Prince - Sign O'the Times
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Prince - Sign O'the Times |
| Original title | Sign o 'the Times |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1987 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Prince Albert Magnoli (additional footage) |
| script | Prince |
| production | Joseph Ruffalo Robert Cavallo Steve Fargnoli |
| music | Prince |
| camera | Peter Sinclair |
| cut | Steve Purcell |
| occupation | |
| |
Prince - Sign O 'the Times is a concert film by the American musician Prince . The last three concerts of his European tour in 1987 were filmed. The footage was edited and supplemented with scenes shot in Prince's Paisley Park studio in Chanhassen , Minnesota.
The concert film was released in US cinemas on November 20, 1987. The cinema release in Germany was on March 17, 1988. The setlist of the film is based on the title list of the Prince album Sign "☮" the Times , the music belongs to the genres funk , pop music , rock music , soul and jazz . The film grossed $ 3 million, just outperforming production costs by $ 500,000. Film critics, however, rated the film very positively.
Emergence
tour
Prince turned down Warner Bros. Records' request to continue the Sign-o'-the-Times tour in the US in 1987 and decided to record the last three concerts of his European tour and release them in the US as a concert film. Susan Rogers, then Prince's sound engineer, later recalled that Prince was "in a very bad mood." “He said, 'Susan, I need a truck with a mobile recording studio for tomorrow, and quickly. It has to work, we record the concert and it has to be perfect, otherwise people will be fired! ' and then he slammed the phone. ”A British film team was hired to record all three concerts in Rotterdam at the Sportpaleis Ahoy on June 26th, 27th and 28th as well as the final concert in Antwerp at the Sportpaleis on June 29th, 1987.
Post processing in the studio
After the tour was over, Prince discovered that the individual soundtracks of the recordings made with the multitrack recorder were not sufficiently separated from one another. So he called his tour band together to re-record individual parts in the Sunset Studio in Los Angeles , California and Paisley Park Studio in Chanhassen , Minnesota. Saxophonist Eric Leeds recalled: “Myself and Matt Blistan re-recorded almost all of our horn parts. But what was really amazing was that Sheila E. re-recorded all of her drum parts. That was difficult! ”The footage also proved problematic; it quickly became apparent that most of the recordings would not be usable for a film. According to Susan Rogers, it was "just horrible, fuzzy, and not at all good looking." So Prince decided to re-enact a full concert on stage at Paisley Park Studio. In the second half of July 1987, various close-ups and stage scenes were shot. Prince also lip-synced his vocals and those of his band to the concert recordings from Rotterdam and Antwerp. Eric Leeds later said, "When the film was released, the majority of the footage, about 80 percent, was what we shot in Paisley Park, less of footage from the actual concerts themselves."
The final editing of the film concerned the setlist ; the song selection of the concert film focuses on the songs from the double album Sign "☮" the Times from 1987. Only Little Red Corvette comes from the album 1999 from 1982 and Now's the Time - a cover version of the jazz classic by Charlie Parker from the 1945. The song U Got the Look - a duet with Sheena Easton - was not played live on the European tour; in the concert film it was subsequently added as a music video . Kiss - a number one hit in the US in 1986 - was also included in the original version of the film but was cut out at the last moment.
The film was completed in late August 1987 and Prince wanted to release it as soon as possible. After the commercial failure of the previous Prince film Under the Cherry Moon - Under the Cherry Moon of 1986, the film department refused Warner Bros. However, Prince - Sign O 'the Times to support. Warner Bros. also believed that concert films were better suited for a summer and that Prince should wait until the summer of 1988. Then Prince's management at the time signed a contract with the film distributor Cineplex Odeon Films, which published Prince - Sign O 'the Times in November 1987 in the USA. According to Marylou Badeaux, then vice president of Warner Bros. Records, a number of people thought the release date was a mistake, but Prince saw it as an attempt to put obstacles in his way. Alan Leeds, saxophonist Eric Leeds' older brother by five years and Prince's tour manager at the time, said: “In drastic terms, the film was an opportunity for Prince to avoid the US tour. Nobody was enthusiastic about the film idea. "
action
The suggested plot , which takes place in short scenes on stage between the individual songs, was filmed in Paisley Park Studio. A young woman - played by the dancer Cat Glover - has a relationship with her boyfriend, who is played by dancer Greg Brooks. However, this relationship turns out to be problematic and when Prince enters their lives, a love triangle develops . The tension and difficulties run through the entire film, with the superficial plot kept to a minimum as the music is in the foreground.
