Hóla orgers, could you just please help me? Are there any circulating outtakes from the come/tge era which you could name me that are not that famous as the ones we ALL know of? Thank u.

PS: excuse my bad english. thanx

yeah pal, tons!

Look up The Dawn Experience V4.1 for the best selection in a nice 3CD set.

DJTricky said:

yeah pal, tons!

Look up The Dawn Experience V4.1 for the best selection in a nice 3CD set.

There's only 3 on that compilation... Days of Wild, Mad, and Empty Room.

"Savior" from the Emancipation CD sounds like an TGE-Outtake to me.

P.S.: I excuse your bad english.

[Edited 6/25/11 13:30pm]

ufoclub said:

DJTricky said:

yeah pal, tons!

Look up The Dawn Experience V4.1 for the best selection in a nice 3CD set.

There's only 3 on that compilation... Days of Wild, Mad, and Empty Room.

Mad was officially released via NPGMC.

http://prince.org/msg/7/320445

Scififilmnerd said:

The Paisley Park Power Trio, 2 January 1993
Come #1 (4:45) – segued with
Endorphin Machine #1 (3:50)
Dark #1 (6:26)
Dolphin #1 (4:57)
Laurianne #1
Dream

Come, Paisley Park, January 1993
Pheromone #1 (4:22)
Papa #1
Dance Of Desperation (18/1)
Laurianne #2

Come, Paisley Park, February 1993
Loose! #1 (3:23)
No Cones Allowed (16/2) – for the film “The Coneheads”, horn overdubs by Eric Leeds 12/6-‘93
Down (Prince/Levi Seacer, Jr./Kirk Johnson/Sonny Thompson/Michael Bland/Rosie Gaines) – tentative placing, Library of Congress registration 1/10-‘93
Egyptian Intro #1 (Instrumental)
Space #1 (5:37)
Poem #1

Come Musical, late March 1993
Solo (3:48)* – lyrics by David Henry Hwang
Strays Of The World (5:07)*

Pre 27 April 1993
Earth, Wind & Fire: Super Hero #2 (4:07)* - tentative placing
Earth, Wind & Fire: Super Hero (Long Version) (5:41) – tentative placing
BET’s Video LP Theme #1 (3:57) – instrumental version of Pheromone
BET’s Video LP Theme #2 (3:08) – edit of #1
The Call (3:01) – tentative placing
Fuck D Press (21/4)

Come & Glam-O-Rama (later “Glam Slam Ulysses”), May 1993
Papa #2 (2:48)*
Race #2 (4:03)
Pope (3:28)*
What’s My Name # 1 (3:03)*
Poem #2 (bootlegged as Orgasm) (3:30) – segued with
What’s My Name? #2 (3:06)
Zannalee #1 (2:51)
I Wanna Be Held Tonight (19/5)
Emotional Crucifixion (26/5)
Interactive #1 (3:05) – starts with a giggle
Interactive #2 (3:03)* - edit of #1
Come #2 (3:16) – edit of #1, tentative placing, aired over the PA before some aftershows on Act II

The Hits Remixes, 1993 – tentative placing
Pope (12” Remix) (6:01)
Pink Cashmere (12” Remix) (6:16) – featuring Steppa Ranks
Erotic City (Remix) – played by DJ at Paisley Park 27/1-’94 along with Pink Cashmere (12” Remix)
Pink Cashmere Mix #1 (Edit) (4:45)
Pink Cashmere Mix #1 (Complete) (8:09)
Pink Cashmere Mix #2 (Edit) (5:07)
Pink Cashmere Mix #2 (Complete) (9:15) – w/water at end
Pink Cashmere (WILD Mix) (10:25) – to be faded @ 8:00

The Paisley Park Power Trio: The Undertaker, Paisley Park, 14 June 1993
The Ride #1 (10:53)
Poorgoo #1 (4:24)
Honky Tonk-Woman (3:01) (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards) – cover of The Rolling Stones
Bambi (4:03) - previously released
Zannalee (Prelude) (0:44)
The Undertaker (9:45) - previously released
Dolphin #2 (3:37)
The Ride #2 (Video Version) (10:33)
Poorgoo #2 (Video Version) (4:26)
Dolphin #3 (Video Version) (3:35)
Solo – tentative placing, mentioned by Michael B. on Prince.org
Space (rock version) – tentative placing, mentioned by Michael B. on Prince.org

Paisley Park, 15 June 1993
Calhoun Square #1 (4:46)*

26 June 1993
The Mad Pope – possibly a remix of Pope

NPG: Goldnigga, late June 1993 – album completed
2Gether #1 (3:59)
2Gether #2 (5:32)* - tentative placing

NPG: 2Gether – the remixes, 1993
2Gether (12 inch Mix) (6:53)*
2Gether (Interview) (4:21)*
2Gether (Enlightenment) (5:19)*
2Gether (Jeep Mix) (5:34)*
2Gether (Instrumental) (5:39)*

I’ll Do Anything Soundtrack, summer 1993
Cast: Wow #2 (1:36)
Cast: Make Believe #3
Cast: Make Believe #3 Pt.II
Julie Kavner: My Little Pill #2
Albert Brooks: There’s Lonely #3
Nick Nolte: Be My Mirror #2
Julie Kavner: I Can’t Love U Anymore #2
Melissa Etheridge: I Can’t Love U Anymore #3
Tracey Ullman: Don’t Talk 2 Strangers #2
Albert Brooks: I’ll Do Anything #3
Whittni Wright: This Lonely Life #2 (3:05)
Whittni Wright: You Are The Best (2:29)
Cast: I’ll Do Anything Medley (7:38)

Madhouse: 24, Paisley Park, 7 July 1993 – post-production by Ricky Peterson in late August – September 1993
- : Keyboards, Levi Seacer, Jr.: Guitar, Sonny Thompson: Bass, Eric Leeds: Saxophone, Michael Bland: Drums
Carnac (5:24)* – later retitled 17
Rootie Kazootie #1 (7:05)
Space #2 (4:47)
Edward #1 (7:09) – later retitled Asswoop, then Asswhoopin’ In A Trunk
Parlor Games #1 (4:01)
(Got 2) Give It Up (7:19) (Marvin Gaye) – originally titled Got To Give It Up, co-vocal by Nona Gaye

Bullet Sound, Nederhorst den Berg, 12 August 1993
The P #2 – lead vocal: Tevin Campbell

Madhouse, 31 August 1993
Slaughterhouse #2 – saxophone: Eric Leeds

Guillome Tell Studios, Paris, 2 September 1993
It’s About That Walk #1
Ophélie Winter: Le plus beau garcon de tout l’univers – tentative placing

Mayte, Paisley Park, 13 September 1993 – spring 1994
Latino Barbie Doll #2 (4:49) (Sept.)
If I Could Get Your Attention (2:47) - previously released
Love’s No Fun #1 (3:41) – previously released
The Juice #2
Mayte On Top #2 (previously “Carmen On Top”)
Go Mayte Go #2 (previously “Go Carmen Go”)
This Is My House - previously released

Paisley Park, 20 September 1993
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:37)*
Slave 2 The Funk

Paisley Park, 10 October 1993
Now #1 (4:30)*
Ripopgodazippa (4:39)* – offered to Showgirls Soundtrack 12/2-‘95
Shy #1 (4:50) – with drum machine

Paisley Park, mid to late October 1993
Gold #1 (5:56) – without guitar
Strawberries (25/10) – with The Hornheadz
319 #1 (3:19)* (25/10) – offered to Showgirls Soundtrack 12/2-‘95
Billy Jack Bitch #1 (7:07) (/Michael B. Nelson from NPG Hornz) – includes NPG Operator
Chaos And Disorder #1 (4:13) – recorded on the same day as
Right The Wrong #1 (4:42) – segues with Acknowledge Me
Acknowledge Me #1 (6:24)
Listen 2 The Rhythm #2 – tentative placing
+ “other tracks not ending up on The Gold Experience”

Nona Gaye, Paisley Park, 5 November 1993
Snow Man (4:16)
A 1.000 Hugs & Kisses #2 (4:23) – tentative placing
Inner City Blues (Marvin Gaye) – tentative placing

Guillome Tell, Paris, 10-22 November 1993
Hide The Bone (5:03)* (/Brenda Lee Eager/Hilliard Wilson)
It’s About That Walk #2 (4:26)* - possibly identical with #1

Come, pre January 1994
Come #3 (3:17)
Space #3 (4:28)* – edit of #1
Pheromone #2 (4:36) – starts with lines that ended up in Poem
Loose! #2 (3:27)
Race #3 (6:13)
Race #4 (5:04) – edit of #3
Dark #2 (6:10)* - edit of #1

Poet 99, 1993 - 1994
Give God A Try (3:05)
The Boom (3:08)
It’s Our Music (2:09)
Burn Baby Burn (2:47)
3 Shots (2:12)

The Beautiful Experience/Gold, Paisley Park, 20 January – early 1994
NPG Operator Segues
Love 4 1 Another (3:43)* - released as New World
Interactive #3 (2:25) – incl. NPG Operator
Days Of Wild #1 (6:03)
NPG Operator/Days Of Wild #2 (3:55) – edit of #1
Acknowledge Me #2 (5:27)*
NPG Operator/Now #2 (4:46)
Shy #2 (5:04) – similar to released version
Eye Hate U #1 (6:13) – incl. NPG Operator
Gold #2 (7:33) – without NPG Operator

The Beautiful Experience, Paisley Park, February 1994
Beautiful (5:55)*
Beautiful (Edit) (3:57)*
Staxowax (5:14)*
Mustang Mix (6:19)*
Flutestramental (3:35)*
Sexy Staxophone And Guitar (3:54)*
Mustang Instrumental (3:23)*
Beautiful (Extended Club Version) (6:25) – released on UK 12”
Beautiful Beats (3:28) – released on UK 12”
Brian’s Mix (4:25) – released on US promo CD and 12”
The Beautiful Experience Medley (10:22) (March)

Come, Paisley Park, March 1994
Poem #3 (3:36) – now with an actual poem, released as Come on a German promo
Endorphine Machine #2 (3:49)
Loose! #3 (3:26)*
Race #5 (4:17) - edit of #4
Let It Go #1 (16/3)

The Gold Album, March 1994
Shhh (7:18)* - previously released
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Album Version) (4:25)* - previously released
Instrumental (1:29) – from the TV movie, following Shhh
Mayte & The NPG: “Mirror Message”/Box Talk 777 (5:37) – TV commercial

BBC’s Top Of The Pops, Paisley Park, 22 March 1994
Endorphinmachine #3 (Interactive CD-ROM Version) (3:48)

Nona Gaye, pre 9 April 1994
Love Sign (4:32)* – co-lead vocal: Nona Gaye
Love Sign (Alternative Version)
Nona Gaye: A Woman’s Gotta Have It (4:30)* (Bobby & Linda Womack/D. Carter) – tentative placing

Kamasutra, March – late July 1994
The Plan (1:47)*
Kamasutra (11:49)*
At Last... “The Lost Is Found” (3:37)*
The Ever Changing Light (2:59)*
Cutz (3:03)*
Serotonin (0:47)* - identical with Kamasutra Overture #5 on The Versace Experience
Promise/Broken (3:46)*
Barcelona (2:16)*
Kamasutra/Overture #8 (3:11)*
Coincidence Or Fate (3:24)*
Kamasutra/Eternal Embrace (4:02)*

Come, Paisley Park, mid April 1994
Come #5 (11:13)*

Mayte, April 1994 – tentative placings
The Most Beautiful Boy In The World (4:07)*
?Quieres ser el mas bello de este mundo? (4:07)*
If Eye Love U 2Night #2 (4:20)*
If Eye Love U 2Night (Spanish) (4:18)*

MPLS: Minneapolis single, spring 1994
Minneapolis #3 (4:27)*
Minneapolis (Reprise) (0:48)* - tentative placing
Minneapolis (12-Inch Mix) (7:00)*
The Ryde Dyvine #2 (4:17)*
The Ryde Dyvine #3 (4:14)* – ”clean version”

Come, Paisley Park, pre 19 May 1994 – album completed
Pheromone # 3 (5:08)*
Race # 6 (4:28)*
Dark # (6:10)*
Letitgo #2 (5:32)*
Orgasm #3 (1:39)* (previously “Poem”)

The Gold Experience, May 1994
Shy #3 (5:04)*
Billy Jack Bitch #2 (5:32)* - tentative placing
Eye Hate U #2 (5:54)*
Gold #3 (7:23)*

Love Sign – The Remixes, pre June 1994
Ted’s Get ‘em Up Mix (6:30)
Ted’s Funky Chariot Mix (6:57)
Mack Attack Message Mix (4:35)
Ted’s Double Trouble Mix (6:57)
Ted’s Love Sign Radio Mix (6:19)
Shock’s Silky Smooth Mix (3:52)* – released as Lovesign (Shock G’s Silky Remix)
Shock’s Silky Smooth INT’s (4:23)

Spring – summer 1994
What It Is… - not mentioned in Turn It Up 2.0
Strength – not mentioned in Turn It Up 2.0
Angie – cover of The Rolling Stones, not mentioned in Turn It Up 2.0
Glam Slam Boogie
Race (Instrumental) (3:31)
Race (Acapella) (3:33)

NPG: Exodus, Paisley Park, 15 May – mid June 1994 – 1st album configuration 19 June
The Good Life (5:48)* (May)
NPG Bum Rush The Ship (Segue) #1 (1:33)
The Exodus Has Begun #1 (10:45) – retitled Exodus on 2nd configuration
NPG Operator (Segue) (0:34)* - released as NPG Operator Intro
Get Wild #1 (5:56)
Sonny Turns The T.V. Off (Segue) #1 (0:49) - later retitled Count Segue
Count The Days (3:24)*
DJ Gets Jumped (Segue) (0:22)*
New Power Soul #1 (5:38)
DJ Seduces Sonny (Segue) #1 (0:45)
It Takes 3 (3:59) (15/5)
Gettin’ The Soup Ready (Segue) (0:16)*
Hallucination Rain #1 (11:07)
Spooky Soup (Segue) (0:09)
NPG Outro (0:11)
Get Wild #2 (5:59)* – Pret-A-Porter version, tentative placing, identical to #1 but with part of NPG Operator added

Madhouse: 24, mid 1994 – album completed
Guitar Segue (1:05) – later retitled Asswoop Segue
Ethereal #1 (0:31)
Michael B. (0:41)
Sonny T. #1 (1:42)

Remixes of Letitgo, mid 1994
Edit (4:15)*
Caviar Extended Mix (7:15)
Caviar Radio Edit (4:59)*
Cavi’ Street Edit (5:02)*
Instrumental (5:02)* - entitled Q.D. III Instrumental Mix on Come 2-LP promo
On The Cool-Out Tip Remix (7:12)
On The Cool-Out Tip Radio Edit (4:34)*
Sherm Stick Extended Mix (8:50)
(-) Sherm Stick Edit (5:42)* - entitled J. Swift #3 Instrumental on Come 2-LP promo

July 1994
Pussy Control #1 (6:33)
Get Wild #3 (5:36) – tentative placing
Realize – tentative placing, horn overdubs added by The Hornheadz 25/7-‘94

Pre September 1994
Mad #1 (5:33) – offered to From Dusk ’til Dawn Soundtrack in ’95 along with The Funk Of A 1000 Years (not mentioned in Turn It Up 2.0) & Alone In The Dark (possibly a Dark remix)
Funky Design #1 (3:47) – tentative placing

Space single, pre 19 September 1994
Universal Love Remix (6:10)*
Funky Stuff Remix (5:41)*
Funky Stuff Dub (4:48)* - originally entitled Funky Stuff Remix Dub
Acoustic Remix (4:41)* - originally entitled Acoustic Radio Remix
Universal Love Remix Edit (4:00)

The Gold Experience, September – October 1994
P. Control #2 (5:59)*
Endorphinmachine #4 (4:07)*
We March #1
Dolphin #4 (4:59)*

The Wild Experience single, pre 14 October 1994
Get Wild (Money Maker) (6:01)*
Get Wild (Kirky J’s Get Wild) (6:38)*
Get Wild (Club Mix) (5:04)*
Get Wild (Get Wild In The House) #1 (6:14)*
Get Wild (Money Maker Funky Jazz Mix) (6:20)*

Ashley Davis, autumn – winter 1994
Ashley Davis: On Your Own (5:04)

Jevetta Steele, 1994
Jevetta Steele: Ain’t No Place Like U #1 (4:02)

Derek Hughes, autumn – winter 1994
Derek Hughes: Somebody’s Somebody #1 (4.26)
Derek Hughes: Somebody’s Somebody #2 (4:31)

NPG: Exodus, second half of 1994 – 2nd album configuration 2 December 1994
Get Wild #4 (5:36)
Get Wild #5 (4:34)* - edit of #4
Slave #1 (1:01) – later retitled Slave 2 The System
Acknowledge Me #3 (5:14)
Super Hero (7:20) - previously released, incorporates Outa-Space (Billy Preston/Greene) – cover of Billy Preston
Sonny Segue (0:50)
New Power Soul #2 (3:57) – edit of #1
Mad #2 (5:26)
Love, Thy Will Be Done (4:41) - previously released
Funky (4:14) (Chambers) – cover of The Chamber Brothers
Proud Mary (4:19) (John Fogerty) – cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival, lead vocal: Derek Hughes
Funky Design #2 (4:18)

Come single, pre 14 October 1994
Come (18 & Over) #1 (6:41)
18 & Over #2 (5:40)* - edit of #1
18 & Over #3 (Video Version) (4:16) (around 8/11) – edit of #2
Come (Techno Mix) (4:49)
Come (Remix) (11:20) – with the same beat as 18 & Over

Chaos And Disorder, November - December 1994
The Same December (3:24)* - pre 8/11
Empty Room #3 (3:22) – possibly identical with #1
I Like It There #1 (3:15)*
Calhoun Square #2 (4:28) – edit of #1

Pre 5 January 1995
Loose Dub #1 (3:47) – later retitled (Lemme See That Body) Get Loose!
Loose Dub #2 (3:31)* - released as Get Loose
Dark (Remix) (8:50) – tentative placing, possibly identical with Alone In The Dark
So Dark #2 (5:14)* - edit of Dark (Remix)
Alone In The Dark – tentative placing, offered to From Dusk ‘til Dawn Soundtrack in 1995
The Funk Of A Thousand Years – tentative placing, offered to From Dusk ‘til Dawn Soundtrack in 1995, not mentioned in Turn It Up 2.0

NPG: Exodus, December 1994 – February 1995 – album completed in early 1995
Segue (0:38)*
New Power Soul #3 (4:10)* - new ending added
DJ Seduces Sonny #2 (0:38)* – edit of #1
Segue #2 (0:42)* - previously Sonny Turns The TV Off, edit of #1
Cherry Cherry (4:44)*
Segue (0:18)*
Return Of The Bump Squad (7:20)* – horn overdubs added by Eric Leeds 16/1-‘95
Mashed Potato Girl Intro (0:21)*
Segue (3:00)*
Big Fun (7:26)* – horn overdubs added by Eric Leeds 16/1-‘95
New Power Day (3:49)*
Hallucination Rain #2 (5:49)* - edit of #1
NPG Bum Rush The Ship (Segue) #2 (1:40)* - new beginning added
The Exodus Has Begun #2 (10:06)* - edit of #1
Outro (0:35)*

Kirk J. Remixes, winter 1994
Head (3:58)
When Doves Cry (5:08)
Pop Life (4:49) – pre 19 September 1994
Alphabet St. (6:00)
Purple Medley (11:00)* - tentative placing
Kirk J’s B Sides Remix (7:00)* - tentative placing

NPG Artist Sampler, 5 January 1995
NPG Operator (0:16) – included in NPG Operator Segues from NPG Artist Sampler
Madhouse: Asswhuppin’ In A Trunk #2 (previously “Edward” and “Asswoop”) (3:26) – edit of #1
Madhouse: Ethereal Segue #2 (previously “Ethereal”) (0:28) – edit of #1
Madhouse: Parlor Games #2 (3:23) – edit of #1
NPG Operator segues from NPG Artist Sampler (1:03)*

Pre 3 March 1995
Egyptian Intro #2 (Instrumental)

Stevie Wonder, pre 21 March 1995
Cold Chill (6:52)* (Stevie Wonder) – guitar:

Emancipation, January - summer 1995 – 1st configuration July 1995
Feelgood (4:06) (early ’95)
Good Pussy – horn overdubs by Eric Leeds added 16/1-‘95
Eye Am The DJ (4:47) – horn overdubs by Eric Leeds added 16/1-‘95
Slave 2 The System #2 (3:05) (Previously “Slave”)
Slave #1 (5:09) – without drum effects on chorus
2020 (2:05)
Good Dick And A Job – aired at Paisley Park 19/5-‘95
Right Back Here In My Arms #1 (6:16)
Right Back Here In My Arms #2 (4:33) - edit of #1
Journey 2 The Center Of Your Heart #1 (4:15)
Emancipation #1 (4:30)
PoomPoom (4:32)*
(Excuse Me Is This) Goodbye #2 (4:34)* - tentative placing, included on 2nd configuration
Die – tentative placing, Library of Congress registration 25/8-’95 along with Right Back..., Journey 2... & Poom Poom

Mayte: Child Of The Sun, pre 5 May 1995 – 1st album configuration 5 May 1995
Children Of The Sun #1 (4:22)
In Your Gracious Name #1 (5:00)
The Rhythm Of Your Heart #3 (previously “Listen 2 The Rhythm) (5:37) – includes a rap by
Ain’t No Place Like U #2 (4:33)
House Of Brick (Brick House) #1 (4:27) (William King/Thomas McCleary/Walter Orange/Lionel Richie/Milan Williams/Ronald LaPread) – cover of The Commodores, originally titled Brick House
Love’s No Fun #2 (3:52) - previously released
Baby Don’t Care #2 (previously “Holly Don’t Care”) (5:41)
However Much U Want #2 (4:43)
Mo’ Better #1 (4:54)

The Gold Experience, May 1995 – album completed
We March #2 (4:49)*

Remixes, Pre 13 June 1995
Beautiful Girl (4:32)*
The NPG: The Good Life (Platinum People Edit) (4:12)*
The NPG: The Good Life (Platinum People Mix) (6:40)*
The NPG: The Good Life (Dancing Divaz Mix) (6:40)*
The NPG: The Good Life (Bullets Go Bang Remix) (5:14)*
The Good Life (Big City Remix) (5:05)*
The NPG: Free The Music #1 (3:23)
The NPG: Count The Days (Clean Version) (3:24)* - tentative placing
Eye Hate U (7” Edit w/o Guitar) (3:50)*
Eye Hate U (Album Edit) (4:26)*
Eye Hate U (Quiet Night Mix by Eric Leeds) (3:55)*
Eye Hate U (Extended Remix) (6:17)*
Eye Hate U (Album Version) (5:58)* - without NPG Operator
P. Control (House Mix) (5:47)
P. Control (Club Mix) #1 (6:02)
P. Control (Club Mix) #2 (5:59)*
Mayte: If Eye Love U 2Night (3:25) - previously released

Stacy Francis, Paisley Park, June 1995
Journey 2 The Center Of Your Heart #2
Over The Rainbow (Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg) – cover of Judy Garland

Live at Paisley Park, 18 June 1995
The Volkswagen Blues (3:51) – tentative title, ad-libbed lyrics to music based on Mary, Don’t You Weep

