Baby is a nice, sweet song. Not outstanding, but this is his first album. I guess he really took his time to record the vocals, since it has been done so clean and decently. This was one of the first songs written for the album and part of the demo tape he made to contact record companies. I will only rate below 3 if I don’t like the song, so this is a 3 out of 5 for me.
I can't really contribute to this thread yet as I don't have the debut album (it is one of just a few that's still missing in my collection). So many of these songs I'm hearing for the first time. I have to say that upon first listen Baby sounds quite a bit like the generic R&B stuff Prince was churning out in the mid-Nineties. Anyway, just something completely random, but I did have a pleasant surprise yesterday afternoon when I turned on the radio in my car and Soft And Wet was playing on one of the big radio stations here. That's not a song you hear that often on the radio.
"Baby" is distinctly lightweight by Prince's standards, sweet enough with great vocals, but instantly forgettable. I do, however, prefer it to the generic disco songs on this album. 3/5
‘Baby’ is ok, but not a Song I would ever need to hear again,. I would rate it as 2 out of 5, and that is being generous as would use a 1 rating only if I disliked a Song. I really do not care for most Ballads by Prince, with the exception of the most excellent’The Morning Papers’, and think that ‘Sometimes It Snows In April’ is better than the average Prince Ballad. Although, like for Bootsy Collins, I skip the Ballads when playing the CDs of the Albums(well in Bootsy’s Case, I just wanna FUNK).
Please do. Because when I listened to Baby again today I thought that the section around 1:15-1:20 sounded a bit like I Hate U (or rather, the other way round of course). Though I have to say that for generic R&B stuff Emancipation and onwards is a better example.
Today's song is "My Love Is Forever", with music written by Prince and lyric written by an uncredited Chris Moon and Prince. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/29QOYtxStXGuGmACR2R6rJ?si=t-LrHHimSkepMumVueWkOA LYRIC. "My Love is Forever" was released as a B-side to "I Wanna Be Your Lover" in most territories in August 1979. "Love is Forever", was one of Prince's first recordings, made in 1976, featuring a lyric completely written by Chris Moon; another version was recorded in 1977 before Prince had a recording contract.
Side 2 really does just continue to disappoint, huh? Of all the disco tracks, "My Love Is Forever," while not totally unpleasant, is definitely the lamest lol. Just very, very bland (something I will probably not say again about Prince's output for many years). However, the performance is good; I like the synth lead tone and Prince gives another sweet vocal performance. 2.5/5
My Love Is Forever If I co-wrote those lyrics I'd prefer to remain uncredited too Still not the weakest track, with some guitar solos. Music style and production is really consistent, sweet and overpolished. 2.2/5
The lyric is pretty lame, I agree. I quite like the song; it's got a lot of catchy melodic hooks all through it, whether it's the loungey synth flutes at the beginning or the guitar solo near the end. Yes, there's something antiseptic about Prince's loungey, disco-ey choices, but the music wins me over: not that it's brilliant, but it's catchy and pleasant. 2.8/5.
I have always rather enjoyed My Love Is Forever, at least musically. It’s a solidly constructed song, with a couple of unexpected chord changes and his first real guitar solo (my favorite aspect of his many talents). It could have been a minor hit. Nothing groundbreaking, although maybe at the time it was startling that the sweet voiced falsetto singer was also playing such an accomplished guitar bit, but very pleasant to listen to. 3.5/ 5
Again, this is a good song. Nice and happy, but in no way outstanding. And... this song has two good guitar solos . Just As Long As We’re Together has the first one on this album, but I like these ones more. For me, this is a 3 out of 5. A solid 3 points this time.
Indeed, it does sound like Ray Parker Jr.’s Raydio. 70s disco , nothing wrong with that and pretty soon Prince considered it old news and took it a huge step up
Yep, I think I will give a lot of 4’s and 5’s pretty soon . I’m guess I’m going to give a 5+ for the absolute essential classics...
Surprised how anemic the "For You" tracks have fared on Spotify, only two have crossed the million listen mark For You - 618,421 In Love - 664,618 Soft And Wet - 6,301,418 Crazy You - 657,428 Just As Long As We're Together - 630,011 Baby - 482,637 My Love Is Forever - 457,782 So Blue - 2,352,203 I'm Yours - 438,119 No surprise "Soft And Wet" is the biggest track on here, but I am surprised "So Blue" seems to have so many listens compared to the rest.
"My Love Is Forever" Pleasant enough - seems catchy as I'm listening but then is hard to recall for me. The guitar is the highlight - someone's been listening to Steely Dan.
Again, relatively generic disco funk, but with some nice instrument breaks on occasion, which for me elevates it above some of the other generic fluff on the album. Like I'm sure many others here, these songs would probably get higher ratings from me if his later stuff wasn't so stellar in comparison. 2.7 from me.