Sign 'o' the Times (1987)

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Siskoid
I'm not entirely familiar with Prince's Sign o’ the Times, but the filmed concert includes some older hits and already prefigures, I feel, the sound of the Batman original soundtrack. Prince easily moves from one musical style to the other, demonstrating his legendary mutability, and floods the stage with energy, sexual and otherwise. He also never neglects his band, giving everyone a showcase. It's not just about him, not at all. Most prominently, he's accompanied by drum goddess Sheila E. who has enormous screen presence and is having a lot of fun. The show's weak spot is Sheena Easton's guest appearance, where we cut from the stage performance to a lipsynced music video for "U Got the Look". It's jarring. More interesting is the use of music video characters in the stage show itself, providing a kind of loose narrative that give the songs context. I don't like it when stage shows reproduce the artist's videos, but this isn't that. I do find it odd that Prince ends the show on a devotional song given the content that came before (in particular the high sexual staging of certain numbers), but he's a musical chameleon throughout the show, so why not. 2 years 1 month ago