Prince - Controversy
#523
By Andrew Anthony
October 14 1981
Prince
Controversy
Genre: Funk/Pop
Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5
Andrew’s Rating: 3 out of 5 if you dig funk, 2 out of 5 if you don’t
Highlights:
Controversy
Ronnie, Talk to Russia
Annie Christian
(Allen adds “Jack U Off”)
Controversy is an album that chronicles the transitions that Prince began to go through at the beginning of the 80s. Transitioning from a one-man band to a band leader. Transitioning from a writer and singer of horny goat, “lock up your daughter” sex songs to actually delving into subjects of personal identity, spirituality, politics, and social issues. Transitioning from an opening act for the Rolling Stones and getting booed and pelted with Coke cans and whiskey bottles to being a worldwide, stadium filling headliner. Making the all-important transition from being a flash-in-the-pan funky pop star to being a massively respected, genre-transcending musical and artistic genius. You get the picture.
Is it a great album? Not really. Thus, the middle of the road rating. Give him a couple of years. His masterpieces—1999, Purple Rain, Sign O’ The Times—are coming, and MAN! are they gonna be worth the wait.
In the meantime, there are a few flashes of brilliance and sneak previews of the Artist to come. The title track is an early Prince juxtaposition of sexuality (“I wish we were all nude”), spirituality (Whoa! The Lord’s Prayer chanted in its entirety in the middle of the song!), and a search for identity (“Am I black or white? Am I straight or gay?”), all set to a driving, funky beat and jangling guitar rhythm.
“Ronnie, Talk to Russia”, an early foray into politics, begins with sudden bursts of guitar feedback and drum blasts, before settling into a harmonic plea for world peace “before we blow up the world”, ending abruptly with the sound of an exploding bomb.
“Annie Christian”, a dark, keyboard-driven song about obsession and assassination, evokes images of Lennon, Reagan, and the Atlanta Child Murders, and laments the fear of being stalked by murderous psychopaths (“Annie Christian, Annie Christ, until you're crucified, I'll live my life in taxicabs”).
The other tracks are what we’ve come to expect from early Prince: libidinous funk and R&B with the type of pornographic lyrics that may have justified the formation of the PMRC. I mean, it’s fine for what it is but I think you’d really have to be a Prince fan to enjoy it. I am, so I do. I just don’t listen to it nearly as often as I do Purple Rain, for obvious reasons.
https://open.spotify.com/album/68qpubhEKJPAKgWarrqfoA?si=LUeJXOyLSCKJe62JD_fGsA
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