1999 (album)

Infobox Album | Name = 1999
Type = Album
Artist = Prince


Released = October 27, 1982
Recorded = 1982
Sunset Sound and Minneapolis
Genre = Pop, Rock, Funk
Length = 70:31 (Normal Edition) , 40:08 (Single Vinyl) , 62:13 (First Edition CD) , 40:24 (1999 I) , 30:06 (1999 II)
Label = Warner Bros.
Producer = Prince
Reviews =
*Allmusic rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:qns9kett7q7m~T1 link]
*Robert Christgau (A-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=prince link]
*"Rolling Stone" rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/prince/albums/album/94510/review/6067876/1999 link]
*Slant Magazine rating|5|5 [http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=389 link] | Last album = "Controversy"
(1981)
This album = "1999"
(1982)
Next album = "Purple Rain"
(1984)

"1999" is Prince's fifth album, released October 27, 1982. It was his first top ten album on the Billboard 200 charts in the US (peaking at number 9) and became the fifth best-selling album of 1983. "1999" was Prince's breakthrough album, but his next album, "Purple Rain", would become his most successful.

In 2003, the TV network VH1 placed "1999" forty-ninth in its list of the greatest albums of all time. According to the "Rolling Stone Album Guide", "1999" may be Prince's most influential album: Its synth-and-drum machine-heavy arrangements codified the 'Minneapolis sound' that loomed over mid-'80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades' worth of electro, house, and techno." [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/prince/biography Prince: Biography : Rolling Stone ] ] The album was also part of Slant Magazine's list "The 50 Most Essential Pop Albums," [ [http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/features/vitalpop.asp Slant Magazine - Vital Pop: 50 Essential Pop Albums ] ] and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008. [ [http://www.grammy.com/PressReleases/443_466_Hall%20of%20Fame%20release%20FINAL.pdf 2008 Grammy Hall of Fame List] ]

History

Originally released on vinyl as a double LP (the first of a number of double sets from Prince), "1999" was cut to a single vinyl edition in some countries; Brazil, for example, opted to issue the release as two separate vinyl albums, "1999" and "1999 II". [http://sleevographia2.free.fr/Disques/05a00BRA21.htm] The original compact disc version of the album was also cut, omitting "D.M.S.R.". There is a disclaimer on the back cover of the original compact disc pressing that reads "To enable the release of 1999 as a single compact disc, the song DMSR has been omitted from the original LP edition". [cite web
url=http://www.discogs.com/release/234575
title= Prince 1999 on Compact Disc omission
publisher=Discogs.com |date=2008-04-28 |accessdate=2008-04-28] .Later compact disc pressings; however, included the track.

The album's opening title track, "1999," was also its first single, initially peaking at 44 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was later re-released, hitting number 12 on the Billboard charts once interest in the album had caught fire with the release of "1999"'s second single, "Little Red Corvette," which peaked at Number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and heralded Prince's rise to superstardom. The music video for the song was significant in itself as one of the first videos by a black artist to receive "heavy rotation" airplay on the newly launched music video channel, MTV. The two tracks were later combined as a double A-side single in the UK, peaking at number 2. A third single, "Delirious," still managed Top Ten status in the US, but a fourth, "Let's Pretend We're Married," got no further than number 52.

While "Little Red Corvette" helped Prince cross over to the wider (white) rock audience, the rest of the album retains the elements of previous albums and is dominated by funk and synthesizer dance tracks. The album is, however, notable amongst Prince's catalogue for its wide variety of imagery and themes besides the sexual themes that had already become something of a trademark on previous albums."Automatic," extending to almost ten minutes, starts side three of the album with a cocktail of synthesizers and bawdy bondage-inspired lyrical imagery which, transplanted to the music video for the track (with a scene that depicted Prince being tied up and whipped by band-members Lisa Coleman and Jill Jones), was, in 1983, considered too hot for MTV. "Free" is a delicate piano ballad expressing patriotism, while "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)," an ode to a harsh lover, is the centerpiece of a preoccupation with Computer Age themes that would continue into future albums. This "computer" theme is also reflected in the album's instrumentation, with Prince fully embracing the gadgetry and sounds of emergent electro-funk and '80's sequencing technology on tracks like "Let's Pretend We're Married" and "All the Critics Love U in New York," songs that widen his use of synthesizers and effects and prominently feature his noted uses of the Linn drum machine. Prince himself admitted at the time the movie Blade Runner was an influence on the album's synth sound and look in the music videos for the album.

The album's critical and commercial success secured Prince a place in the public psyche, and marked the beginning of two years of intense activity which, via massively successful tours, hit singles and a Hollywood movie, would make Prince arguably the biggest musical star on the planet next to Michael Jackson. RS500|163 [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6599091/163_1999 163) 1999 : Rolling Stone ] ]

The album's cover features elements from the front cover of Prince's previous album, "Controversy"; namely the eyes and the "Rude Boy" pin in the "1999," the jacket studs in the "R" and the smile in the "P." The "I" in Prince, in addition to being an obvious phallic symbol, also contains the words "and the Revolution" written backwards, both acknowledging his backing band and foreshadowing the next four years of his career.

Track listing

All tracks written and composed by Prince.
# "1999" – 6:15
# "Little Red Corvette" – 5:03
# "Delirious" – 4:00
# "Let's Pretend We're Married" – 7:21
# "D.M.S.R." – 8:17
# "Automatic" – 9:28
# "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)" – 4:02
# "Free" – 5:08
# "Lady Cab Driver" – 8:19
# "All the Critics Love U In New York" – 6:00
# "International Lover" – 6:37

On cassette tape, "Free" was placed after "D.M.S.R." to end the first side, balancing out the lengths of both sides of the cassette.

ingle vinyl

ide one

#"1999" – 6:15
#"Little Red Corvette" – 5:03
#"Delirious" – 4:00
#"Free" – 5:08

ide two

#"Let's Pretend We're Married" – 7:21
#"Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)" – 4:02
#"Lady Cab Driver" – 8:19

ingles and Hot 100 chart positions

*"1999" (#12 U.S., #4 R&B, #25 UK)
#"1999"
# "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" – 3:51 "(B-side of "1999")"
*"Little Red Corvette" (#6 U.S., #15 R&B, #54 UK)
#"Little Red Corvette"
#"All the Critics Love U In New York"
*"Delirious" (#8 U.S., #18 R&B)
#"Delirious"
#"Horny Toad"
*"Let's Pretend We're Married" (#52 U.S., #55 R&B)
#"Let's Pretend We're Married"
#"Irresistible Bitch"
*"Automatic" (AUS)
#"Automatic"
#"Something In the Water (Does Not Compute)"

Album credits

* Dez Dickerson: Co-lead vocal on "1999" and "Little Red Corvette", guitar solos on "Little Red Corvette"
* Wendy Melvoin: Background vocals on "Free"
* Lisa Coleman: Co-lead vocal on "1999" and "Little Red Corvette", background vocals on "Delirous", "D.M.S.R.", "Automatic" and "Free", handclaps on "D.M.S.R."
* J.J.: Co-lead vocal on "1999", background vocals on "Automatic" and Free", "lady cab driver" on "Lady Cab Driver"
* Vanity: Background vocals on "Free"
* Jamie, Carol, Peggy, Brown Mark, Poochie and "the Count": Background vocals and handclaps on "D.M.S.R."
* Prince: All other vocals and instruments

References

External links

* [http://www.dtt-lyrics.com/albums/1999.html Lyrics for "1999"]