CoronaVinyl Day 466 (P): Prince by Prince

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

To quote Stained, it's been a while.  I actually listened to this album several weeks ago for several days in a row, but then, you know, shit got away from me.  Anyway, today's CoronaVinyl category is "P," and I went with Prince's self-titled 1979 sophomore album.

The Purple One's debut album, 1978's For You, didn't do much, peaking at #178 on the Billboard album chart.  But his genius could not be contained.  Prince (the album) was showed the diversity of Prince's (the artist) musical talents.  As with many of his albums, he wrote, performed, arranged, and produced the whole album.

It shows signs of what was to come in the '80s, with a mix of funk, pop, soul, and R&B.

The album reached #22 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went platinum in the U.S.  It featured Prince's first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "I Wanna Be your Lover," which went to #11, as well as #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.

The album cover is odd.  As you can see, it's a bare-chested, sullen-faced Prince looking into the camera like he's pissed to be there.  But the back is the best.  It features a presumably completely nude Prince riding Pegasus, and I think we can all assume it was real.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?"
This one is definitely a harbinger of things to come, as Prince was honing his sound.  It's pop and R&B, with a little rock thrown in.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Bambi"
Lest you didn't believe Prince had guitar chops in his early days, "Bambi" dispels you of that notion.  This is a raunchy rocker, with Prince's falsetto layered over his wicked guitar licks -- and then he just goes off on a solo to end the song.