I was listening to the black ablum this weekend and almost forgot hom much i enjoy it from beginning to end. I got to thinking..... what if Prince actually released this album in 1988 instead of Lovesexy? How would this had affected his carrer? I mean I love LOVESEXY, but Prince lost a lot of commercial appeal with that release. Just curious what some of the orgers think.

How differently would Prince's career had been with The Black Album released instead of Lovesexy?

Black and Lovesexy should have been a Double album. the battle of good and evil. everyone i know has agreed with me over the years about that.

Finess said:

Finess said:

black/sexy saved my life!



[Edited 6/5/06 11:20am]

Taurus said:

Seeing as Lovesexy exists purely because the Black Album was cancelled, and the latter album wasn't going to be a major "Prince" release, but more of a side-project akin to the Madhouse records - If it hadn't been cancelled it more than likely would've gone like this: TBA is released, work continues on the original incarnation of Graffiti Bridge, and the album is the follow-up to SOTT as planned. More than likely Tim Burton would've still contacted Prince to work on Batman, thus ending the 80s, not entirely differently than he actually did - After that, it kinda gets more difficult to play 'what if'.

Finess' point about LS and TBA being a double album - Battle of good and evil, I think that's something that's occured to every Prince fan, and would've been a great idea to play out, but following a double album with a double album wasn't very likely, even if Prince had wanted to release the TBA material as a 'canon' Prince album.

Taurus said:

The Black Album being released instead of LoveSexy wouldn't have made much difference IMHO...I had a bootlegged copy of it (got it from an ex who had a serious Prince hookup somewhere in this world... ) and it didn't play very well for the circle of Prince lovers I hung out with back in the day...in fact, LS comparitively was better recieved....and trust me LS wasn't liked too much either....

...coming on the heels of SOTT, neither one really matched up....
again IMHO...

He would've OD'd.

back in 1987-88, the black album bootleg was the only prince record that seemed to interest my non fanatic friends, they thought it just sounded so crazy and cool. It would have (from my observation) made Prince a million times cooler in the young public eye.

I still remember when Batman (album) came out, the question I got was, "Is it as good as the Black Album?" I had to tell them no.

And when they judged for themsleves, they never wanted copies of ANY other prince album. And it wasn't the bootleg factor, they were not collectors. These were male college students (white and black and asian).
[Edited 6/5/06 13:56pm]

I like the Black Album. I think Lovesexy is the worst Prince album, it's too bizarre and dull for my liking.

ufoclub said:

Lovesexy is my favorite Prince album. I've always considered The Black Album to be horrendously overrated. I'd rather listen to Batman any day.

AlexdeParis said:

Well you would definitely have been in the minority back then!

ufoclub said:

no

"Lovesexy is the one
'Til my day is done!"
[Edited 6/5/06 19:28pm]

I first (and only) heard "Le Grind" one nite while listening 2 KUNI (Univ. Northern Iowa) College Radio. 1998. It was 'alternative night'. Quite a treat from the saturated top40 we choose from. Bleh. It was groundbreakin on a personal scale, but then immediately fell from the waves and ears.

"Stranded at the drive-in, branded a fool"

The Black Album isnt Evil!

The Black Album is funk city!!
He shoulda released it at the same time as Metallica's Black Album haha now then people would get confused and metal heads would be gettin a nice dose of funk injected into their ears....assuming the tinitus has worn off haha

I was hoping 3121 would be ,musically, a black album, without the dark lyrics.

The Black Album & Lovesexy are 2 sides of the same coin. I do like Lovesexy better, though, I think the songwriting is stronger.

When 2 R In Love & maybe Rock Hard are the only two good songs in terms of songwriting. All of them are great in terms of performance & creativity.

Actually, I think The Black Album was the first place where the arrangements & performance became more important than the song, and that's something that's plagued Prince's music since then.

Bitch, who you calling Bitch?

New coat, huh? That's nice.

lazycrockett said:

who you callin' bitch, ho bitch?

NouveauDance said:

Totally agree.
If the Black Album had been released, there wouldn't have been a Lovesexy.
Instead, Prince would've released a different album in '88... probably
(a very different) Graffiti Bridge or Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic.

I too just plugged into the Black Album two weeks ago again....Damn that album rocks. Too me it's Prince at his funkiest and on the fringe...makes digging Prince cool. A double album with lovesexy good and Evil black and white...I like it. I wish you heaven to Bob George...cool.

And songs like Cindy C. I play this for my friends who don't like Prince and they go...wow, I get it.

NDRU said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

who you calling ho bitch? black ho bitch!

Finess said:

This would never have happened for two reasons: It would have had to require Prince to wait longer than a year to release an album (which he was not about at the time); it also sounds good in theory, but when put to tape (which I have done), it doesn't really make any better a statement. Now perhaps if they had been released as part one and two of an album with a different name (pt. 1: The Black Album, and pt. 2: Lovesexy), that might have made a splash. As it was, Prince did lots of material from both albums, so it may have made more sense, cohesively.

1999n3121 said:

Because?

what if Prince made Black Album and Lovesexy as a Double Album...
and called it "Gemini"