dustoff said:

databank said:

I'm a bit embarrassed by the Americano-centrism over here: OK Prince is an American artist so it'd make sense that "normal" distribution channels include his native territory but AFAIC it means "in record stores" period. Exodus and Child Of The Sun were only released in Europe OK but fact is that in order to buy them I only has to go to my local wrecka stow in France and purchase them, simple as that. I could name loads of albums that were released only in the US or Japan for example and still they've been released. I know some Japanese or Indian artists whose albums were, for some reasons, released only in France, and some P-Funk albums have only been released in Japan. Still, they've been released through "normal distribution channels". It's not the first time that I read here that any record that isn't released in the US isn't released at all. Well, I'm sorry but there are LOADS of records released in various parts of the world that never reach the US save maybe as imports, still they are being released "normally". Similarly there have been countless CD's that I bought as expensive imports in Paris or Lyon, it never occured to me that they were not "normal" releases, an import is still a CD that one can buy in a wrecka stow, which wasn't the case with ONA or digital releases. On another note I think from now on digital-only releases are legions and define a "normal" distribution channel by 2014's standards, but I will agree that it wasn't yet the case in 2002 or 2004. Peace

Yes, I stand corrected. I wasn't trying to express an imperialist point of view in my reply. That said, I could not have easily walked into a French record store to buy Exodus, so to me it remains an example of an album released outside of the normal distribution channels to which I had access.

Maybe we can agree that normal is a complicated word that means different things to different people.

Guess we can

I have to go with the ONA piano album too.

"Exodus" could be found in most bigger record stores in Europe, but I think it was priced higher than a lot of the other stuff. I later found it in bargain bins in regular supermarkets, so it wasn't that rare in the end, I guess.

I only recently found out that it wasn't released in the US. It a bit of a surprise to me (especially considering it was primarily an NPG records release).

JoshuaWho said:

databank said:

Exodus was released thru "normal distribution channels".

Perhaps there should be a common definition of normal distribution channels. THere are import releases that you would have been hard pressed to find at Best Buy or Sam Goody (when record stores existed).

I bought my copy of N.E.W.S from Amazon. That's about as "normal" as it gets.

databank said:

A whole bunch of true stuff about the fact that material that's released in places other than one's home country are still released in a "normal" way.

Yep, all quite correct. I meant my comment as a joke--obviously a European-only release like Exodus is a real release through normal channels. It's rarer than a worldwide release (at least theoretically), and takes a bit more work to obtain in physical form, perhaps. But in the real world of internet downloads, the distinction makes little sense anyway. You can get all of these albums pretty easily no matter what their actual release method was.

novabrkr said:

I have to go with the ONA piano album too.

"Exodus" could be found in most bigger record stores in Europe, but I think it was priced higher than a lot of the other stuff. I later found it in bargain bins in regular supermarkets, so it wasn't that rare in the end, I guess.

I only recently found out that it wasn't released in the US. It a bit of a surprise to me (especially considering it was primarily an NPG records release).

We didn't get Child of the Sun in the U.S. either--Warner wasn't letting anything happen here while Prince was gallivanting around Europe with his Slave on. You guys were getting all those TV performances and tours--and albums--... we (outside of Minneapolis and I guess any place with a Glam Slam) got a few isolated award shows if I remember right, and Get Wild on a the Pret-a-Porter soundtrack.

.

Not that I'm bitter or anything, of course. But the NPG records were mainly a work-around Warner, I guess, and they didn't fly in the U.S. So I paid a little more. It's all good.

The Black Album

EddieC said:

novabrkr said:

I have to go with the ONA piano album too.

"Exodus" could be found in most bigger record stores in Europe, but I think it was priced higher than a lot of the other stuff. I later found it in bargain bins in regular supermarkets, so it wasn't that rare in the end, I guess.

I only recently found out that it wasn't released in the US. It a bit of a surprise to me (especially considering it was primarily an NPG records release).

We didn't get Child of the Sun in the U.S. either--Warner wasn't letting anything happen here while Prince was gallivanting around Europe with his Slave on. You guys were getting all those TV performances and tours--and albums--... we (outside of Minneapolis and I guess any place with a Glam Slam) got a few isolated award shows if I remember right, and Get Wild on a the Pret-a-Porter soundtrack.

.

