My moment of clarity came in 1990. No, I rarely drink and this had nothing to do with alcohol. I'd gone out one day hoping to buy a new Prince tape. I don't know if I had a particular one in mind that day, but I came home with LOVESEXY. I listened to it and halfway through my second trip around the album, there it was. I can't put into words what it was, but I know it was beautiful.

"Rain is wet
And sugar is sweet
Clap your hands
And stomp your feet
Everybody
Everybody knows
When Love calls
You gotta go"

1988's LOVESEXY was the record released to replace the withdrawn BLACK ALBUM, the one Prince deemed too dark for public consumption. What he gave us instead is one of the brightest records I've ever heard. I've heard it referred to as a gospel album and maybe it is, although it's done Prince style and not church style. I've heard it referred to as funk. Whatever you call it, you can't listen to LOVESEXY and deny its power.

Each song is almost a testament to God's influence in one life, infused with the brilliant spark of light that most new converts feel. Granted, God had found His way into many a Prince lyric over the years, but never until LOVESEXY was that influence really brought to the front.

"I know there is a Heaven
I know there is a hell
Listen to me, people
I got a story to tell
I know there was confusion
Lightning all around me
That's when I called His name
Don't you know he found me."

I sat there listening to this record, and I remember a great swell of wonder and I remember everything suddenly becoming warmer, brighter, full of life because for once here was someone telling me "Love is the only way, till my dying day."

The negative side to LOVESEXY is that, for one, not many people picked it up--I attribute that mostly to the cover, Prince reclining naked on a giant flower. Not many guys I know wanna step up to the counter and lay that down. Two, the people who did buy it despite the cover--I don't think it was quite what they were expecting. My first major Prince experience, PURPLE RAIN aside, was SIGN "O" THE TIMES, so I went into this record expecting something I'd never heard before, and I was rewarded with what is simply one of the best records ever recorded. But that doesn't mean EVERYONE who bought it was expecting a record quite like this.

In 1988, LOVESEXY succeeds in all the places THE BLACK ALBUM failed. It's another experiment in style and sound, another group of songs that are all-out jams, but these songs aren't the chaotic mess the ones on THE BLACK ALBUM were. There's a purpose to the instrumental breaks, and a structure that ties it all together. If you get this on CD, beware--it's all tracked as one song and it's hard to distinguish sometimes where one ends and the other begins, each song flowing like nothing into the next one. And in this past week, preparing for this review, I discovered what it was that THE BLACK ALBUM was missing in all its jams--Prince's guitar. Most of those songs were piano, horns, and drums, but LOVESEXY has him back to the instrument he really shines on. If he'd added a little guitar work to THE BLACK ALBUM, it might have worked a little better.

But this is a review of LOVESEXY.

Whatever it was that happened in his life to make him create this record, it should happen more often to more people. The shock of experiencing something like this is what, for me, love of music is all about. A record, not just a song, or a lyric, or an image, but an entire ALBUM that affects everything in your life in such a way that you truly come away thinking you might just be a better person.

It wasn't just the lyrics, but the music, and the delivery that made them great. However, since the lyrics are the only thing I can recreate for you here, I'll have to make due.

Some of the lines that jumped out at me twelve years ago are the ones that still make me shiver even now.

"I know there is a Devil cuz he talks so loud / He makes you do things your friends do, hang out with the crowd / But my Lord He's so quiet, when he calls your name / When you hear it your heart will thunder, you will want to hear it every day" from "I Know".

"Put the right letters together and make a better day" from "Alphabet St."

"I know I hold you too tight / But I just can't seem to get close enough" from "Glam Slam".

But the one that really did it, the song that did me in and made me fall in love with this album was "Anna Stesia". "Have you ever been so lonely that you felt like you were the only one in this world?" Yes. "Anna Stesia come to me, talk to me, ravish me, liberate my mind / Tell me what you think of me, praise me, craze me, out this space and time." I think if any song were to explain for the listener what brought about this new sound, this would be it. "Between white and black, night and day, black night seemed like the only way, so I danced / Music late, nothing great, no way to differentiate, I took a chance." He did, with THE BLACK ALBUM. And when he changed his mind and chose white day, this is what came out.

"Maybe I could learn to love, if I was just closer to something / (closer to your higher self?) / I don't know / (closer to heaven?) / Maybe / (closer to God) / Save me, Jesus, I've been a fool / How could I forget that you are the rule? / You are my God / I am your child / From now on, for you, I shall be wild / I shall be quick / I shall be strong / I'll tell your story / No matter how long" This is the heart of what LOVESEXY is about.

"I want it morning, noon, and night of every day / And if by chance I cannot have it, I can't say / But with it I know heaven is just a kiss away, kiss away." This is LoveSexy, "the feeling you get when you fall in love, not with a girl or a boy, but with the heavens above."

The recycled song, "When 2 R in Love" is actually at home here, and I think in the midst of all this light and joy, that bass drum sounds just a little deeper, more IN the song than it did on THE BLACK ALBUM.

And how can you resist a song like "I Wish U Heaven"? It's almost like a lullaby, only a little faster. "Doubts of our conviction follow where we go / And when the world's compassion ceases still I know / For your every touch I thank you so much / For your every kiss I / I wish you love, I wish you heaven, I wish you heaven."

In the end, it all comes down to this--"Positivity". "Have you had yo plus sign today?"

This was another one of those songs that made me stop and say, "Yeah, I get it now." I think it was the line "Is that a good man, walking down the street with that money is his hand? / Is that a good man? Why do you dog him? / If that was your father, tell me, would you dog him then?" I came away from that line with the realization of what an a** I could be sometimes. Hey, I still am, I know, but I hope at least now I'm a little more selective in my criticisms. "Positivity" is a strange song. The lyrics suggest a very upbeat, cheerful song, but the music is slow, almost plodding along, as Prince delivers the lyrics in a very straightforward, almost subdued voice. As if he's purposely taking his time and making you focus on his voice, to hear his words, and maybe at a slower pace they'll sink in. It's just another 10 in a string of 10s. He was on his mark with this album. "Wave your hand for positivity, y'all."

There simply isn't enough praise I can lavish on LOVESEXY. It's a hidden jewel of a record, one that I fear will never gain the respect it deserves.

(As an aside, I first bought this on vinyl. My copy has skips like you wouldn't believe. But knowing what I did about Prince's music, at first I thought they were intentional. I figured it was some funky thing he was doing to make the songs a little bit more . . . off. When I finally bought the tape and heard the songs without the skips . . . well, I was a little disappointed. I'd grown used to them.)

"Hold on to your soul / We got a long way to go."

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving