For You (Prince album)

For you
Prince's studio album
Publication (s)	April 7, 1978
admission	October 1, 1977 - late February 1978
Label (s)	Warner Bros. Records
Format (s)	LP, CD
Genre (s)	R&B , disco , funk , pop
Title (number)	9
running time	33:24
occupation	Prince - All songs were produced, arranged, composed and performed by him Thomas Vicari - sound engineer , mixing Dave Roeder, Steve Fontano - Assistant to the sound engineer Bernie Grundman - Mastering Jeff Farmakers, The Ad Company - Art Director Joe Giannetti - Photography Prince vinyl record cover design Owen R. Husney American Artist Inc.- Prince Personal Management
production	Prince Executive Producer : Thomas Vicari
Studio (s)	Record Plant Studio ( Sausalito )
chronology - For you Prince (1979)
Single releases June 7, 1978 Soft and Wet November 21, 1978 Just as Long as We're Together

For You ( English for For You ) is the debut album of American musician Prince . It was released on April 7, 1978 on the Warner Bros. Records label . All songs on the album were produced , arranged , composed and performed by Prince . He also played all the instruments on the album himself.

The music on the album belongs to the genre R&B , disco , funk and pop . The lyrics are all about love and sex . The first songs that Prince finally placed on For You , he recorded in 1976 at the age of 18. The album recordings took a total of five months and the production costs were 170,500 US dollars (then about 396,000 DM ), which almost used up the budget of 180,000 US dollars set by Warner Bros. Records for the first three Prince albums combined .

For You was not commercially successful, however, and could not achieve gold or platinum status internationally. In addition, media interest in the album was very low at the time. A tour for the album was not allowed to play Prince because Warner executives were not yet convinced of its live qualities.

Emergence

First songs by Prince

Prince recorded the first songs with his band at the time in the spring of 1976 in an 8-track recording studio called MoonSound near Lake Nokomis in southern Minneapolis , Minnesota. This recording studio belonged to the native Englishman Chris Moon (* 1952), who rented it to musicians for 25 US dollars (then about 58 DM ) per hour. When Prince split up from his band in the spring of 1976, he was then allowed to record free music in the MoonSound studio because he set poems and texts that he had written for Chris Moon . Moon helped Prince overcome his initially shy nature by suggesting that he lay down on the floor in the dark in the recording studio and then sing. He also organized various drummers for him, but Prince preferred to play the drums himself in his own songs and therefore practiced drumming more intensively than before. One of the first songs Prince wrote himself was Baby in the summer of 1976 .

From the summer of 1976 Prince spent most of the year in the MoonSound studio and completed a total of 14 songs, most of which Moon had written the lyrics. Exceptions were the five songs Baby , I'm Yours , Leaving for New York , Since We've Been Together and the instrumental piece Jelly Jam , which Prince had written entirely himself. The four songs Baby , I'm Yours , Soft and Wet and Love Is Forever , which Prince later renamed My Love Is Forver with slightly changed lyrics , he placed on his debut album For You . The instrumental piece Jelly Jam involved Prince in Just as Long as We're Together and the first recording by Soft and Wet has different lyrics than the version published on For You . The piano - ballad Leaving for New York includes the 'later career for Prince typical words "purple", "rain" and "dawn", but, just like Since We've Been Together , not published until today (as of 2020) been .

In addition to his work in the recording studio, Prince also recorded songs on a conventional cassette recorder , such as Don't You Wanna Ride , Nightingale , Rock Me, Lover and Spending My Time , none of which were released. In the fall of 1976, Chris Moon turned down Prince's offer to become his manager . That's why Prince flew to New York City alone at the age of 18 to present his songs on record companies. He had demo recordings of the four songs Baby , Love Is Forever , Soft and Wet and the still unreleased Aces with him. Prince lived temporarily with his half-sister Sharon Nelson (* 1940) in Manhattan and introduced himself to Atlantic Records , one of the largest independent labels , among others . But he was rejected on the grounds that his music was "too much of the Midwest ". While Prince was in New York, Moon played demo recordings of Prince's songs to Owen Husney, who owned an advertising agency in Minneapolis and had connections in the music industry . Husney said in a later interview that he asked Moon “Who is this band?” And the answer was that it was “just a guy who plays, sings and does everything else”. A little later, Husney became Prince's manager and founded a management company called American Artists Inc., with which Prince signed a contract in December 1976 that earned him financial support. Husney bought him various musical instruments and Prince recorded his songs in the Loring Park Rehearsal Room, a rehearsal room that had been converted into Husney's office. Chris Moon withdrew during this time and had only sporadic contact with Prince until 1982.