List of titles and publications
| # | title | admission | Duration | Original sound carrier | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro | 18.-23. July 1987: Paisley Park Studio, Chanhassen | 1:52 | 1987: Prince - Sign O'the Times | |||||
| 2 | Sign "☮" the Times | June 27, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam , Rotterdam | 4:34 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 3 | Play in the Sunshine | June 27, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam | 3:53 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 4th | Little Red Corvette |
June 26, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam June 27, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam |
1:51 | 1982: 1999 | |||||
| 5 | Housequake |
June 28, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam June 29, 1987: Sportpaleis (Antwerp) , Antwerp |
3:45 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 6th | Slow love |
June 26, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam June 27, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam |
4:46 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 7th | I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man | June 27, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam | 8:27 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 8th | Hot thing | June 28, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam | 5:49 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 9 | Now's the Time A. | June 27, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam , Rotterdam | 5:03 | 1945: The Charlie Parker Story | |||||
| 10 | U Got the Look ( music video , duet with Sheena Easton ) | June 16, 1987: Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy , Paris | 5:08 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 11 | If I Was Your Girlfriend | June 27, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam | 5:15 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 12 |
Forever In My Life It |
June 28, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam June 29, 1987: Sportpaleis (Antwerp) , Antwerp |
11:09 |
1987: Sign "☮" the Times 1987: Sign "☮" the Times |
|||||
| 13 | It's gonna be a beautiful night | June 28, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam | 7:56 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 14th | The Cross | June 27, 1987: Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam | 6:26 | 1987: Sign "☮" the Times | |||||
| 15th | End credits | 18.-23. July 1987: Paisley Park Studio, Chanhassen | 5:16 | 1987: Prince - Sign O'the Times | |||||
| Playing time: 81:13 | |||||||||
| Notes: Prince is the author of all songs unless otherwise stated
A.Author: Charlie Parker
|
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The three songs Little Red Corvette , Housequake and Slow Love consist of a compilation of the concerts mentioned. Prince plays the pieces Forever In My Life and It in a medley and also consists of a combination of two concerts. "Intro" and "End Credits" are not mentioned on the DVD tracklist ; the piece End Credits is an instrumental studio version in the credits of the song Sign "☮" the Times .
The movie was released on November 20, 1987 in the USA, on March 17, 1988 in Germany and in the GDR only on March 10, 1989. On May 5, 1988, almost a year before the release in the GDR, Prince was released - Sign O 'the Times on VHS , Betamax and Laserdisc . It was first broadcast on television on July 1, 1990 on DFF 1 and in 2005 the concert film was released on DVD , and in 2012 on Blu-ray Disc .
On September 13, 2019, Prince - Sign O 'the Times was released in a special “Limited Deluxe Edition” on two DVDs and two Blu-rays. The special edition is designed in the format of a record cover , which can be opened and in which the four discs are placed. The 85-minute concert film can be seen on the respective Disc I, while the respective Disc II contains bonus material with a total length of 282 minutes. The foreword in the 16-page booklet comes from the US American Jeremiah Freed, who has been known as a Prince blogger since May 2008 under his pseudonym DrFunkenberry . The liner notes were written by the Dutch music journalist Edgar Kruize in collaboration with his compatriot jooZt Mattheij, editor- in- chief at Princevault.com. Both the foreword and the liner notes can be read in English and German. Apart from the photos in the booklet, the special edition contains five separate photos with the dimensions 210 × 296 mm, which are designed like a postcard. A reprint of the original tour poster from 1987 with the dimensions 590 × 840 mm is also integrated. The photos were taken by Jeff Katz , among others . The Limited Deluxe Edition is distributed exclusively by Turbine Medien, a company founded in Germany in 2004, and is only available in German-speaking countries such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Outside of the countries mentioned, it can only be purchased as an import . The special edition is limited to 3,000 units worldwide.
reception
The film Prince - Sign O 'the Times ran on November 20, 1987 in 250 US cinemas in 30 major cities and was able to bring in three million US dollars - at that time about five million DM; the cost of producing the film was $ 2.5 million. The concert film released in the USA on May 5, 1988 on VHS reached platinum status there on January 10, 1989 for 100,000 copies sold.