Sandra St. Victor, summer 1995
Soul Sanctuary #1 (4:29) (Prince/Sandra St. Victor/Johnny Kemp)
Livin’ 2 Die (3:34) (Prince/Sandra St. Victor) – bootlegged as Living 2 Die (Our Lives)
Eye’ll Never B Another Fool #1 (3:11) (Prince/Sandra St. Victor)
Stone (3:00) (Prince/Sandra St. Victor) – possibly titled Heart Of Stone or Nothing Left But A Stone
Van Gogh #1 (4:58)

The Versace Experience, pre 8 July 1995
P. Control (Club Mix) #3 (3:04) – edit of #2
Shhh #2 (3:54) – edit of #1, previously released
The NPG: Get Wild (In The House Mix) #2 (2:14) – edit of #1
Eye Hate U (Remix) (3:28) – Quiet Night Mix + Extended Remix
319 #2 (1:28) – edit of #1
Shy #4 (2:22) – edit of #3
Billy Jack Bitch #3 (2:31) – remixed edit of #2
Madhouse: Sonny T. Segue #2 (previously “Sonny T.”) (0:28) – edit of #1
Madhouse: Rootie Kazootie #2 (2:37) – edit of #1
Chatounette Controle (2:24)
P. Control (Control Tempo Edit) (1:23) – outro of P. Control (House Mix)
The NPG Orchestra: Kamasutra Overture #5 (0:43) – identical with Serotonin
The NPG: Free The Music #2 (1:44)* - edit of #1
Segue (0:49) – remix of NPG Operator preceding TMBGITW on The Gold Experience
Gold #4 (3:39) – edit of #3

Madhouse, 1995 – tentative placing
18 And Over
Kamasutra Instrumental
Kamasutra/Overture #8 (2:39)

Mayte: Child Of The Sun, 1995 – tentative placing
Children Of The Sun #2 (4:29)*
In Your Gracious Name #2 (5:05)*
The Rhythm Of Your Heart #3 (3:16)*
Ain’t No Place Like U #3 (4:44)*
House Of Brick (Brick House) #2 (3:19)* (William King/Thomas McCleary/Walter Orange/Lionel Richie/Milan Williams/Ronald LaPread)
Love’s No Fun #3 (3:57)* - previously released
Baby Don’t Care #3 (5:25)*
However Much U Want #3 (4:32)*
Mo’ Better #2 (4:55)*

Emancipation, 9 September 1995
The Emancipation Proclamation - lyric sheet handed out at Paisley Park
Slave #2 (4:51)* – tentative placing, handed out on cassette in December ‘95

Paisley Park, 12-14 September 1995
Rock’n’Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis) #1 (4:30) (12/9)
Rock’n’Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis) #2 (The Tony Fly Mix) (4:40) (14/9)
Rock’n’Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis) #3 – longer version, debuted 18/9
Rock’n’Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis) #4 (4:34)*
Rock’n’Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis) #5 (Alternative Version) (4:24)

http://prince.org/msg/7/317254

Prince.org exclusive: Ultimate Come

PRINCE VS. WB: THE FANS LOST
Part 1: The Come(back) album that never happened

By Scififilmnerd

Following a string of successful albums in the eighties, Prince disappointed critics and fans for the first time with the weak Batman album in 1989. Fans didn’t lose faith in Prince, though, as it could be excused as being a soundtrack album. However, in 1990 Prince disappointed again with the introduction of the horrible Game Boyz on the Nude Tour, and with the Graffiti Bridge album that would have been good if it had been just a Prince album rather than a collection of songs also featuring his protégées of the time. Again, it could be excused as being a soundtrack album to the equally disappointing movie of the same title, which went straight to home video in Europe.
Unfortunately, in 1991 Prince disappointed fans once again with the Diamonds And Pearls album that pandered too much to popular trends in music, when it used to be Prince himself who set the trends for others to follow. And this album couldn’t be excused as being a soundtrack album. Combined with the Game Boyz being featured prominently on the tour that followed, it was a bleak time for being a Prince fan. So what kept their interest in their idol? Bootlegs of unreleased tracks, like the guitar rocking MC Flash album, gave fans hope that their musical hero hadn’t completely lost his touch. They anxiously hoped for a comeback album that would prove to critics and fans alike, that Prince was still the best artist alive.
Despite the concern of fans, Diamonds And Pearls reached number three on Billboard’s Pop Chart and spawned four hit singles. It sold about 2 million copies in the US and almost 4 million copies outside of the US. And so the stage was set for the deal that would change Prince’s career.

The contract
On 31 August 1992, Prince signed a new recording contract with Warner Bros. It would reputedly earn the star $100 million. It would fund six albums, each with an advance of $10 million, and provide joint-venture funding for Paisley Park Records, another new label, and payment for Prince in the role of vice-president of A&R, including a suite of offices in the Warner building in Century City, California.
Jill Willis, Vice-President of Paisley Park (until she was fired by Prince and replaced by Gilbert Davison on 17 September 1993), was one of the people who put that deal together. "At first, Prince was very happy with the deal," she later told biographer Liz Jones.
Although that $100 million deal made the headlines, many in the industry called it absurd. If Prince had been guaranteed that amount, it was unlikely that Warner would make a penny. The figure was the very highest he could make at the very best levels of sales performance. At his royalty rate of 20 per cent, he would have to sell five million copies before Warner could recoup its advance. At best the label had a chance of breaking even, and they certainly wouldn’t want him putting out album after album, not giving them a chance to recoup their money. Once the label had committed themselves to figures of that sort, they felt they would have more control over his output. They wanted to apply proven hit-making strategies: Release one album a year; ensure it contains a string of potential singles, and put those out with a variety of mixes; ensure their artist adhered to the advice of in-house promotion and marketing departments.
The $10 million per-album advance, it was reported in Time, kicked in only if his previous album had sold five million copies or more; if sales fell below that number, a new figure would have to be negotiated.

The start of the friction years
The first of Prince’s contracted six albums was released 13 October 1992. The album didn’t feature the Game Boyz as prominently as on Diamonds And Pearls, and musically fans were generally pleased with the album. It wasn’t quite the comeback album they had hoped for, but it certainly appeared to be a step in the right direction.
However, fans may have been happy with the album, but Prince wasn’t happy with its sales performance. reached number five on the Pop Chart and sold 2.8 million copies world-wide, a respectable showing but far short of the smash Prince expected and below the number that would ensure him a $10 million advance for his next album. He became furious about the sales figures, which he blamed on slack promotion by Warner Bros.
Prince’s griping helped generate a pervasive gloom about his career at the label. Having so recently signed him to an expensive contract, Mo Ostin (Warner’s Chairman) and Lenny Waronker (Warner’s President) were worried about the brisk pace at which he insisted on releasing albums. Warner Bros. noticed an increased resistance from radio stations to play the singles from , clearly indicating that the audience couldn’t absorb more music from Prince for the time being. By generating records more frequently than once a year and touring almost as often, he had become seriously overexposed - another point Prince would not think of conceding.
Matters weren’t helped when the Prince protégé album Carmen Electra was released 9 February 1993. The record sold very poorly and failed to even enter the Pop Chart. From the perspective of Warner Bros., which had sunk $1 million into promoting Carmen Electra, the entire effort was nothing short of a catastrophe.

The making of Come
"The Come album really evolved from boredom during Christmas vacation," drummer Michael Bland told Guitar World in 1994. "Bassist Sonny Thompson and I were the only two cats in the band who hung around Minneapolis during Christmas vacation. And Prince got bored, as he usually does. Because when he’s not creating, he’s not alive, you know. So he went down to the soundstage where we were set up for rehearsal before vacation began. And he just played by himself all day; they say he stayed in there for like eight, 10 hours, just messing around with ideas. And then the second day he got up the courage to call us up and ask, "you guys bored too?" So we came out and worked on a good half-dozen tunes. And we went in the studio and started cutting them - we cut the rhythm tracks for Dark, Come, Papa and a few other things like that."
The recordings took place on 2 January 1993 and also spawned the songs Endorphin Machine, Dolphin, Laurianne and Dream. Tommy Barbarella and Morris Hayes were brought in to add keyboards to some of the tracks after the initial session.
On 18 January Prince also recorded Dance Of Desperation and at some unknown date, Pheromone followed. In February, he recorded Loose and, prior to assembling a tape with the new songs in March, Prince also recorded Space and Poem. The cassette featuring the new music was untitled and the tracks making up this first known configuration of what would become the Come album were:

Prince: untitled cassette (March 1993)
1. Come (4:49)
2. Endorphin Machine (3:51)
3. Space (5:30)
4. Pheromone (4:22)
5. Loose (3:23)
6. Papa (2:19)
7. Dark (6:26)
8. Dolphin (4:57)
9. Poem (3:30)

Come - the Musical
All of the tracks on this first configuration remain unreleased versions.
Prince gave a copy of this cassette to playwright David Henry Hwang while in New York 24 - 27 March 1993. Hwang was most known for his Tony Award-winning Broadway play M. Butterfly. Prince told him a story about the relationship between a rock star and a fan, an intense erotic affair conducted through letters, spinning off into exercises of fantasy and dominance - sex between lovers who never met in the flesh. From this premise, Hwang wrote the libretto for a musical titled Come, incorporating the songs on Prince’s tape. The musical never became a reality, however, but now Prince had a title for his new collection of songs, and the collaboration spawned a new song, Solo. In late March 1993 Prince also recorded Strays Of The World, supposedly intended for the musical.
From 8 March to 17 April 1993, Prince embarked on a tour of the US entitled Act I. At the concerts, fans were offered a preview of the song Loose, which was played in continuation of Partyman. At aftershow concerts, Prince played Come and Papa. Another new song was previewed on the tour, Peach, which had been recorded in April/May 1992 and featured a sampled Kim Basinger.
On 10 April 1993, Prince met with journalist Alan Light in San Francisco. Alan Light’s interview with Prince was published in Vibe in 1994. Prince told him: “We have a new album finished, but Warner Bros. doesn’t know it. From now on, Warners only get old songs out of the vault. New songs we’ll play at shows. Music should be free, anyway.”
Still, in April it was reported by MTV News that Prince intended to release an EP with four of the new tracks on his birthday, 7 June 1993. According to Uptown #9, the four tracks were:

Prince: Papa EP (April 1993)
1. Papa
2. Come
3. Peach
4. Race

Prince “retires”
Race was a song Prince had recorded in November 1991. His new track Fuck D Press, recorded 21 April, didn’t make the cut. However, Warner Bros. refused to release the single, so on 27 April 1993, Prince’s publicity firm announced that Prince was retiring from studio recording to concentrate on new forms of “alternative media projects, including live theater, interactive media, nightclubs and motion pictures.”
A week before the announcement, Prince had been in the office meeting with Ostin and Waronker, expressing his dissatisfactions and frustrations during a 5-hour meeting.
According to the announcement, Prince would fulfill the remainder of his six-album contract with Warner Bros. with old songs from his “library of 500 unreleased recordings.” He would not stop producing songs for other artists or continuing other aspects of his career, including touring and operating Paisley Park.
Earlier in the day, Gilbert Davison had informed Warner Bros.’ chiefs, Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker, that Prince would not be delivering any more new studio albums to the company. Despite an official attitude of “amused skepticism,” many Warner Bros. top-level executives were shocked by the announcement, fearing that they would not get any new music from one of their best-selling artists.
Prince, who was very disappointed in the sales of the album and lack of reaction to most releases on his Paisley Park Records label, accused Warner Bros. of failing to support the records adequately, expressing his dissatisfaction with their promotion staff, which he felt was weak. Arguing that his job is done once he delivers the music, he blamed the company for relying on him for interviews and participation in promotional activities, and then using his reluctance as an excuse when something didn’t sell as expected.

Finalizing Come
Hesitant to give Warners a new album, Prince was increasingly thinking of new means of getting his music to the public. On the same date as the retirement announcement, an instrumental version of Pheromone debuted as a theme song for the TV-channel BET’s Video LP show.
The hit dance performance by The Joffrey Ballet, Billboards, which featured four different ballets set to 12 Prince songs from 1978 to 1991, probably inspired Prince to conceive a dance performance of his own set to his brand new music. Initially called Glam-O-Rama, the idea was conceived by and Kenneth Robbins, and produced by David Haugland.
During the month of May, Prince continued to write songs, despite his retirement from studio recording, including Pope (an obvious stab at Warner Bros. President Lenny Waronker), Zannalee, I Wanna Be Held Tonight (19/5), Emotional Crucifixion (26/5) and Interactive, as well as segueing the previously recorded Poem with the new track What’s My Name, extending Papa and supposedly updating Race.
By the end of May, he assembled a new sequence of his new music. According to a fax his dancer Mayte sent to the fan magazine Controversy on 1 June 1993 (published in Controversy #42), the sequencing took place two days earlier and included the following tracks:

: Come (29 May 1993)
Track list unknown, but includes Come, Race, Pheromone, Dark, Dolphin, Pope

Come free?
Mayte, who admitted to having had help writing the fax by someone whose name wasn’t Prince, wrote: “All I can say is that it’s unlike any music he’s done before. All one word titles and strange.
He seemed happy when he played me the sequence but when I asked him, “what are U going 2 do with this new music now that U have retired?” He looked me in the eye and said, “I’m going 2 give it 2 my friends.” I don’t know what friends he’s talking about.
But I remember once he told me, “Music should be free – just like air.” Did he mean – the way it’s played or paid 4? I’m really afraid he’s not going 2 release any more new albums because now we’re rehearsing only the new music. With just Michael, Sonny, Tommy and Mr. Hayes.”
Considering Prince’s newfound attitude of “music should be free”, it is amazing that the Come album escaped bootlegging. During much of the eighties, Prince freely handed out cassettes of new songs to friends and acquaintances, but by the mid-1990s he had tightened up this practice. So did he really give Come to his “friends”?

The name-change
Adding to the confusion of who would be getting his new music, Prince’s publicity firm announced on 7 June 1993, his 35th birthday, that Prince had changed his name to the symbol of his latest album. ’s intention was to fulfill his Warner Bros. contract with “Prince” recordings from the vault while continuing to record and release new material as “.”
The media avalanche that followed was filled with derision and mockery. Among fans and in some media articles there was speculation that Prince was seeking to escape his contract with Warner Bros. by changing his identity and then arguing that the label’s agreement was with “Prince”. When Prince made the announcement in May 2000 that he was discarding the symbol name, he basically admitted as much. At a New York press conference, he said that the name had been a means of escaping “undesirable relationships” – that is, his contract with Warner Bros. He wanted the freedom to put out more material under his new name. Warner Bros. might have wanted Prince to put on the brakes, but he had other ideas.
When completed work on the side-project Goldnigga with The New Power Generation in late June 1993, his plan was for Warner Bros. to release it by summertime. For Warner Bros., the time had arrived to draw the line. They told that the company had no interest in the album, but instead wanted a reasonable pause in new music to allow for the release of a greatest hits package. They presented the best-of concept to , who with some reluctance agreed to support it.

The movie that didn’t happen
On 14 June 1993, , with Michael Bland and Sonny Thompson, recorded an EP entitled The Undertaker that included a prelude of Zannalee and a new version of Dolphin. The recording of The Undertaker was filmed and released as a home video in March 1995, albeit with some changes made to Dolphin. also recorded a different version of Space with his side-project Madhouse, 7 July 1993.
On 15 June, recorded another great guitar rock track, Calhoun Square.
Knowing that Warner Bros. would not allow him to release a new album only about eight months after the release of the album, Prince was still thinking of other ways to let his fans hear his new music. He contributed six previously unavailable songs to The Hits/The B-Sides, including Peach and Pope from Come. He then made a new configuration of Come, presumably removing or replacing the tracks he had given to the hits compilation.

: Come (June-July 1993)
Track list unknown

During June and July 1993, developed an untitled film project with director Parris Patton. The film was shot at Paisley Park and featured music interspersed with dramatic footage. General Hospital star Vanessa Marcil and Nona Gaye, daughter of Marvin Gaye, starred in the leading roles.
“The movie is about the relationship between two girls,” Vanessa Marcil told Soap Opera Weekly. “We deal with racial, social and sexual issues. Most of the action takes place in this underground club. Prince is the performer there.”
The film project was never completed, but the performances of Loose and Papa from the movie turned up in The Beautiful Experience TV movie in 1994.
On 12 July 1993, the premiere of Glam-O-Rama was cancelled and it would be over a month until it actually opened under a new name, Glam Slam Ulysses.
On the same day as the cancellation, Alan Light talked with again for the interview published in Vibe in 1994. Alan Light noticed that was fixated on one thing: “He has too much music sitting around, and he wants people to hear it.”

Come live
Some lucky fans got a chance to hear some of ’s new music on the Act II tour of Europe, which started 26 July and ended 7 September 1993. At some of the concerts, he played Come, Endorphinemachine and Peach in a row, leading to the belief that those three songs were actually the opening tracks of the May 1993 Come configuration. Dark also made a rare appearance.
Before launching into Come, would usually quote the lyrics of What’s My Name and give a little speech. At Wembley Stadium in London, 31 July 1993, he said: “The only reason why I retired is because I can no longer give the music to someone else to give to you. I wanna come to your house and give it to you myself. You don’t need no records. Next time bring a tape recorder. When it’s over, press save.”
“People say I make too much music,” he continued. “People say you can’t keep up. But I’m under the impression I make just enough music. I’m under the impression, can’t nobody keep it up like you.”
Other Come tracks performed during Act II, usually at aftershows, included Calhoun Square, Race and Pope. What’s My Name and Dolphin were played during a soundcheck in Paris. On 7 September, Prince played a live medley on BBC Radio One that included Pope and Peach.
Fans were very pleased with the Act II tour. Gone were the hated Game Boyz, leaving more room for exotic dancer Mayte. The NPG Hornz were also featured more prominently. Along with the new songs played, it had finally become exiting to be a Prince/ fan again.

Glam Slam Ulysses
While was in Europe, Glam Slam Ulysses finally opened 21 August 1993 at Glam Slam in Los Angeles. The 65-minute show was described as an “interactive musical theatrical production” inspired by Homer’s classic Odyssey. The choreography was by Jamie King, and Carmen Electra and Frank Williams danced the lead parts.
The production combined dance performances with videos and featured ’s most exciting studio recordings in years: Strays Of The World, Come (chopped into three parts), Interactive, Dolphin, Pheromone, Dark, Loose, Space, Poem, What’s My Name, Endorphinemachine, Race and Pope.
However, the critical response to the show (not the music) was unmercifully negative and the show only ran for two weeks, until 4 September 1993. Plans to tour US nightclubs were abandoned.
Although he had very little interest or involvement in the hits compilation prior to leaving, expressed some interest in taking on a more active role in the project upon returning from Europe. Warner Bros. preferred to avoid delays and actually paid not to get involved. When The Hits/The B-Sides was released 14 September 1993, helpfully backed it up with the announcement: “Greatest-hits albums are for artists who are dead, physically and professionally.”
Fans, however, were excited to finally get the guitar rocking Peach, which was also released as a single 18 November 1993 with an accompanying video featuring Mayte and just Michael Bland and Sonny Thompson from the band. The song failed to chart.
On Pope, fans were once again invited to “every time U want it I’ll be live, bring a date, I mean computer, when it’s over press save”. This practice never became allowed at concerts, though, and in 1995 stated his reason why in the song Feel Good: “Come to the show and bring a tape recorder ‘cause you oughta have a copy of the – yo! Wait a minute, no, in 1999 I’ll be free, so…”
A 12” remix of Pope appeared on a vinyl promo-single.

Continued...

Back in the studio
During the autumn and winter of 1993, recorded a lot of new songs and reworked some of the Come tracks. Much to the dismay of his band, he changed Come and Race from band recordings to solo recordings, remixed Loose and edited Space and Dark, making them shorter
In early 1994, worked on making a movie entitled The Beautiful Experience which featured some of his new music. To coincide with the TV premiere of the movie, hoped to release an EP of the same title that included seven songs from the movie, including Come. However, Warner Bros. would only allow him to release just one song, so The Beautiful Experience instead became an EP with seven different versions of the same song.
In February 1994 he made an untitled configuration of new music that included Come and Endorphin Machine before deciding to just have Come and the new tracks be two separate albums.
On 6 March 1994, Holland’s largest radio network, Radio Veronica, began broadcasting a tape with eight unreleased songs, which they had purchased. Subsequent broadcasts followed in several other European countries. The tape included a shorter version of Interactive that included a middle piece with the NPG operator who would later figure prominently on The Gold Experience album, as well as Pheromone, which had been extended with a few lines that would end up in Poem.

The devolution of Come
By now, it had been a year and five months since the release of ’s last album. The time had finally come to present Warner Bros. with a new album for release. On 11 March 1994, delivered a scaled down configuration of Come to Warner Bros. Gone were potential hits like the title track and Dolphin. But it wasn’t all bad. It still retained the guitar rocking tracks Interactive (segued from a version of Poem that now had an actual poem in it), Endorphine Machine, Loose and Strays Of The World, plus the funky, highly danceable tracks Pheromone and Race (now edited for length). Thankfully, this configuration got bootlegged.

Prince: Come (11 March 1994)
1. Poem (3:36)
2. Interactive (3:05)
3. Endorphine Machine (3:49)
4. Space (4:30)
5. Pheromone (4:23)
6. Loose (3:26)
7. Papa (2:48)
8. Race (4:17)
9. Dark (6:03)
10. Solo (3:50)
11. Strays Of The World (5:18)

The opening track, Poem, could be interpreted in three ways. On the surface, it was just urging a female to come, but it could also be heard as guiding the listener onwards to the actual beginning of the album with Interactive (“keep going” and “you’re almost there”), while at the same time teasing Warner Bros. with lines such as “isn’t that what you want” and “imagine what you look like from across the room.”
The provocation certainly sparked a strong reaction from Warner Bros. “The company was so upset with that album. People said it was a piece of shit,” remembered Marylou Badeaux (Vice President at Warner Bros).
Ostin and Waronker bluntly told that the album was unacceptable. They asked for the title track and The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, as well as two or three other really strong songs. agreed.
On 16 March 1994, recorded Let It Go, that would be included on the final configuration of Come, and on 22 March 1994, he recorded a video version of Endorphine Machine that was later included in the Interactive CD-ROM game.

An exciting time to be a fan
The Beautiful Experience-film starring Nona Gaye premiered on the British Sky One TV channel on 3 April 1994 followed by broadcasts in many other countries. It was a science fiction movie set in a future where ’s website actually had something to offer: “Over 500 experiences” for only $19.99!
Besides the videos for Loose and Papa from the abandoned 1993-movie, The Beautiful Experience also featured a video version of Interactive with the NPG Operator in the middle, a charming video featuring the entire band in a long version of Race, and an extremely cool dance video of Pheromone starring , Mayte and the hot choreographer Jamie King. The new version of Come and the old version of Poem could also be heard in the movie.
Combined with bootlegs of the radio tape, the Glam Slam Ulysses show and Act I and Act II performances of Come songs, fans had heard all of the songs from the Come album by now. had indeed succeeded in finding alternative ways to let his music reach the fans.
And the fans liked the new music and the image he presented in the videos. It was his most guitar rocking music since Purple Rain and he was back to being the mysterious, dark, brooding and sexual, yet spiritual person his fans had first fallen for back in 1984. Now all that remained was the critically loved and chart-topping comeback album that would prove to the world, not just his fans, that the Prince the world had fallen in love with was finally back in full force.

The 4th Come configuration
In mid April, recorded a maxi-single version of the song Come before making a new configuration of the Come album, which he brought with him on a trip to Europe, where he met with three journalists in Monaco, 2 May 1994. One was from Q, the other from Max and the third was Alan Light from Vibe once again. wanted them to check out two albums that may or may not see the light of day: The next Prince album, Come, scheduled for an August 1994 release, and the first collection, titled The Gold Album, both pressed on CDs with hand-drawn cover art.
“Now you have two albums from two different artists in your hands,” told one of them.
“First comes the Prince album, which includes Endorphinmachine, Come and Dark,” noted Alan Light. “ skips back and forth between tracks. It all sounds strong – first rate, even – but he seems impatient with it, like it’s old news.”

Prince: Come (April 1994)
Track list unknown, but includes Come (The Beautiful Experience version), Endorphinmachine and Dark

Supposedly this configuration included two versions of Come, concluding with the maxi-single version of Come which would then continue into the hidden track, Strays Of The World.
While in Europe, played some concerts in Monaco and Paris, 3 – 6 May 1994. He played Come, Endorphinmachine and Space in a row, leading to speculation that those three songs were now the opening tracks on Come. He also played Race, Dark, Peach and a rare performance of Solo. While in Paris, Prince performed Endorphinmachine on the TV channel Canal+.

The final devolution of Come
Before turning Come over to Warner Bros. on 19 May 1994, decided to make further changes to the album. Strays Of The World was replaced with the weaker Letitgo. Pheromone, Race, Dark and Letitgo had annoying bits of Poem added at their beginnings, and what was left of Poem was retitled Orgasm and placed at the end of the album.
refused to include The Most Beautiful Girl In The World because it had been released as a song and Come was going to be a “Prince” release. Endorphinmachine and Interactive were removed from the album on the same grounds. reasoned that those were now “” songs because of their inclusion on the soon to be released Interactive CD-ROM game. These decisions left with a very short album, which may explain why he decided to include the maxi-single version of Come on the album instead of the shorter, original version.

Prince 1958-1993: Come (May 1994)
1. Come (11:13)
2. Space (4:28)
3. Pheromone (5:08)
4. Loose! (3:26)
5. Papa (2:48)
6. Race (4:28)
7. Dark (6:10)
8. Solo (3:48)
9. Letitgo (5:32)
10. Orgasm (1:39)

Warner Bros. wasn’t satisfied with the album submitted. They thought that it was worse than the last configuration they had received. They asked for Shhh, as several radio programmers were aware of it from The Beautiful Experience video and there was a great deal of interest in the song. said no, leaving Warner Bros. no other option than to accept the album as it was since released.
delivered The Gold Experience into Warner Bros. around the same time as this new version of Come. He proposed that Warner Bros. should release Come by “Prince” and, a few weeks later, The Gold Experience by “,” and he wanted both to count toward the fulfillment of his contract. The idea didn’t meet with much enthusiasm, however. Flooding the market with material was exactly what the executives wanted to avoid. Nor were they optimistic about releasing music with an unpronounceable symbol, rather than the powerful “Prince” trademark on the front cover. They agreed to release Come; The Gold Experience would have to wait. Again, was furious and complained that the label was censoring him.

The release of Come
On 7 June 1994, the CD-ROM game Interactive was released. It included the version of Interactive with the NPG Operator as an audio track and videos of Interactive and Endorphinmachine. An instrumental version of Race and an a capella version of Race were also included.
Meanwhile, had embarked upon a summer tour of clubs in Minneapolis, Miami, Los Angeles and New York. The tour lasted from 28 May to 26 July 1994 and included performances of a slightly different sounding Space, Papa, Race, Dark and Peach, as well as a short version of Interactive and Endorphinmachine, which he also performed on the TV channel VH-1 on 26 June 1994.
Warner Bros. decided that Letitgo should be the first single from Come. refused to shoot a video to support the single that was released 9 August 1994. A maxi-single followed with remixes that had no involvement from , but the single’s Edit version of Letitgo starts off without the annoying Poem-intro of the album version, so if you splice the beginning of the edit with the ending of the album version, you get the original song.
Originally, Come was supposed to be the b-side of the Letitgo single, but Warner Bros. considered Come a strong contender for its own single and replaced it with Solo.

Prince 1958-1993: Letitgo single (July 1994)
Letitgo (Edit) (4:15)
Solo (3:48)
Alexa De Paris (Extended Version) (4:54)
Pope (3:28)

Letitgo only reached number 31 on the Pop Chart and number 10 on the R&B Chart. put the blame on Warner Bros. in an interview with The Guardian in March 1995. "If they don't want to promote a song, they don't make the effort to cross it over into other markets and the fans don't get to know it," he said.
"Now if Letitgo sold two million like The Most Beautiful Girl In The World did, people wouldn't be saying that I'm slippin'," he added in The Voice in March 1995. "But to sell two million, the dudes gotta PRESS two million copies, see what I mean?"
Come was released 16 August 1994 and it was not the comeback album fans had hoped for or even expected based on the bootlegs. The new, longer and sexually explicit version of the song Come would have been fine for a maxi-single release, but not as an opening track of an album. It seemed to have no other purpose than to provoke Warner Bros. at the cost of disappointing the fans that loved the original version.
Gone were all the guitar rocking tracks with the exception of Loose!, transforming the album from a funky rock album to an ordinary R&B album. At least the middle section of the album was still intact, so fans finally got Space, Pheromone, Loose!, Papa, Race, Dark and Solo in good sound quality.
If had never released Come in any form, it would have gone down in history on par with the mythical Black Album from 1987. But instead of just skipping the album and moving on to his newer, equally unreleased album, The Gold Experience, unfortunately felt Come should be his next album to see release, despite the fact that he was actually consciously devolving it by removing songs with every new configuration he made. Why he would want to release a shadow of the former masterpiece that was Come remains one of the universe’s great, unsolved mysteries.

Critical reaction
Fans weren’t the only ones who were disappointed by a “Prince” album yet again. The reviews of Come were fairly negative. Many critics labeled it as Prince’s “sex album,” picking up on the sexual contents of songs like Come, Pheromone, the Poem-bits and Orgasm. They complained that the lyrics were too explicit and sexually preoccupied, while most of the music was dismissed as uninspired or lackluster.
Simon Price wrote in Melody Maker: “This, the last recording under the name Prince, is apparently his parting gift to Warners: An album containing no feasible singles. Touché.”
Not everyone was all-negative, though. Ian Cranna of Q agreed with the fans’ assessment: “In the middle of it all comes a run of more tenuously related tracks, which are actually pretty good. There's the harder, up-tempo excitement of Loose, the bumping equality rap of Race, the '60s Southern R&B-style lament of Dark and the poppy, bouncy funk of Letitgo. This segment also includes the album's one genuinely shocking track, Papa.”
Chuck Arnold of Philadelphia Daily News wrote: “It marks a return to his more bare-bones pre-New Power Generation days, although NPG members do play here. This back-to-basics approach results in some of his best dance music in years.”
Jim Walsh of St. Paul Pioneer Press was probably the one person most pleased with Come: “Dead or alive, Prince - and Come, his most powerful record in years - provides pleasure and warmth in a cold, cold world.”
Despite Jim Walsh’s enthusiasm, Come became a commercial failure. It reached number 15 on Billboard’s Pop Chart, which was ’s lowest position for an album of new music since Controversy in 1981. The record peaked at number two on the R&B Chart. It sold around 345,000 copies in the US, making it the poorest selling album of ’s career up until then.
Neither nor Warner Bros. did much to promote Come. Much like the case with the greatest hits collection in 1993, ’s heart wasn’t in the Come album. The former masterpiece had quite simply ended up as contract filler.

’s Come singles
In the middle of September 1994, set to work on a Space single. The initial track lists were:

Prince: Space single (19 September 1994)
Space (Universal Love Remix Edit) (4:00)
Pop Life (Kirky J Remix Edit) (4:36)

Prince: Space maxi single (21 September 1994)
Space (Universal Love Remix) (6:10)
Space (Funky Stuff Remix) (5:41)
Space (Funky Stuff Remix Dub) (4:47)
Space (Acoustic Radio Remix) (4:41)
Space (Album Version) (4:31)
Pop Life (Kirky J Remix) (6:13)

When it was released on 1 November 1994, had removed the Kirky J Remix of Pop Life, but otherwise it was the same. Despite some very good new recordings of the song, the single failed to enter the Billboard Pop Chart and reached only number 71 on the R&B Chart. There was no video to support the single.
The unreleased Dolphin had a video, however. It was released to TV on 30 September 1994 without a single for it to promote. had “slave” written backwards across his cheek in the video, which also featured his band and Mayte dressed as an angel. Keyboards had been added to Dolphin since it was last heard in Glam Slam Ulysses.
also worked on a Come EP that autumn. He recorded Come (Techno Mix), Come (Remix) and Come (18 & Over) of which an edit called simply 18 & Over was released on Crystal Ball in 1998. A video was made which was shown on The Gold Experience Tour in 1995 along with a video for Zannalee. Come (Remix) was the album version with the beat from 18 & Over.

Prince: Come single (pre 14 October 1994)
Track list unknown, but the B-side was Dark.

Prince: Come maxi single (pre 14 October 1994)
Track list unknown, but supposedly 7 versions of Come, incl. the original version, the Beautiful Experience version, Come (18 & Over), Come (Remix) and Come (Techno Mix).

A song entitled Alone In The Dark was offered to the From Dusk ‘til Dawn movie soundtrack in 1995 and it may or may not be identical with the Dark remix So Dark, of which an edit was released on Crystal Ball in 1998.
Although the Come EP wasn’t released, that didn’t stop from working on yet another single from Come that wouldn’t see release. This time, the chosen song was Loose!. recorded a remix of Loose! entitled Loose Dub. It was renamed (Lemme See That Body) Get Loose! and credited to his alter ego Tora Tora when it appeared on a give-away NPG Artist Sampler cassette on The Gold Experience Tour in 1995. Another version of Loose Dub was released as Get Loose on Crystal Ball in 1998.

The final Come tracks
’s final TV-performances in 1994 were Peach at MTV Europe Music Awards, 24 November 1994, and Dolphin on CBS’ The Late Show With David Letterman, 13 December 1994. A home video of a 1993 Act II tour aftershow, The Sacrifice Of Victor, was released in March 1995, featuring a live version of Peach.
The European Gold Experience tour started 3 March 1995 and lasted until 31 March 1995. During the rest of 1995, gave concerts at Glam Slam Miami and at Paisley Park, before embarking on a Gold Experience tour of Japan 8 – 20 January 1996 and of Hawaii 17 – 19 February 1996. Endorphinmachine, Letitgo and (Lemme See That Body) Get Loose! were a fixed part of the set list, which occasionally also included Race, Dolphin, a playback of Orgasm and a shortened version of Peach with a changed second verse: “Summertime, feelin’ fine, here she come, lookin’ fine, here she come, dressed in gold, get her done, ‘fore she gets too old, her hot pants can’t hide her cheeks, she’s a peach.”
At aftershows, also occasionally played Come (18 & Over), Dark (with a sax solo by Eric Leeds) and Zannalee. At the end of the tour, disbanded The NPG, signaling the end of an era.
The Gold Experience had been released 26 September 1995 and it contained the Come-era tracks Endorphinmachine and Dolphin. Unfortunately for fans, had decided to ruin Endorphinmachine by remixing it and adding an annoying cowbell, and Mayte speaking Spanish at the end of it, before releasing it.
A similar fate befell Zannalee. A new, horribly overproduced version of it was released on Chaos And Disorder, 9 July 1996. had also changed the lyrics, leaving out the line “then we watch a movie, one o’ them dirty kinds.” This version was performed live on The Today Show on the day of the album release.
The final Come tracks to see the light of day was the full version of Interactive, Calhoun Square, What’s My Name and Strays Of The World on Crystal Ball in 1998. Thankfully, had not messed with those four, great tracks.
In 2005, a live version of Letitgo recorded at Paisley Park 22 October 1995 became available as a download from Prince’s now defunct NPG Music Club website.

