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Rating: Prince, in 1977, is 18 years old, has experience with a local musical group (the Grand Central, later Champagne) of which he was already the leader at twelve, and plays 23 instruments (basically anything that emits notes except for wind instruments). With an English producer short on money, he seeks fortune in the Big Apple, and finds it in the Warner studios (from which, about twenty years later, he will desperately try to escape, but that’s another story…): they give him a contract, a studio, and the help of a former Earth, Wind and Fire member.
Prince declines and decides to do everything by himself. Let’s be clear: his debut, "For You", is not a masterpiece, but it is a good album, this yes, full of references to '70s black music, from James Brown to Sly Stone, through the essential Funkadelic and the pop-soul of Marvin Gaye and Chaka Khan.
The title-track is nothing but a mess of our guy's vocal overdubs, introducing us to his world; “In Love” is a ballad that goes down like fresh water, neither good nor bad; on the other hand, “Soft and Wet”, the single from the album that at the time had good success, and that many in America still remember, gives a taste of what the prince will be in the future: a provocateur, an innovator, and a (hetero)sexual maniac (the title, “soft and wet”, is already more than eloquent...).
The song is a jumble of playful keyboards and synthesizers, with a quirky rhythm and an unusual structure: the first milestone. “Crazy You”, “Baby”, and “So Blue” are three beautiful ballads, but made with the same mold; in particular, the third with its guitar intro gives hope, but turns into just any slow song. Of “My Love is Forever”, one remembers the touches of electric guitar, the concept of “Just As Long As We Are Together”, a long funk full of keyboards will be reworked and improved in “I Wanna Be Your Lover” on his second album, the same goes for the final rock “I’m Yours”, whose atmospheres will return in “Bambi”.
What to say? At the time, the most farsighted might have seen in this young multi-instrumentalist a prodigious talent, for sure this good LP gives just an idea of what the sprite will do in the '80s.
Next stop: “Prince”, 1979...
Tracklist and Lyrics
03 Soft and Wet (03:02)
Hey, lover, I got a sugarcane
That I wanna lose in you,
Baby can you stand the pain
Hey, lover, sugar don't you see?
There's so many things that you do to me
Ooo baby!
All I wanna see is the love in your eyes (hey, lover)
And all I wanna hear is your sweet love sighs
All I wanna feel is burning flames (hey, lover)
Tell me, tell me, baby, that U feel the same
Tell me that U feel the same way I do
Tell me that U love me girl
[We'd be so lost, in our mouths, the best, I feel it everyday (every way)
U feel so wrong, be alone, if u just follow somebody someday]
Soft and wet
Soft and wet
Soft and wet
Soft and wet
Every time I'm with you, you just love me to death
Ooo weee, baby. you leave me without...
Breath! Ooo, baby! Oooo, yeah
You're just as soft as a lion tamed (hey, lover)
You're just as wet as the evening rain
How will I take it when you call my name? (hey, lover)
Your love is driving me...
you're driving me insane
Crazy, baby
Oh, girl
Crazy 'bout your love
Soft and wet (U know)
You are soft and wet (Oh, sugar)
Your love is soft and wet
Soft and wet
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