My ex-girlfriend wasn't too concerned with including publishing information in the scrapbook she made, so, I have no idea where this one is from.

(It was still very sweet of her!)

'Black Album' Vs. 'Lovesexy'

By someone called Kezi

unknown publication or date (1988)

"A Listening to 'The Black Album' reveals it to be primarily a loose, party-time set, featuring distorted, sped-up voices and several numbers that evolve into extended jams, sounding a lot like Prince's live show. It is certainly more direct in its sexual imagery than 'Lovesexy,' from the playful teasings of the falsetto workout 'Cindy C' to the blunt come-on in ' Superfunkycalifragisexy.' Still, 'Lovesexy's' one 'Black Album' holdover, the sensual ballad 'When 2 R In Love,' does contain the lines 'The thought of his tongue in the V of her love/In his mind this leads the pack.'

There's also a playfulness about being black on the LP, from the title of the instrumental '2 Nigs United 4 West Compton' to the supposed putdowns of rappers on 'Dead On It' ('Negroes from Brooklyn play the bass pretty good/But the ones from Minneapolis play it like it oughta should'). Only 'Bob George' seems to be deadly serious, featuring a tough-talking gangster type who bosses women around and makes threatening phone calls.

'Lovesexy' is a more serious, introspective work (regardless of its cover art, featuring the singer as a nearly nude sprite residing in a flower). 'Anna Stesia' is especially provocative, returning to Prince's ongoing attempts to reconcile his love of women with love of God, while 'Dance On,' attempting the kind of social commentary found on 'Sign O' The Times,' falls flat.

End result of listening to the two albums is a wish that the artist had leavened 'Lovesexy' with some of the wild abandon of 'Black Album.' In any event, Prince's prolific and whimsically controversial behavior woud seem a cinch to keep the public interested in him." - Kezi.

One more for good measure... just to make my point that providing information that leads people to seek out bootlegs is not and should not be illegal.

another one with no publication or date information attached...

Bootlegged Prince 'Black Album' Competes In Stores With Latest

By Kevin Zimmerman

unknown publication

unknown date (Spring 1988)

"A funny thing happened on the eve of the release of Prince's current album, 'Lovesexy:' bootleg copies of his previously promised but never released 'The Black Album' began appearing in mass quantities overseas and, eventually in New York.

The timing seemed particularly intriguing. 'The Black Album,' originally planned for late fall release by Warner Bros., suddenly was yanked just before Christmas, with the label stating simply that it would not be coming out at all. Strange doings for a major label, especially when dealing with such a major artist.

Rumors began to circulate to the effect that Warners found some of 'The Black Album's' lyrical content to be too sexually explicit and decided to kill it. This seemed odd, in light of the singer's past output, involving topics like incest, masturbation and oral sex in no uncertain terms. Part of Prince's mystique has been his sexual frankness laced with paeans to God - an earlier album was entitled 'Controversy.'

The Warner Bros. publicity department stated that no explanation had been forthcoming from the label's brass regarding the decision - just that it wouldn't be coming out. After repeated shruggings from various label departments, the best response available came from the office of WEA Intl.'s Tom Ruffino, who simply said, 'It was Prince's management's decision.'

Prince is managed by the Los Angeles-based firm Cavallo, Ruffalo, Fargnoli, who directed all questions to press agent Robyn Riggs of the Howard Bloom Organization. Her explanation:

'Prince was going to release 'The Black Album' for club use only - it was never intended for commercial use. He was also working on 'Lovesexy' at the same time, and decided that he liked it better. They had already pressed 300,000 copies of 'The Black Album' in Europe when Prince's manager pointed out that if they both came out he'd be competing with himself. They had a meeting and eventually decided to kill "The Black Album."'

As for the sudden availability of the bootleg editions, Riggs said, 'We believe they're originating in London and being passed on into the U.S. We don't know who's distributing them, but we will try to prosecute them if we find out.'

Regarding the possibility of the LP being officially released, Riggs said, '"The Black Album" will never see the light of day.'

Interestingly, New York's supply of the bootlegs has seemingly dried up, to the point where only one specialty store in Greenwich Village had them. 'I'd been overseas and found some at the record fair in Paris,' explained the store's proprietor. 'I just bought a stack of them and brought them back, but it was just a oneshot thing.' The store's supply was gone within a week.

Other stores habitually stocking bootlegs took the haughty stance that 'The Black Album' never had been officially released, though one store admitted, 'I wish we did have some. You're probably the 200th person to come in asking for it.'

The Recording Industry Assn. of America commented that 'No bootlegs have been found in the U.S. to date.'"

and I think that's enough of that...

djThunderfunk said:

Prince is managed by the Los Angeles-based firm Cavallo, Ruffalo, Fargnoli, who directed all questions to press agent Robyn Riggs of the Howard Bloom Organization. Her explanation:

'Prince was going to release 'The Black Album' for club use only - it was never intended for commercial use. He was also working on 'Lovesexy' at the same time, and decided that he liked it better. They had already pressed 300,000 copies of 'The Black Album' in Europe when Prince's manager pointed out that if they both came out he'd be competing with himself. They had a meeting and eventually decided to kill "The Black Album."'

that's such a lame,fake excuse the album was intended for "club use only"?? This press agent was given false information.

You should stay off the internet.

NeonCraxx said:

Tittypants said:

If it wasn't for the cool people on this site, I really don't think I'd come here @ all.

Please name five people.

See signature.

RodeoSchro said:

NeonCraxx said:

Please name five people.

See signature.

I ignored such a silly question.

jfrost said:

erik319 said:

Let's face it 'the Internet is dead' actually meant 'i'm gonna kill the internet'. He killed his own official site & forum, members scattered to HQ & the Org. He killed HQ & countless other fansites until all that is left are those slightly under the radar sites such as TDG. Those that only his real hardcore fanbase would know about anyway... The ones who buy everything he officially releases. The only placeS left now are the org & funkenberry... And the latter isn't in good shape. When all that's left to focus on is the org, do you really think it will remain immune from his contolling nature? And when the org goes, he'll have 'won'. Nobody will talk about him or his music... Great. If I ran the org, I'd go dark for a month so he (and we) appreciate the value of being able to discuss him and his music.

But you do, along with all the other members...if we didn't post then the Org. would go dark!!

So follow up on that is too try it!!

shall we try to make "Prince:music and More" dark for one week Sep 14 -20...other forums still active but just this one for one week ....Let's see if there is an impact ( I doubt it but it might be worth a try)

I get that folks are angry about TDG being forced to close. It's terrible, but unfortunately this is Prince. As fans we admire him and his music and want to get our hands on everything he produces. TDG provided the information we needed in order to do that. Let's be real. That is the truth and I did frequent and enjoy the site. Whether or not it was illegal for TDG to provide the info is a non-issue. The issue was that Prince's lawyers threatened TDG and he has enough money to make TDG creators' lives utterly miserable.

From Prince's standpoint, I don't know how he feels to be one of the most heavily bootlegged artist in music history. I know that you can argue that such exposure is good for his brand. However, we know he is a control freak--especially musically--so to have no control whatsoever of what is out there about him (performances, pictures, packaging, etc.) simply grates on his nerves. And add that he thinks bootleggers are making a profit?

And don't start that crap about you don't pay for boots. I don't either, but someone's paying for it in order to make the files available to us via file sharing sites. When the L.A. Confidential DVD came out, I posted about how excited I was and how I (in my haughtiest tone) was not going to buy the boot, but wait for it to come out for free. Someone (I think it was Digital Gardner) rightly corrected me and reminded me that the boot is being purchased by someone who is gracious enough to share it with people like me. So I can't say that I don't see Prince's point. Although in the same breath I have to say that I will miss TDG tremendously.

PurpleChi said:

I get that folks are angry about TDG being forced to close. It's terrible, but unfortunately this is Prince. As fans we admire him and his music and want to get our hands on everything he produces. TDG provided the information we needed in order to do that. Let's be real. That is the truth and I did frequent and enjoy the site. Whether or not it was illegal for TDG to provide the info is a non-issue. The issue was that Prince's lawyers threatened TDG and he has enough money to make TDG creators' lives utterly miserable.

From Prince's standpoint, I don't know how he feels to be one of the most heavily bootlegged artist in music history. I know that you can argue that such exposure is good for his brand. However, we know he is a control freak--especially musically--so to have no control whatsoever of what is out there about him (performances, pictures, packaging, etc.) simply grates on his nerves. And add that he thinks bootleggers are making a profit?

And don't start that crap about you don't pay for boots. I don't either, but someone's paying for it in order to make the files available to us via file sharing sites. When the L.A. Confidential DVD came out, I posted about how excited I was and how I (in my haughtiest tone) was not going to buy the boot, but wait for it to come out for free. Someone (I think it was Digital Gardner) rightly corrected me and reminded me that the boot is being purchased by someone who is gracious enough to share it with people like me. So I can't say that I don't see Prince's point. Although in the same breath I have to say that I will miss TDG tremendously.

Prince should notice that in the long run, more boots, more artwork, more websites equals more purchase of Prince's official releases (which don't coincide with the boots normally in terms of product or market territory). In order for him to be a strong cultural phenomenon that endures beyond and into the future (beyond himself) he needs to allow his art to enter into the public domain of outside interpretation, repetition, and even curation. The bootleggers often curate his art and package it in great ways that he is not planning to do himself, and those good bootlegs will only strengthen his legacy as a historical creative force that shaped pop art.

The bootlegs = valuable marketing hype. Just like the youtube videos = free commercials. If he were to allow more youtube videos to persist, it would probably increase awareness of his talent, thereby increasing his concert sales and maybe even album sales.

That's how its works from I can observe.

ufoclub said:

PurpleChi said:

I get that folks are angry about TDG being forced to close. It's terrible, but unfortunately this is Prince. As fans we admire him and his music and want to get our hands on everything he produces. TDG provided the information we needed in order to do that. Let's be real. That is the truth and I did frequent and enjoy the site. Whether or not it was illegal for TDG to provide the info is a non-issue. The issue was that Prince's lawyers threatened TDG and he has enough money to make TDG creators' lives utterly miserable.

From Prince's standpoint, I don't know how he feels to be one of the most heavily bootlegged artist in music history. I know that you can argue that such exposure is good for his brand. However, we know he is a control freak--especially musically--so to have no control whatsoever of what is out there about him (performances, pictures, packaging, etc.) simply grates on his nerves. And add that he thinks bootleggers are making a profit?

And don't start that crap about you don't pay for boots. I don't either, but someone's paying for it in order to make the files available to us via file sharing sites. When the L.A. Confidential DVD came out, I posted about how excited I was and how I (in my haughtiest tone) was not going to buy the boot, but wait for it to come out for free. Someone (I think it was Digital Gardner) rightly corrected me and reminded me that the boot is being purchased by someone who is gracious enough to share it with people like me. So I can't say that I don't see Prince's point. Although in the same breath I have to say that I will miss TDG tremendously.

Prince should notice that in the long run, more boots, more artwork, more websites equals more purchase of Prince's official releases (which don't coincide with the boots normally in terms of product or market territory). In order for him to be a strong cultural phenomenon that endures beyond and into the future (beyond himself) he needs to allow his art to enter into the public domain of outside interpretation, repetition, and even curation. The bootleggers often curate his art and package it in great ways that he is not planning to do himself, and those good bootlegs will only strengthen his legacy as a historical creative force that shaped pop art.

The bootlegs = valuable marketing hype. Just like the youtube videos = free commercials. If he were to allow more youtube videos to persist, it would probably increase awareness of his talent, thereby increasing his concert sales and maybe even album sales.

That's how its works from I can observe.

I couldn't agree with you more. it's weird that he can't see that himself, but we can. Prince deserves his legendary status, But he doesn't have to be a such a lame about it. It really appears to me that he's so engulfed in his own world, he's not seeing such easy ways to make more $...that's all he wants now anyway

Tittypants said:

ufoclub said:

Prince should notice that in the long run, more boots, more artwork, more websites equals more purchase of Prince's official releases (which don't coincide with the boots normally in terms of product or market territory). In order for him to be a strong cultural phenomenon that endures beyond and into the future (beyond himself) he needs to allow his art to enter into the public domain of outside interpretation, repetition, and even curation. The bootleggers often curate his art and package it in great ways that he is not planning to do himself, and those good bootlegs will only strengthen his legacy as a historical creative force that shaped pop art.

The bootlegs = valuable marketing hype. Just like the youtube videos = free commercials. If he were to allow more youtube videos to persist, it would probably increase awareness of his talent, thereby increasing his concert sales and maybe even album sales.

That's how its works from I can observe.

I couldn't agree with you more. it's weird that he can't see that himself, but we can. Prince deserves his legendary status, But he doesn't have to be a such a lame about it. It really appears to me that he's so engulfed in his own world, he's not seeing such easy ways to make more $...that's all he wants now anyway

What I don't get is why he doesn't just offer some of this stuff for sale himself. If he sold an official CD of each concert, nerdy completists like me would buy all of them, and I'd be spending too much time ripping the official ones to my computer to download any bootlegs. Same goes for the NPGMC stuff. It's already out there, it was once out there officially, so why not just sell it again?

electricberet said:

Tittypants said:

I couldn't agree with you more. it's weird that he can't see that himself, but we can. Prince deserves his legendary status, But he doesn't have to be a such a lame about it. It really appears to me that he's so engulfed in his own world, he's not seeing such easy ways to make more $...that's all he wants now anyway

What I don't get is why he doesn't just offer some of this stuff for sale himself. If he sold an official CD of each concert, nerdy completists like me would buy all of them, and I'd be spending too much time ripping the official ones to my computer to download any bootlegs. Same goes for the NPGMC stuff. It's already out there, it was once out there officially, so why not just sell it again?

Exactly! The shit is pathetic.

Tittypants said:

electricberet said:

What I don't get is why he doesn't just offer some of this stuff for sale himself. If he sold an official CD of each concert, nerdy completists like me would buy all of them, and I'd be spending too much time ripping the official ones to my computer to download any bootlegs. Same goes for the NPGMC stuff. It's already out there, it was once out there officially, so why not just sell it again?

Exactly! The shit is pathetic.

If he sold a limited edition pressed CD run of each concert, he would make at least whatever money Eye Records is making and probably more. Or he could offer a CD of each concert for sale at the booths at the next concert, so that you have to go to all his concerts to buy them all. He used to be very creative at this sort of stuff. What happened?

electricberet said:

Tittypants said:

Exactly! The shit is pathetic.

If he sold a limited edition pressed CD run of each concert, he would make at least whatever money Eye Records is making and probably more. Or he could offer a CD of each concert for sale at the booths at the next concert, so that you have to go to all his concerts to buy them all. He used to be very creative at this sort of stuff. What happened?

[img:$uid]http://www.theagedp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/businessman-banging-his-head-against-the-wall-ispc026073.jpg[/img:$uid]

This is what I mean by the sense of entitlement.

Paris9748430 said:

electricberet said:

If he sold a limited edition pressed CD run of each concert, he would make at least whatever money Eye Records is making and probably more. Or he could offer a CD of each concert for sale at the booths at the next concert, so that you have to go to all his concerts to buy them all. He used to be very creative at this sort of stuff. What happened?

[img:$uid]http://www.theagedp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/businessman-banging-his-head-against-the-wall-ispc026073.jpg[/img:$uid]

This is what I mean by the sense of entitlement.

You are absolutely correct that I am entitled to nothing. But fans are getting the stuff from other sources with no money going to Prince, and the money could be going to Prince instead. I'm actually not one of those fans as I have little interest in live bootlegs from after the Lovesexy tour. But when I see bootlegers already making money from Welcome 2 Australia concerts, I just have to shake my head.

So, it's Prince's fault his stuff gets bootlegged like crazy because he doesn't release every single show?

Fuck.Outta.Here.

Paris9748430 said:

So, it's Prince's fault his stuff gets bootlegged like crazy because he doesn't release every single show?

Fuck.Outta.Here.

No, it's not his fault. But it's happening anyway. There's nothing I can do about it because I am not interested in downloading a concert from a few months ago, but obviously some fans are. What is your solution? Shut down every bootleg site in the world and every site talking about bootlegs? Good luck with that.

ufoclub said:

PurpleChi said:

I get that folks are angry about TDG being forced to close. It's terrible, but unfortunately this is Prince. As fans we admire him and his music and want to get our hands on everything he produces. TDG provided the information we needed in order to do that. Let's be real. That is the truth and I did frequent and enjoy the site. Whether or not it was illegal for TDG to provide the info is a non-issue. The issue was that Prince's lawyers threatened TDG and he has enough money to make TDG creators' lives utterly miserable.

From Prince's standpoint, I don't know how he feels to be one of the most heavily bootlegged artist in music history. I know that you can argue that such exposure is good for his brand. However, we know he is a control freak--especially musically--so to have no control whatsoever of what is out there about him (performances, pictures, packaging, etc.) simply grates on his nerves. And add that he thinks bootleggers are making a profit?

And don't start that crap about you don't pay for boots. I don't either, but someone's paying for it in order to make the files available to us via file sharing sites. When the L.A. Confidential DVD came out, I posted about how excited I was and how I (in my haughtiest tone) was not going to buy the boot, but wait for it to come out for free. Someone (I think it was Digital Gardner) rightly corrected me and reminded me that the boot is being purchased by someone who is gracious enough to share it with people like me. So I can't say that I don't see Prince's point. Although in the same breath I have to say that I will miss TDG tremendously.

Prince should notice that in the long run, more boots, more artwork, more websites equals more purchase of Prince's official releases (which don't coincide with the boots normally in terms of product or market territory). In order for him to be a strong cultural phenomenon that endures beyond and into the future (beyond himself) he needs to allow his art to enter into the public domain of outside interpretation, repetition, and even curation. The bootleggers often curate his art and package it in great ways that he is not planning to do himself, and those good bootlegs will only strengthen his legacy as a historical creative force that shaped pop art.

The bootlegs = valuable marketing hype. Just like the youtube videos = free commercials. If he were to allow more youtube videos to persist, it would probably increase awareness of his talent, thereby increasing his concert sales and maybe even album sales.

That's how its works from I can observe.

Nothing regarding his career being greater or lesser involves bootlegs. You are giving them too much credit. And rest assured..his legacy is solid with or without them.

ufoclub said:

PurpleChi said:

I get that folks are angry about TDG being forced to close. It's terrible, but unfortunately this is Prince. As fans we admire him and his music and want to get our hands on everything he produces. TDG provided the information we needed in order to do that. Let's be real. That is the truth and I did frequent and enjoy the site. Whether or not it was illegal for TDG to provide the info is a non-issue. The issue was that Prince's lawyers threatened TDG and he has enough money to make TDG creators' lives utterly miserable.

From Prince's standpoint, I don't know how he feels to be one of the most heavily bootlegged artist in music history. I know that you can argue that such exposure is good for his brand. However, we know he is a control freak--especially musically--so to have no control whatsoever of what is out there about him (performances, pictures, packaging, etc.) simply grates on his nerves. And add that he thinks bootleggers are making a profit?

And don't start that crap about you don't pay for boots. I don't either, but someone's paying for it in order to make the files available to us via file sharing sites. When the L.A. Confidential DVD came out, I posted about how excited I was and how I (in my haughtiest tone) was not going to buy the boot, but wait for it to come out for free. Someone (I think it was Digital Gardner) rightly corrected me and reminded me that the boot is being purchased by someone who is gracious enough to share it with people like me. So I can't say that I don't see Prince's point. Although in the same breath I have to say that I will miss TDG tremendously.

Prince should notice that in the long run, more boots, more artwork, more websites equals more purchase of Prince's official releases (which don't coincide with the boots normally in terms of product or market territory). In order for him to be a strong cultural phenomenon that endures beyond and into the future (beyond himself) he needs to allow his art to enter into the public domain of outside interpretation, repetition, and even curation. The bootleggers often curate his art and package it in great ways that he is not planning to do himself, and those good bootlegs will only strengthen his legacy as a historical creative force that shaped pop art.

The bootlegs = valuable marketing hype. Just like the youtube videos = free commercials. If he were to allow more youtube videos to persist, it would probably increase awareness of his talent, thereby increasing his concert sales and maybe even album sales.

