Japanese SHM paper sleeve pressing. The SHM-CD [Super High Material CD] format features enhanced audio quality through the use of a special polycarbonate plastic. Using a process developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan ... more »discovered through the joint companies' research into LCD display manufacturing* SHM-CDs feature improved transparency on the data side of the disc* allowing for more accurate reading of CD data by the CD player laser head. SHM-CD format CDs are fully compatible with standard CD players. 2009.« less
Japanese SHM paper sleeve pressing. The SHM-CD [Super High Material CD] format features enhanced audio quality through the use of a special polycarbonate plastic. Using a process developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan discovered through the joint companies' research into LCD display manufacturing* SHM-CDs feature improved transparency on the data side of the disc* allowing for more accurate reading of CD data by the CD player laser head. SHM-CD format CDs are fully compatible with standard CD players. 2009.
The LP that defines the Artist is indeed a classic.
namepeace | Nashville, TN United States | 12/30/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
""Dirty Mind" sets the tone for the rest of Prince's unparalleled career. In fact, most people think it's his first album. It might as well have been because, despite his impressive first 2 LP's (For You and Prince), he really got recognized for the image he crafted through his music. But it's the great music that makes this album endure, for it created the "Prince sound."The minimalist approach to this LP is its hallmark. Stripped of all pretensions and indulgences,and centered around funk guitar and synths, it is one of the tightest -- and raunchiest -- Prince LP's. What really makes this LP are 4 all-time classic Prince songs: the title track, the outstanding "When You Were Mine," "Do It All Night," and "Uptown." They are the heart and soul of a great LP. Unfortunately, radio wasn't as liberal as it is now, but I'd like to think this LP contributed to more adventurous music in all genres. If not for this album, would Madonna, 2 Live Crew, Nine Inch Nails, etc. even gotten radio play? Maybe not.This is an essential 80's record, an essential Prince record, and an undisputed classic. Buy it."
Masterpiece
Sean Zimmerman | 11/30/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Let's face it... Prince's albums up through Sign 'O the Times are brilliant. Dirty Mind in particular ranks as one of his very best (some would say his very best). Unlike many pop albums this is not merely a collection of songs, i.e. some radio hits and a bunch of filler. This album works organically as a whole, i.e. each track is integral to the album. Every track is excellent and the production and sound is very stripped back and "raw". This is pure pop/funk genius. Probably my favorite Prince album after Purple Rain and just above Controversy. Essential= Get it!"
Essential, nastier, funkier than you think....
Benjamin Doleac | Hollis, NH United States | 10/31/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"For such a brilliant musician (and 26 years after his debut, there can be no doubt of his pop mastery), Prince has been a mighty inconsistent album artist. Undoubtedly some of this owes to the fact that he's got too many ideas - genius can be unruly. But beyond that, what hampers the greatness of many of his best-known and best-received efforts for a college student born the same year "1999" was released is that the oft-brilliant songs are mired in '80s production gunk. Seminal though it may be, the "Purple Rain" soundtrack is so drenched in processing and outmoded digital echo that, on first listen, it barely sounds musical at all. Prince may have been ahead of his time, but few artists have been so much OF their era that the greatness of their work is discernible only through repeated exposure.
"Dirty Mind" is comprised of recordings originally intended as a demo, and as such it is remarkably free of the aforementioned excesses. At barely a half-hour in length, there's hardly room for the flab that pads many of his later full-lengths. What you're left with is a prime slice of knotty, minimalist, RAUNCHY funk rock. Listen to "Head" and "Sister" in particular and you'll be amazed that Warner Bros. had the guts to put this out in 1980, a good half-decade before the rise of hardcore rap and the PMRC's campaign to put warning stickers on albums.
After two unsuccessful tries with "Purple Rain" and the much-beloved double album "Sign O' the Times," I finally came around to Prince with "Dirty Mind". Aside from synth solos on the title track and "Head", he plays every instrument on the record, and the stripped-down production just bolsters the shock of his knockout chops. Prince would emerge as a major star two years later with "1999," but in my opinion this is his best album. The most effective demonstrations of his genius outside of this record are the compilations "The Hits/The B-Sides" and the unfortunately out-of-print rarities collection "Crystal Ball," which can be had pretty darn cheap as a used item considering it's 3 CDs long (4 with the 'bonus disc', actually). Why he's been unable to make a record that's great start to finish in the last quarter century is beyond me, but if you're curious about the little guy "Dirty Mind" or the hits collection are fine starting points."