Prince's image is set

Prince originally wanted “Mr. Nelson ”- after his real last name - as a pseudonym for his music career. Due to the similarity and a possible likelihood of confusion with the American country singer Willie Nelson , Chris Moon advised him against it and suggested "Prince", which the musician followed. Owen Husney and Prince had lengthy discussions about what image Prince should get in the music business and how he could differ from other musicians. Husney wanted to reveal as little as possible about Prince to the public so that Prince would be perceived as a mysterious artist and arouse curiosity. He also advised Prince to pretend to be a year younger, which Prince did at the beginning of his career. Husney said that would make Prince even more of a child prodigy . "I thought if he was worth that much at 18, he would be even more valuable at 17," he said in a later interview. Husney then contacted sound engineer David Z. Rivkin, whose older brother Bobby would later become the drummer in Prince's band. Rivkin was working in Minneapolis in a recording studio called Sound 80, where he and Prince re-recorded the songs previously recorded in the MoonSound studio. In the Sound 80 use Prince for the first time the then recently entered the market four-part Oberheim - Synthesizer . A local synthesizer player supported Prince. Rivkin and Prince worked together in Sound 80 for the entire winter of 1976/77. On April 8, 1977, the local newspaper Minnesota Daily published an interview with Prince in which he said he wanted to publish jazz under a pseudonym on one record label and pop music on another label. The journalist who conducted the interview described Prince among other things as "calm, even aloof, with a shrewd sense of humor".

In early April 1977 Prince and Husney flew to California to introduce themselves to the five record companies A&M Records , ABC / Dunhill , CBS Records , RSO Records and Warner Bros. Records . Husney wanted to negotiate a contract for three albums, although at that time contracts were usually made for two albums. He also wanted Prince to be allowed to produce his albums himself, which was also considered a very unusual requirement. In the end, Husney only negotiated with the two labels CBS Records and Warner Bros. Records. CBS stipulated that Earth Wind and Fire bassist Verdine White should produce the first Prince album. Husney refused and chose Warner Bros. Records.

First record deal

On June 25, 1977 Prince signed his first record deal with Warner Bros. Records . It contained the following conditions: Prince had to release three albums within 27 months, the first album within the first six months after signing the contract. For this first album he received an advance payment of 80,000 US dollars (then about 186,000 DM), the total budget for the first three albums was 180,000 US dollars (then about 418,000 DM).

After the 27 months had expired, Prince had two options: He could extend the contract by two years, during which he would have to record three more albums, for which he would receive a total of 225,000 US dollars (then about 523,000 DM). Or he extended it for just one year, in which he would have to deliver two albums, for which he would receive 250,000 US dollars (at that time about 581,000 DM). Ultimately, Prince was signed to Warner Bros. Records through December 31, 1999.

In his first record deal, Prince was assured that he would at least be allowed to co- produce his debut album . The then heads of the music department of Warner Bros. Records - Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronka - had concerns about using the young and inexperienced musician as the main producer. Therefore Ostin suggested the Earth-Wind-and-Fire founder Maurice White as the main producer, which Prince rejected. It was finally agreed on an executive producer who had experience in recording technology and should oversee the entire recording process of the album. This job got Thomas Vicari (born August 24, 1948), an experienced recording technician, who had previously worked with musicians such as Billy Preston and Carlos Santana , among others .

Start album recording

After signing the contract, Prince and Thomas Vicari began recording albums for For You at the Sound 80 studio in Minneapolis . After a few days, however, there were technical problems with the mixer , whereupon Vicari suggested that the recordings be continued in Los Angeles. "I think the Sound 80 wasn't good enough for Vicari," said Paul Martinsen, one of the sound engineers at the Sound 80 studio. Husney was also not very enthusiastic about the proposal, but was willing to compromise.

