Review Summary: An excellent staple of the 1980's that manages to blaze through the speakers with its provocativeness and brilliant compositions today!
Well, this holds no punches--even its raunchy, straightforwardly provacative explicit title gets the point across pretty clearly. This album blurs the lines between genres, leaves the sexuality to the forefront as ambiguous--is he singing about other men? Is he singing about women? I suppose that's up to the listener--being this openly ambiguous was something very controversial back in its day, and Prince rode that controversy to its full glory (Haha, get it?) and potential with his personality and showmanship, this ambiguity had been done before by the likes of people such as Bowie but arguably no one went as outlandish with it as Prince did.
Sure, this album is overtly sexual but it proved Prince's full on talent. Even to this day it still sounds quite fresh to a listener with an open mind no matter what your main favorite genre is, and certainly sounds nothing like any other album of the 80's, filled to the brim with sensations that please and provoke one's mind, and pure genius.
For You didn't do much to establish this artist's persona,
Prince (1979) did quite better and holds up as great, but even then has quite a few missteps, particularly with emotion but
Dirty Mind takes the crown in contouring that master-stroke, and creates the textbook definition of the Minneapolis Sound.
The first song,
"Dirty Mind" is upbeat, it has, like the other tracks, some alertness that makes them delectable whilst Prince's falsetto gives an androgynous overtone to the experience. Starting with a thumping kick drum, a flashy synth line and downright scandalous lyrics combined with the daring androgyny makes this song delightful, it mixes Rock, Funk, R&B, and even Punk in a way no one had seen before, and is impeccable.
"When You Were Mine" touches on rockabilly in a unique way that sounds fresh and is a really lovely cut, with commendable bass work, emotive guitar work, and lyrics that speak of longing for an ex who doesn't share the singer's monogamous desires, its deep and it manages to pull this even with him using falsetto, it seems he improved drastically from his last album when it came to that.
On comes
"Do It All Night" which is much more of a pop track than the previous two, and delves deeper into funk with its straightforwardness and groovy bassline with waves of synthesizer in the chorus crashing at the seams, It is a weaker track but not without charm, nothing commendable, while
"Gotta Broken Heart Again" is the album's lone ballad, and unlike the ones on the previous album, despite being hardly groundbreaking or innovative, it has soul, Prince's voice gives actual emotional impact on it and it is delightfully beautiful, even including elements of country music. The bluesy guitar solo is wonderful as well and it's a shame that it's so short.
Kicking off side 2 with a blast,
"Uptown" is a song that could quite easily fit snugly with the punk movement, addressing themes like racism and homophobia, while still being an all-out party anthem with its infectious bassline and the use of headbanging power chords in the pre-chorus its phenomenal for a hit.
"Head" is where things get interesting--he actually let members of his band in on the creative process for the first time. Dr. Fink provides a mindblowing synthesizer solo that is like being in the feeling of ecstasy, simulating that feeling of--you guessed it--orgasm from getting head, it's mindblowing just how technical this is, and sounds almost sci-fi like, while Lisa Coleman provides the newlywed female's vocals, showing off her chops.
Unfortunately like with all albums up to this point, there are some duds. Towards the end, this album falls flat on it's face with
"Sister" one of Prince's worst songs, with a pastiche rockabilly arrangement, regurgitated and complete with with vomit-inducing incestual lyrics.
"Partyup" is surprisingly political, but falls flat in that it never experiences any real development and is boring, not to mention the endless times that Prince repeats the song title over and over and over and over again until it is drilled in your head like a constant, never-ending nightmare.
Overall, this may be his first fully realized album but one can't help but feel it doesn't quite match up to the last one, and is just a smidge overrated as a critic's darling.
Track by Track:
1. Dirty Mind: ★★★★★
2. When You Were Mine: ★★★★★ 🎖️
3. Do It All Night: ★★★
4. Gotta Broken Heart Again: ★★★★
5. Uptown: ★★★★
6. Head: ★★★★★
7. Sister: 💣
8: Partyup: ★