The Sign-o'-the-Times European tour was already rated positively by the press. “Prince is the King” or “Prince's Rock Cathedral” were the headlines after the tour started in the Isstadion . The evening newspaper wrote about Prince that he was the “ Mozart of rock.” The Tagesspiegel said: “Superstar - the word is justified here.” The Süddeutsche Zeitung commented on one of the concerts: “His concert that evening is almost all pop - Major events of recent years in the shadows ”. The Rheinische Post said: “When the young tennis star Steffi Graf and the brightly colored singer Nina Hagen attend the same concert, then the object of mutual interest must have more to offer than just a conventional rock and pop show [...] with an insane Effort puts the multi-talent in the shade everything that has been offered on German stages so far. ”The Berliner Morgenpost asked:“ How should one describe a concert that cannot be described? How to make clear the ecstasy into which Prince put his fans in the sold-out Deutschlandhalle ? How to reproduce the charisma that emanates from this little dervish of rock? [...] He set the tone for the times, delivered a show that is trend-setting for the future. Not just music, but at the same time theater, drama and that certain touch of genius that you need to be one of the really greats in this tough industry [...] Which musician can Prince surpass? "The Nürnberger Nachrichten read:" Die The furious stage show of the American all-round genius sets standards in show business that is used to sensation: Prince came, sang and won [...] The little prince is the greatest. "
Some critics compared Prince - Sign O 'the Times with the highly acclaimed concert film Stop Making Sense of the Talking Heads in 1984. The US music magazine Rolling Stone commented: "Prince and band in top form - the best rock act, the there is on the stage these days. ”The Philadelphia Daily News saw the film as confirmation that Prince was“ the most provocative for-all sex symbol in the pop arena since Elvis Presley ”. The New York Times wrote: “Anyone who hasn't taken Prince seriously before will be surprised by this movie. Prince is an experienced artist with a sure instinct for its effect on the audience. ”The British magazine Sky described the film as“ the greatest concert film of all time ”. Hans Hoff said in the Rheinische Post : "Where otherwise mediocrity has always triumphed since the turn of the decade and irrelevant performers such as Bruce Springsteen , Michael Jackson and U2 achieved fame and honor, there is now only one name for musical and show-technical progress: Prince Rogers Nelson. "The author and musician Lorenz Schröter - known as Lorenz Lorenz in the 1980s - said:" His music is not like an orgasm , I want an orgasm to be like his music. "
The lexicon of international films reads: “Concert recording of the European tour of the pop musician Prince. A film that is convincing due to its cinematic cohesion, musical range and rousing rhythms, whose actors win over them with their wit and enthusiasm. For fans of contemporary and future-oriented rock music worth hearing and seeing. "
literature
- Jason Draper: Chaos, Disorder, And Revolution. Backbeat Books, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-87930-961-9 , OCLC 664668943 .
- Alex Hahn: Obsessed - Prince's turbulent life. Hannibal, Höfen 2006, ISBN 3-85445-262-4 , OCLC 163398818 .
- 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 .
- Jürgen Seibold : Prince. Verlagsunion Erich Pabel-Arthur Moewig, Rastatt 1991, ISBN 3-8118-3078-3 , OCLC 312007112 .
- 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
- Prince - Sign O 'the Times in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 83.
- ↑ a b Nilsen (1999), p. 238.
- ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 239.
- ↑ Nilsen (1999), pp. 239-240.
- ↑ a b Nilsen (1999), p. 240.
- ↑ a b Hahn (2006), p. 170.
- ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 257.
- ↑ Sign O'The Times. In: Princevault.com. April 10, 2018, accessed on July 17, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c Seibold (1991), p. 73.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 619.
- ↑ 5 May. In: Princevault.com. May 3, 2018, accessed July 18, 2018 .
- ^ A b Prince - Sign O 'the Times in the Lexicon of International Films
- ↑ Booklet of the 2 DVDs + 2 Blu-ray Discs Prince - Sign O 'the Times by Turbine Medien, 2019
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 86.
- ^ Box Office Mojo - Sign O 'the Times. 2017, accessed on March 16, 2017 .
- ^ RIAA Gold & Platinum Albums. 2016, accessed on March 16, 2017 .
- ↑ Seibold (1991), p. 68.
- ↑ a b Mischke (1989), p. 101.
- ↑ a b c Mischke (1989), p. 102.
- ↑ Mischke (1989), pp. 102-103.
- ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 242.
- ↑ Draper (2011), p. 89.
- ↑ Ewing (1994), p. 75.
- ↑ Mischke (1989), p. 185.
- ↑ Mischke (1989), p. 186.