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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Written, produced, arranged, and performed by that little old funkmaster, Controversy hit stores in 1981 and still rocks 17 years later. As the title suggests, the subject matter Prince tackles here was meant to spark discussion. From the nasty anthems "Sexuality" and "Do Me Baby", to the slice of '80s political commentary "Ronnie Talk to Russia" and "Annie Christian," Prince does just that. Oh, and he doesn't forget about the booty either, making this the ultimate agit-prop, sex-you-up soundtrack. --Amy Linden
Product Description
8 tracks. Small drill hole into title spine.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Review from The Controversial Daily--dated 2001.
On the title track, which begans with a funky beat, he poses such questions as "I can't believe all the things people say/controversy/Am I black or white/am I straight or gay?" "Do I believe in God, or do I believe in me?" Obviously with the release of Dirty Mind, lots of critics and people were really wondering about him and had a few things to say. Well, this is Prince's take on that.
His reciting the Lord's Prayer and his provocative utopian view is also included in the title track, which is the most potent and important track on this album: "People call me rude/I wish we all were nude/I wish there was no black or white/I wish there were no rules." Given the traditional U.S. view of sex which has refused to get out of its Puritan shadow and covert racism, those lines are not to be laughed off lightly. It makes me think, "Well, sure, why not?"
The irresistible "Sexuality", a political disco number of the principles of the new breed leaders: in their regime, one needs no money, clothes, anti-segregation anti-racism, anti-tourists, given that tourists are pocket-camera-visioned idiots, "a bunch of double-drags who tell their kids that loving is bad." He furthers his argument that "no child is bad from the beginning, they only imitate their atmosphere."
"Do Me Baby" is probably one of the damn, hottest and sexiest songs he has ever written. After the singing, he goes into a monologue where he is making love to a woman while the music plays. One biographer described the song as Prince making love on hot dripping wax--wax as in what LPs are made of. And people wonder why the single version clocks in at 3:55?
"Private Joy" is a boppable song with the same organ synthesizer, hand claps, and bass.
The brief adrenalized organ synth dance of "Ronnie Talk To Russia" has a direct and simple message: "Ronnie talk to Russia before it's too late/Before they blow up my world." It has fiery guitar, machine-gun firing, and at the end, the bomb, which segues into the funky "Let's Work".
"Annie Christian", a.k.a. anti-Christ, is a rap song about the Atlanta child murders, shootings of John Lennon, Ronald Reagan, and the ABSCAM scandal. The song is not as effective as political songs done by other groups or artists. He did better on "Ronnie Talk To Russia" and his angry protest song "Partyup" on Dirty Mind. Still, the idea of embodying evil in one entity is a good one.
And need I detail what fun "Jack U Off" is about? I don't? I didn't think so.
Controversy further strengthens the political foundation established in "Partyup" and sets the stage for the next chapter, both a year later, or seventeen years later: namely, 1999.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Prince Exbounds On Where "Dirty Mind" Left Off, Building His Momentum!!
April 10, 2009
Format:Audio CD
This album was released in the fall of 1981, and basically
exbounds on where it's predecessor, the ground-breaking &
career direction-changing "Dirty Mind" left off!
At this time, Prince was still fairly unknown to most of
the pop world, but was building quite a cult following between
the lines with a fanbase that was all races, backgrounds and
sexual persuasions. Prince's fans were then ultra-hip blacks,
whites, latinos, gays, bi's, men & women who liked to live
ahead of the curve, and who longed to break free from what had
been established R&B/Funk as well as Pop/Rock.
Prince moves effortlessly between all 4 of these genres
without being defined by any of them...the sure sign of
a true genius..AN ARTIST WHO DEFIES CATEGORY & CONVENTION!!
Not only was this evident in his music by then, but in his image!
Was he black, white, or latino?--Straight, Gay, or Bi?
Why did he strut around in black silky bikini-like underwear
with garter-belts, thigh-high leggings, and high heeled boots on?
What was his music?--Was it rock, pop, funk or R&B?
Why was this peculiar little 5'5", sexually ambiguous,
reclusive musical mastermind from the far off and unlikely
city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who never really bothered
to explain himself to the media, bucking the established way
of being at the time?
(Remember, R&B/Funk was: Earth, Wind & Fire, Parliament/Funkadelic,
The O'Jays, Cameo, Teddy Pendergrass, etc., and Pop/Rock was:
Rod Stewart, Van Halen, The New Wave Movement, etc.)