That's how its works from I can observe.

electricberet said:

Tittypants said:

I couldn't agree with you more. it's weird that he can't see that himself, but we can. Prince deserves his legendary status, But he doesn't have to be a such a lame about it. It really appears to me that he's so engulfed in his own world, he's not seeing such easy ways to make more $...that's all he wants now anyway

What I don't get is why he doesn't just offer some of this stuff for sale himself. If he sold an official CD of each concert, nerdy completists like me would buy all of them, and I'd be spending too much time ripping the official ones to my computer to download any bootlegs. Same goes for the NPGMC stuff. It's already out there, it was once out there officially, so why not just sell it again?

It's too logical and obvious? Yeah. That's it...

rdhull said:

rdhull said:

Nothing regarding his career being greater or lesser involves bootlegs. You are giving them too much credit. And rest assured..his legacy is solid with or without them.

You are INCORRECT, Sir. Or Madame. Or "Not sure". Whatever....

You're wrong! In my not-at-all-humble opinion...

djThunderfunk said:

Tittypants said:

ufoclub said:

Prince should notice that in the long run, more boots, more artwork, more websites equals more purchase of Prince's official releases (which don't coincide with the boots normally in terms of product or market territory). In order for him to be a strong cultural phenomenon that endures beyond and into the future (beyond himself) he needs to allow his art to enter into the public domain of outside interpretation, repetition, and even curation. The bootleggers often curate his art and package it in great ways that he is not planning to do himself, and those good bootlegs will only strengthen his legacy as a historical creative force that shaped pop art.

The bootlegs = valuable marketing hype. Just like the youtube videos = free commercials. If he were to allow more youtube videos to persist, it would probably increase awareness of his talent, thereby increasing his concert sales and maybe even album sales.

That's how its works from I can observe.

I couldn't agree with you more. it's weird that he can't see that himself, but we can. Prince deserves his legendary status, But he doesn't have to be a such a lame about it. It really appears to me that he's so engulfed in his own world, he's not seeing such easy ways to make more $...that's all he wants now anyway

You know it's easy now to take this viewpoint because the fans have basically acquired everything by hook or crook over the past 3 decades. Now we want Prince to get on board and give us everything we for all intents already stole but in better sound quality and with pretty pictures. Yeah the bootlegs are a part of his legacy but they were his part to give us when he felt like it not ours to take when we wanted to. If we know what's circulating then so does he. So after 30 years he's pissed and some fans can't accept that. It's cool. At the end of the day yoiu still have your bootlegs and the knowledge on where to find them in your harddrive or committed to memory. Prince still hasn't stopped us from doing anything.

djThunderfunk said:

Stymie said:

rdhull said:

Nothing regarding his career being greater or lesser involves bootlegs. You are giving them too much credit. And rest assured..his legacy is solid with or without them.

:werightere: Me personally, I could name only about ten unreleased songs that I am glad I got my hands on. A lot of stuff I can totally see why t ain't been officially released. Bootlegs do not ake or break my prince "relationship". What he's released have been more interesting than anything he hasn't, at least to me. I have hundreds and hundreds of songs, things that have been given to me. I don't seek them out for the ost part. Boots don't mean as much to me as they do to other fans.

Word

These folks are obfuckingsessed

Stymie said:

djThunderfunk said:

It's too logical and obvious? Yeah. That's it...

He doesn't want to though so why isn't that okay for us? We dug the guy because he did what he wanted to do and now were mad at him because of it? Where's the logic in that? I believe p is an asshole for other reasons but not on the bootleg/ releasing music issue.

Maybe a new fan that missed out on the limited availability of the NPGMC (or other out of print material) wants to experience Prince's entire discography but has no legal way of doing so. They are faced with choices of skipping entire sections of Prince's career, obtaining "illegally", or just deciding it's not worth it. Where's the logic in that?

HonestMan13 said:

djThunderfunk said:

rdhull said:

Nothing regarding his career being greater or lesser involves bootlegs. You are giving them too much credit. And rest assured..his legacy is solid with or without them.

You are INCORRECT, Sir. Or Madame. Or "Not sure". Whatever....

really Im not...not to sound arrogant but Im rarely ever wrong when it comes to Prince stuff lol