Before strutting around on a purple motorcycle, flamboyantly
wearing frilly shirts and challenging Charlie Murphy to hilarious games of
basketball, Prince Rogers Nelson once was, believe it or not, a fairly normal
and modest guy, if a little eccentric. Nearing the end of his three-record
contract with Warner Bros. in 1980, the ambitious young musician from
Minneapolis released his first significant effort, Dirty Mind.
After dropping two commercially successful albums that
confirmed his talent but not quite his ability, Prince assembled the core of what
would eventually become his backup band The Revolution, with fellow
Minneapolitans Dr. Fink (keyboards, synthesiser) and Lisa Coleman (keyboards,
vocals, sitar) having their first feature credits on Dirty Mind. Combining spritely, overhead synth riffs with bass-heavy,
underground funk rhythms, Dirty Mind
is arguably one of the first, if not the first truly consistent ‘synth funk’
release, despite previous artists such as Stevie Wonder, Kool & the Gang
and Parliament initiating the stylistic fusion earlier in the 1970s.
A fairly budgeted album in terms of production, the
sounds in Dirty Mind may not be
terribly complex or as lavish as in Purple
Rain, yet it was undoubtedly the correct approach, accommodating Prince’s developing
capabilities as a songwriter at this point in his career. However Dirty Mind’s simplicity is more than
matched by its substance, with near-perfect displays of the burgeoning
synth-funk style as in “Do It All Night”, which immediately kicks off with an
energetic glissando by Dr. Fink that transitions into unrelentingly incessant keyboard
chords, and only continues to build with Prince continually feeding thick,
heavy funky bass lines throughout, culminating with a superb synth solo. Yet
the album breaks from that particular mold on the very next track “Gotta
Broken Heart Again”, a soulful ballad that strips away Dr. Fink’s synthesisers
in order for Prince to brandish his undeniably impressive guitar skills, even
managing to slot in a solo despite its brief 2 minute duration.
Having just turned 22 during the recording of Dirty Mind, Prince flaunts a kind of sexually
frustrated exuberance typical of a guy that was yet to “make it” in the music
industry, most notably on the title track where he begs a woman to sleep with
him, and that just being around her gives him a “dirty mind”. There’s also the
sorrowful “Gotta Broken Heart Again” where Prince laments being broke, having
spent all of his money on a long-distance call to his ex, as well as the way he
kicks off the infectious track “Do It All Night” by politely singing “Pardon
me, I wanna talk to you”, not yet having the confidence or brashness he would
later be famous for. The track’s refrain, “I wanna do it / Do it all night”
again reflects Prince’s desire for sex, as opposed to actually getting it. In a
way, these moments help to preserve a humbler time in Prince’s career, when he
didn’t have it all.
Dirty
Mind
would prove to be Prince’s breakthrough release, kicking off a decade where future
artists would try to imitate its style. It also saw Prince’s first appearance
on Saturday Night Live, and
determined to make an impact, rather than promoting one of the album’s singles he
played the anti-war, provocative number “Partyup”, which in many ways has the same
party-in-the-face-of-adversity message as his later hit “1999”. Wearing a combination
of his trademark purple jacket adorned with silver buttons, black stockings and
eyeliner (similar to his getup on the album cover), Prince certainly looked
like a man set to solidify his identity, however ambiguous. As the song
finished with the obstinate line “We don’t wanna fight no more”, Prince threw
the microphone stand down and rushed off stage, the tremors already rolling
through American audiences. Prince had arrived.
Funky, danceable and timeless, Dirty Mind is ideal for those unfamiliar with Prince, a suitable
starting point among his formidably large discography. Just running in at a
mere 30 minutes, it’s a quick yet remarkably substantial listen that is essential
for anyone interested as to what helped shape the sound of the 80s.
A-
-Karl
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