I know that I have said this before in another thread, but I still find it fascinating how this is his first official statement on an album. Basically, I am going to share my life with you (through music). On the last track of the last album Prince would release in his lifetime (‘Big City’) he ends by saying: “That’s it.” Did Prince mean it to be that way or was it just dumb luck that there would be these perfect bookends? We will probably never know. But it is fascinating to see how Prince (who never really spent time looking back at his career) decided to write a memoir and went on tour telling stories from his past at the end of his life. I do love the song ‘For You’ and have put it on many compilations as an opening. It is a perfect appetizer for the feast to come. I am really looking forward to this thread!
Part of the genius of this opening track, as well as choosing this style itself, is in its brevity at just over 1 minute long. It would have been so easy for Prince to have made the song longer with a mind to maybe releasing it as a wacky single, but it works much more effectively as a short, sharp statement that grabs your attention and then suddenly stops. 3/5
been ready for this one, adding it to my subscribe button "For You" is a cute intro to the man who would end up changing the face of music for the next 40 years. Slight but beautiful. He was using the intro of this for the opening of his shows near the end, when I saw him in March 2015 he started with an intro that has the opening of this, then the beginning of the robotic vocals of 1999 and then the beginning of Let's Go Crazy, he used this again in "Million$Show"
Introducing Prince ... fully formed from side 1, track 1. I'm a sucker for his multitracked harmonies. Great intro to an album and a career. Shoutout to the piano version, it's very cool too.
This one never really grabbed me before today, but now suddenly I'm really into it. Guess it must be the mood of 2020. He certainly shied away from convention right from the get go.
For you.. As echoed by others a brave , and very intriguing, way to open your first album..a nice 3/5 start
rating the songs will be hard for me, I'm already in doubt. For You 3/5. I'd love to give this a 4/5 but that wouldn't do justice to what is to follow.
I do like it as a bold opening statement, but it has never been a favorite song of mine. I guess Prince meant it to be seen as a statement (“here I am, listen to this”). He would do that a lot, not only on albums (for example 1999, Purple Rain, Lovesexy, The Rainbow Children), but also in concert, like the Controversy Tour or the Diamonds and Pearls Tour (among others). Looking at it like that it is something different. Indeed something to pay attention to. Considering all, I think it’s a 3 out of 5.
The title/opening track is gorgeous, absolutely love it. Aside from "Soft and Wet," it's my favorite thing on the album, even though it's more of an intro that a full-fledged song, but what a wonderful beginning, isn't it?
For You - I think this is for me the greatest opening track on a debut album by any artist, though not because it in itself is a great "song", it isn't. It functions more as a prelude than a song, but in hindsight it's a prelude not only for the next song and the rest of the album, but for the rest of his career. He was nineteen years old, maybe? Brilliant. Just his voice, no drum machines, no guitar solos, no synths, raps, swing grooves, nothing like that (beyond the overall sound of the recording/mix) that can really date it to a specific era. Timeless. And the lyrics, sparse as they may be, also serve as an artistic statement, a promise, for his entire career to come. Highly musical too, harmonically and rhythmically. I'm a super-fan perhaps. but not such a super-fan that I would dole out this kind of praise to anything else on this first record. This one is special, again, because I think if viewing his output as a whole, over decades, somehow this opening statement sums up so much. "My life with you I share" - maybe he didn't share his personal life with us, but he shared his musical life with us, to the end. Music was his gift "for you" - us.
I will be dipping in and out, as hard for me to follow a Thread every day(I love Joe Jackson and Peter Gabriel, but could never keep up with their Albums Reviews Threads), but I own most Albums by Prince(except not the first 2 albums), and bought every other Albums except for the Club Only Releases. Some of my Favorite Prince Songs were written for The Time, so I will definitely be commenting on those Songs, if I see this Thread when they are discussed. Anyways, just wanted to make an initial post here, so I get Alert Notices(hopefully will receive them most days, as this Forum can be a bit wonky on Alerts, where sometimes I never receive them on more recent Threads where I had added a post for some strange reason, then all of the sudden will get Alerts for Threads, which I had not added a post in over a year).
I'm brand-spanking-new to this board and topics like thi are what I live for. I can't wait to contribute what I can!
For You is an interesting song, not a favorite but pleasant and impressive, and nice and short. I give it 3/5. -George
Welcome to the SHF. If you buy Physical Media for Music, then hope your Bank Account survives as you discover what is available on the secondary seller market, as it can be a deep hole if seeking out the Best Mastering of Older Albums on CD and/or Vinyl. Especially, if you are a Doors Fan, and realize you need to obtain the DCC CDs of Self Titled, Strange Days, Waiting for the Sun and L.A. Woman Remastered by Our Host or other Albums he remastered of interest to you. I think you need to make 25 posts, before getting access to use the Classifieds Section here for Buying and Selling.
Today's song is "In Love", written and produced by Prince. Spotify: In Love Lyric. This song was released as a B-side to "Just as Long as We're Together" in November 1978. Apparently it was never performed live.
After the brave, unusual opening, this sounds like pretty generic and forgettable late 70s disco/rnb to me. Sadly, much of the album is like this. 2.5/5.
Just want to say thanks to OP for starting this thread at the outset. Huge Prince fan and really hoped there would be a song-by-song eventually to participate in (without the pressure of, and dedication it takes to run it). As for "For You," like others have said, I think it's slight but pretty. Those harmonies are killer. But to me it's more interesting in how it bookends Prince's career (going from this song's "All of this and more is for you..." to the "That's it" from HNR2's "Big City"). 3/5
Kinda lame, but I think it's cute. It's one of the first to come to mind when I think about the debut. (lovingly) second that 2.5/5