Thanks to:
BorisFishpaw, Virgo, Gavin H., JediMaster, IstenSzek and Simonmillar

Sources:
Dan Glaister: The Singer vs. The Record Company, The Guardian, 3 March 1995
Michael Goldberg: Prince Retires - Maybe, Rolling Stone, 10 June 1993
Alex Hahn: Possessed – The Rise and Fall of Prince
Liz Jones: Purple Reign – The Artist Formerly Known As Prince
Janet di Lauro: Interview with Vanessa Marcil, Soap Opera Weekly, 21 September 1993
Alan di Perna: The Guitarist Formerly Known As Prince, Guitar World, November 1994
Prince In Print, http://princetext.tripod.com/
Leone Ross: Interview with , The Voice, 7 March 1995
Scififilmnerd: COME May 30th 1993 configuration: http://prince.org/msg/7/101499
Scififilmnerd: More evidence of COME 1993: http://prince.org/msg/7/105603
TTMAN: The original Come album configuration: http://prince.org/msg/7/141904" target="_blank"> http://prince.org/msg/7/141904
Uptown presents Days of Wild – A Documentary of Prince/

http://prince.org/msg/7/318315

Prince.org exclusive: Ultimate Gold Experience

PRINCE VS. WB: THE FANS LOST
Part 3: All that glitters ain’t Gold

By Scififilmnerd

The making of gold
After having completed his best tour in years, the Act II tour of Europe 26 July – 7 September 1993, was back at Paisley Park in Minneapolis. With Warner Bros. unwilling to release any new albums from him for the time being, Come and The Undertaker collected dust in the vault.
On 20 September 1993, recorded two new songs, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World and Slave 2 The Funk. It signaled the start of a new creative period for him. On 10 October 1993, he recorded Now, Ripopgodazippa and Shy, and during the rest of October Gold, Strawberries, 319 (25/10), Billy Jack Bitch, Chaos And Disorder, Right The Wrong, Acknowledge Me and Listen 2 The Rhythm followed.
319 has been said by former Prince dancer Cat to originally have been recorded at the Batman sessions in February/March 1989. composed Billy Jack Bitch along with Michael B. Nelson of The NPG Hornz. Chaos And Disorder and Right The Wrong were recorded on the same day. Listen 2 The Rhythm was originally recorded in the autumn/winter of 1989 during the Graffiti Bridge sessions.
While was busy in the studio, Tevin Campbell’s I’m Ready album was released 26 October 1993. It featured four Prince tracks, one of which was Shhh, which was based on a live recording at Olympic Studio in London, 18 June 1992, with most of The NPG. would soon reclaim the song.

Eligible bachelor seeks TMBGITW
On a trip to Paris, 10-22 November 1993, recorded Hide The Bone at the Guillome Tell studio. The track was co-written with Brenda Lee Eager and Hilliard Wilson. In 1996, another track co-written by this duo would surface – Somebody’s Somebody on Emancipation. It is possible that Somebody’s Somebody was actually recorded at the same time as Hide The Bone.
By now, had enough new songs to make up an album and in January 1994, rumors began to circulate that two albums were being readied for release in 1994. The first, Come, was to be an album by Prince, and the other, Gold, was to be a work by .
On 10 December 1993, had placed advertisements in the British and US press, including Entertainment Weekly, The Village Voice and New York Magazine. The ad read: “Eligible bachelor seeks the most beautiful girl in the world to spend the holidays with.”
It encouraged all interested to send videos and/or pictures to Paisley Park. The material sent in response to the advertisement was utilized in the video for The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, which was shot 22 January 1994, and on the single cover.

The end of the Paisley Park era
On 1 February 1994, Warner Bros. and Paisley Park Enterprises announced that they were terminating the Paisley Park Records label, a joint venture between and Warner Bros. since 1992. While under ’s sole aegis, the label could probably have survived for as long as he saw fit, but with Warner Bros. holding the purse strings, the financial burden proved too great. Apart from Prince releases, it hadn’t come up with a hit. Albums by Eric Leeds, Carmen Electra, Mavis Staples and George Clinton had all failed to catch fire. The plush offices in Century City, which he had never set foot in, were closed and its twelve staff laid off. “I did not get the feeling that it even mattered to him,” Marylou Badeau (Vice-President at Warner Bros.) recalled.
To replace the Paisley Park Records label as an outlet for side projects, formed NPG Records under his Paisley Park Enterprises umbrella.
Supposedly, a senior Warner Bros. executive told that he didn’t have it in him to make another hit record. Arguing that it wasn’t over saturation or the lack of quality that prevented Pink Cashmere and Peach from becoming hits, but rather the lack of support from Warner Bros., was allowed to release The Most Beautiful Girl In The World independently on NPG Records as part of the Paisley Park Records closedown agreement.
In early 1994, was working on making a movie entitled The Beautiful Experience which featured some of his new music. To coincide with the TV premiere of the movie, had hoped to release an EP of the same title that included seven songs from the movie. However, Warner Bros. would only allow him to release just one song, so The Beautiful Experience instead became an EP with seven different versions of the same song.

: The Most Beautiful Girl In The World single (early 1994)
1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Edit) (4:07)
2. Love 4 1 Another (3:43)

: The Beautiful Experience EP (early1994)
Track list unknown, but 7-tracks including Come and The Most Beautiful Girl In The World

One gold February
Love 4 1 Another was inspired by the 17 January 1994 earthquake in Los Angeles. It was renamed New World when it was finally released on Emancipation in 1996.
From 20 January and well into February 1994, continued to record new songs for the Gold project, including Days Of Wild, Now and Hate U. He also made a version of the Come track Interactive that included the NPG Operator, edited Acknowledge Me, making it shorter, added guitar to Gold and removed the drum machine from Shy.
The first known configuration of Gold, which like the Black Album was to be identified by its cover color, started out with two Come tracks:

: untitled (February 1994)
1. Come (4:49)
2. Endorphin Machine (3:51)
3. Hide The Bone
4. Chaos And Disorder (4:13)
5. Listen 2 The Rhythm
6. Now
7. Right The Wrong (4:42)
8. Acknowledge Me
9. Ripopgodazippa
10. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
11. 319
12. Shy (5:04)
13. Billy Jack Bitch
14. Hate U
15. Gold (7:38)

This configuration was the source of the Outtakes 1993-‘94 bootleg, which appeared in 2004. Judging from the six tracks that got bootlegged, there were no NPG Operator segues on this configuration. The person who had the six tracks was supposedly not happy about sharing them, which may explain why fans are still waiting for the rest of this configuration to appear.
In February 1994, also recorded a bunch of remixes of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World: Beautiful, Staxowax, Mustang Mix, Flutestramental, Sexy Staxophone And Guitar, Mustang Instrumental, Beautiful (Extended Club Version) and Beautiful Beats.
The studly Brian Gallagher of The NPG Hornz recorded a saxophone version, Brian’s Mix.

Release of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
On 13 February 1994, gave a concert at Paisley Park, which was later bought and broadcast by Radio Veronica in Holland. The concert was filmed and used in the Beautiful Experience TV movie. It included performances of Interactice (with NPG Operator), Days Of Wild (with NPG Operator), Now (with NPG Operator), The Jam by Graham Central Station and Shhh.
Tevin Campbell attended the show and legend has it that Campbell told to stop playing “his” song, Shhh. Supposedly, then went straight into the studio and recorded his own version of it, based on the live arrangement.
The day after, on 14 February 1994, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World was released as the first single by . He had stumped up $2 million of his own money and put the single out on his own NPG Records label. Warner Bros. stated that they were “accommodating ’s desire to experiment with independent distribution.”

: The Most Beautiful Girl In The World single (February 1994)
1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Edit) (4:07)
2. Beautiful (Edit) (3:57)

: The Most Beautiful Girl In The World UK 12” (February 1994)
1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Edit) (4:07)
2. Beautiful (Edit) (3:57)
3. Beautiful (Extended Club Version) (6:25)
4. Beautiful Beats (3:28)

The single became a huge world-wide success. It reached number three on the Billboard Pop Chart and number two on the R&B Chart. had pulled a hit out of the bag before, of course, but The Most Beautiful Girl In The World was especially satisfying for him. It not only proved to Warner Bros. that he could top the charts; he realized he didn’t need a major label anymore. Now he really had to get out of the contract with Warner Bros.

Box Talk 777
The largest TV and radio network in Holland, Radio Veronica, began broadcasting unreleased tracks 6 March 1994. They had purchased a tape containing:

: The radio tape (6 March 1994)
1. Interactive (with NPG Operator) (2:25)
2. NPG Operator/Days Of Wild (4:03)
3. The Beautiful Experience Medley (10:32)
4. NPG Operator/Now (4:46)
5. Acknowledge Me (5:28)
6. 319 (3:21)
7. Pheromone (4:36) – including lines that would end up in Poem

The Beautiful Experience Medley was of the remix versions of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World that would be released on The Beautiful Experience EP 17 May 1994. Pheromone was a Come track.
Subsequent broadcasts of the tape followed in several other European countries.
Meanwhile, recorded a new version of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World that would become the album version and filmed a live video of Mustang Mix intended for airing a month later on BBC’s Top Of The Pops TV show 30 April 1994.
’s dancer, Mayte, and band, The NPG, appeared on the music TV channel The Box in a segment entitled Box Talk 777. Mayte said: “This is the future: We’re gonna have a party (a snippet of Now was played) and we’ll invite all the the beautiful people. Then we’re gonna introduce three of our new experiences for them (snippets of Interactive, Days Of Wild and Shhh were played). Don’t worry, we WILL jam. (A snippet of The Jam was played). And after we release The Beautiful Experience on 14 different configurations, we’ll rehearse, book and perform the first worldwide interactive tour entitled Gold. Welcome to the dawn.”
Supposedly this meant that wanted to release The Most Beautiful Girl In The World in 14 different languages all at the same time. The French singer Ophelie Winter recorded a French version, Le plus beau garcon de tout l’univers, Kahoru Kohiruimaki recorded a Japanese version and Mayte’s Spanish ?Quieres ser el mas bello de este mundo?, was the B-side of her The Most Beautiful Boy In The World single in the spring of 1994. The number of planned covers may have been reduced to 12, but any other versions that may have been recorded remain unreleased.

Ripped off at The Dawn
The Beautiful Experience TV movie premiered on the British Sky One TV channel on 3 April 1994 followed by broadcasts in many other countries. Nona Gaye starred as a woman who decides to spend a Saturday night on ’s website, The Dawn, where she is ripped off: Only one song, Interactive (with NPG Operator), for $19.99!
Then she falls asleep and dreams of more songs for her money. In her dreams, she gets to interact with the website and hear Days Of Wild, The Jam, Shhh and Now from the 13 February 1994 concert at Paisley Park. She is also treated to the previously unreleased song Acknowledge Me (Video Edit) and the video for The Most Beautiful Girl In The World.
The Jam was the kind of song where, if you had to go to the bathroom or order a pizza like the character in the movie, this was the time to do it, but the rest of the songs were first rate, particularly Acknowlegde Me. It had a cool dance video starring Mayte and sexy choreographer Jamie King and was slated to be the follow-up single to The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, if such a thing had been possible.
Meanwhile, had been busy in the studio, recording Love Sign with co-lead vocal by Nona Gaye, What It Is…, Strength and a 19 minutes cover of The Rolling Stones’ Angie.
The lyrics for What It Is… were printed in Uptown #13:

What It Is…
To know the Way,
We go the Way
We do the Way
The way we do
The things we do.
It’s all there in front of you,
But if you try too hard to see it,
You’ll only become Confused

I am me,
And you are you,
As you can see;
But when you do
The things that you can do,
You will find the Way,
And the Way will follow you.