Ultimately, the recordings for For You continued at the Record Plant recording studio in Sausalito , California. Prince, Vicari, Husney and his wife lived near the studio in a comfortable three-story apartment in Mill Valley with a view of San Francisco Bay . But the collaboration between Prince and Thomas Vicari was not very harmonious; Steve Fontano, who was the assistant sound engineer on the album, described it as follows: "He [Prince] definitely wanted to get the message across, 'I can do it all by myself and you can lick my ass.'" Prince himself said more moderately on the same topic: “He [Vicari] was actually more of a sound engineer . And much of what he wanted to include in the arrangements , I refused. That's why production took five months in the end. ” David Z. Rivkin was flown in from Minneapolis as an additional sound engineer to record Prince's vocals. The two already knew each other from the recordings in the Sound 80 studio. "Tommy Vicari was primarily a classic sound engineer who needed help recording vocals," said Rivkin.

While recording the album in the Record Plant Studio, Prince met three musicians, Carlos Santana , Chaka Khan and Sly Stone , who gave him musical inspiration. Khan actually wanted to meet Stone, which Prince took as a humorous occasion to imitate Stone and fool Khan into thinking he was Sly Stone. Khan was not very enthusiastic about it, but still listened to Prince's music. Santana was invited to the studio by Thomas Vicari so that the musicians could get to know each other because Vicari was enthusiastic about the newcomer Prince. Stone occasionally lived in the Record Plant studio at the time and could move into a room at any time. So assistant sound engineer Steve Fontano arranged a meeting between Prince and Stone, but according to Fontano, Stone was "in one of his 'moods' and not feeling well," so Prince and Stone just shook hands.

The album recordings lasted from October 1, 1977 to December 22, 1977. Then rented Prince, Rivkin, Husney and his wife and Prince's school friend André Cymone, who visited him occasionally in Sausalito, a house in Hollywood Hills , and Prince ran in Los Angeles in California in the Sound-Labs-Studio overdubs and mixes through. On January 4th, 1978, he met the keyboardist Patrice Rushen in the studio , who was also working there at the time. She helped him program synthesizers and played them in the song Baby . It wasn't until the end of February 1978 that Prince finished all work on the album For You . The album recording work had therefore taken a total of five months. "I was physically exhausted when the record was finished," Prince later told Musician magazine . He wanted to make a "flawless" record, but it was "too scientific". After completion, he could no longer hear the album.

The production costs totaled 170,500 US dollars, which means that the budget of 180,000 US dollars set by Warner Bros. Records for the first three Prince albums together was almost used up. The technical assistance of Patrice Rushen and David Z. Rivkin is in the booklet of For You not mentioned.

Chris Moon later made claims that he was involved in the lyrics to My Love Is Forever - a ruling was later made but not disclosed to the public. In February 2018, almost two years after Prince's death, he also offered his certified co -authorship of the song Soft and Wet for 490,000 US dollars (then about 393,000 euros) on eBay .

Design of the cover

The front cover shows Prince with an afro look as a blurred portrait in dark and muted colors. In addition, a picture of Prince, sitting naked on a sofa, can be seen on the inner sleeve of the LP and in the CD booklet. Only an acoustic guitar covers his genital area . This photo gives the impression that Prince is floating through the universe . The lyrics of the individual songs are not printed.

music

Musical style

Prince recorded every song on the album without any other studio musicians. He usually recorded a drum base first , then added keyboards , synthesizers , electric bass , electric guitar, and acoustic guitar and congas . Only when all the musical instruments involved were recorded did he add his singing. A total of 23 instruments were attributed to Prince, which he had recorded on the album himself. However, the album is dominated by the use of synthesizers, as in the songs In Love , Soft and Wet , Just as Long as We're Together or My Love Is Forever .

In terms of style, Prince is dedicated to music genres such as funk , R&B and disco ; the song I'm Yours belongs to the rock music genre. The title track, on the other hand, is an a cappella song in which Prince provided his voice with 46 overdubs .

Lyrics and singing

In the lyrics of the album For You , Prince deals exclusively with the themes of love and sex; the songs In Love and Soft and Wet contain sexual suggestions. The ballad Baby , on the other hand, is about an unwanted pregnancy in unmarried young people. The pieces My Love Is Forever and So Blue dealing with life-long dedication and Just as Long as We're Together is about love within interpersonal relationships. In the song I'm Yours , Prince claims to be still a virgin . Prince sings the lyrics of the album For You melodically set to music in his characteristic falsetto singing .

List of titles and publications

No.	song	author	length
01	For you	Prince	1:07
02	In love	Prince	3:36
03	Soft and Wet	Prince	3:02
04th	Crazy You	Prince	2:16
05	Just as Long as We're Together	Prince	6:23
06th	infant	Prince	3:09
07th	My Love Is Forever	Prince	4:09
08th	So blue	Prince	4:27
09	I'm yours	Prince	5:01

For You was released on April 7, 1978 in the United States. It was released on record and on compact cassette , later the album was also released on compact disc .

Singles

Two singles were released from the album: Soft and Wet was released on June 7, 1978, Prince's 20th birthday. The single was only released in the US and South Africa. The song So Blue serves as the B-side . The second single Just As Long As We're Together was released on November 21, 1978, in a version shortened to 3:25 minutes. The single was only released in the USA and Canada, the song In Love is available as the B-side . Music videos were not produced for songs on the album.

Cover versions

Occasionally musicians recorded cover versions of the songs on the album. Soft and Wet reinterpreted N'Dambi (2005), and MC Hammer 's song She's Soft and Wet (1990) is based on Prince's version. Crazy You has been covered several times: in 1991 by the American musician Jimmy 'Z' Zavala, in 1996 by the Danish R&B singer Shirley (or: Szirley), in 2006 by Osunlade and Thom Hell and in 2009 by Zo! featuring Sy Smith . Color Me Badd's song How Deep (1993) is also based on Crazy You . The piece With You was by Jill Jones gecovert (1987).

Concerts

Prince made his concert debut on January 5, 1979 in his hometown of Minneapolis , Minnesota at the Capri Theater in front of around 300 spectators. “I find it extremely difficult to play in front of an audience,” Prince confessed to the national daily Star Tribune in an interview. Two days later he gave another concert at the Capri Theater, and another in the summer of 1979 in Los Angeles at Leeds Instrument Rentals. These two concerts were presented exclusively to employees of his record company Warner Bros. Records. However, Warner executives were not convinced by Prince's performances and decided that Prince should not go on tour for the time being . Prince's back then consisted of the following five members:

• André Cymone (civil: André Anderson) - electric bass
• Bobby Z. (real name: Robert B. Rivkin) - drums
• Dr. Fink (civil: Matthew Robert Fink) - Keyboard
• Dez Dickerson (real name: Desmond D'andrea Dickerson) - guitar
• Gayle Chapman - keyboard

Bobby Z. and Dr. Fink were also members of Prince and The Revolution from 1983 to 1986 .

reception

Press

Mass media showed little interest in the album For You in 1978 and it received little attention from musical magazines. For this year only one review of the daily newspaper Saint Paul Dispatch - the later St. Paul Pioneer Press  - can be proven with source. However, this report focused on the fact that Prince single -handedly recorded an album on a major label . The Saint Paul Dispatch called this fact "a technical miracle" because it was only "made by one person". The daily did not go into the musical style of the individual songs.

It was only in the years that followed, as Prince's notoriety rose, that some media reviewed the album For You . In 1990, David Browne of the US magazine Entertainment Weekly gave the album a grade of B- on a scale from A + to F. In 2010, Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic awarded it two out of five stars.

After Prince's death in April 2016, the music journalists Albert Koch and Thomas Weiland from the German music magazine Musikexpress reviewed the album For You and gave it three out of six possible stars. Among other things, they were of the opinion that it was “a conventional, time-typical - if still very entertaining - R'n'B soul album” and Soft and Wet was the best song on the album.

Charts

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	- (- Where.)	-
Austria (Ö3)	- (- Where.)	-
Switzerland (IFPI)	- (- Where.)	-
United Kingdom (OCC)	- (- Where.)	-
United States (Billboard)	138 (6 weeks)	6th

In 1978 For You reached number 163 in the United States and sold approximately 150,000 copies. By 2004 album sales rose to 430,000 copies worldwide. The album reached its highest ranking in May 2016, one month after Prince's death.

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1978	Soft and Wet	DEnvDE	ATnvAT	CHnvCH	UKnvUK	US92 (4 weeks) US	• Only decoupled in the USA and South Africa
	Just as Long as We're Together	DEnvDE	ATnvAT	CHnvCH	UKnvUK	-	• Only decoupled in the US and Canada

The single Soft and Wet was sold about 350,000 times in 1978.

