Hi

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OK, so that may sound strange to some of you but I'm totally confused by my memories regarding the release date of 1-800 New Funk. Princevault says it was released on 1994/08/12, followed 3 days later by Come on 08/15 in UK (08/16 in the US), then the 3 Chains O'Gold video on 08/16.

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Thing is I could swear I bought 1-800 New Funk much before that, maybe around late July or earlier in August.

I remember buying it more or less on the day of release, then going to holidays for 10 to 15 days with a high school friend and listening to it a lot with him.

Then, once back home, I remember buying Come also more or less on the day of release and listening to it a lot at home, as well as buying the 3 Chains O'Gold video (I think that was a few days after Come, not on the exact same day, but it's possible my wrecka stow didn't get both on the exact same day).

Of course it goes back 26 years ago, and I was 17, and lots has happened since that so it could be I reconstructed my memories...

Or it could also be that I bought 1-800 right before going on holiday, then wasn't aware of Come and 3 Chains O'Gold being released because I was on the seaside, and found them in the stores when I got back home.

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But I was wondering if it could be that in some European countries 1-800 New Funk was released earlier (I was in France). Does anyone have a recollection of a longer gap than 3 days between both releases, or do you all have a clear memory of buying both on the same week?

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Thx for ur memories

[Edited 4/22/20 19:20pm]

It came out not too long after his 1994 appearance on soul train, which according to google was april 9th 1994. I would say it was out by about June. I could be wrong though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/...0-NEW-FUNK

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It was released on July 20, 1994

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BartVanHemelen said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/...0-NEW-FUNK

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It was released on July 20, 1994

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Bloody hell, so I wasn't crazy!! Thx Bart

I wonder how come the discrepency between the Vault book and subsequently Princevault (both have the August date) and Wikipedia. Usually I'd tend to consider Pvault more reliable but since, in that case, Wiki concurs with my memories... Could it be the August date was the American release as opposed to Europe?

I clearly remember 1800NF was released first in the UK, but couldn't swear to the time between the two releases, although 3 days seems odd since releases were usually Monday, so at the very least it would be a week?

databank said:

BartVanHemelen said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/...0-NEW-FUNK

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Bloody hell, so I wasn't crazy!! Thx Bart

I wonder how come the discrepency between the Vault book and subsequently Princevault (both have the August date) and Wikipedia. Usually I'd tend to consider Pvault more reliable but since, in that case, Wiki concurs with my memories... Could it be the August date was the American release as opposed to Europe?

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Of course I do not know what their source is. I'll try to check the Prince Family issues from around that time to see what they say.

NouveauDance said:

I clearly remember 1800NF was released first in the UK, but couldn't swear to the time between the two releases, although 3 days seems odd since releases were usually Monday, so at the very least it would be a week?

I remember The Smash Hits magazine having a review of both Come and 1-800 New Funk in the same issue. It slated Come and praised Love Sign.

So there is a good chance they were released in the same week or 2 in the UK

Maybe the later release date indicated when pre-orders finally shipped through the 1-800-New Funk catalog service.

BartVanHemelen said:

databank said:

Bloody hell, so I wasn't crazy!! Thx Bart

I wonder how come the discrepency between the Vault book and subsequently Princevault (both have the August date) and Wikipedia. Usually I'd tend to consider Pvault more reliable but since, in that case, Wiki concurs with my memories... Could it be the August date was the American release as opposed to Europe?

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Of course I do not know what their source is. I'll try to check the Prince Family issues from around that time to see what they say.

Cool, thx

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[Edited 4/24/20 9:55am]

Transformed1 said:

Maybe the later release date indicated when pre-orders finally shipped through the 1-800-New Funk catalog service.

I don't think many people got it that way. It was in every conceivable record store (at least in France) in the months following its release.

It was July 20th, Prince was doing a signing in NYC on the 12th at Tower which I lucikliy just got into , a lot of fans who waited didn't get anything that day but also Prince would only sign the Beautiful experience NPG and Mayte were all there but he would not touch any prince stuff security was like put that away, peo0le standing there in the purple Rain faded t shirts were not happy

Yeah, I have the insert from the CASSETTE tape, believe it or not, and it does say 1994. Had to throw away the tape, it got a little overworked in my old Toyota and was destroyed. Too bad....

In the UK Come was released on 15th August 1994, and 1-800 New Funk was released one week earler on 8th August 1994. But it seems it was released earlier elsewhere.

Another data point: I bought it on August 2, 1994 in Volterra, Italy, in a store called Diesis (for 31500 liras).

Rioub said:

In the UK Come was released on 15th August 1994, and 1-800 New Funk was released one week earler on 8th August 1994. But it seems it was released earlier elsewhere.

This lines up with my memories... I always bought albums on the day of release, except for Come as I was out of the country. I got 1-800-NEW-FUNK a few days before going on a one week family holiday, and when I got back, the Sunday morning after Come was released, I waited outside my local newsagents (who sold CDs) for it to open at 5.30.

EDIT, just checked the receipt for Come - it must have been Thursday 18th that I got back from holiday. £11.99, by the way.

[Edited 4/26/20 2:52am]

[Edited 4/26/20 2:53am]

olb99 said:

Another data point: I bought it on August 2, 1994 in Volterra, Italy, in a store called Diesis (for 31500 liras).

Donc je n'étais pas fou ^^

Hello

I keep an accurate database of all my music purchases.