Not that I'm bitter or anything, of course. But the NPG records were mainly a work-around Warner, I guess, and they didn't fly in the U.S. So I paid a little more. It's all good.

WB couldn't prevent to release Exodus or COTS in the US, he could have done it with an indie label, only it seems he didn't look for one. WB was about to release Exodus in the US at some point but kept bitching at them and they canceled it. You guys did get 1-800 New-Funk though, didn't u?

nigel1013 said:

I am loving The Slaughterhouse. The only Prince album I struggle to listen to is The Rainbow Children..............................

The Slaugtherhouse is Prince's funkiest album ever!

databank said:

EddieC said:

We didn't get Child of the Sun in the U.S. either--Warner wasn't letting anything happen here while Prince was gallivanting around Europe with his Slave on. You guys were getting all those TV performances and tours--and albums--... we (outside of Minneapolis and I guess any place with a Glam Slam) got a few isolated award shows if I remember right, and Get Wild on a the Pret-a-Porter soundtrack.

.

Not that I'm bitter or anything, of course. But the NPG records were mainly a work-around Warner, I guess, and they didn't fly in the U.S. So I paid a little more. It's all good.

WB couldn't prevent to release Exodus or COTS in the US, he could have done it with an indie label, only it seems he didn't look for one. WB was about to release Exodus in the US at some point but kept bitching at them and they canceled it. You guys did get 1-800 New-Funk though, didn't u?

We did get 1-800-New-Funk--and then Prince ran his counter-ad campaign and started going around distancing himself from Come while promoting his real album The Gold Experience. So I guess that didn't help a whole lot. And while it's true Prince might have been able to release Exodus and COTS on his own--my understanding was he didn't want to, and tried to force Exodus (at least) out on Warner, preferably counting it as one of his contractual obligations. They wouldn't do it that way, so he played it off as Warner not allowing it to come out here.

.

I have a soft spot for The Truth album.....along with One Night Alone (studio version)...

nigel1013 said:

aiden said:

nigel1013 said:

I am loving The Slaughterhouse. The only Prince album I struggle to listen to is The Rainbow Children..............................

Craziness! One of his all time best records IMHO

And yet very true.................................

EddieC said:

databank said:

WB couldn't prevent to release Exodus or COTS in the US, he could have done it with an indie label, only it seems he didn't look for one. WB was about to release Exodus in the US at some point but kept bitching at them and they canceled it. You guys did get 1-800 New-Funk though, didn't u?

We did get 1-800-New-Funk--and then Prince ran his counter-ad campaign and started going around distancing himself from Come while promoting his real album The Gold Experience. So I guess that didn't help a whole lot. And while it's true Prince might have been able to release Exodus and COTS on his own--my understanding was he didn't want to, and tried to force Exodus (at least) out on Warner, preferably counting it as one of his contractual obligations. They wouldn't do it that way, so he played it off as Warner not allowing it to come out here.

.

I don't think it was ever envisioned as part of the contractual obligation, given that the masters were already owned by NPG Records and that it wasn't a "Prince" album.

One Nite Alone imo

udo said:

GoldNigga

Good call. I love Goldnigga - this is a classic. Gotta dig it out & listen again

databank said:

EddieC said:

We did get 1-800-New-Funk--and then Prince ran his counter-ad campaign and started going around distancing himself from Come while promoting his real album The Gold Experience. So I guess that didn't help a whole lot. And while it's true Prince might have been able to release Exodus and COTS on his own--my understanding was he didn't want to, and tried to force Exodus (at least) out on Warner, preferably counting it as one of his contractual obligations. They wouldn't do it that way, so he played it off as Warner not allowing it to come out here.

.

I don't think it was ever envisioned as part of the contractual obligation, given that the masters were already owned by NPG Records and that it wasn't a "Prince" album.

You're probably right. But he did claim it was there hangup, not his (but you know, he does things like that).

EddieC said:

databank said:

I don't think it was ever envisioned as part of the contractual obligation, given that the masters were already owned by NPG Records and that it wasn't a "Prince" album.

You're probably right. But he did claim it was there hangup, not his (but you know, he does things like that).

Reason is they had a verbal arrangement at some point in 95 (summer IIRC) and it was among other things that would quit bitching about the label publicly and that Exodus would be released in the US by WB. Next thing WB knows is bitching about them again so they told him to fuck off with his NPG album, it was constant negociations and retaliations at the time

databank said: