Lovesexy

Lovesexy
Studio album by Prince
Released	May 10, 1988
Recorded	December 1987 – January 1988
Studio	Paisley Park Records
Genre	R&B funk[1]
Length	45:03
Label	Paisley Park Warner Bros.
Producer	Prince
Prince chronology
Sign o' the Times (1987) Lovesexy (1988) Batman (1989)
Singles from Lovesexy
"Alphabet St." Released: April 23, 1988 "Glam Slam" Released: July 11, 1988 "I Wish U Heaven" Released: September 20, 1988

Lovesexy is the tenth studio album by American recording artist Prince. The album was released on May 10, 1988 by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records, a little over a year after Prince's previous studio album, Sign o' the Times, which received critical praise and a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Lovesexy received mixed reviews; it was issued as a substitute record after the last minute cancellation of the infamous The Black Album. The album was recorded in just seven weeks, from mid-December 1987 to late January 1988, at Prince's new Paisley Park Records, and most of the album is a solo effort from Prince, with a few exceptions. The opening track, "Eye No", was recorded with the full band (Miko Weaver on guitar, Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass, Doctor Fink and Boni Boyer on keyboards, Eric Leeds on saxophone, Atlanta Bliss on trumpet and Sheila E. on drums). Sheila E., in fact, plays drums on several tracks and sings backup, along with Boyer. Leeds and Bliss provide horns on most tracks, and Ingrid Chavez provides the intro to "Eye No".^[2] The album is designed to be heard in the context of a continuous sequence: LP pressings split the album in two side-long tracks, without visual bands to indicate individual songs. Similarly, early CD copies of Lovesexy have the entire album in sequence as a single track, though some later editions have it as nine separate tracks.

The lyrical themes of the record include positivity, self-improvement, spirituality, and God. It spawned three singles; "Alphabet St." became a worldwide top-ten hit in the spring of 1988, whereas the follow-up singles "Glam Slam" and "I Wish U Heaven" failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100. While it was Prince's least successful album in the United States since 1980, it became his first UK number 1 album (where all the singles became top-thirty hits) and received critical praise. The album was accompanied by the critically acclaimed Lovesexy Tour, of which the Dortmund show in Germany was released on video cassette and LaserDisc. It was also televised (with a short delay for editorial purposes) on the British Channel 4, with the broadcast containing various alternate camera shots in place of the ones used in the officially released video, which was released a year later in 1989.

Music

The theme of the album is the struggle between good and evil, or "Camille" and "Spooky Electric", respectively. God and Satan, virtue and sin (although, with the Gemini character that he developed in 1989, these "sides" may also represent "ego and alter-ego"), the perennial themes of Prince's work, mix as Prince climaxes to "Love is God, God is love, girls and boys love God above" in the song "Anna Stesia".

Prince refers to Lovesexy as a gospel album. It opens with a sermon of sorts; "Eye No", a positive energetic track advising people to be free from their vices and to reject Satan, and affirming his belief in God, while using his bully pulpit to encourage the listener to do the same. "Eye No" is a reworking of a song called "The Ball" from the unreleased Crystal Ball.^[3] The song ends with a scale of horns and a segue of conversations (originally recorded on "Eye No"'s original version "The Ball" which segued into another song; the "conversations", or background party ambience, was later used on the Graffiti Bridge album as a segue between "We Can Funk" and "Joy in Repetition") leading to the album's biggest-selling single, "Alphabet St.", which mixes dance music, rock and rap along with playful lyrics about sex, braggadocio, and the heavenly state of feeling "lovesexy". Next is "Glam Slam", a busy dance track which features Prince's full band. It speaks to the uplifting interlude between Prince and a woman, and how, when he fell down, she lifted him. It also praises the woman's love and sense of humanity. The song ends with an almost classical music string solo (performed on keyboard). Ending side one of the vinyl release is "Anna Stesia", a heartfelt confessional number divulging various sins of the flesh, and ends with Prince promising to dedicate his life and music to God.

Side two opens with the machine gun-like pace of "Dance On", which lambasts negative aspects of society, somewhat akin to "Sign "☮" the Times". The title track follows, described by Prince as "The feeling you get when you fall in love...not with a boy or girl but with the heavens above," and it is another energetic dance track; the "Good News" indeed Prince extols its virtues graphically and then he and Cat Glover share an orgasm, both using sped up Camille-like vocals, going from Prince's voice to Cat's. This leads into the surviving The Black Album track, "When 2 R in Love", a sex-infused ballad. Next is the almost sparse, but uplifting "I Wish U Heaven", which says that no matter what controversy or opposition one may bring, the end result is still wishing your enemy the best. It follows a Biblical proverb about "blessing those that curse you, loving those that hate you, for it heaps hot coals on their heads". The last track is "Positivity", which echoes the theme of "Dance On". It extols the virtues of staying positive, while asking the listener to examine examples of negativity and negative aspects of the world; overlooking the quick thrill and pushing toward being positive throughout it. The song continuously asks the question "Have you had your plus sign today?" The vocals are sung, but the bridge and extended portions are more of a spoken rap-type style that Prince had started to display as early as "All the Critics Love U in New York" in 1982. The song ends with sounds of water rushing and a river over keyboard chords. This final song was later given to Mavis Staples for her 1991 album, The Voice.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B+[4]
Entertainment Weekly	B[5]
The Guardian	[6]
MusicHound	3/5[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[9]
Stylus Magazine	(favorable)[10]

The cover (based on a photo by Jean Baptiste Mondino) caused some controversy upon release as it depicts Prince in the nude.^[11] Some record stores refused to stock it or wrapped the album in black; ironically, as Lovesexy was issued as a replacement for the hastily withdrawn The Black Album, which had an achromatic black cover.

