BartVanHemelen said:

RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

I heard of it on MTV news... they said something like "Prince is releasing a new album called the Black album it is said to be a funk album with x rated lyrics" a short time later they said it had been "shelved indefinitely"

Lore has it that Prince did not want anyone to know it was him at first. It was allegedly showing up on release lists as a WB album by "Somebody"

I first heard it late 88. I was on a weekend pass and happened to go to a record swap meat. I got in for free (I was so early they though i was setting it up) and got 2 black albums. chocolate box, and the jewel box, and 2 interview 7" One was a picture of Prince from the Lovesexy show that was the MTV interview (with a woman asking the questions) and one that i think was peach color with I THINK the same interview)

I loved the black album the others were ok maybe it was the sound? but within a few weeks of that i was getting all kinds of boot legs

another note: my Army dog tags had Lovesexy as the relgion! I acutaly got ordered to get another set i did but i wore the Lovesexy ones the most

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I heard of it on MTV news... they said something like "Prince is releasing a new album called the Black album it is said to be a funk album with x rated lyrics" a short time later they said it had been "shelved indefinitely"

Lore has it that Prince did not want anyone to know it was him at first. It was allegedly showing up on release lists as a WB album by "Somebody"

I first heard it late 88. I was on a weekend pass and happened to go to a record swap meat. I got in for free (I was so early they though i was setting it up) and got 2 black albums. chocolate box, and the jewel box, and 2 interview 7" One was a picture of Prince from the Lovesexy show that was the MTV interview (with a woman asking the questions) and one that i think was peach color with I THINK the same interview)

I loved the black album the others were ok maybe it was the sound? but within a few weeks of that i was getting all kinds of boot legs

another note: my Army dog tags had Lovesexy as the relgion! I acutaly got ordered to get another set i did but i wore the Lovesexy ones the most

Prince supposedly recalled the album after the ecstasy trip and there is also the theory that wb weren't going to lift a finger to promote it and that had an effect. Prince really wasn't selling that well for an artist of his standing at the time. Madonna and MJ were still selling very well while Prince was going more and more out to left field. I think the lovesexy album struggled to go gold at the time and stores wouldn't even stock a naked man on the cover with the flower looking like a weenie.

EnDoRpHn said:

BartVanHemelen said:

The master of the 1994 release is AFAIK exactly the same as the one used in 1987.

How would you know? The original was only pressed on vinyl. CD releases in the 1980s tended to follow LP releases by at least a few (if not several) months. IIRC, Lovesexy was his first album released directly to CD.

There was cd's http://the-black-album.in...lease.html

electrodyne said:

Some questions for everyone: 1. Where, when & how did you first learn of & listen to The Black Album? What were your thoughts on it then-and-now? 2. Do any "old-timers" who traded or bought bootleg cassettes still have their cassettes & sleeves? What was story behind your cassette tape? If so, would anyone mind sharing hi-resolution pictures of your cassettes, please? It's for a project. Feel free to send a private message or post here.

I don't have a picture at the moment...but somehow, I have TWO versions of the Black Album, both on CD. One is the "mp3" version, and the other one I have labeled (in Sharpie) "The Black Album - CD version." I know it must have been about the time I got Crystal Ball - maybe?

I also have a cassette tape that I ordered from the NPG music club, that I kept sealed in the original mailer. I never opened it. I have no idea what tape is in it now. And I don't plan to open it, but pass it down to my daughter.

I forgot to add...these are both on CDs I evidently made at home. So I'm not sure where I got the files, or how I downloaded them. I had a friend who was a Prince fam like me at the time, so it's possible he emailed me the files.

[Edited 6/3/16 14:29pm]

TheDigitalGardener said:

EnDoRpHn said:

BartVanHemelen said: How would you know? The original was only pressed on vinyl. CD releases in the 1980s tended to follow LP releases by at least a few (if not several) months. IIRC, Lovesexy was his first album released directly to CD.

There was cd's http://the-black-album.in...lease.html

Some random Internet site with a section reading "More information needed" is not authoritative information indicating that a CD was released. The entire project was shelved before the release date. As I said in another post, at the time, CD releases typically lagged LPs by several months. Lovesexy was Prince's first release issued on CD simultaneously with LP. All of the mentions on that website refer to LP copies.

If there had been CD copies, the bootlegs circulating back in 1988 would have been much cleaner. Most of them were sourced from duplicated promo cassettes or crackly cassette recordings of the LP.

