Product Details

* Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
* Original Release Date: 2000
* Number of Discs: 1
* Label: Warner Bros / Wea
* Catalog Number: 23720
* ASIN: B000002KY8
* Other Editions: Audio Cassette
* Average Customer Review: based on 95 reviews. (Write a review.)
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,569 in Music (See Top Sellers in Music)
Yesterday: #4,696 in Music

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1. 1999 Listen Listen
2. Little Red Corvette Listen Listen
3. Delirious Listen Listen
4. Let's Pretend We're Married Listen Listen
5. D.M.S.R. Listen Listen
6. Automatic Listen
7. Something In The Water (Does Not Compute) Listen
8. Free Listen
9. Lady Cab Driver Listen
10. All The Critics Love U In New York Listen
11. International Lover Listen
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Prince's fifth album came right before the lascivious multi-instrumentalist became a huge star with his 1984 film and soundtrack, Purple Rain. But Prince had already proved himself to be the most audacious talent to emerge in the 1980s, and 1999, the bulk of which features Prince on all the instruments, reflects the dance-rock styles that he also brought to the acts he produced, particularly the Time. Prince knows how to run a one-man-band individual instruments don't blend together as much as they compete in a funky showdown which allows tracks like "Automatic," "D.M.S.R.," and "Delirious" to sustain their long playing times. But the album's two enduring hits, "1999" and "Little Red Corvette," outshine the rest, and define the essential roles that rock and funk play in Prince's music. "Little Red Corvette" is a sexy song about a car, which would have been enough to make it a terrific rock song even if it didn't also boast an infectious chorus and a great guitar part. As for "1999," count on it being the dance song of the millennial year. --John Milward
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First tag: The Wonders Of 1982 (Andre S. Grindle "Andre' Grindle" on Dec 11, 2005)
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2000 zero-zero party's over oops out of time, April 21, 2002
Reviewer: Daniel J. Hamlow (Farmington, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
Looking back, I don't know if we were ever that close to nuclear war, but Prince put out a double-LP worth of songs (due to the plethora of long songs) back in 1982 and declared that he was gonna "party like it's 1999." That album made 17 years before the title year is one of Prince's most vital, danceable, and best albums.

"1999" is one of Prince's masterpieces, punctuated by punchy synthesizers and an infectious percussive beat, with Cold War nuclear angst lyrics: "Everybody's got a bomb/we could all die anyway. Jill Jones, keyboardist Lisa Coleman, and guitarist Dez Dickerson all have guest vocal duties. The song closes with a poignant child-like question "Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?" Why indeed?

That classic number is followed by "Little Red Corvette," the highest charting single from this album, and rivalling "1999" in importance, career-wise. Using a hot red car as a metaphor to a red hot, love'em and leave'em lover before AIDS was a concern works. Lisa and Dez have more co-lead vocal contributions here.

"Delirious" follows with an infectious backbeat and squeaky keyboards. Hey, I don't know how else to describe it, okay?

Things get a little bit hotter with "Let's Pretend We're Married," hotter meaning explicit content. I've no doubt that it was the single edit that was played on the radio and not the unexpurgated version here. As this is an unabashed paean to free love, the line "all the hippies sing together" is apposite. It also paraphrases the 60's slogan, "if it feels good, do it." Key lyric: "My baby's gone and she don't care at all/And if she did, so what, come on baby, let's ----."

"D.M.S.R." continues the party but with a funkier tone, handclaps, synthesizers, and in a more fun, Bacchanalian vein.

For a song to clock in over nine minutes, it had better be good. Well, "Automatic," though not as rowdy as "D.M.S.R.", is compelling even at its great length.

"Free" starts out as a ballad before exploding into a gospelish-style number. If John Stuart Mill ever needed a song to associate to, this would be it. Prince is ever the populist, civil libertarian, and this is his best political song. The song tells us to be glad that we are free compared to other countries in the world. What about Holland or Denmark? For those worried about the denting of our personal liberties in the wake of 9-11, these lyrics seem apropos: "Soldiers are a marching they're writing brand new laws/We will all fight together for the most important cause/Will we all fight for the right to be free?" And I'm NOT referring to the terrorists! A wonderful song, with backing vocals courtesy of Jill Jones, Lisa, Vanity, and Wendy Melvoin.

Prince then asks a "Lady Cab Driver" (Jill Jones) to take him away from his "trouble winds [that] are blowin hard" and back to her place, where some heavy action takes place. It would be more appropriate to call Jill's lines, "sounds." Yes, THOSE kinds of sounds. Come on, this is a Prince album!

"International Lover" is done in the same vein as Controversy's "Do Me Baby." He uses the analogy of a pilot inviting a passenger aboard, flying to one's destination, and preparing to land an airplane to a date and sex. After the climactic falsetto screams, he gasps, exhausted but satisfied, "Thank you for flying Prince International." Sheer genius of the man!

Trivia: on the album cover, notice the football-shaped bulge in the "I" of "Prince." Spelt backwards are the words "and the Revolution." The unisex symbol that would be on Prince's Purple Rain motorcycle can be seen in the first "9."...

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