And why did he possess this dynamic energy and sex appeal
on stage that was selling out mid-sized venues at the time,
and had him upstaging people like Rick James, who was so mad
that Prince had outshined him and made him look like an
irrelevant has-been in the middle of what was supposed to
be his "Fire It Up Tour" as a headliner, that he fired Prince
from the tour half way through and harbored a bitter grudge
against him for the next 24 yrs!
Oh yes, this "kid" was swirling with building curiousity
and yes, CONTROVERSY!!--And he knew it!
And what's more important, he had the presence of mind
to work it to his advantage...luring his building cult of
listeners and fans deeper into his music!
Having set it all up like that, Prince appropriately
packaged all of this into 1981's sizzling musical melange entitled "CONTROVERSY"!!
From the pulsing, throbbing opening (no pun intended)
of the title track, which worked his Minneapolis sound
of funky guitar licks & rock power chords against
funky 4/4 beats and pumping basslines accented by then
futuristic-sounding keyboards which he also accented as horns
as well as pads and melody lines!--This was also his first
experiments in what would become a staple in his sound for
the next few years...THE LINN-9000 Drum Machine, Clap Pads
& Syndrums, which he detuned to create all kinds of
weird & disparaging sound textures throughout his work
as well as studio wizardry, all of which created a sound
that was very different then and unique to him!
Then he had the nerve to add THE LORD'S PRAYER in the song
right before a chant of "People Call Me Rude, I Wish We All
Were Nude!--I Wish There Was No Black & White, I Wish There
Were No Rules!" LOL!!--WHAT??--OMG!!
The reactionary religious right and Catholic diocese
went off!---Drawing yet more attention to Prince
and his extraordinary artistry!
This was still 2 or 3 yrs before Madonna would emerge
and make this an artform in itself! (-:
Track 2, "SEXUALITY" was a punk/new wave vibe over a
weird, sparse but funky drum/percussion workout that
was a call to arms to a still pre-aids generation of
20-something baby boomers and "the new breed" as Prince
called it, of young emerging Gen-Xers (my generation!)
who were still caught in the final writhing throws of
the sexual revolution! He told us to "STAND UP, ORGANIZE!!"
And man, did we ever! (-:
It was all about being free then!
Track 3 is one of the first of what would become another
staple of his future albums...The slow, sexy, sinewy,
lush, lude & explicit love ballads!
"DO ME BABY" was an instant classic on black radio
"quiet storms" and still is a true fan favorite to this day!
This song caused a slight swell in minority births of babies
concieved in late 1981 and early 1982, who were born
in '82 and '83!!--(Yep, Prince is kinda your daddy!)
Basically, this track is a sexual interlude set to music!
He even simulates orgasm on this one, which was shocking
& titillating to his listeners back then..
ending with a cryptic interlude that ends in a doomful-sounding
bell toll..maybe saying his own weird but prophetic Prince
way that the loose & free times of the sexual revolution
were about to come to a screeching halt with the sudden
appearance of the spectre of the AIDS PANDEMIC!!
This was 1981, remember?
Track 4 opens with the electronic fanfare and syndrums
of "PRIVATE JOY", which is an overlooked and underrated
Prince classic from days gone by!
This song basically speaks of obsession/possession
of a young man who will "Strangle Valentino!" to make sure
that the apple of his eye stays his
"Pretty Toy & Private Joy" exclusively!
It's coda fades into what sounds-like the resurrection
of Jimi Hendrix with it's guitar feedback, apocalyptic drones,
rapid-fire snares that sound like machine gunfire,
then Prince lets out a loud bone-chilling scream
and suddenly it's the rock/punk/new wavey "RONNIE TALK 2 RUSSIA"
which captures the times of a then new republican regime
with Ronald Reagan at the helm, bargaining with the still
cold war era communist Russia and China, who were ever solid
in their stand against democracy!
Prince warns "Ronnie" in a prophetic tone
not to "feed the left wing guerillas" who want to
blow up the world!--(Boy, did that one come to pass!)
America would one day be attacked by the very countries
who they stupidly helped to arm with bombs, guns, planes
and other "weapons of mass destruction" back in the
late 70's and early 80's, when the powers that be
thought that it was going to give them leverage
against the enemies of democracy!--DOH!!
After this short but peppy track, comes one of the
funkiest, slamminest, but nearly forgotten today Prince jams...
the rollicking "LET'S WORK", in which Prince mixes his
favorite brew of dance, music, sex & romance!
It is 3 minutes and 57 seconds of pure funky perfection
and was a staple on the turntables of all the hippest
house parties and clubs in the 'hoods and underground
establishments of America at the time!
There was a mean 12" extended version of this too that was hot!
