Sign O The Times - Prince

I now consider myself to be a well travelled individual; well as long as I don't have to include the southern hemisphere. Or eastern Europe. Or Wales. But if you ignore those areas I am the modern equivalent to Phileas Fogg. That is now - not then.

In 1987 I hadn't been that far - northern France was about the extent of my known world at that stage. So the arrival of an American onto our little town caused quite a stir. Apart for the usual differences; saying 'sidewalk' when he meant footpath, talking in a funny accent and not understanding irony he also lived in a house on the side of a hill. This was considered to be quite an achievement as Hartelpool was not exactly the alps. Hills were definitely in short supply, especially if you discounted the slag heaps left begins from the industrial era. But on a hill his house was. To add to the mystique of this architectural anomaly, it was upside down. The living areas were upstairs and sleeping quarters on the bottom. Sheer lunacy if you ask me.

I can't remember an awful amount else about Brett. Cool house, strange accent and funny name. But as a stranger in a strange land people were keen to get to know him. Us included. His arrival coincided with my 'discovery' of this album and dance-funk music. Well....OK....my dad had bought it so it wasn't that difficult - it was on the CD rack. But, hey, I still had to find it! There were several parties at Brett's topsy-turvy house during that summer and tracks from this album featured heavily. Or at least that is my recollection. But memories are like that. Maybe it was just my internal soundtrack.....

I also can't remember exactly why Brett fell out of favour with our gang. We were among the first to befriend him but, as he settled into life in a northern town, others came to know him and we drifted away; never unfriendly but certainly at a distance. As is often the case with friendships from school days, people drift apart and without knowing it become just faces at the opposite end of the school yard.....

'Sign O the Times' is arguably Prince's best album and yet marked the watershed in his decline in popularity; his increasing erratic and eccentric behaviour taking the headlines rather than his music. 'Symbol' anyone? As befits a double album, 'Sign O the Times' offers up a myriad of styles; funk, soul, R&B, rock, pop and hip-hop and covers an equally diverse range of topics; love, religion, world affairs and of course, as it's a Prince album, sex. But if you are only going to pick out one song from the album, the singles aside, go for 'The Cross'. It's about as rock as Prince gets and it's great - all distorted guitars, rock drums and a relatively restrained vocal.

Being world travelled I've got to know a whole lot more people from a wide range of backgrounds. Some are even from outside Yorkshire. But back then it was positively exotic; getting to know a foreigner, houses on hills, parties and living rooms upstairs. Heady stuff and a sign of the times indeed!