1999

by Prince

Overview

With Dirty Mind, Prince had established a wild fusion of funk, rock, new wave, and soul that signaled he was an original, maverick talent, but it failed to win him a large audience. After delivering the sound-alike album, Controversy, Prince revamped his sound and delivered the double album 1999. Where his earlier albums had been a fusion of organic and electronic sounds, 1999 was constructed almost entirely on synthesizers by Prince himself. Naturally, the effect was slightly more mechanical and robotic than his previous work and strongly recalled the electro-funk experiments of several underground funk and hip-hop artists at the time. Prince had also constructed an album dominated by computer funk, but he didn't simply rely on the extended instrumental grooves to carry the album -- he didn't have to when his songwriting was improving by leaps and bounds. The first side of the record contained all of the hit singles, and, unsurprisingly, they were the ones that contained the least amount of electronics. "1999" parties to the apocalypse with a P-Funk groove much tighter than anything George Clinton ever did, "Little Red Corvette" is pure pop, and "Delirious" takes rockabilly riffs into the computer age. After that opening salvo, all the rules go out the window -- "Let's Pretend We're Married" is a salacious extended lust letter, "Free" is an elegiac anthem, "All the Critics Love U in New York" is a vicious attack at hipsters, and "Lady Cab Driver," with its notorious bridge, is the culmination of all of his sexual fantasies. Sure, Prince stretches out a bit too much over the course of 1999, but the result is a stunning display of raw talent, not wallowing indulgence. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	02/04/2022
Label:	Legacy Recordings / Sony Music
UPC:	0194398637310

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Prince   Primary Artist,Keyboards,Bass,Drums,Guitar,Vocals
Poochie   Vocals (Background),Handclapping
Morris Day   Drums
Jill Jones   Vocals (Background),Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Mark Brown   Bass,Vocals
Vanity   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Peggy McCreary   Vocals,Handclapping,Vocals (Background)
Matt Fink   Vocals,Keyboards
Brownmark   Bass,Vocals,Handclapping,Vocals (Background)
Jamie Starr   Vocals
The Count   Vocals,Handclapping,Vocals (Background)
Carol McGovney   Handclapping,Vocals (Background)
Jamie Shoop   Handclapping,Vocals (Background)
Bobby Z   Drums
Wendy Melvoin   Guitar,Vocals,Percussion,Vocals (Background)
Dez Dickerson   Guitar,Vocals,Soloist,Vocals (Background)
Lisa Coleman   Sitar,Vocals,Keyboards,Handclapping,Vocals (Background)
Vanity 6   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Prince   Lyricist,Producer,Instrumentation,Arranger,Composer
Peggy McCreary   Mixing,Engineer,Mixing Engineer
Pepe Willie   Composer
Bernie   Mastering
Andre Cymone   Composer
Don Batts   Engineer,Mixing Engineer,Second Engineer
David Dieckmann   Video Editor
David Rivkin   Mixing
Craig Anderson   Authoring
Michael Howe   A&R,Producer
Bob Mockler   Engineer
Duane Tudahl   Track Notes,Executive Producer
Bernie Grundman   Mastering,Remastering
Joshua Redman   Arranger
Lisa Coleman   Composer
Jesse Johnson   Composer
Niko Bolas   Mixing,Audio Enhancement