I purchased the 1-800 New Funk CD on the day of release:

Monday 8th August 1994.

Remember this release was distributed independently. Therefore there was not a unified release schedule for each territory. The main European distributor was Edel with very country specific distributors such as Grapevine and Terry Blood.

At the time it was possible to order literally anything wholesale through Terry Blood but it was more expensive to do so.

So the answer is a range of dates!

Edit:

It is also worth considering that the actual day of release in countries is different - usually dependent on when the sales charts are produced.

For years music was released on Monday with video Wednesday.

These days music is released on Friday with video released on a Monday.

Friday is now considered the start of the sales week!

However, for a year or two now, I have been purchasing new release digital downloads on Thursday. This is because global platforms use the international timeline.

[Edited 4/27/20 2:24am]

databank said:

olb99 said:

Another data point: I bought it on August 2, 1994 in Volterra, Italy, in a store called Diesis (for 31500 liras).

Donc je n'étais pas fou ^^

The above information comes from my notes, but I still remember seeing the CD in the storefront, wondering what it was, and deciding to buy it anyway. I was on vacation with my parents. That seemed so random... I don't know how I learned that "Come" was being released, but I learned that "The Black Album" was being (re-)released by asking for it in a music store selling bootlegs.

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Anyway, this is another case of a release with very different release dates depending on the country, I guess.

[Edited 4/27/20 7:18am]

asideorderofham said:

Rioub said:

In the UK Come was released on 15th August 1994, and 1-800 New Funk was released one week earler on 8th August 1994. But it seems it was released earlier elsewhere.

This lines up with my memories... I always bought albums on the day of release, except for Come as I was out of the country. I got 1-800-NEW-FUNK a few days before going on a one week family holiday, and when I got back, the Sunday morning after Come was released, I waited outside my local newsagents (who sold CDs) for it to open at 5.30.

EDIT, just checked the receipt for Come - it must have been Thursday 18th that I got back from holiday. £11.99, by the way.

[Edited 4/26/20 2:52am]

[Edited 4/26/20 2:53am]

You still have the receipt!

Speaking of local shops; around this time my local record shop used to let me buy the new releases the Friday before the official release day of Monday, so I most likely got mine Friday the 13th Aug

darkroman said:

For years music was released on Monday with video Wednesday.

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I've always bought new albums on Friday in the independent record store I visited in the 1990s and 2000s, that's when he got his delivery. Big releases were usually available on Saturday in the major chains like Free Record Shop, but most other releases were only available there from Monday on (but that was usually due to laziness of the staff in those shops AFAIK). (This is in Belgium.)

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I've literally been in the record shop waiting for the distributor to deliver the cardboard boxes with CDs on days when the delivery truck was late, often together with other people waiting for a new release.

Interesting, thx everyone

So based on what we've learn, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, we can guesstimate the earliest release date, in at least one country, was around July 20.

The Prince Family, Vol. 2 Issue #15, 23 July 1994:

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Report on Prince's appearance on The Today Show on 12 July (with Nona, performing Love Sign), mentions that 1-800-NF went on sale that day via the mail order service. Later that day they did a signing at Tower Records where the album was made available. (article title = " on NBC's Today", front page of the issue, which is actually page 85 -- i.e. thet 85th page of content produced in 1994 by TPF)

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The Prince Family, Vol. 2 Issue #16, 6 August 1994:

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Page 94 has a short review of 1-800-NF. Mentions 12 August as the worldwide release date.

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The Prince Family, Vol. 2 Issue #17, 20 August 1994:

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Page 98 has a report on the 25 and 26 July concerts at Glam Slam Minneaplois, and mentions that those who went got the 1-800-NF CD (among other things).

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Man, skimming through these newsletters is such a blast. Seeing so many names I haven't seen in a loooong time, plus so many tidbits that have been gone from memories (I completely forgot that at one point there were actual tickets on sale for UK gigs in the Summer of 1994 that were cancelled as soon as the tickets went on sale), the speculation about TGE,... Excerpt from an interview with Kylie Minogue about her interactions with Prince, excerpt from an interview with Stevie Nicks... A two-page special about PR turning 10 (ten!) years old. Such a shame the contents of these newsletetrs isn't available online, and categirized and tagged etc.

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I'll check if the next issues contain more about 1-800-NF, but I'm wondering if the apparent lack of news about earlier Euro releases might be due to the massive amount of news they had to cram into a handful of pages, combined with the long time it took to report news from Europe (because Internet being rare back then and actual mail taking a lot of time and overseas phone calls being expensive).

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[Edited 4/28/20 15:24pm]

http://www.princevault.co..._July_1994

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https://prince.org/msg/7/393988

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https://prince.org/msg/7/334626

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https://prince.org/msg/7/58604

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BartVanHemelen said:

databank said:

Bloody hell, so I wasn't crazy!! Thx Bart

I wonder how come the discrepency between the Vault book and subsequently Princevault (both have the August date) and Wikipedia. Usually I'd tend to consider Pvault more reliable but since, in that case, Wiki concurs with my memories... Could it be the August date was the American release as opposed to Europe?

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Of course I do not know what their source is.

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The wiki article contains a link to a review of the album from 28 July: https://archive.vn/201301...66090.html

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It also links to this article from 14 June 1994: https://news.google.com/n...%2C3924973 .

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Many many thx Bart for sharing all these resources

So in the end, unless I missed something in one of the links, I believe we can agree on July 12 being the earliest known date??