Then abruptly, as to signify that the party was fleeting,
Prince signals the chimes with bizarre synth flourishes
that take us into the spooky mind of an anti-christ
serial-killer spirit-figure who he accredits all the
worlds woes of the time, including the Atlanta Child Murders,
the senseless & cold-blooded murder of much beloved
ex-Beatle & peace activist John Lennon, and the political
double-dealing shenanigans of Oliver North & Company in ABSCAM!!
(look it up, if you ain't hip!)
He calls this spectre "ANNIE CHRISTIAN" and vows to
live his life in taxi cabs until she's crucified!
Nobody got it at the time, but looking back, this was
quite a prophetic album. It ends on a slightly comedic
and naughty rebellious note with the old-school
Elvis-like rock-n-roll-a-billy of Prince's
ode to mutual shall we say, STIMULATION??
"JACK U OFF" which closes the album out with a bang!
He would again use that retro-rock-a-billy style on his
charted pop single "Delirous" from the follow-up to this
album..his pop music breakthrough...
1982's futuristic masterpiece "1999"!
**(Check out my review on that one!)**
It proves just how far out ahead of the pack that
Prince was in terms of music, ideology, style and everything else!
But then, true geniuses always are, right?
This young man, then just 23 yrs old, had already mastered
40 instruments, could run a studio basically by himself,
set a concert arena on fire with his cutting edge performances,
and was the mastermind behind a then burgeoning musical
jugernaut which would dominate the latter part of the 80's
musicscape and inspire us beyond, deserves the title of
innovator and musical genius because quite simply, HE WAS!!
Today, when music is so lacking in conviction, ambition,
creativity or even TALENT for that matter, it makes me
cringe everytime somebody (a so-called artist) is allowed
through the iron curtain of corporate pop BS, who is a
little quirky or doing something a little less mediocre
than the mediocrity that is accepted as music today,
are automatically bestowed with the title of
GENIUS & INSTANT ICON!!--Arrrgh!--I hate that!
Prince (the heir apparent) is the last of a breed of
artistic giants who walked the earth from the mid 50's
to the mid 70's, who basically created the musical pallet
that we know as modern music today!
You can see them all in his body of work...
The flamboyance, flash and sexual ambiguity of
Little Richard, Elvis & David Bowie... Read more ›
exbounds on where it's predecessor, the ground-breaking &
career direction-changing "Dirty Mind" left off!
At this time, Prince was still fairly unknown to most of
the pop world, but was building quite a cult following between
the lines with a fanbase that was all races, backgrounds and
sexual persuasions. Prince's fans were then ultra-hip blacks,
whites, latinos, gays, bi's, men & women who liked to live
ahead of the curve, and who longed to break free from what had
been established R&B/Funk as well as Pop/Rock.
Prince moves effortlessly between all 4 of these genres
without being defined by any of them...the sure sign of
a true genius..AN ARTIST WHO DEFIES CATEGORY & CONVENTION!!
Not only was this evident in his music by then, but in his image!
Was he black, white, or latino?--Straight, Gay, or Bi?
Why did he strut around in black silky bikini-like underwear
with garter-belts, thigh-high leggings, and high heeled boots on?
What was his music?--Was it rock, pop, funk or R&B?
Why was this peculiar little 5'5", sexually ambiguous,
reclusive musical mastermind from the far off and unlikely
city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who never really bothered
to explain himself to the media, bucking the established way
of being at the time?
(Remember, R&B/Funk was: Earth, Wind & Fire, Parliament/Funkadelic,
The O'Jays, Cameo, Teddy Pendergrass, etc., and Pop/Rock was:
Rod Stewart, Van Halen, The New Wave Movement, etc.)
And why did he possess this dynamic energy and sex appeal
on stage that was selling out mid-sized venues at the time,
and had him upstaging people like Rick James, who was so mad
that Prince had outshined him and made him look like an
irrelevant has-been in the middle of what was supposed to
be his "Fire It Up Tour" as a headliner, that he fired Prince
from the tour half way through and harbored a bitter grudge
against him for the next 24 yrs!
Oh yes, this "kid" was swirling with building curiousity
and yes, CONTROVERSY!!--And he knew it!
And what's more important, he had the presence of mind
to work it to his advantage...luring his building cult of
listeners and fans deeper into his music!
Having set it all up like that, Prince appropriately
packaged all of this into 1981's sizzling musical melange entitled "CONTROVERSY"!!
