Special Issue: ‘Dream Factories: Prince, Sign o’ the Times, Box Sets and Cultural Artefacts’

Abstract

This editorial examines historical and artistic contexts within which Prince’s Sign o’ the Times box set reissue might be viewed and heard, while also considering the overall posthumous output from the Estate. The discussion therefore explores the commercial and other functions of box sets in general and Prince’s reissued recordings in in particular, potential symbolic signification, and the critical polarization that often accompanies such releases. Moreover, the box metaphor is employed to address academic partitioning and intellectual conservatism in Prince historiography.