Following on from the other thread about songs
that should've been hits. There were many tracks
on Prince's albums that were lined up to be
singles, but for whatever reason, never got
released. Here's a list of some of them...

Shockadelica
Adore
Lovesexy
I No
When 2 R In Love
The Question Of U
Elephants & Flowers
Willing & Able
The Continental
Blue Light
Pope
Come
Dolphin
P Control
319
The Same December
I Like It There
Face Down
Sleep Around
One Of Us
5 Women
Extraordinary
Baby Knows
So Far, So Pleased
Man 'O' War
Hot Wit U
Muse 2 The Pharaoh
She Loves Me 4 Me
Last December

So... should they have been released?

deffinately not 'Pope'. Boy is that song tacky.

Lovesexy would have been the most interesting single choice from this list. I'm not surprised it wasn't released though.

Whilst Muse 2 The Pharoah, She Loves Me For Me and Last December are all worthy single choices, I don't understand the benefit of Prince releasing them after the album has been released. Does anyone know why?

One Of Us could have been the lead single from Emancipation?

estidog said:

I dont think so!!

Lovesexy, I No and Elephants & Flowers wouls have made interesting singles, I think.

As much as I love the song, Lovesexy would have been a flop as a single in 1988.The album itself was not made for singles,as the 1 track setting suggests.

The year 1988 was a weird year for music .Who can forget Buffalo Stance by that Cherry girl?

*** No***
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*** No***
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I would pay good money for that single.
This thread has just made me

some of those tracks would have been classic singles, in the right circumstances, and with the right promotions. (One that I would add to the list: I remember reading in Billboard Magazine that the planned singles to followup Gold were 319 and Shy. So shy might need to be added. Whether that's true or just Billboard's reporting, I don't know.. but I clearly remember it.)


Songs that leap out at me:

The Continental. I assume the remix version that floats around on bootlegs is the single mix??? If so, this would have been a hugely successful followup single to 7, in my opinion.

Blue Light. If The Continental should have followed up 7, then Blue Light should have been next. Fun, funky pop song, could have been a big radio hit.

Lovesexy. Would have followed Alphabet St. into the Top 10, if there was a cool video to match.

Baby Knows. Rave might have ended up with a much better fate had this been the first single.

Sleep Around. Emancipation should have been a killer one-disc release (with lots of B-sides), and Sleep Around should have been the first single.

I Like it There. Not that anything would have saved Chaos and Disorder from commercial oblivion, but this song deserves better than the gather dust in obscurity.


Tracks that I would not release:

Pope, P Control and Come. No chance for radio play.

One of Us. ICK. would have flopped big time.

I Know. LOVE the song, but can't see it as a single. Not commercial enough. Still, would have been an interesting choice. I'd love to hear the single mix. But there are more commercial options on that album. (6 possible singles and not Dance On, the most obviously commercial track on the album?? Shades of 1999???)


Hot Wit U. A bottom-feeder. One of the worst moments of his career.