Instead of shelving the black album at the last minute in favor of lovesexy....

What if P had released them together as a double album?

Anyone here think that it would have been a cool marketing move?

It's how the lovesexy tour was set up anyway...with the dark first half followed by the positive second half.

Cool, but unfeasable. He *just* released one double album that was under-promoted and left to flail in the wind, doubt WB would let him release another so soon (especially since they turned down the 3LP of Crystal Ball, and were proved right).

Thematically it works fantastically though.

That would have been great.

While we're rewriting history I'd have got him to release Dream Factory simultaneously with a version of the Camille album.

I'm well aware that half the songs for Camille wouldn't have even been written if the Revolution hadn't split but WHATEVER.

I've always seen them as two sides of the same coin.

But the fact that they are opposites in so many ways makes it perfect that one was released, one was not. Listening to the "evil" Black Album behind the haze of a bootleg tape copy made it all the more interesting.

as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what he DID do... You just had to hunt down the second disc. He successfully released 2 albums the year after SOTT... It's just that one wasn't released via WB. Looking back now, it's a fantastic viral marketing campaign, way before its time.

jaawwnn said:

That would have been great.

While we're rewriting history I'd have got him to release Dream Factory simultaneously with a version of the Camille album.

I'm well aware that half the songs for Camille wouldn't have even been written if the Revolution hadn't split but WHATEVER.

Most of the Camille music was written during the Parade/Dream Factory years

Camille is an unreleased album by Prince, recorded in 1986. The album was planned to consist of 8 tracks recorded by the singer in a funky, sped up vocal. The album was to be released under the name Camille (who would not be pictured on the cover) and not as a Prince album. The album was canceled weeks prior to its release and most of the tracks were incorporated into the unreleased album Crystal Ball, which evolved into Sign "☮" the Times. Most of the music has been released officially in some form or another, however, one song, "Rebirth of the Flesh" remains unreleased in its original form. In 2001, a live rehearsal of "Rebirth of the Flesh" recorded with the Sign "☮" the Times band was released on Prince's Web site. This version, however, had profanity edited from the lyrics.

Camille(vocal songs)

Cosmic Day Crystal Ball Play In the Sunshine

"Rebirth of the Flesh": Prince recorded this song at Sunset Sound on October 28, 1986, on the same day as "Rockhard in a Funky Place". When the Camille album was shelved, the song was slated for inclusion on Prince's next album project, Crystal Ball. It was going to be the opening track segueing into "Play in the Sunshine". "Housequake": released unedited on Sign "☮" the Times. "Strange Relationship": Reworked from the Dream Factory sessions and released unedited on Sign "☮" the Times. "Feel U Up": This outtake was recorded toward the end of 1981 and was taped in sequence with "Irresistible Bitch". Both songs were re-recorded later. "Feel U Up" was re-recorded in 1986 and the lyrics of both recordings are very similar. The track was finally released in 1989 as the B-side of "Partyman".

Side two

"Shockadelica": Originally written (unsolicited) by Prince in response to Jesse Johnson's then-forthcoming album titled Shockadelica (1986) because that album had no song to match/complement what Prince felt was such a great album title. "Shockadelica" was later included as a B-side of "If I Was Your Girlfriend".

"Good Love": Later released on the Bright Lights, Big City film soundtrack in 1988.

"If I Was Your Girlfriend": released with an added intro on Sign "☮" the Times.

"Rockhard in a Funky Place": Included on The Black Album (1987) project, which was ultimately released in 1994. Susannah Melvoin is co-lead on this track

Two other songs were credited to Camille after the album project was abandoned. The first was "Scarlet Pussy", which was released as the B-side of the 1988 single "I Wish U Heaven" featuring a black label with the artist Camille credited in deep peach. Also, "U Got the Look", which appeared on Sign "☮" the Times and was also released as a single. The video was recorded in France while Prince was on tour and the video was later added into the film Sign "☮" the Times.

If Lovesesy had been more commercially crafted album, and hit with at least two singles, then the Black Album would have been sought and shared by more casul fans.

The promotion was pretty good for the Black Album considering it wasn't even released. Rolling Stone put out a blurb describing it that really intrigued me, even talking about Bob George.

And then it ended up on celebrity best of lists later on in Rolling Stones. Including The Edge and Bono's lists.

Black Album was potentially an album that would have attracted an entire new male audience to Prince, and I base this on the reaction of my friends at the time, who hated Lovesexy, were not really into Batman, but loved the Black Album enought to ask me for taped copies.

The aggressive dark funky energy and cussing and especially the novelty of Bob George was genius sugar to the ears.

As much as I think it would have been a great idea, to release both as a set, and play them off against each other as in a drak versus light scenario.

But it was 1987/88 and Prince's commercial stock had taken a 80% decline from Purple Rain. Warners barely let SOTT fly after the 3cd idea. So its unlikely that they would allow Prince to release a new 2cd set so soon after a magnificent album that was a critical and fan favourite but its commercial success, whilst good was not the blockbuster of Purple Rain and actually less successful than ATWIAD and Parade.

Warners in 1988 were just not on Prince's side, they were burned by his flops as much as his hits, already since Purple Rain we had the flops of America, Anotherloverholenyohead and the disatorous single choice If I was ur girlfriend. As great as they songs are, they were too complex and strange for the 80s teeny bopper record buyers. Also the flopitude of Under the Cherry Moon and the deluge of lesser quality as well as great material worried Warners greatly.

So fans would have loved it, but the record company hated it, and Lovesexy the more commercial of the two discs was a flop compared to the previous 4 albums, the Black Album would have been an even bigger flop if it had been released then. It would have done well in Europe and the East, but we all know that in the USA, Alphabet street scraped into the Top 10 (It was a number one smash here in New Zealand) and then the next two single missed the chart completely, the first time since Do Me Baby back in early 1982. The album which was Number one in GB and Europe only reached 10 or 11 in the States and failed to ship platinum.

With the Black album, it would have been a 2 album set with only 16 tracks and even if AS was the single it may have reached the same, but as an album it would have reached lower like in the 20s, especially when they saw the material on Loveblacksexy was more marginal and tracks like Bob George and Dead on it, would have been viewed as filler.

For me it worked out great.

In 88 I got Lovesexy, watched the Dortmund gig on TV in Europe in Aug 88, loved it...

He played a couple of Black Album tracks on the tour, in effect promoting it..

In early 1989, I ordered a copy of The Black Album from a mail order...

The Black Album vinyl boot was on my doorstep one morning...

So for most of 1989, that was my new Prince record, after Lovesexy it flowed great...

Then Batman came out... and my year turned into a Batman year...

So for me, the order and transition was perfect.

I spent much of 88 still into SOTT, so usually in the Prince world, you have 2 albums a year to get into, the previous year's and the current..

Thats how it went down for me..

[Edited 7/10/12 18:09pm]

Adorecream said:

As much as I think it would have been a great idea, to release both as a set, and play them off against each other as in a drak versus light scenario.

But it was 1987/88 and Prince's commercial stock had taken a 80% decline from Purple Rain. Warners barely let SOTT fly after the 3cd idea. So its unlikely that they would allow Prince to release a new 2cd set so soon after a magnificent album that was a critical and fan favourite but its commercial success, whilst good was not the blockbuster of Purple Rain and actually less successful than ATWIAD and Parade.

Warners in 1988 were just not on Prince's side, they were burned by his flops as much as his hits, already since Purple Rain we had the flops of America, Anotherloverholenyohead and the disatorous single choice If I was ur girlfriend. As great as they songs are, they were too complex and strange for the 80s teeny bopper record buyers. Also the flopitude of Under the Cherry Moon and the deluge of lesser quality as well as great material worried Warners greatly.

So fans would have loved it, but the record company hated it, and Lovesexy the more commercial of the two discs was a flop compared to the previous 4 albums, the Black Album would have been an even bigger flop if it had been released then. It would have done well in Europe and the East, but we all know that in the USA, Alphabet street scraped into the Top 10 (It was a number one smash here in New Zealand) and then the next two single missed the chart completely, the first time since Do Me Baby back in early 1982. The album which was Number one in GB and Europe only reached 10 or 11 in the States and failed to ship platinum.

With the Black album, it would have been a 2 album set with only 16 tracks and even if AS was the single it may have reached the same, but as an album it would have reached lower like in the 20s, especially when they saw the material on Loveblacksexy was more marginal and tracks like Bob George and Dead on it, would have been viewed as filler.

I think you might be wrong... I could play Le Grind or Bob George for people that didn't give a shit about SOTT (outside of Housequake and the title track) and they loved it. In fact friends that didn't even like Prince liked the Black Album. Try to play them Lovesexy and they would actually be repulsed outside of maybe Dance On's crazy sound. Most people I know didn't care for Lovesexy's sound. It wasn't about Prince himself. It was about the sound and vibe of a track or an album.

I still remember one guy asking me when the Batman album came out if it was as good as the Black Album cassette he had asked for and worn out, I said it was way more pop, and he listened to a bit of it, and did not care for a copy. This was a very macho, white, mainstream guy. The kind of guy who told me "Tequila Sunrise" was a favorite movie of his.

There's was an entire new audience potential that was lost by not putting out the Black Album. These are the same people who would be so amused by Tone Loc, 2 Live Crew, NWA, Beastie Boys, etc.

The Black Album was the one Prince album that approached that kind of more macho vibe (at least for Prince).