The Whole Black Album/LoveSexy Era 1987-1988.

think Prince was going thru a phase of spiritual transformation back then, and U can tell because of his lyrics like "Are there really angels? Or are they just in our mind? It all comes out in the wash...In time." & songs like "God is Alive", etc. think Prince made a bad choice not releasing The Black Album on 12/8/1987. He was about 2, but decided against it only a week b4 initial release. It would've been a brillant album back then because it had an all-black cover & U couldn't tell it was Prince until U played the album, which opens with "So U found me..." and ends with "What kinda fuck ending was that?". Warner Bros. Records later released The Black Album in 1994, but it had already been heavily bootlegged by fans. I think Prince decided not 2 release it in December 1987 because that's when he started going thru a spiritual phase after he took L.S.D. and supposedly saw a message from God. And he thought, "What if I died and The Black Album was the last album I made? What kind of message would that leave 2 the world? (Because of the "explicit" lyrical content) But that is a morbid and somewhat strange reason not 2 release an album, in my opinion. Anyway, once Prince saw the hallucination/message, he was in a phase of spiritual questioning and transformation. That's how the music of LoveSexy came 2 b.
[Edited 5/13/09 16:25pm]

He didn't see God. He was paranoid and thought a devil was after him, trying to kill him. That God story is BS, but it makes for a good tale before you put out an album like Lovesexy.

I do think that his career very well may have taken a different direction if he had released The Black Album as intended. It was tame in 1994, but in 1988 that album would have had some stank on it.

BTW, the tale says ecstasy not LSD.

Don't buy the Black Album. I'm sorry.

Wierd time to be a fan. I remember desparately trying to track down the Black Album (remember this was pre-internet). I ended up calling a guy at the Village Voice who had wrote a review of it. Cant remember who he was but he answered the phone and told me to go to Revolution record store in the village and boom my bootleg stage was born.

Then the abrupt change from the hippy but much more masculine SOTT style to the fey Lovesexy was hard to deal with especially with friends who never understood why you liked Prince so much.

And those awesome "in the round" concerts and after parties.

ahh good times.
[Edited 5/13/09 17:39pm]

I haven't listened to the "Black," album...in so many years, and I would like to hear it again someday, although I remember feeling it was agressive and somewhat sad, so I put it away...I'm not even sure if I still have it.

Like a sive...the hardest things fall to the bottom...I think it was a good place to call the "Base," of a career...not in the way you look at stepping stones....In a vertical perspective, I will continue to put "For You," on the top.

This was the end of when Prince's music was truly original. After Lovesexy came Batman...then he's had flashes of originality since, but none match his 80s output.

I do kinda believe in the God story...but it was caused by a exctacy trip. The Black Album was bad ass, and I also believe if it was released at the time, it would've caused a stir. I remember when I finally tracked down a 1000 times-dubbed cassette, my friends who hated Prince LOVED it. Bob George was the jam of 88 at our high school parties. But Lovesexy, which I loved btw (and still do), killed all of the "cool" momentum Prince was gaining in the US from SOTTs and the boot of the Black Album. Ahhh...the good ol days!

Apparently Prince thought gospel was going to be the next big thing in pop music, or he thought he could make it the next big thing in pop music. WB execs have commented a couple of times that Prince thought some of the tracks he was working on for Lovesexy were guaranteed hits.

um, yeah, so this is basically a recap of the thousands of biographies and blurbs already written on the subject?

errant said:

Tame said:

Prince was definetly going thru some weird changes back then. Even I, the world's biggest FAM, had to back away from him back then


[Edited 5/14/09 3:58am]

skywalker said:

Dayclear said:

Prince was definetly going thru some weird changes back then. Even I, the world's biggest FAM, had to back away from him back then


[Edited 5/14/09 3:58am]