Perversion for the whole family!
Andrew | Massachusetts | 03/31/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Dirty Mind is, without a doubt, the best album the little guy has ever put out. A 40 minute tour de force, to the uneducated elitist it sounds like a mess of shallow lyrics and Casio keyboard demos. However, open your heart to the album and you'll soon grow to love it and wonder why Prince doesn't sing in falsetto more.
It's interesting that once of the most accessible and danceable albums I've ever heard is in fact an ode to perversion and just general sketchiness. With song topics from relations with his sister to coercing a virgin on her wedding day for fellatio, Prince is in full horn dog mode here, folks. However, the album seems to harness the power of that raging sexuality and put it to a beat, creating music that would be a guilty pleasure if it weren't so darn good.
Instantly shifting into gear, the album starts with the title track, a robotic funk workout that might be the greatest song Prince has ever recorded, if you ask me. Slowly building upon itself, the song develops into layers and layers of pounding synthesizer beats, Prince crooning every note in his highest voice possible. The two other highlights of the album are 'Head' and 'When You Were Mine', the former an infectious disco funk beat, the latter a new wave/bubblegum rocker.
As Prince's production values grew along with his fanbase, he will probably never record anything else like Dirty Mind. Almost brilliant in it's minimalist nature, the album has a stripped down nature that no popoular musician would have the guts to make today. A short, yet sweet collection of 8 songs, it is essential that any fan of Prince, nay, fan of contemporary music in general has it in their collection."
Without this, Prince would've been nothing!
Daniel J. Hamlow | Narita, Japan | 03/27/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"1999, Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Sign 'O' The Times, and Diamonds And Pearls are among the essential albums of Prince's career, but none of that would have come to be if it hadn't been for his top-notch third album, Dirty Mind. If he hadn't made this album, he would've gone on as a second-rate Stevie Wonder or Rick James and that would mean no Purple Rain movie, no psychedelic pop genre album of Around The World In A Day, no Batman soundtrack, etc.The title track sets the pace with its funky pulsing beat and synthesizer. The pace picks up with "When You Were Mine" a post-relationship evaluation. Prince was an easygoing guy in this relationship and as a result, the one who got the shaft. He does criticize her in that she "didn't have the decency to change the sheets" and even invited the guy she was fooling around with, who was "sleeping inbetween the two of us." At the end, he spends his time "following him whenever he's with you." The poor guy! Cyndi Lauper covered this on She's So Unusual, and I have to favour the original version."Gotta Broken Heart Again" is a sad number about a guy who's not only lost his girl but has no money because he spent it on "the longest phone call" trying to get her back. Vintage Prince heartbreak song.Things get funky again with the danceable "Uptown" where he turns down a pass from a girl who accuses him of being gay. He quickly turns the tables by saying, "No, are you?" and lists her as a "mixed up victim of society." Uptown is a place where one can set one's mind free by getting down."Head" and "Sister" would make Tipper Gore's hair stand on end. The first is about oral sex, with Lisa Coleman sharing vocal duties. Never mind that the girl in the song is a virgin on her way to the altar. Morning, noon, and night, huh? Okay. It's still maintains its funk beat.The second is an adrenalized burst of a song about (gasp!) incest. It lasts less than a minute but it tells how the protagonist got sexually initiated. And Prince waited till his next album to call it Controversy? THIS is where the controversy started.The anti-war rant "Partyup" makes this one of my favourites. Given a choice between a party or a war, even an introverted shrinking violet like me would choose the party. The final chant goes "You're gonna hafta fight your own d--n war/'Cause we don't wanna fight no more!" Prince and company, you tell those boys at the Pentagon!This was one of the first albums to carry a warning label given the subject matter. The trouble was, that scared potential buyers. And what about the picture of him reclining on a sofa, wearing long coat, bikini briefs, and leg-warmers, with the painted song titles on the wall behind him? It went gold upon its initial release. It's probably gone multi-platinum by nowDirty Mind also introduced Prince fans to keyboardist Lisa Coleman, who came out in Purple Rain and later teamed up with guitarist Wendy Melvoin for three albums. This was also the last album with Andre Cymone, Prince's childhood friend, whose influence was being lessened as Prince concentrated power around himself.This is the most crucial and pivotal album in Prince's career and although it only has eight songs, is essential for students of the Purple One."