The one and only Gold review
On 9 April 1994, previewed four of his new experiences on Soul Train, lip-synching to The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Mustang Mix), Now and Acknowledge Me, plus Love Sign guest-starring Nona Gaye.
Then, later in April, made a new configuration of the Gold Album, pressed on CD and with hand-drawn cover art:

: The Gold Album (April 1994)
1. Strength
2. Ripopgodazippa
3. Interactive
4. Space
5. Endorphin Machine
6. Days Of Wild
7. Now
8. Angie (The Rolling Stones)
9. 319
10. The Jam (Graham Central Station)
11. Gold

This configuration included segues, like the tagline “all respect to Larry Graham” before The Jam and a bit of the Coca Cola theme before Gold, as well as three tracks from Come, which seemed strange because he also made an individual configuration of Come in April.
brought a copy of the album and a copy of Come with him to Monaco, where he played some of the tracks to journalist Alan Light from Vibe on 2 May 1994. Alan Light had this to say about The Gold Album: “The songs are stripped-down, taut, funky as hell, full of sex and bite. Days of Wild is a dense, Atomic Dog-style jam with multiple, interlocking bass lines. Now is a bouncing party romp; 319 is rocking, roaring, and dirty; and Ripopgodazippa is just dirty. This album is more experimental, more surprising structurally and sonically (than Come). Hearing the two albums back-to-back, it's clear that the Prince album may be more commercial than 's, but it's also more conventional--as conventional as he gets, anyway.”
Alan Light continued: “His album covers used to include the phrase “May U live 2 see the dawn.” This album opens with the words “Welcome 2 the dawn.” (…) “We talked earlier about the title track to The Gold Album, which members of his entourage were raving about but he didn't play for me. He said then that he's worried about playing some of the new songs because the bootleggers will have them out on the market before he will.”
Despite this reservation, played Gold anyway during one of the concerts he played in Monaco and Paris while in Europe. He also played Interactive, Days Of Wild/Hair by Graham Central Station and Now/Babies Makin’ Babies by Sly And The Family Stone in a row – all three tracks including the NPG Operator, as well as Acknowledge Me and The Jam.
On 4 May 1994, appeared at the TV transmitted World Music Awards in Monaco, lip-synching to the version of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World that later became the album version.
A rehearsal at the Canal+ studios in Paris, 6 May 1994, included instrumental performances of 319, Shy, Billy Jack Bitch and Acknowledge Me by The NPG before himself joined them on Acknowledge Me and an instrumental version of Ripopgodazippa.

Gold becomes The Gold Experience
received the Living Legend Award at the fourth annual Celebrate The Soul Of American Music Awards in Los Angeles, 7 May 1994. In his thank you speech, said: “One child got free (The Most Beautiful Girl In The World) and it was truly a beautiful experience. I’m very grateful to Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker at Warner Brothers for that opportunity. Perhaps one day all the powers that are will realize that it’s better to let a man be all that he can be than to try to limit his output to just what they can handle. “Our sources tell us that there’s just too much music.” Well, my sources, all of you, tell me to be all I can be. For this I am eternally grateful.”
Then he went back home and transformed Gold into The Gold Experience. Billy Jack Bitch and Hate U were edited for length and Gold had the NPG Operator added in the process. The cover was printed in Uptown #21.

: The Gold Experience (May 1994)
1. NPG Operator (0:11)
2. Interactive (3:03)
3. NPG Operator (0:05)
4. Days Of Wild (3:46)
5. NPG Operator (0:17)
6. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:25)
7. NPG Operator (0:20)
8. Now (4:30)
9. Acknowledge Me (5:27)
10. Ripopgodazippa (4:39)
11. NPG Operator (0:17)
12. 319 (3:19)
13. NPG Operator (0:09)
14. Shy (5:03)
15. Billy Jack Bitch (5:31)
16. Hate U (5:53)
17. NPG Operator (0:44)
18. Gold (7:22)

On 17 May 1994, The Beautiful Experience EP was released. It peaked at number 92 on the Pop Chart and number 29 on the R&B Chart.

: The Beautiful Experience EP (May 1994)
1. Beautiful (5:55)
2. Staxowax (5:14)
3. Mustang Mix (6:19)
4. Flutestramental (3:35)
5. Sexy Staxophone And Guitar (3:54)
6. Mustang Instrumental (3:23)
7. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:37)

A US promo CD and 12” release contained Staxowax, Mustang Mix, Brian’s Mix, Beautiful and Original Mix.

The Love Experience
delivered The Gold Experience into Warner Bros. around the same time as Come, 19 May 1994. He proposed that Warner Bros. should release Come by “Prince” and, a few weeks later, The Gold Experience by “,” and he wanted both to count toward the fulfillment of his contract. The idea didn’t meet with much enthusiasm, however. Flooding the market with material was exactly what the executives wanted to avoid. Nor were they optimistic about releasing music with an unpronounceable symbol, rather than the powerful “Prince” trademark on the front cover. They agreed to release Come and they would be happy to release The Gold Experience, but at the appropriate time.
then embarked upon a summer tour of clubs in Minneapolis, Miami, Los Angeles and New York dubbed The Love Experience. The tour lasted from 28 May to 26 July 1994 and included performances of Interactive (short), Days Of Wild/Hair, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, Hide The Bone, Now/Babies Makin’ Babies, Acknowledge Me, Ripopgodazippa, 319 (extended), Billy Jack Bitch, Gold, Mustang Mix, The Jam, Shhh and Love Sign with Nona Gaye. During the final show played the newly recorded Pussy Control from record.

The Love Sign war
While was on tour, promotional copies of Love Sign were delivered to US radio stations in June 1994. Warner Bros. was very unhappy about it, since the record company felt they had an agreement with that he would not release the song separately from the 1-800 NEW FUNK album, in any configuration. It would be in conflict with their single release from Come, Letitgo, which he had refused to shoot a video for. Instead, had shot a video for Love Sign and had produced a single containing seven remixes of the song by Teddy Riley, Mack and Shock G.
“I said, OK, listen, there are people shooting and killing each other in the ‘hood,” told Q in 1995, “and I think I can do something about it, and put some money in, and maybe that would be more important than what’s in your Billboard chart this week. They (Warner Bros.) said no.”
Regardless, The Love Sign video premiered on BET 27 June 1994, and 12 July 1994 performed the song with Nona Gaye on NBC-TV’s The Today Show. The single wasn’t allowed release, though, so the only place to get the song was on the 1-800 NEW FUNK album, which was released on NPG Records 12 August 1994. Love Sign was the only song on the album that was attributed to (as a duet with Nona Gaye). The rest of the tracks were performed by associated artists.
gave the album his full support and placed an advertisement in Billboard. Still, the album failed to enter Billboard’s Pop Chart, although it got to number 45 on the R&B Chart. Despite the moderate chart success, ’s organization claimed that 1-800 NEW FUNK sold gold (500.000 copies).
But ’s lack of commitment to the Come album, released 16 August 1994, in favor of the 1-800 NEW FUNK project had infuriated many Warner Bros. top-level executives.

Changing the experience
In September 1994, and Warner Bros. tentatively agreed that The Gold Experience was going to be released about a week before Christmas 1994. The plan was to release it on the Tommy Boy label in the US and East West in other territories. Both labels were wholly owned by Warner Bros. The arrangement would allow to work with a smaller label and enable him to get the album out without letting Warner Bros. handle the marketing and promotion.
The verbal agreement was never formalized into writing, however, and, in the end, decided that he didn’t want to go ahead with the plans. One reason being that the record would not count towards the four albums he still owed Warner Bros.
During September and October 1994 made some changes to The Gold Experience. He decided to replace Interactive with Pussy Control, now edited for length, and removed two great tracks, Acknowledge Me and Ripopgodazippa, in order to make room for the weaker, newly recorded We March and Shhh, which Warner Bros. had asked for (for Come) in May.
Finally, he included two Come tracks, Endorphinmachine and Dolphin. Both were updated before inclusion.

: The Gold Experience (September/October 1994)
1. P. Control (5:59)
2. NPG Operator (0:12)
3. Endorphinmachine (4:07)
4. Shhh! (7:18)
5. We March (?)
6. NPG Operator (0:05)
7. Days Of Wild (3:46)
9. NPG Operator (0:18)
10. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:25)
11. Dolphin (4:59)
12. NPG Operator (0:20)
13. Now (4:30)
14. NPG Operator (0:14)
15. 319 (3:19)
16. NPG Operator (0:10)
17. Shy (5:04)
18. Billy Jack Bitch (5:32)
19. Hate U (5:54)
20. NPG Operator (0:45)
21. Gold (7:23)

Continued...

Black instead of Gold
On 13 October 1994, a press release by ’s PR company stated that had reached the point of no return with Warner Bros. and that due to the conflict the fans may never get to hear The Gold Experience. “He now feels that his much publicized $100 million deal may have just been a way to lock him into institutionalized slavery.”

was “anxious to turn in the four albums left on his contract and walk away from a situation which is causing him considerable stress, both creatively and emotionally.” Soon after the press release, NPG Records began passing out flyers and posting messages on the Internet with the release date of “never” for The Gold Experience, asking fans to continue to petition Warner Bros. to release the album.

The flyers included the new track listing for The Gold Experience.

Still, less than two weeks later, 25 October 1994, signed an agreement with Warner Bros. to release the Black Album. The release was instigated by the record label, whose publicist Bob Merlis said that they had wanted to put it out for years. The initial deal proposed to provided for Warner Bros. to pay him $4 million upfront for the release of the Black Album in November 1994 and The Gold Experience in early 1995. The deal further stipulated that would record a soundtrack to a to-be-determined Warner Bros. film. The three album deal would count as two albums toward the remaining four albums of ’s contract. ’s attorney was en route to the record company to pick up the cheque and sign off on the papers when had a last-minute change of mind about the deal, ostensibly about wanting more money. The attorney advised him that it was a very good deal and that he would not be able to get more money from the label. The deal was subsequently cancelled and ’s attorney quit a week later.

The discussions coincided with a turnover in Warner Bros.’ top management, with Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin leaving the record company, which restricted their power to make deals. Still, they were able to rescue the Black Album from the original three-album deal. received approximately $1 million. However, discussions about the release of The Gold Experience had to be postponed until early 1995 when the new Warner Bros. regime had moved in.

The Black Album was released 22 November 1994. ’s publicist, Karen Lee, said that he was “spiritually against” the album and that he had been forced to sign the agreement. It reached number 47 on the Pop Chart and number 18 on the R&B Chart.

Warner Bros.’ slave
released a promo video for Dolphin and on 13 December 1994, he performed the song on CBS’ The Late Show With David Letterman. Like in the video, had “slave” written on his cheek. When David Letterman presented the performance, he said: “The song he will be doing for us tonight is from this CD right here, which is entitled The Gold Experience, and I’m told this particular CD will never be released. So it makes perfect sense that he is here promoting it tonight.”

Meanwhile, Danny Goldberg, former manager of Nirvana, was appointed chairman of Warner Bros. Records. While there was little basis for assuming that Goldberg would be easier to deal with, the shift in regimes offered the potential of a fresh start.

In early 1995, offered the new board on Warner Bros. a live-set that along with the release of The Gold Experience would fulfill his contract, after which he would release an acoustic set called Heart on NPG Records. However, would not allow Warner Bros. to keep the master tapes for The Gold Experience, so no deal was made.

On 12 February 1995, it was confirmed that there would be songs in the Paul Verhoeven-directed film Showgirls, due for release by MGM/United Artists in September 1995. It was reported that had contributed four songs to the project, but in the end only two, 319 and Ripopgodazippa, appeared in the film. Warner Bros. only granted a licence to use the songs in the film, not on the soundtrack album.

, who now never appeared in public without “slave” written on his cheek, received the award for Best International Artist at the Brit Awards, 20 February 1995. In his thank you speech, he said: “Prince: Best? The Gold Experience: Better. In concert: Perfectly free. On record: Slave.”

The Ultimate Live Experience?
On 1 March 1995, gave several interviews to newspapers and music and entertainment publications while in London. “I could give Warners four albums tomorrow but they don’t want that,” he told New Musical Express. “I’m going to stay on the road until the contract ends. I’ve already booked a show for Madison Square Garden in 1998. I can keep touring until then. I love being on stage, I love playing and I’m strong enough. I never get tired.”

On BBC TV’s The Sunday Show, 5 March 1995, there was a transmission of performing Billy Jack Bitch live from Wembley Arena, where the European Gold Experience tour had started 3 March 1995. It was advertised as The Ultimate Live Experience and lasted until 31 March 1995. The set-list included Endorphinmachine, The Jam, Shhh, Days Of Wild/Hair, Now/Babies Makin’ Babies, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, Pussy Control, Gold and at most shows a medley of Billy Jack Bitch, Hate U and 319. Dolphin made a rare appearance. At aftershows, also played Beautiful Girl.

Some critics bemoaned the lack of hits being played at the shows and focusing on the unheard and unknown The Gold Experience instead, while fans cherished the opportunity to hear ’s new music.
At the first show in London, 3 March 1995, gave a speech. He said: “I’m gonna start this motherfucker like I intend to finish – in London, 1999!”
“Since the last time I’ve seen you,” he continued, “I made seven albums, what do you think about that? Contrary to rumor it’s all good.”
Those seven albums were probably Come, The Gold Experience, The New Power Generation: Exodus, Madhouse: 24, Mayte: Latino Barbie Doll, Heart and Chaos And Disorder.

Back home at Paisley Park, assembled a new configuration of the Mayte album, now titled Child Of The Sun, on 5 May 1995. It included a new version of Listen 2 The Rhythm, now retitled The Rhythm Of Your and featuring a rap by . An edit without the rap appeared on the final configuration that was released on 27 November 1995.

The Remix Experiences
On 12 May 1995, met with Warner Bros. new top management. The meeting led and Warner Bros. to settle their differences, at least for the time being. Danny Goldberg agreed to release The Gold Experience, plus The NPG: Exodus in the US. In turn, Goldberg believed he had extracted from a commitment to stop bashing the label in public.

Although Goldberg had not committed to any specific timetable for releasing the new albums, assumed they would be rushed out almost immediately. When this failed to happen, he believed he had been misled. He felt that Goldberg did not understand him or his music and “slave” remained emblazoned on his face.

Before turning The Gold Experience over to Warner Bros., removed Days Of Wild from the album and up-dated We March, but otherwise it remained the same as the September/October 1994 configuration.

: The Gold Experience (May 1995)
1. P. Control (5:59)
2. NPG Operator (0:12)
3. Endorphinmachine (4:07)
4. Shhh! (7:18)
5. We March (4:49)
6. NPG Operator (0:18)
7. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:25)
8. Dolphin (4:59)
9. NPG Operator (0:20)
10. Now (4:30)
11. NPG Operator (0:31)
12. 319 (3:05)
13. NPG Operator (0:10)
14. Shy (5:04)
15. Billy Jack Bitch (5:32)
16. Hate U (5:54)
17. NPG Operator (0:45)
18. Gold (7:23)

While Eric Leeds had done a new version of Brian’s Mix, Beautiful Girl, which had been released on the Get Wild single in Europe, and a Quiet Night Mix of Hate U, had recorded Hate U (Extended Remix), Pussy Control (House Mix) and Pussy Control (Club Mix) by 13 June 1995, intended for a The Hate Experience EP.

: The Hate Experience EP (1995)
Track list unknown, but includes remixes of Hate U and Pussy Control

celebrated his 2nd birthday by giving a couple of concerts at Glam Slam Miami 7-8 June 1995. He played the same Gold tracks as on the European tour, but now Days Of Wild no longer included Hair and Now no longer included Babies Makin’ Babies. Supposedly, the birthday show was recorded for a possible live release.

: The Live Experience (June 1995)
Track list unknown, but recorded live at Glam Slam Miami, Florida, 7 June 1995

Prior to 8 July 1995 also worked on remixes and edits of The Gold Experience songs for a “soundtrack” to a Versace fashion show during Paris Fashion Days 8-10 July 1995.

: The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold) cassette (8 July 1995)
1. P. Control (Club Mix) (Edit) (3:04)
2. Shhh! (Edit) (3:54)
3. N.P.G.: Get Wild (In The House Mix) (Edit) (2:14)*
4. Hate U (Remix) (3:28)* - combines Hate U (Quiet Night Mix) & Hate U (Extended Remix)
5. 319 (Edit) (1:28)
6. Shy (Edit) (2:22)
7. Billy Jack Bitch (Remix Edit) (2:31)
8. Madhouse: Sonny T. Segue (Edit) (0:28)
9. Madhouse: Rootie Kazootie (Edit) (2:37)
10. Chatounette Controle (2:24)
11. P. Control (Control Tempo Edit) (1:23) - the outro of P. Control (House Mix)
12. The NPG Orchestra: Kamasutra Overture #5 (0:43) – later renamed Serotonin
13. N.P.G.: Free The Music (Edit) (1:44)
14. Segue (0:49) – remix of NPG Operator preceding TMBGITW on The Gold Experience
15. Gold (Edit) (3:39)

What happened to Days Of Wild?
In mid-July 1995 ’s dancer Mayte was interviewed by Uptown and was asked about why Days Of Wild was no longer on The Gold Experience. “That was taken out, because we have other plans for this song,” she answered. “The flow of the album is really good (now).”
She revealed that had also re-done We March: “He changed the music. It sounds much better (now).”

During the rest of 1995, gave a series of Love 4 One Another concerts at Paisley Park. Besides the usual Gold tracks, he occasionally played Dolphin and added We March to his live repertoire.

In their September 1995 issue, Esquire Gentleman printed an interview with . It was revealed that he had been working on an Emancipation album of maybe fifty new songs, which would be his first album when he was free. He said that his heart and perhaps his best work were in Emancipation.
This came as a big surprise to people at Warner Bros. No one knew about it and ’s statements in the interview regarding his “slavery” were seen as a breach of his agreement to stop attacking the label. Warner Bros. officials cancelled the US release of Exodus in retaliation, but the first single from The Gold Experience, Hate U, was released as planned 12 September 1995. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Pop Chart and number 3 on the R&B Chart despite there being no video to support the single. A maxi-single was released the following week, 19 September 1995.

: Hate U - The Hate Experience (September 1995)
1. Hate U (7” Edit w/o Guitar) (3:50)
2. Hate U (Album Edit) (4:26)
3. Hate U (Quiet Night Mix By Eric Leeds) (3:55)
4. Hate U (Extended Remix) (6:17)
5. Hate U (Album Version) (5:58) – without NPG Operator

On the day of the Hate U single release, 12 September 1995, recorded Rock’n’Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis), which would become the B-side of the next single, Gold.

Release of The Gold Experience
Warner Bros. claimed that the release of The Gold Experience had been rescheduled twice because failed to deliver the master tapes, but on 26 September 1995 it finally saw the light of day. It has since been speculated by fans that was actually allowed to keep the masters for the album because of its failure to stay in print like his other Warner Bros. albums.

Although fans would have preferred to get the May 1994 configuration with Interactive, Acknowledge Me and Ripopgodazippa, The Gold Experience was still a pretty good release despite its impact being diluted by its much delayed release. With already having promoted and toured in support of the album, fans already knew most of the songs on the album by heart.

The title of Pussy Control had been changed to P. Control to avoid controversy from retailers who may have refused to sell the album with the word “pussy” printed on the packaging, but the record’s commercial performance still ended up being considered disastrous: Only 530.000 units were sold in the United States, with the album reaching number 6 on the Pop Chart and number 2 on the R&B chart.

Critics generally approved of The Gold Experience, calling it ’s best album since Sign ‘O’ The Times. “The Gold Experience may not be the deepest collection of songs Prince has offered, but it's certainly the loosest - and the most accessible - in quite some time,” wrote Tom Moon in Philadelphia Enquirer. “The Gold Experience is a Prince experience par excellence,” concluded Vibe Magazine. “The Gold Experience fully redeems as the ruler of his wildly imaginative, funky, sexy kingdom” said Vickie Gilmer in St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Danny Kelly of Q was a little less enthusiastic: “After a succession of breathtaking albums in the '80s, his output has been characterized by aimlessness.”

He concluded that The Gold Experience “is still no Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day or Sign ‘O’ The Times, but the gem-to-lint ratio is altogether healthier.”

The final Gold tracks
On 25 November 1995, revealed at a Paisley Park party that he had actually made a video for Hate U, but for some strange reason he had decided not to release it to the general public. A promo video was released for his next single, though. Gold was released 30 November 1995, but it only reached number 88 on the Pop Chart and number 92 on the R&B Chart.

: Gold single (November 1995)
1. Gold (Edit) (4:43)
2. Rock And Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis) (4:34)
3. Hate U (Extended Remix) (6:17)

On 3 December 1995, lip-synched P. Control (House Mix) on VH-1’s Fashion And Music Awards. A cassette with the remixes of P. Control was handed out for free to the VIPs. A version of P. Control (Club Mix) with a different beginning than the version on the cassette was released on the 1998 Crystal Ball collection.

: P. Control cassette (December 1995)
1. House Mix (5:47)
2. Club Mix (6:02)

Around November 1995, made a new version of Mustang Mix co-produced by Ricky Peterson and remixed by Tom Tucker entitled Mustang Mix ’96. A single was made up intended for a Valentine’s Day 1996 release, but that ended up not happening.

: The Most Beautiful Girl In The World ’96 Mix single (late 1995)
1. Mustang Mix ´96 (4:25)
2. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:37)

In early 1996, resumed The Gold Experience tour, this time in Japan 8 – 20 January 1996 and on Hawaii 17 – 19 February 1996. Endorphinmachine and Shhh were now played as a brief medley and P. Control was played in a short medley with Get Wild like in P. Control (House Mix).

On 27 January 1996, VH-1 broadcast the premiere of Love 4 One Another, a TV movie resembling The Beautiful Experience TV film with dramatic scenes interspersed between live performances and videos. Love 4 One Another included videos for Gold and Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis), as well as live performances of Days Of Wild and The Jam filmed at a concert at Paisley Park 28 October 1995.

The film caused quite a stir amongst ’s fans because he stated that “fan” was short for “fanatic” upon looking it up in a dictionary. It wasn’t until 1998 that redeemed himself a little by releasing Acknowledge Me, Ripopgodazippa and Hide The Bone on the Crystal Ball collection, which also included a live version of Days Of Wild. It was an edit of a 9 December 1995 performance at Paisley Park.

In 2002, Prince recorded a new live version of Days Of Wild at a concert in Montreal. It was released as a single.

In 2005, a live version of We March recorded at Paisley Park 22 October 1995 became available as a download from Prince's now defunct NPG Music Club website.

Thanks to:
Virgo, BorisFishpaw, Gavin H., JediMaster, Groovement, Neversin and Hamsterhuey

Sources:
Julie Baumgold: Glitter Slave, Esquire Gentleman, Fall 1995
David Cavanagh: Sign Here…, Q, 1995
Axel Engelhardt: Child Of The Sun – an interview with Mayte, Uptown #21
Alex Hahn: Possessed – The Rise And Fall Of Prince
Liz Jones: Purple Reign – The Artist Formerly Known As Prince
Harold Lewis with David Irving: Everybody Wants 2 Sell What’s Already Been Sold, Uptown #20
Prince In Print: http://princetext.tripod.com/
Andy Richardson: My Name Isn’t Prince And I Am Funky, NME, 11 March 1995
Scififilmnerd: More evidence of COME 1993: http://prince.org/msg/7/105603
TTMAN: The original Come album configuration: http://prince.org/msg/7/141904
Uptown Presents Days Of Wild – A Documentary Of Prince/

Part 1:
The Come(back) album that never happened: http://prince.org/msg/7/317254

Part 2:
No records allowed, only videos: http://prince.org/msg/7/317534

Part 4:
Slave to the system: http://prince.org/msg/5/319042

Part 5:
Chaos and disorder: http://prince.org/msg/7/319752

Part 6:
Free at last!: http://prince.org/msg/7/342786

Appendix 1:
List of unreleased Prince album configurations: http://prince.org/msg/7/319757

Appendix 2:
List of unreleased Associated Artists album configurations: http://prince.org/msg/5/319895

Appendix 3:
List of chronological Prince recordings: http://prince.org/msg/7/320445

and again squirrelgrease wowed me