else in his vast discography. Sign "☮" the Times includes songs from the abandoned Camille project - which was to feature Prince vocals treated to sound (even) more feminine than usual - and as such, it's hardly a surprise that the album has Prince pushing the already exaggerated boundaries of his androgyny to confusing new heights. What is unexpected is the degree to which these tracks manage to transcend their novelty, and moments like the disarmingly (if unsettlingly) insightful "If I Was Your Girlfriend" speak to the quality of his songwriting at the time. Of course, as with all of his classic albums, they bear the distinct stamp of their time: the spartan electronica of "Housequake" is certainly a mark of the 80s, while lines like "Your face is jammin'/Your body's hecka slammin'" smack of 1987 worse than a Mötley Crüe music video. Beyond his ordinary, remarkable range, however - be it on guitar, vocals, or almost any one of the other instruments heard anywhere on the album - Prince imbued the proceedings with the energy of a man who finally felt free to express himself fully. This air of reckless freedom liberates the aptly-titled Sign "☮" the Times from its temporal anchoring, elevating what would otherwise have been simply another great Prince album and making it timeless.

Out of Print Gems: Sidney Bechet - Days Beyond Recall

Sidney Bechet led a remarkable life. Like many other turn-of-the-century New Orleans Creoles, he was born into a family that considered music a reprehensible profession (outside the opera) but a highly respectable vocation. Sidney played in his brother Leonard's band during his youth and quickly proved his superior; while his brother would settle down, Sidney continued playing full-time, eventually becoming perhaps the most famous of Dixieland clarinetists and a pioneering jazz saxophonist. Bechet's musical career spanned five decades, the last of which he lived as a celebrity in France - a country he adored as much for its relaxed attitude on race as for its appreciation of hot jazz. He played, among others, with Louis Armstrong and Freddie Keppard, and tutored future Ellington standout Johnny Hodges. Among these notable career highlights, an often overlooked landmark was a series of recordings Bechet made in the late 1940s and early 50s for Blue Note. Though the label would shortly become legendary as the preeminent home of hard bop, Bechet's recordings for Lion, Wolff, and co. were, if somewhat out of place in retrospect, nonetheless among the finest of his career.

Among the many Bechet Blue Note titles sadly languishing out of print was Days Beyond Recall, a collaboration with New Orleans contemporary Bunk Johnson. Johnson - a colorful character whose life was little documented, but whose trumpet prowess had been advertised by Armstrong and others - had been rescued from obscurity only three years earlier, when donations had enabled him to purchase the new dentures and horn required to resume playing and begin recording. Days Beyond Recall also included bassist Pops Foster, and the three Dixieland greats are in terrific form throughout. The band sounds lively as they stomp through "Blame It on the Blue" and album opener "Milenberg Joys" (written by Jelly Roll Morton, whose last recording session Bechet had already contributed to), while allowing themselves ample time to stretch out on the title track and "Weary Way Blues." The carefully-controlled vibrato that had made Bechet famous is on full display, and his interaction with Johnson suggests more familiarity with his musical personality than should have been allowed for by this (lamentably) one-off recording. With any luck, Blue Note will someday compile and reissue the many 10" records Bechet recorded for them, as they're truly deserving of reevaluation. Until then, Days Beyond Recall can be downloaded here.