From the pulsing, throbbing opening (no pun intended)
of the title track, which worked his Minneapolis sound
of funky guitar licks & rock power chords against
funky 4/4 beats and pumping basslines accented by then
futuristic-sounding keyboards which he also accented as horns
as well as pads and melody lines!--This was also his first
experiments in what would become a staple in his sound for
the next few years...THE LINN-9000 Drum Machine, Clap Pads
& Syndrums, which he detuned to create all kinds of
weird & disparaging sound textures throughout his work
as well as studio wizardry, all of which created a sound
that was very different then and unique to him!
Then he had the nerve to add THE LORD'S PRAYER in the song
right before a chant of "People Call Me Rude, I Wish We All
Were Nude!--I Wish There Was No Black & White, I Wish There
Were No Rules!" LOL!!--WHAT??--OMG!!
The reactionary religious right and Catholic diocese
went off!---Drawing yet more attention to Prince
and his extraordinary artistry!
This was still 2 or 3 yrs before Madonna would emerge
and make this an artform in itself! (-:
Track 2, "SEXUALITY" was a punk/new wave vibe over a
weird, sparse but funky drum/percussion workout that
was a call to arms to a still pre-aids generation of
20-something baby boomers and "the new breed" as Prince
called it, of young emerging Gen-Xers (my generation!)
who were still caught in the final writhing throws of
the sexual revolution! He told us to "STAND UP, ORGANIZE!!"
And man, did we ever! (-:
It was all about being free then!
Track 3 is one of the first of what would become another
staple of his future albums...The slow, sexy, sinewy,
lush, lude & explicit love ballads!
"DO ME BABY" was an instant classic on black radio
"quiet storms" and still is a true fan favorite to this day!
This song caused a slight swell in minority births of babies
concieved in late 1981 and early 1982, who were born
in '82 and '83!!--(Yep, Prince is kinda your daddy!)
Basically, this track is a sexual interlude set to music!
He even simulates orgasm on this one, which was shocking
& titillating to his listeners back then..
ending with a cryptic interlude that ends in a doomful-sounding
bell toll..maybe saying his own weird but prophetic Prince
way that the loose & free times of the sexual revolution
were about to come to a screeching halt with the sudden
appearance of the spectre of the AIDS PANDEMIC!!
This was 1981, remember?
Track 4 opens with the electronic fanfare and syndrums
of "PRIVATE JOY", which is an overlooked and underrated
Prince classic from days gone by!
This song basically speaks of obsession/possession
of a young man who will "Strangle Valentino!" to make sure
that the apple of his eye stays his
"Pretty Toy & Private Joy" exclusively!
It's coda fades into what sounds-like the resurrection
of Jimi Hendrix with it's guitar feedback, apocalyptic drones,
rapid-fire snares that sound like machine gunfire,
then Prince lets out a loud bone-chilling scream
and suddenly it's the rock/punk/new wavey "RONNIE TALK 2 RUSSIA"
which captures the times of a then new republican regime
with Ronald Reagan at the helm, bargaining with the still
cold war era communist Russia and China, who were ever solid
in their stand against democracy!
Prince warns "Ronnie" in a prophetic tone
not to "feed the left wing guerillas" who want to
blow up the world!--(Boy, did that one come to pass!)
America would one day be attacked by the very countries
who they stupidly helped to arm with bombs, guns, planes
and other "weapons of mass destruction" back in the
late 70's and early 80's, when the powers that be
thought that it was going to give them leverage
against the enemies of democracy!--DOH!!
After this short but peppy track, comes one of the
funkiest, slamminest, but nearly forgotten today Prince jams...
the rollicking "LET'S WORK", in which Prince mixes his
favorite brew of dance, music, sex & romance!
It is 3 minutes and 57 seconds of pure funky perfection
and was a staple on the turntables of all the hippest
house parties and clubs in the 'hoods and underground
establishments of America at the time!
There was a mean 12" extended version of this too that was hot!
Then abruptly, as to signify that the party was fleeting,
Prince signals the chimes with bizarre synth flourishes
that take us into the spooky mind of an anti-christ
serial-killer spirit-figure who he accredits all the
worlds woes of the time, including the Atlanta Child Murders,
the senseless & cold-blooded murder of much beloved
ex-Beatle & peace activist John Lennon, and the political
double-dealing shenanigans of Oliver North & Company in ABSCAM!!
(look it up, if you ain't hip!)
He calls this spectre "ANNIE CHRISTIAN" and vows to
live his life in taxi cabs until she's crucified!
Nobody got it at the time, but looking back, this was
quite a prophetic album. It ends on a slightly comedic
and naughty rebellious note with the old-school
Elvis-like rock-n-roll-a-billy of Prince's
ode to mutual shall we say, STIMULATION??
