VAMPIRE VINYL

Dracula (1931) dir. Tod Browning

Hitachi SDT-900 (1980)

Serge Gainsbourg et l'album Bonny & Clyde.

Controversy is Prince’s fourth album; it hit #21 on the US album chart and #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop album chart. Funky and danceable, its themes are a mix of socio-political commentary (most explicitly on “Ronnie, Talk to Russia” but also on the pro-gun control song “Annie Christian”), religion and sex sex sex without even a whisper of innuendo. Songs- and that poster! - like “Sexuality” (released outside of the US as a single - 1981 America was clearly not ready for it), “Do Me, Baby” (which was released, hitting #41 on the single chart and #1 on the R&B chart; it was supposedly written not by Prince but by Revolution bassist Andre Cymone), “Private Joy” and “Jack U Off” tell us exactly where Prince’s mind was at when writing the LP. Other singles he released were the title track “Controversy” (#70 US, #5 UK) and my favorite song on the album, the ultra-funky “Let’s Work” which went to #1 on the US Dance chart.