[Edited 6/3/16 14:44pm]

emesem said:

Cool story.

I read about it in the Village Voice reviewed by none other than Nelson George. (I had no idea who he was then)

17 year old me picks up phone and calls Village Voice and asks for "Nelson George". Mr. George picks up and I say "Hey where did you get the Black Album?" and he says. "Oh. just go to Revolver Records in the Village". I'm like "ok, thanks, man"

And thus started my introduction to the dark magical world of bootlegs and concert video VHSs etc....sigh....good times.

BOOM ........ my fav record store of all time........ Revolver West 8th! Best Prince selection around.

electrodyne said:

Some questions for everyone: 1. Where, when & how did you first learn of & listen to The Black Album? What were your thoughts on it then-and-now? 2. Do any "old-timers" who traded or bought bootleg cassettes still have their cassettes & sleeves? What was story behind your cassette tape? If so, would anyone mind sharing hi-resolution pictures of your cassettes, please? It's for a project. Feel free to send a private message or post here.

1. I read about it in Billboard magazine, probably only a few weeks before the original scheduled Dec. 1987 release date. My recollection is that the article was titled something like "Is new WB record really Prince?", and that it noted that WB had only issued a release date for an untitled album with the catalog number.

2. I bought my original bootleg copy at an East Coast used record store that carried lots of bootlegs. Probably in a box somewhere in my attic. Pretty sh!tty copy, but sonically probably not much worse than the official 1994 CD release.

A local R and B station stated that they had a special treat for Prince fans. Then they said listend on Thursday at midnight for the Black Album. So I had time to get my cassette tapes and tape recorder ready. That Thursday night I taped it and that tape is in a box with my old radio dj tapes and school projects.

PeteSilas said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I heard of it on MTV news... they said something like "Prince is releasing a new album called the Black album it is said to be a funk album with x rated lyrics" a short time later they said it had been "shelved indefinitely"

Lore has it that Prince did not want anyone to know it was him at first. It was allegedly showing up on release lists as a WB album by "Somebody"

I first heard it late 88. I was on a weekend pass and happened to go to a record swap meat. I got in for free (I was so early they though i was setting it up) and got 2 black albums. chocolate box, and the jewel box, and 2 interview 7" One was a picture of Prince from the Lovesexy show that was the MTV interview (with a woman asking the questions) and one that i think was peach color with I THINK the same interview)

I loved the black album the others were ok maybe it was the sound? but within a few weeks of that i was getting all kinds of boot legs

another note: my Army dog tags had Lovesexy as the relgion! I acutaly got ordered to get another set i did but i wore the Lovesexy ones the most

Prince supposedly recalled the album after the ecstasy trip and there is also the theory that wb weren't going to lift a finger to promote it and that had an effect. Prince really wasn't selling that well for an artist of his standing at the time. Madonna and MJ were still selling very well while Prince was going more and more out to left field. I think the lovesexy album struggled to go gold at the time and stores wouldn't even stock a naked man on the cover with the flower looking like a weenie.

WB was cool with Prince. they let him put out 2 madhouse abums, a double album, a movie, and a the black album. so whatever issues Prince was having it was not WB's Fault.

EnDoRpHn said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

There was cd's http://the-black-album.in...lease.html

All of the mentions on that website refer to LP copies.

If you bother to scroll down the page to which I linked to, you will see clear info on a cd pressing.

TheDigitalGardener said:

EnDoRpHn said:

All of the mentions on that website refer to LP copies.

If you bother to scroll down the page to which I linked to, you will see clear info on a cd pressing.

And if you need further proof, check the BA page at this site (can't link to the actual page) http://sleevographia2.fre...ercher.htm

OnlyNDaUsa said:

PeteSilas said:

Prince supposedly recalled the album after the ecstasy trip and there is also the theory that wb weren't going to lift a finger to promote it and that had an effect. Prince really wasn't selling that well for an artist of his standing at the time. Madonna and MJ were still selling very well while Prince was going more and more out to left field. I think the lovesexy album struggled to go gold at the time and stores wouldn't even stock a naked man on the cover with the flower looking like a weenie.

WB was cool with Prince. they let him put out 2 madhouse abums, a double album, a movie, and a the black album. so whatever issues Prince was having it was not WB's Fault.

didn't say it was, that was just one of the stories surrounding the black album. the drug one sounds the most credible in hindsight.

