Review Summary: A definition for the sound that makes Prince 'Prince'.
Prince's self-titled is such for a reason. While his gradual but immense development would see him in grander, more controversial projects after
Prince, it is on here that he establishes his standard. Between
For You and
Dirty Mind, it is on his self-titled, and with its much more pronounced and recognizable production and signature songwriting, that he draws the line between what is 'Prince' and what is not. A dissatisfaction with his commercial disappointment of a debut driving Prince into developing his sound further, he sheds much of the contrived glossiness of the predecessor and focuses more on the nuanced interplay of the instrumentation, creating a more sensual record in the process.
Acting as a sort of bridge between two worlds,
Prince also introduces much more blatant sexual ribaldry where
For You contained itself in cheesy double entendres. The improved musicianship and more fine-tuned production are able to enhance the sweaty funk of "Sexy Dancer" and the lesbian-seducing riffs and unprecedentedly gritty vocals of "Bambi" in a way that is definitely explicit in its definition, while not outright being taboo in the vein of
Dirty Mind.
The fact that
Prince is an in-between phase is not without its caveats however, as the overbearingly inoffensive nature of
For You is still often present in the album. While the breezy "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and the biggest non-single off the album, "I Feel for You", are able to harness the cheesiness into some synth-focused fun, the back-to-back ballads "When We're Dancing Close and Slow" and "With You" border on overtly romantic.
Perhaps the greatest hindrance of
Prince comes in the form of its flow, half of the album being comprised of amorous ballads, a dry spell falls midway through the album because of the aforementioned two consecutive lovey-dovey ballads. This also has an adverse effect on the second half of the album, comprised of a ballad-banger-ballad-banger-ballad structure, unfortunately hurting the markedly superior slow numbers "Still Waiting" and "It's Gonna Be Lonely". While containing solid songs all the way through, the difficulty of striking the balance between raucous sexuality and tender love songs evidently still shows a need for Prince to grow as an artist.
As with artists whose debuts are often self-titled ones, even though
Prince is not the literal beginning it is the true genesis of Prince, spawning his first big hits and featuring his signature synth-funk sound he's utilized in songwriting for other artists as well. The album is just as apt an introduction to Prince's music as
Purple Rain or
Sign o' the Times, perhaps even more so, not being packed with overtly ambitious overarching genre-bending. As something to work off of for the uninitiated, and for the artist himself,
Prince establishes an understandable base line by defining what makes Prince 'Prince'.