"JACK U OFF" which closes the album out with a bang!
He would again use that retro-rock-a-billy style on his
charted pop single "Delirous" from the follow-up to this
album..his pop music breakthrough...
1982's futuristic masterpiece "1999"!
**(Check out my review on that one!)**
It proves just how far out ahead of the pack that
Prince was in terms of music, ideology, style and everything else!
But then, true geniuses always are, right?
This young man, then just 23 yrs old, had already mastered
40 instruments, could run a studio basically by himself,
set a concert arena on fire with his cutting edge performances,
and was the mastermind behind a then burgeoning musical
jugernaut which would dominate the latter part of the 80's
musicscape and inspire us beyond, deserves the title of
innovator and musical genius because quite simply, HE WAS!!
Today, when music is so lacking in conviction, ambition,
creativity or even TALENT for that matter, it makes me
cringe everytime somebody (a so-called artist) is allowed
through the iron curtain of corporate pop BS, who is a
little quirky or doing something a little less mediocre
than the mediocrity that is accepted as music today,
are automatically bestowed with the title of
GENIUS & INSTANT ICON!!--Arrrgh!--I hate that!
Prince (the heir apparent) is the last of a breed of
artistic giants who walked the earth from the mid 50's
to the mid 70's, who basically created the musical pallet
that we know as modern music today!
You can see them all in his body of work...
The flamboyance, flash and sexual ambiguity of
Little Richard, Elvis & David Bowie... Read more ›
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By G. Mitchell
Format:Audio CD
True Prince fans pre-Purple Rain own and love this one - I don't understand the many reviews on this site bagging the CD as "uneven" or "poor" - HELLO?! This was released way back in 1981, post-DIRTY MIND, but pre-1999, before Prince would breakthrough as one of the first artists on MTV (with 1999/Little Red Corvette), but it's on "Controversy" he truly hones his trademark musical style, image, and vision - look at the "cheap" version of the signature purple trenchcoat that would later become glitzy - all the tracks are stripped down and potent blasts of socio-sexual-political electro-funk NO ONE else dared to produce/release at the time - listen to CONTROVERSY (the full version w/ prayer!), SEXUALITY, PRIVATE JOY, JACK U OFF, ANNIE CHRISTIAN, LET'S WORK, and more to know where Prince's head was at during the early 80s - side two (yes, remember LPs) is a bit more experimental and off the mark, but STILL you gotta give it up for the Purple One - hurry up, someone remake PRIVATE JOY today (Gwen? Britney?) and have a #1 hit all over again...and you cannot forgot those like me who bought the original LP when it first came out were treated to a ltd. editon POSTER of PRINCE almost butt-nekkid in the shower with his cross - YOWZAH!!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Buy!!!
Although the case was cracked when I received my purchase (which may have happened in the mail, I love my CD!!!!
Published 3 days ago by c glover
5.0 out of 5 stars
Prince at His Best!
I can't get enough of vintage Prince. I wish can come on tour in Chattanooga. He will definitely sell out.
Published 24 days ago by Reginald L. Miller
4.0 out of 5 stars
a classic!
if you're a Prince fan, this is a must-have for your collection. one of the most popular albums from the 80's, outside of Purple Rain.
Published 2 months ago by S. Kubota
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Title Track Skips
I played this for the first time and th title track skips. Amazon graciously replaced it and the replacement skips on the exact same parts. Read more
Published 5 months ago by M.I.A.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect transition album from "Dirty Mind" to "1999"
The word controversy sums this album up very well because Prince's lyrics don't hold back on any subject. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Shelley D. Bowen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still Fierce!!
When this was first released, i bought it on vinyl and played it repeatedly. The songs were so social awareness at the same time the music, the rhythm was fantastic. Read more
Published 20 months ago by V. Dixon
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best
I got this album when it first came out back in 1981 and I still love it. It's a great album start to finish.
Published on February 7, 2011 by Sheryl Koeneman
5.0 out of 5 stars
the best...
some of his best work from back in the day, lov it, lov it lov it to death....lov to all diva'
Published on August 31, 2010 by Chris Woodford
5.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD JOB SELLER
Everything was perfect, good price. NICE CD....as for Prince's crazy a## very underrated cd is good except for the Reagan References.
Published on August 11, 2010 by Jeffrey W. Cox
5.0 out of 5 stars
Does Prince Believe In God Or In Him?
Prince was very aware that after his Dirty Mind album that concepts of morality and politics were going to end up on his lyrical pallette someday. Read more
Published on August 3, 2010 by Andre S. Grindle
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