GirlBrother said:

I'm pretty certain that Kris Dawson (Chris Dawson?) was a major player in late 80s UK Prince fandom. I think the story went that he finally met Prince and Prince stared at him across a table and said nothing - for like ten minutes. HAHAHAHA!

Chris ran the Crystal Ball fanzine and fan club, I'm sure he had a shop too which sold lots of Prince stuff.

I knew about the album prior to cancelation via multiple reports in Billboard magazine. The release date came and went and there was more coverage of it being canceled, followed quickly by Billboard publishing a review after they got their hands on an unreleased copy.

I'm pretty sure I had a tape cassette copy within two months of it's intended release date. Then I ordered several vinyl copies (which I turned around and sold through an independent record store here in town thaks to the owner (she was also a huge fan!) not long after... lol.

Somewhere along the way I had two different versions on CD - no later than early '89 I'm pretty sure.

I can't remember where I got them all, though - the cassetee via a trade, the rest through ads in the back of Goldmine magazine maybe???

First, I remember reading in a magazine that Prince was releasing an x-rated album. There were no other details.

Later on, I saw a segment on "CBS This Morning" about the "hot things of the summer". A kid talked about "The Black Album" and held up a cassette with a xeroxed cover. They played a clip of "When 2 R In Love".

Ended up ordering a vinyl copy on orange vinyl. Sound quality was really good.

TheDigitalGardener said:

EnDoRpHn said:

All of the mentions on that website refer to LP copies.

If you bother to scroll down the page to which I linked to, you will see clear info on a cd pressing.

this is the one i have... under the sticker it says "Nelson"

http://the-black-album.in...cid=BO-002

[Edited 6/3/16 19:03pm]

I am an "old time tape trader" and started trading tapes in about 1985 with people all over the world. I think I got the Black Album on cassette tape in '87 after SOTT came out. It could have been early 1988 before Lovesexy was released. But was one of my best Prince moments ever to listen to that album for the first time.

.

But being a hardcore fan in the 80s was so exciting and rewarding. P had so many surprises for us, and tapes of his concerts, rehearsals, outtakes would arrive in the mail and such wonders when you pessed PLAY. .

.

Thank you, Prince, for that incredible ride you gave us with your music. That was a huge part of my life back then and my main obby and source of fun and joy.

.

.

[Edited 6/3/16 19:09pm]

electrodyne said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

EnDoRpHn said:

All of the mentions on that website refer to LP copies.

If you bother to scroll down the page to which I linked to, you will see clear info on a cd pressing.

I did scroll down the page. Catalog information about a CD is not a physical CD. Show me a physical copy of the original CD, pressed with that catalog number, and I will send you a free postcard.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

If you bother to scroll down the page to which I linked to, you will see clear info on a cd pressing.

this is the one i have... under the sticker it says "Nelson"

http://the-black-album.in...cid=BO-002

[Edited 6/3/16 19:03pm]

That's a bootleg LP copy.

LEATHRSAIL said:

My feelings about this album then and now havent changed. I have been called out on this site for my view point and was called a liar. That posting my view point was spreading lies because it wasn't in any Per Nelson books <eye roll> I don't need someone to write a book to tell me what my viewpoint should be.

.

If your opinion is contradicted by FACTS, your opinion is wrong. You can claim the sky is green, but that doesn't make it so. Simple as that. Instead you continue to spread your long debunked nonsense as a possibility.

EnDoRpHn said:

BartVanHemelen said:

The master of the 1994 release is AFAIK exactly the same as the one used in 1987.

How would you know? The original was only pressed on vinyl. CD releases in the 1980s tended to follow LP releases by at least a few (if not several) months. IIRC, Lovesexy was his first album released directly to CD.

.

Utter nonsense. Educate yourself: http://the-black-album.in...lease.html

EnDoRpHn said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

There was cd's http://the-black-album.in...lease.html

Some random Internet site with a section reading "More information needed" is not authoritative information indicating that a CD was released. The entire project was shelved before the release date. As I said in another post, at the time, CD releases typically lagged LPs by several months. Lovesexy was Prince's first release issued on CD simultaneously with LP. All of the mentions on that website refer to LP copies.

If there had been CD copies, the bootlegs circulating back in 1988 would have been much cleaner. Most of them were sourced from duplicated promo cassettes or crackly cassette recordings of the LP.

[Edited 6/3/16 14:44pm]

.

Another Prince fam refuting evidence and the work of people who have researched this and instead trusting his opinions. There were crystal-clear TBA boots on CD in the early 1990s clearly copied from a CD source.

EnDoRpHn said: