Hi,

We all know the story behind the Black Album vs. the Lovesexy Album. Prince recorded the first, initially liked it and a lot of them where pressed. But after a while (and a bad XTC trip) he realised that the BA was dark and evil and decided to stop it's release. Instead, he went back into the studio and started to record Lovesexy, an ode to love, sex and peace.

This afternoon, I suddenly got an idea about this. Could it be true that Prince never had the intention the release the Black Album, but used it as a sort of promotional rumour for the Lovesexy album. The rumour being that he was to release a dark, funky album, but than cancelled the release in favour of something much better and brighter. By doing this, he maybe hoped that everyone would run to the stores to by the latter. Remember this was the time of the beginning of 'New Age' thinking.


What's your thought about this?

jazzz
[Edited 12/11/06 8:10am]

That's been a prevalent speculation, especially at the time of the Lovesexy release. I was never really sure what the difference between "black" and "white" was in Prince's mind. At the time, it seemed to me like a gimmick, or at least in the same vein of "I'm not going to do any more videos" (and then videos start coming out a few weeks later) or "I'm not going to tour anymore" (tour announcement follows). I know Lovesexy was supposed to be the antithesis of the BA, but it didn't always seem that way (Scarlet Pussy, for example, seems like something that could fit on the BA). And he still performed Bob George and a couple other BA songs on the tour. But I still think that was an amazing time. Lovesexy remains my favorite tour and maybe my favorite album. It all worked.

jazzz said:

It's a niggle, but he compiled it. The difference is, the material existed already (except for When 2 R In Love) and he compiled the album from left-overs and odds'n'sods.

jazzz said:

No, because Lovesexy only came into being after the album's cancellation. Think about the logistics of a record company printing up thousands and thousands of copies of an album that was never going to be released, only to have to destroy them all seven days before it was due to hit store shelves.

Until the Black Album was cancelled, Prince's next project after SOTT was Graffiti Bridge, which he'd already been working on the 2nd half of 1987.


I think you're right in thinking that he used TBA as a marketing tool for the Lovesexy project, and it IS part of the Lovesexy since the albums are linked.


[Edited 12/11/06 9:33am]

jazzz said:

Prince is too savvy to overlook the marketing and myth-making potential of that story, but there was probably also an earnest apprehension on his part. After the cancelation of the Black Album, Prince music turns oddly antiseptic and decorous, lending credence to the interpretation that Prince in fact renounced his darker impulses.

For one thing, the Devil makes fewer and fewer appearances in his work. No more "De-Elevator," no more "Spooky Electric," no more "Annie Christian." Evil starts to manifest in actual persons, in the form of record executives ("3 Chains o' Gold"), talent agents ("Jughead"), gossip columnists ("Billy Jack Bitch"). Villainy, once abstracted and conceptual, takes on concrete form.

This externalization of evil is consistent with his symbolic expulsion of the Black Album. He cast out his demon into the real world. Which is a typical coping mechanism for most people--no one wants to think of themselves as evil. But for the artist, especially a self-styled bad boy like Prince, it's the kiss of death. Identifying exclusively with one's good side makes a caricature of moral issues, and art ceases to be compelling.

jazzz said:

I agree, if he didnt want anybody to hear the black album, he woudnt have basicaly promoted the album. He really woudnt shut up about it. With performing songs on the Lovesexy tour from the album, The essay in the Lovesexy tour program, the hidden yet well known message in the Alphabet St. video, even spanning to the message in the album's booklet. I def. think it was marketing plan. All in all he created a great buzz and went down in the history books as having the largest bootleged album of all-time.

Give It A Freakin Break,,, Love is there who want2 find it he made me say it O.K.gone

Interesting speculation. The 2 sides of Prince have figured prominantly in his work, and these two albums sum it up perhaps the best.

Soon after he created the Gemini character who encompassed Batman & The Joker (and Prince), there's the male female parts of his symbol, there's the questions posed on Controversy, some of the evil parts of the Symbol album, and many more examples.

Perhaps he's not always aware when his darker side has taken over until after it's done, but maybe he was aware from the start.

It frightens me to think that Prince was on a journey from Sign O The Times to Graffiti Bridge... Creatively they are a million miles apart, though a few of the 1986 holdovers shine on the latter album. I know this is an obvious statement, but: SOTT, the cancellation of Black and the release of Lovesexy works. It shows Prince at his creative peak - somewhere he had never risen beyond since.

The whole idea that Black was a marketing ploy for Lovesexy has been mooted before, but the whole Lovesexy thang was way too adventurous for corporate America, and, and this is where the career path fits for me (at least), this is why he made Graffiti Bridge. The US did not appear to get Lovesexy... hence the watered down, if-you-don't-get-it-from-this nonsense that is the GB project.

That said, Prince had pretty much killed all momentum regards his American career with the decision not to tour the SOTT show... The album cover for lovesexy merely sped up his demise in America... again, in my opinion.

The Black Album, Camille and Crystal Ball are a tumultuous time for Prince, as they showed him, for probably the first time, that WB would not release all he wished... sowing the seeds for the Slave and Namechange fiasco that would arrive in 1993. This is a shame because with these albums, and Lovesexy to follow, Prince demonstrated a level of focused creativity and excellence few have rivalled before or since.