Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Prince
Prince tabs Prince discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Prince guitar tabs

CD reviews

Dirty Mind

Prince - Dirty Mind Audio CD

A fair review of the Prince "Dirty Mind" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Prince reviews here, or go back to the Prince tabs.

Band: Prince
Title: Dirty Mind
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Dirty Mind 2: When You Were Mine 3: Do It All Night 4: Gotta Broken Heart Again 5: Uptown 6: Head - Lisa Coleman, Prince 7: Sister 8: Partyup

My favorite Prince album
This is my favorite Prince album every song is great, my favorite tracks are: When You Were Mine, Do It All Night, Uptown, and Sister.

"It's Too Dirrty momma, Prince's mind is Much Too Dirrty!"
Maybe it was The music, The image or all of the above But Prince has always been a huge source of fascination for me. I've always admired prince. Here's a man who had the balls to put on high-heels and at the same time sing about receiving Oral Sex from females. He was Controversy when nobody wanted it, Cool when most people weren't & Dirrty before it had two R's (Thanks Christina A!) From a musical standpoint though most people would be surprised to know what Prince is capable of. If you look on the back of almost any of his albums (Including this Classic) you'll find that they are Produced, Arranged, Composed & Performed by none other than the "Maestro" himself Prince, That's right basically everything is done by one man! Who in this day and age would take on that responsibility. . . That's right. . . No one!

Because of this I continually find myself asking what the hell does he need with these Bands (NPG,Revoulution. . Etc)
surrounding him, I mean he can play all their instruments (probably) better then they can. So what's their purpose. . . Mental Support?

"Dirty Mind" I must say is one of his top 5 albums (The others being Controversy, The Gold Experience, Music from the Motion Picture "Purple Rain" & 1999) and on a good day (When I'm a good mood) boils down to being his best Album (That's right beating out the Some-what overrated "Music from the Motion Picture "Purple Rain"" Soundtrack) The only other album that could possibly contend with this one is it's follow-up, The often overlooked Classic "Controversy". That album is a gem also but this one is just as good. It combines the Sexualness of tracks like "Head" & his future cut "Jack U off" with pretty ballads (Minimal in number)such as "Gotta broken heart again" & "When you were Mine". This makes for a great combination of Sexual, Political & Sorrowful: all of which would soon encompass his future work.

The thing that sets this album apart from it's predecessors & Successors is it's unique blend of Something old and twisting and turning it until it's something Brand New & Exciting. His earlier releases never sounded as fresh and crisp as this. Prince's later work, While they did improve and achieve better production. They also lost that organic sound that made Prince's work stay feet on the ground (Instead of drifting off into space) Prince's organic & minimal Stripped down production style was fading and by "1999" it would be gone(Beginning a whole new chapter in Prince's recording career)Not that that was a Totally bad thing especially considering that Prince's music style needed a change & he wouldn't have become the huge icon he is today. . . Still it's a matter of public opinion.

1. Dirty Mind- Classic, Classic, Classic!!! this song is the quintessential Classic Prince song. Prince gets behind some synths and talks about his affection with a particular girl and how he gets a Dirty Mind every time he sees her. "It's U I really wanna drive/Underneath the stars" it's so Dirrty & Filthy. . . Who could pass this up? 5/5

2. When you were mine- I'm currently in a phase where I mostly listen to Ballads (That are good of course) and this one is one of my all time favorites! Minimal production with just Prince and a pipe organ. The vocals are executed very elegantly and tenderly, But the lyrics are genius "I love you more/Than I did when You were mine" it's a sad song to make you cry & one of the best this album offers. 5/5

3. Do it all night- With the album being on smooth Cruise Control it was eventual we would face some turbulence and this is the first shot. "Do it all night" is a slightly forgettable song about Prince overcoming his shyness to tell a girl he wants to "Do it all night". Not particularly memorable, not particularly ear offensive either. this song is just alright. 4/5

4. Gotta broken heart again- Prince slows down the tempo once again here and delivers a tender ballad of lost love.
"Gotta broken heart again/cause my only supposed to be friend/stole my old lady away from me/now I'm just as blue as I can be". The song is beautiful and offers a glimpse into his sensitive side, But with the benchmark already set so high with "When you were Mine" this was doomed to be forgettable from the start. 4/5

5. Uptown- Uh-Oh! the tempos moving up more and more as the album plays out. This Song is extremely vivid and well written and thus makes my imagination go wild! with lines like "She saw me walking down the street/of your fine city/it kinda turned me on when she looked at me & said come here" you know just what's happening. The song talks about this imaginary place named Uptown where everyone does what they please in perfect harmony without society "Telling em' how it's suppose to be". Great concept, Great song! 5/5

The next two songs are really where (Imo) the "Dirty Mind" starts going into an overhaul:

6. Head- This song is about just what the title implies & nothing more. Prince gets heavily explicit and talks of a bride to be giving him oral sex only winding up with her ditching the guy she's supposed to marry only to elope with Prince instead. (Guess that must have been some good Head!!) The Song is Dirrty lyrically but seriously this song deserves a listen for "musical value". The licks are the boss, The sounds are funky and the Lyrics. . . Just Filthy! 5/5

7. Sister- If the previous song was Dirrty this song is just plain tacky! Prince hits a new low and talks about bangin' his sister only to realize "Incest is everything it's said to be". To make matters worst Prince says he was "sixteen & only half a man" & and describes his sister (or in this case cuddy-buddy) as being "Thirty-two, lovely & loose". I don't know about you but this song (Imo) borders on a very thin line between being controversial & just plain sick! What's that? "Sisters" getting sick again!?!? 3/5

8. Partyup- Political Prince makes a sole appearance on "Partyup". "Partyup" serves it's purpose of being 1999 pt. 1 very well. Prince talks of partying like there's no tomorrow before the world comes to a close (Sound familiar?) it's a funky little number that just misses the 5 star mark. 4/5

Basically Prince took some old and a slice of the new and turned out a very exciting piece of work that holds up well almost Thirty years later. Although his future, more successful works (Purple rain, 1999. . . Etc) would feature more complicated melodies, thought provoking lyrics, and more involvement overall you can tell Prince worked his butt off on this release. All in all Prince proved that: "Having a Dirty Mind might sound like fun after all!"

*If you liked this album I also must insist on recommending the similar but very different "Prince", "For You" & finally "Music from the Motion Picture "Purple Rain""*

.

Simple Fun
" You can predict the lyrics before he sings them and they are about as deep as a mud puddle and equally dirty. This is no where near the quality of "Purple Rain. The musicianship and production are equally simplistic (nothing against Prince as I know he did this on his own with a $5 budget). BUT, this CD is fun as it can get. The production takes me back to junior high in the early 80's when this music was cutting edge. Naming the CD "Dirty Mind" is spot on as it is pretty filthy. "Sister" is absolutely disturbing.

Prince's Masterpiece of Consistency
Fans of the artist should already be familiar with this, his breakthrough album, but for those just discovering early Prince, some observations. Justifiably hailed as a masterpiece at the time of its release in 1980, Dirty Mind shows Prince at his most consistent, if not his absolute best.

Recording in his early twenties, Prince consistently employed the high-falsetto voice that fit the gender-bending image he was presenting - don't forget the seventies were just ending. It wasn't until a little later that he started using his sinuous voice's natural masculine range (as heard on 1984's "Purple Rain"). The only time he drops it down (one line in "Uptown") it almost sounds like a mistake. And although he plays most of the instruments, he still manages to give the recording a strong "band" sound. There's not much variety in the instrumentation, but this serves more to unify the work than to make it all sound the same. This might be a problem in a longer work, but like so many great albums, this one's decidedly short. Even so, the closing "Party Up" probably suffers as much from following songs too much like it as a weakness in the writing.

And speaking of writing, Prince's was never so focused before or since. Every song is tight, economical and to the point, and every song is about Prince's favorite topic, sex, with salacious lyrics that cover the subject from a number of angles. And with the incestuous "Sister" he carves out a space for himself as perhaps the dirtiest mind of all.

This release is definitely of a piece with its time, and the synth sounds particularly sound a bit dated today - the drum sounds perhaps even more so, but Prince makes a strong stylistic statement here that he would continue to build on for years to come, expanding it to include greater diversity in tone, in subject matter, in instrumentation, but he never put together a complete collection that was as consistently enjoyable.

Dirty Mind
Released in 1980 this was really a template for the rest of the decade to follow. Prince-Dirty Mind *****

During Prince's career he would release about four or five really classic albums and Dirty Mind was certainly the first. An album of excess' like drugs, sex, and synthesizers respectively.

Whether it's the hit singles; The teenage libido driven title track 'Dirty Mind,' the raunchy yet danceable 'Head' the incredibly funky 'Uptown' and of course the nostalgic 'When You Were Mine' all rank among the artists greatest songs. Aside from the hits 'Do It All Night' and 'Gotta A Broken Heart' find him finally mastering the art of the ballad. 'Sister' is just done right shocking, and being as it's Prince it somehow makes it okay, though this was his first attempt at shock. The albums closer 'Partyup' is sheer fun, and a great way to close the masterpiece.

Even though it was officially his third album, Dirty Mind was his break out album, not quite the amount of success as his next release would earn but this one definitely put him on the map.

You can see a complete list of all Prince discography, or go back to the Prince tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.