Chaos and Disorder (1996)
Conjoined on this list as they are on the album, I Will builds on Into The Light‘s piano refrain and jettisons all earthly baggage to soar even higher. If the preceding track was the run-up then this is the subsequent leap of faith into the eternal unknown, gliding through skies like a snowman walking on air, as a Welsh choirboy serenades down below. We’re kept aloft by the aerodynamics of Rosie Gaines’ deep vocals pushing up against Prince’s high register. An effective gender reversal creating an upliftling Bernoulli principle of sound. A love letter to Icarus. The last sixty seconds features a guitar solo in graceful freefall, signalling the final moments of the flight into the sublime before the harsh bump back down to Earth is sounded with the first terra firma beat of Dig U Better Dead. Normal service has been resumed.