Bob: Right out of the gate on Controversy, Prince plays explicitly in the extremes of his spiritual/sexual divide. We had to look for it a bit on Dirty Mind, but it’s front and center here. I read that Dirty Mind taught him that he could do whatever he wanted, so maybe that freed him to explore his dichotomy completely openly. “Sexuality” is more of a socially conscious song than a sex song, so this part of him as an artist is really flowering now.
“Do Me, Baby” is a good R&B song, but I could do without the heavy breathing, etc. I hated it when John Lennon did that inhale thing on “Girl.” Prince making it more explicit and believable here doesn’t help though.
“Private Joy” has a reference to Rudolph Valentino. He would make another Valentino reference on “Manic Monday” which he wrote for the Bangles a few years later. I looked up Valentino and I think at times Prince may have even incorporated his look at times.
“Ronnie Talk to Russia” is less effective than some of the other social agenda on Controversy, because it is far less inventive musically and lyrically.
“Annie Christian” has some good guitar work, but it is barely a song. It’s fine on the album, but doesn’t stand on its own. That seems rare for Prince. Not all of the songs have been great up to this point, but most could stand on their own.
Well, if we wondered if everything would have some kind of double entendre from here on out, “Jack U Off” dispels that. It’s just dirty. And then, it is kind of equal opportunity sex: “I only do it for a worthy cause / Virginity or menopause.” It’s a fun song and kind of swings like “Delirious” would on the next record.
Controversy might suffer from Prince finding his comfort zone. It has a lot of polish that he developed on Dirty Mind, but lacks the tension. I think it overall lacks the quality of songs we heard on Dirty Mind. When ranking the songs, I only had one 8/10 and nothing better. Dirty Mind had two 9/10’s (and a third one I bumped up on subsequent listens). The production just doesn’t have the pop of Dirty Mind either. The record, aside from the lyrics, feels somewhat more conventional.
Chuck: Interesting how aligned your reaction is to Allmusic and other reviews I read. Unlike the first three albums, I listened to this as a teenager so it’s impossible for me to hear it without bias. With that said, on my first listen, I like it more than Dirty Mind. Dirty Mind feels like he’s exploring how far he can push boundaries, while here he’s starting to see what he can do within those boundaries. The new wave influences feel more organic (as opposed to simply ripping off what he was hearing around him) and “Ronnie Talk to Russia” is the closest he’s come so far to succeeding with a rock song. My initial response is that this is equal to or better than Dirty Mind, so I’m curious to see how that response evolves over the week.
Chuck (a few days later): I’ve listened three times and I still prefer this over Dirty Mind. No question that the previous record broke more new ground, but Controversy refines that ground. The raw sex of Dirty Mind was bold, but including The Lord’s Prayer in the middle of Controversy’s title song risked alienating the loyal fans who bought his records and danced to his songs ‘til the early morning. Frankly, his blatant embrace of both God and sex is way more controversial than anything on Dirty Mind.
Also, the songs here are better. The knockoffs of the Buggles and the Cars are replaced with Prince’s first truly successful hybrids of R&B, funk, rock, and new wave. “Sexuality” explores social themes more effectively than anything up to this point. “Do Me Baby” is his first unquestionably solid ballad, and the song would have been perfect if it started a long fade after the “yeah yeah yeah” at 3:56, with the scream at 4:18 being the last thing we heard. (The simulated orgasm sits on the wrong side of that fine line between clever and stupid.) Nothing on side 2 stands up to the first three tracks, but they’re all solid album tracks and they push Prince’s voice (both his literal voice and his artistic voice) farther than anything else up to this point.
I’d give both Dirty Mind and Controversy 4 stars if I’m considering them in isolation, or 4.5 each if I’m considering where they led. Both have great moments and significant flaws. The former breaks new ground and blows up artistic boundaries, but there’s too much shock value and the songwriting isn’t up to par. Controversy works within the new boundaries that Dirty Mind created, and while its constraints allowed Prince to write his best set of songs to date, he doesn’t innovate the way he did before.