When I was 15 I bought The Black Album on vinyl - as far as I can remember it was my first ever bootleg. I dug it then & still do. Seven years later I was working for the summer in Saskatoon and found a record shop with an extensive bootleg collection and staff who were willing, for a fee, to tape any of their vinyl bootlegs. I paid whatever it was - $10 or something - for a tape copy of The Black Album, hurried back to my apartment, & threw it on. I was astonished to hear something that sounded like Le Grind, only less funky and layered. When the vocals came on I realized instantly that it wasn't Prince at all, only a very accomplished copy. I have no idea why anybody would bother to do this and would be interested to know if anybody else has heard this watered-down, non-Prince version and if anybody has any information about who was behind it and/or what the point was.

I'm sorry you got ripped off.

Wasn't it Metallica?

It was a bit of a drag, & ten bucks down the drain, but it's always mystified me. Plus I wonder how many people thought they were hearing the real Black Album & were listening to this crappy rip-off instead?

I ended up listening to Neil Diamond for most of the summer. Forever in blue jeans, indeed.

Mouse said:

Yeah, but I guess many people would notice the fact it sounds different, just like you Be glad it was just 10$..

Mouse said:

Nooooo....Why Oh Why!! God have mercy on your soul!

Wow, I bought this bootleg myself (I live in Vancouver). I'd never heard the black album before and I had the same sort of reaction. When it came on I was immediately perplexed and disappointed. The music seemed fine, but the voicing was all wrong. I went back to the record store (a great import place) and said that this bootleg...was a bootleg. I said that the voice wasn't Prince. The guy looked at me as said "yeah isn't it, whatcamacallit, Camille or something"

I listened the heck out of that bootleg, when I finally found the real black album I at least knew all the songs.

Where in Vancouver?

i bought the vinyl version of that fake black album more then 10 years ago - for 50 € i thought i was the winner! it was still sealed and i opend it just 3 years ago and realized what i bought in the moment i put it on my recordplayer!

since than i wonder witch band is playin on the record!

trickster said:

...metallica...? Imagine James Hetfield singing Cindy C.!

I think the band that played on that "Black Album tribute" was German, other than that, I don't know if there's ever been any more info regarding the players. I bought the fake CD at a record store a little after the real deal was shelved. The store put a handwritten sticker on it saying it was "some German group playing the Black Album note for note". The music isn't bad, but it's a little Casio-heavy. The vox are certainly not passable for Prince. It was at the time, the only CD version of The Black Album I had.

The German connection: interesting. I suspected there might be a Milli Vanilli link in there somewhere.

Also interesting: that it was marketed as a fake Black Album.

That album's history sure is twisted & weird. Mebbe the weirdest & twistiest in Prince's career?

Looks fake to me

Yes, it was a german band, a friend gave it to me back then, for the fun.
They even gave you a sticker inside saying : I own the black album !

PANDURITO said:

Mouse said:

You had me worried there for a while. But my cd is the real thing. Bar code and egistration no. from Germany. Sticker on the front "The legendary black album limited edition." There is no booklet though just a black piece of paper The tracklist seems to be the same and I'm sure it's Prince, I recognise the voice. I don't know why this cd hasn't moved me yet? It should have? There are parts of songs that I like, but that's all.

PANDURITO said:

You're a riot.

Bohemian67 said:

This cover band Black Album was released around the time the real BA was pulled (probably 1988). Your Prince copy, as is most of ours, was released in 1994.

SO did anyone get used to the cover band version of Black ALbum (which is a brilliant dissection of those songs into midi sounding arrangements) and like it better than the real one?

For the record I don't like it better at all, but I admire it for picking apart all those instrument lines and patterns.

ufoclub said:

Listen to it once or twice then shelved it...still got a sticker ! Lucky me !!

yankem said:

I didn't get the sticker with my CD. I think someone at the store bogarted it.

squirrelgrease said:

Mouse said:

I bought this at the late Track Records on Granville Street. I currently live in Richmond but work downtown though. Do you live in Vancouver?

No, but I'm from the Okanagan & have been to Vancouver countless times; in fact it was there that I bought my first, authentic Black Album bootleg, possibly at Track, though it might have been Odyssey now that I think about it.