literature

• Jason Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). Chartwell Books, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-7858-3497-7 .
• Jon Ewing: Prince - CD Books : Carlton Books, Rastatt 1994, ISBN 3-8118-3986-1 , OCLC 75552811 .
• Alex Hahn: Obsessed - Prince's turbulent life . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2016, ISBN 978-3-85445-610-0
• Dave Hill: Prince - A Pop Life. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-426-04036-0 , OCLC 75121330 .
• Roland Mischke: From Nobody to Pop Prince. Gustav Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1989, ISBN 3-404-61157-8 , OCLC 24826787 .
• Per Nilsen: DanceMusicSexRomance - Prince: The First Decade. Firefly Publishing, London 1999, ISBN 0-946719-23-3 , OCLC 40610683 .
• Steve Parke: Picturing Prince. Cassell Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London 2017, ISBN 978-1-84403-959-3 .
• Jürgen Seibold : Prince. Verlagsunion Erich Pabel-Arthur Moewig, Rastatt 1991, ISBN 3-8118-3078-3 , OCLC 312007112 .
• Matt Thorne: Prince - The Biography. Edel Germany GmbH, Hamburg, 2017, ISBN 978-3-8419-0523-9 , OCLC 966421361 .
• Uptown: The Vault - The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince. Nilsen Publishing, Linköping 2004, ISBN 91-631-5482-X , OCLC 186521364 .

Web links

• For You at Allmusic (English)
• Princevault information about the album For You

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Booklet of Prince's CD For You , Warner Bros. Records, 1978
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} US dollar exchange rate from 1971 to 2017. In: reisebuch.de. 2018, accessed March 4, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Nilsen (1999), pp. 26-27.
4. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 27.
5. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 28.
6. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 29.
7. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 30.
8. ↑ Thorne (2017), p. 44.
9. ↑ Hahn (2016), p. 33.
10. ↑ Nilsen (1999), pp. 31-32.
11. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 32.
12. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 34.
13. ↑ Thomas Vicari. In: imdb.com. 2018, accessed on March 4, 2018 . 
14. ↑ Hahn (2016), pp. 39–41.
15. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 36.
16. ↑ Hahn (2016), p. 39.
17. ↑ ^{a b} Seibold (1991), p. 15.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Nilsen (1999), p. 37.
19. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 38.
20. ↑ ^{a b c} Nilsen (1999), p. 278.
21. ↑ ^{a b} Hahn (2016), p. 44.
22. ↑ Thorne (2017), p. 47.
23. ↑ ^{a b} Draper (2016), p. 14.
24. ↑ Chris Riemenschneider: Prince collaborator selling 'Soft and Wet' songwriting credit on eBay for $ 490K. In: startribune.com. February 12, 2018, accessed March 4, 2018 . 
25. ↑ Ewing (1994), p. 20.
26. ^ Hill (1989), p. 73.
27. ↑ Mischke (1989), p. 73.
28. ↑ Draper (2016), p. 12.
29. ↑ Seibold (1991), p. 16 and P. 20.
30. ↑ Mischke (1989), p. 74.
31. ↑ Hahn (2016), p. 42.
32. ^ Hill (1989), pp. 68-69.
33. ^ Hill (1989), p. 69.
34. ↑ ^{a b} Thorne (2017), p. 50.
35. ↑ Parke (2017), p. 214.
36. ^ Soft and Wet. In: Princevault.com. November 24, 2017, accessed March 4, 2018 . 
37. ↑ ^{a b c} Uptown (2004), p. 19.
38. ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 21.
39. ↑ Samples of Prince "Soft and Wet" in MC Hammer "She's Soft and Wet" WhoSampled.com
40. ↑ Ron Wynn: Muzical - Jimmy Z. In: Allmusic.com. 2018, accessed on March 4, 2018 . 
41. ↑ Ewing (1994), pp. 21-22.
42. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 270.
43. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 45.
44. ↑ Hahn (2016), pp. 44–45.
45. ↑ David Browne: A decade of Prince albums. In: EW.com. September 21, 1990, accessed March 4, 2018 . 
46. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine: For You - Prince. In: Allmusic.com. 2018, accessed on March 4, 2018 . 
47. ^ ME editors: From the big Prince special - an overview of all albums. In: Musikexpress.de. May 22, 2016, accessed March 4, 2018 . 
48. ↑ Prince. officialcharts.de, accessed on February 16, 2019 . 
49. ↑ Prince. austriancharts.at, accessed on February 16, 2019 . 
50. ↑ Prince. hitparade.ch, accessed on February 16, 2019 . 
51. ↑ Prince. officialcharts.com, accessed February 16, 2019 . 
52. ^ Prince - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed February 16, 2019 . 
53. ↑ Thorne (2017), p. 61.
54. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US