Lovesexy was Prince's least successful album since 1981, failing to break the top 10, being certified Gold and spending just 21 weeks on the US Billboard 200. While "Alphabet St." managed to crack the top 10, it did not make a lasting impression and the subsequent two single releases failed to chart on the Hot 100. The situation in the United Kingdom was more positive, where the album debuted at number 1 and all the singles became top 40 hits.

Track listing

All tracks written by Prince. 

Side 1
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Eye No"	5:47
2.	"Alphabet St."	5:38
3.	"Glam Slam"	5:04
4.	"Anna Stesia"	4:56

Side 2
No.	Title	Length
5.	"Dance On"	3:44
6.	"Lovesexy"	5:48
7.	"When 2 R in Love"	4:01
8.	"I Wish U Heaven"	2:43
9.	"Positivity"	7:15

Samples

• The opening to "Eye No" contains a sample from a Roger Limb track "Passing Clouds", created at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop released in 1971 on the Out of this World album.

Notes

• The early edition of the Compact Disc features all content on a single track. Some later editions featured nine separate tracks.

Personnel

• Prince - lead vocals and various instruments
• Sheila E. - drums (1, 2, 3, 8), drums and backing vocals (5, 9)
• Boni Boyer - keyboards (1), backing vocals (4, 9)
• Dr. Fink - keyboards (1)
• Miko Weaver - guitar (1)
• Levi Seacer, Jr. - bass (1)
• Eric Leeds - saxophone (1, 2, 9)
• Atlanta Bliss - trumpet (1, 2, 9)
• Ingrid Chavez - spoken intro (1)
• Cat Glover - rap (2), backing vocals (4)

^[12]

Singles and Hot 100 chart placings

• "Alphabet St." (#8 US, #3 US R&B, #9 UK)

1. "Alphabet St. – part 1" – 7" version only
2. "Alphabet St. – part 2" – 7" version only
3. "Alphabet St." – 12" version only
4. "Alphabet St. – This is not music, this is a trip" – 12" version only

• "Glam Slam" (#44 US R&B, #29 UK)

1. "Glam Slam" — 7" version only
2. "Glam Slam (Remix)" — 12" version only
3. "Escape (Free yo mind from this rat race)"

• "I Wish U Heaven" (#18 US R&B, #24 UK)

1. "I Wish U Heaven" — 7" version only
2. "I Wish U Heaven (Part 1, 2 and 3)" — 12" version only
3. "Scarlet Pussy"

Charts

Chart (1988–2016)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[13]	8
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14]	3
Canadian Albums (RPM)[15]	7
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[16]	1
French Albums (SNEP)[17]	3
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18]	4
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[19]	1
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[20]	2
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[21]	1
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22]	1
UK Albums (OCC)[23]	1
US Billboard 200	11
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)	5

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[24]	Platinum	300,000^^
United States (RIAA)[25]	Gold	500,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Notes

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Lovesexy at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
2. Hahn 2003, p. 127.
3. Hahn 2003, p. 124.
4. Christgau, Robert. Prince. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
5. Purple Products. Entertainment Weekly
6. Price, Simon (April 22, 2016). "Prince: every album rated – and ranked". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
7. Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 897. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
8. Rolling Stone 16 June 1988
9. "Prince: Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on March 20, 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
10. Stylus Magazine Lovesexy review
11. Hahn 2003, p. 125.
12. http://princevault.com/index.php/Album:_Lovesexy
13. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 239. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA from mid 1983 until 19 June 1988. Lovesexy peaked at number 8 in Australia one week before the ARIA-produced chart commenced (week ending 26 June 1988). The australian-charts.com site only contains chart information from June 26, 1988.
14. "Austriancharts.at – Prince – Lovesexy" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
15. Template:CiteVweb
16. "Dutchcharts.nl – Prince – Lovesexy" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
17. "Lescharts.com – Prince – Lovesexy". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
18. "Offiziellecharts.de – Prince – Lovesexy" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
19. "Charts.org.nz – Prince – Lovesexy". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
20. "Norwegiancharts.com – Prince – Lovesexy". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
21. "Swedishcharts.com – Prince – Lovesexy". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
22. "Swisscharts.com – Prince – Lovesexy". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
23. "Prince | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved May 1, 2016.
24. "British album certifications – Prince – Lovesexy". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Lovesexy in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
25. "American album certifications – Prince – Lovesexy". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

References

• Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
• Hahn, Alex (2004). Possessed: The Rise And Fall Of Prince. Billboard Books. ISBN 0-8230-7749-7.

External links

• Lovesexy at Discogs
• Lovesexy at Prince Vault