Advice: The Cross

Prince: The Cross

[purchase]

I don't know Prince's music all that well. I don't even own Purple Rain. But I love the Sign O' The Times album. It's an amazing double-album mix of funk, rock, folk, and other styles of music. The performances are passionate, and the production is sparse (for the most part). From Wikipedia:

In 1989, Time Out Magazine ranked it as the greatest album of all time. It was 16th in the New Musical Express list All Time Top 100 Albums and 3rd in Hot Press Magazine's list The 100 Best Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked it number #93 on their list of greatest albums of all time. The album placed 8th on Nieuwe Revu's Top 100 Albums of All Time. Time Magazine placed Sign O' The Times as the greatest album of '80s, and 29th greatest album of all time.

So, apparently I'm not alone. The featured track is an overt song of lament for an evil world, praise for the coming Lord, and ultimately admonition to us to find Jesus. Prince's advice to us: "Don't die without knowing The Cross".

If you decide to give this track a spin, be sure to listen to the whole thing because the second half is really where it gets good. The Doors-esq lead electric guitar and the intense, almost frenzied, vocals really push it over the edge.