Rosie's unreleased "Concrete Jungle" album is now on iTunes. Here is the link -
Concrete Jungle on iTunes
All songs are diffrent from the released versions. Includes a diffrent version of "Hit U In The Socket".

Thanks for the heads up I'd forget about this.

thanks for the info!

Any info on prince's imput in this album?

mikematronik said:

What's an imput?


Prince had zero to do with this album. Rosie holds very hard grievances against her former boss. He's constantly used her vocals on tracks, and consistently not paid her. Songs from Chaos and Disorder, as well as singles like "Jam of the Year" with her vocals were works he never paid one red cent to her for. I approached her for an interview back in 2002, and she said that'd be great, but there were to be no questions about Prince. Period. The interview never quite materialized (for no real reason), but I fully understood her frustration with Prince, and unwillingness to talk about him.

I don't know who wrote "Hit U In The Socket", but if it's a Prince composition, she might have rerecorded it just to erase his input. If it's her composition, well then there's that answer.

ernestsewell said:

Wow! I always thought it was strange that Rosie was in attendance at one of the Jam of the Year shows and Prince didn't ask Rosie to sing the opening number with her. I'm not even sure he acknowledged her attendance. And she was dressed to the 9's. We ended up hanging out with her during the show and escorting her out of the stadium. Talk about a night, "Excuse us, move! Clear a path, Ms. Gaines is exiting the building". LOL, to be young, beautiful and rude. Goodtimes, goodtimes.
[Edited 3/31/10 12:26pm]

sosgemini said:

Rosie left after D&P because she felt Prince wasn't helping her go solo like he said he would (imagine that). Her vocals were recorded, but removed from the album as well. Prince called her a few years later and she put vocals on the Chaos and Emancipation songs. She wasn't compensated for that. He called her a couple of years later and said, "Why are we fighting?" She came back, recorded the 1999 New Master and was on the PPV, but left a bit after - again not being compensated one red cent.

Prince attempted to get her song "Hit U In The Socket" out there during 2001 or so and I believe it was released on NPGMC, but nothing came of it (on Prince's part), so that was the final straw.

Rosie was no longer in the NPG after the D&P tour and the symbol album was already done by that point. Rosie wanted to pursue her solo career from the get go. She was still living in Minneapols and recording at Paisley Park in Dec 92/Jan 93. She invited me and a friend out there several times. Dream come true! Besides the 1999 New Years Eve show, she also sang some songs at a Prince aftershow in April 2001.

Throughout 1992 and 1993,Rosie Gaines was working on her Paisley Park debut solo album 'Concrete Jungle'.It was finally completed in late 1993 and was given a release date (March 22,1994).Unfortunately,Warner Bros. shut down Paisley Park Records at the beginning of '94,leaving Rosie without a label.In a 1995 interview,she bitterly explained what was going on."My album wasn't released because I wasn't sleeping with Prince",she said,obviously referring to all the attention and promotional money (over $2 million) that was used to launch the career of Carmen Elektra.

Although several different tracklists are floating around,it is believed that this is the tracklist of the album that was to be released in March '94.

Try Me (4:46)
Lost In The Wilderness (3:12)
Slow Man (5:33)
Swing Hard (2:48)
I Almost Lost U (2:37)
Concrete Jungle (7:48)
December 25th (3:56)
Do What You Want Me To Do (5:51)
Crazy Mutha Funky (3:43)
Greatest Touch (3:12)
My Tender Heart (5:07)
Play The Beat (3:27)
Turn Your Lights Down Low (4:29) (a remake of the Bob Marley classic)
Jah Love (3:49)
We The People (1:31)
Poor Little Girl (6:25)

SoulAlive said:

A lot of those tracks ended up on the Closer Than Close album released a year later:

1. "I Want U (Inner City Blues)" (Earth Mamma Version) – 6:34
2. "Are You Ready" – 5:49
3. "Closer Than Close" – 5:09
4. "Googaga" – 3:55
5. "Turn Your Lights Down Low" – 4:29
6. "My Tender Heart" – 5:10
7. "I Almost Lost You" – 2:37
8. "Slowman" – 5:33
9. "Can You Handle It" – 5:13
10. "Concrete Jungle" – 7:48
11. "Get the Ghetto Off Your Mind" – 5:52
12. "December 25th" – 3:56
13. "I Want U" (Purple Version) – 3:36

i read somewhere she sang 1000 hugs and kisses live with p, if this is true i would love to hear it, i bet she knocked it out of the park!

I love "My Tender Heart".

ernestsewell said:

Released on Motown, and I have it. It's AMAZING!!!!!

She really shouldn't be bitter about her album not coming out on Paisley Park. Prince never allocated a budget for marketing/promo for any of those releases.

Bad move not to pay her for the use of her voice. But that doesn't surprise me.

Mong said:

Bad move on her part for signing a contract that would allow that. I think Prince learned his lesson after not being able to use Wendy & Lisa on anything. Yeah, it's a dick move, but I can see his reasoning.

BlaqueKnight said:

That's P's writing style. Vocals and music. They say he'll ask you to do something on a track, later replay it himself, and you get nothing.

SoulAlive said:

What's the source for this tracklist and timings?

billymeade said:

Well that's silly. Not many people would pre-empt that your voice would be used in that manner.

I've got the album. "HUITS" and "My Tender Heart" definitely are different than the previously released versions (including the "Try Me" version of "HUITS"). On a 1st listening i can't hear any other Prince involvement ^^

The music is cool but the mastering quality is very poor, it sounds as if the songs are ultra-compressed
[Edited 4/8/10 1:39am]

Thanx 4 the info. I`ve now got the album on itunes. As a completist i`ve wanted this 4 a long time. Whatever her beef was/is with P he should never have let Rosie go!!

ernestsewell said:

A whole Prince/Rosie album was being advertized on Prince's website in 2000 and another song ("Trouble") was featured on the "Man 'O' War" promo sampler, but it isn't known if the whole album was recorded or not before being shelved...

vitriol said:

The 'Days Of Wild' book,by Per Nilsen (Uptown)

Thanks to this thread I just purchased Closer Than Close off of Itunes (I originally bought it on cassette). :swoon: I've forgotten how wonderful this album is.

monkeyrose said:

Rosie didn't record 1000 Hugs and Kisses. Nona Gaye sung it w/ P. Are u saying that she sung it live, instead of Nona? Maybe, but would love to know more about where this took place.

Mong said:

True.Carmen Elektra was the only exception,and we all know the reason why

SoulAlive said:

The 'Days Of Wild' book,by Per Nilsen (Uptown) [/quote]

Really? I can't find it there. And normally song timings are not specified.

NPGman said:

The first studio version of the song -recorded in Australia in 1992- featured Rosie Gaines vocals.

Later on, he decided to have Nona sing the song.

He also thought of adding a rap by Carmen, but fortunately he didn't.

It's one of my fave unreleased songs. Pity Rosie's version is not circulating...

vitriol said:

Rosie did in fact record 1000 hugs and kisses. The best version in my opinion.

^That's what I said. Rosie first recorded it.

Where did you hear that track?

NPGman said:

ya it was live and yes 2 the second question, but now i learn it was recorded, one day i believe those hidden gems will be released 4 small fortune!
[Edited 5/10/10 5:26am]