Trivia / Sign o' the Times

• Cut Song: Of the tracks from the Camille sessions that didn't make it onto this album, "Shockadelica" and "Feel U Up" ultimately wound up as B-sides to "If I Was Your Girlfriend" and "Partyman", respectively, with both later turning up again on The Hits/The B-Sides in 1993. "Good Love" meanwhile would be repurposed for the soundtrack to the film Bright Lights, Big City in 1988, and would reappear on the triple-CD Crystal Ball compilation (unrelated to the triple-LP album of the same name that was cut down into Sign '☮︎' the Times).
• Executive Meddling: The album has a storied history and it all has to do with Prince's declining marketability following Around the World in a Day. There's plenty of detailed info over at PrinceVault for those interested, but here's the gist: Prince had written and configured a double album entitled Dream Factory to follow Parade. That was scrapped after the Revolution broke up. He then wrote an album for his short-lived Camille alias (who he portrayed by pitch-shifting his vocals to sound more feminine). Both were combined with new songs for a triple album entitled Crystal Ball. Warner (Bros.) Records thought the album could use some editing to be commercially viable, as his sales since Purple Rain had declined. Prince complied by cutting the project down to the two-disc Sign "☮" the Times, kickstarting his falling out with the label.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: The Prince Estate reissued the album in 2020. Along with a remaster of the original album, the Super Deluxe edition also includes a disc of remixes and b-sides, 3 discs of unreleased songs and alternate versions (including a demo of "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" from 1979), and two concerts. One on two CDs and a DVD with another show with Miles Davis guesting. A total of 9 discs. It also includes a 120 page hardbound book with unreleased photos and several essays by folks who knew or were inspired by Prince. The same content was also released on vinyl but over 13 records instead of 8 CDs.
• Multi-Disc Work: The album spans two discs on both vinyl and CD; at 80:06, it's just barely too long to fit on even newer 80-minute CDs.
• Refitted for Sequel:
  • "Rockhard in a Funky Place", originally recorded for Camille and included on the scrapped Crystal Ball triple-album but left off the final version of Sign '☮︎' the Times, would later feature as the closing track of the untitled black album.
  • Going over to the tracks on the scrapped Crystal Ball triple-album that weren't on Camille, the intended Title Track for that was later reused on the unrelated triple-CD compilation also named Crystal Ball, the music of "The Ball" was reused on "👁 No" and included on Lovesexy a year later, and "Joy in Repetition" resurfaced on Graffiti Bridge in 1990.
• Throw It In!: "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" was recorded through an untested console with two power supplies. During recording, a power cut shut off one of the supplies, resulting in a distinctly thin and hazy sound. Engineer Susan Rogers noticed that the audio sounded flat, but didn't want to interrupt recording by pointing it out and only discovered the full extent of the issue after recording had completed. When Prince heard the result, he liked it enough to keep it on the album.
• What Could Have Been:
  • As mentioned on the main page, the album was the end result of three different failed projects converging together, all of which were recorded entirely before being scrapped. In order, Prince had envisioned a double-album with the Revolution called Dream Factory, a single-LP album called Camille in which he would portray a female alter-ego via vocal pitch-shifting, and a solo triple-album titled Crystal Ball that expanded upon Dream Factory and included tracks from the Camille sessions. Eventually, Warner (Bros.) Records pushed Prince to cut Crystal Ball down to a two-LP set, which ultimately resulted in Sign '☮︎' the Times.
  • "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" was originally written as a Power Pop song and originally featured an outro where Prince decides to accept the woman's offer and come home with her for the night. The final version excised the outro and rearranged the track into a progressive soul piece; a 1979 recording of the initial rendition is included on the 2020 Super Deluxe Edition.

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