referencing A Stand 4 Love E·P (12",... BRWDJ 207

There is a lot of assumption, rumour and misinformation about this release so I will fill in what I know. TLDR: it is not a mispress/mistake or a withdrawn issue ... it was an attempt at a PR stunt to resuscitate a failing release.

I was working in a record shop when this came out (Richards in Canterbury) and was working the day the record company rep came in with a copy of it. He immediately said "You want to keep hold of this one. We've 'accidentally' [rep motions quotes with fingers] put the Prince demo on it. It's going to be worth a few quid". So no mispressing as the record company did it on purpose and sent the reps out with the knowledge that the Prince recording was on it ... and there were certainly no attempts made to recall or withdraw copies of the "mistake". The rep (a guy called Adam who had formerly worked at the shop before becoming a rep) stated that very few were pressed (50 or 75, I cannot recall exactly) and that they were to be dished out as a "thank you" to favoured shops. Oh, and do please push the single more.

One thing that is important to understand is that this promo was not circulated before the commercial release, as is usual for obvious reasons, or even at the same time as the commercial release. I cannot be certain (it was a long time ago) but I think it was 2, or even 3, weeks after the single had been released. Highly unusual. So what's this all about? The first single off her second album scraped into the Top 40 and the second had missed it entirely. The record company had huge hopes for IILU2N, especially based on the Prince angle, and had gone all out on pushing it through ads and the rep network. It didn't work and the single stalled at the gates of the Top 40 (the highest it got was no. 43). I believe (I cannot be certain) that this promo was a last desperate push to create publicity and gee up shops to get it over the line. It kinda sort of worked ... at least small articles were run across the music press about the "mistake" ... but the record still failed to be a hit.

And what happened to that promo copy? The owner of the shop (a fantastically mean-spirited individual) knew that I was a Prince fanatic and was "kind" enough to let me have it in exchange for my day's wages. I guess I had the last laugh as the next day I sold it to Esprit (now EIL) for 10 days' worth of wages!

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Can someone add to this? It was already a bit in the know but this is a quite blunt approach.