BLAST FROM THE PASTSEVEN YEARS AFTER ITS RECORDING - AND MUCH TO THE CHAGRIN OF PRINCE - WARNER BROS. ISSUES HIS MUCH-MYTHOLOGIZED "THE BLACK ALBUM."


By Jim Walsh, Pop Music Critic

Today's official release of Prince's "The Black Album" ends the story of one of the most controversial albums in pop-music history and begins another chapter in the ongoing - and increasingly volatile - relationship between Prince and his label of 16 years, Warner Bros. Records.

Recorded in 1987, "The Black Album" was never released because Prince felt its tone was too dark. He pulled it from distribution at the last minute, but not before Warner Bros. had manufactured copies. Since its cancellation, the 10-song work has become one of the most widely bootlegged albums ever, rivaled only by another boot-turned-official release, Bob Dylan and the Band's 1975 "The Basement Tapes."

According to Musician magazine, more than 250,000 copies of "The Black Album" have been sold in CD and vinyl form, which doesn't include cassette duplications that have moved through the underground bootleg pipeline. Some copies have fetched as much as $1,000. The official version of the disc will be available today - Jan. 28 only and will feature all 10 original tracks and the original artwork.

But the timing of the release is curious, since Warners and Prince currently are arguing over the release of his new album, "The Gold Experience," which has been debut - ready for several months.

So what's going on?

"We are accommodating the artist's wishes," says Warners publicist Bob Merlis.

And why release it now?

Merlis says, "He signed an agreement to let us do it. We've wanted to put it out for years. We pressed the album in 1987 and destroyed vast quantities of it. If we didn't want to put it out, why did we make so many? The artist decided he would rather not have it on the market at that time."

That's still the case, according to Karen Lee, Prince's spokeswoman.

"He's thoroughly p--- off about it," Lee says. "He had to sign an agreement - I can't go into why - but contractually, he didn't have a choice.

"He feels like he wrote that album when he was a different person. He was angry, and it wasn't music he ever wanted to get out. How can you tell him, as an artist, what to do with his music? He's like, 'I'm in a whole different space now, the world is in a different space; the contribution I want to make doesn't sound like that.' And here we are back in the record-company politics again, and he doesn't have a choice."

The odd thing is, relatively dark though the tone of "The Black Album" may be, Prince was a happy camper when he recorded it in the fall of 1987.

"Paisley Park was freshly open, and much of the bulk of 'The Black Album' was among his first work done there," says Alan Leeds, the former Paisley Park vice president who was Prince's tour manager at the time.

"Actually, 'The Black Album' began with some tracks that he cut specifically as party music for a birthday party that he was throwing for Sheila E. Some of that album was designed as party music, which may or may not mean that he had ideas of ever releasing it. So there was nothing really dark going on in his life; the album started out as very innocuous dance music for a girlfriend, and his dream building, his facility and his company, was growing by leaps and bounds."

Leeds says that part of the impetus of the album was in reaction to hip-hop and to criticism that Prince had sold out the black elements of his music. After pulling "The Black Album," Prince opted to record "Lovesexy," a much more sanguine pop record.

"It was inspired directly by this epiphany that he went through that dictated to him to cancel 'Black Album' and do something that he felt was more uplifting and responsible," says Leeds. "He had some kind of a spiritual awakening that dictated it. Some voice told him, 'Don't release that record.' The only thing he ever said to me was that if something happened to him, that would be the last statement he made to the public, and he didn't want that to be how he was remembered.

"So, to everybody's chagrin who worked at Warner Bros. and had the thing on the loading dock, it was stopped. Now the true story is that he did make the decision; Warners had nothing to do with stopping the record. It was his sole decision to stop it, and copies were literally on the loading dock, pulled back and destroyed."

From what Lee says, that's exactly what Prince would like to see done this time around. In fact, he may have foreseen this day coming, for various liner notes and tour programs since 1987 have contained the message: "Don't buy the black album." Told that Prince is upset about the release of the record, Merlis said, "All I can tell you is that Oct. 25, he signed an agreement letting us put it out."

Some Prince watchers have speculated that the release of "The Black Album" will go toward fulfilling his Warner Bros. contract, which he has been trying to get out of; neither Lee, Merlis, nor Leeds could confirm that. Prince declined to be interviewed.

"Before they agreed to release 'The Black Album,' he owed four albums, and he still owes four albums," says Lee.

Politics aside, "The Black Album" is a worthwhile musical artifact for any Prince fan: "Le Grind" and "Cindy C." (a paean to then-fledgling model Cindy Crawford) are bubbly dance workouts; "When 2 R in Love" is a romantic ballad that finally surfaced on "Lovesexy"; and "Old Friends for Sale" is a brooding ballad that explores the ramifications of the glamorous life. Today, the harder bits of "The Black Album" may sound dated, but the disc as a whole is nonetheless illuminating; a frozen moment that bridges the gap between the fading new-wave pop of the day and the burgeoning gangsta rap of the future.

"It will be really interesting to see if the climate is receptive to it," Leeds says. "I've got a feeling that they're three years late on this.

"So I don't know what they're gonna accomplish, other than everybody'll make a little cash. Not that that's bad. It's good music, and it deserves to be out there. I was very disappointed, actually, when it was canceled, because I thought it was a fun album. I don't think it's as profound as legend has it. In the long run, I don't think when somebody judges his career 20 years from now, they're going to say that that was an absolute high point. But it's a cool record. Legend made it more important than it is."
---

Correction: Friday, November 25, 1994

A story in Tuesday Showtime included incorrect information about Prince's "The Black Album." The song "Old Friends For Sale" was featured as an addition to some bootleg versions of "The Black Album," but is not on the official version released this week by Warner Bros.

The Old Friends bit is funny.

It shows which copy of the bootleg he had!

That was a cool read (especially since I took my screenname from that record). Thanks for putting it up!

Am I the only one who thinks that 'The Black Album' is totally overrated?

DavidEye said:

No, I agree.
The Black Album certainly contains some good tracks, but I've
always felt it didn't quite gel as an album.

Le Grind & Cindy C are good uptempo party tracks, and open
the album well. Dead On It just seems a bit silly, and would
have probably been better suited to appearing as a b-side, than
being included on an album. When 2 R In Love is a great track,
but to me, it always seemed totally out of place on the Black
Album. Bob George is the highlight of the album for me, dark,
comical and disturbing, it's a truly inventive and unusual track.
Superfunkycalifragisexy is another straightforward party track
with a fast funky groove, but 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton
never quite hit the mark for me. Prince was doing much better
instrumental work with his Madhouse project at the time and
I always felt the production (in particular the drum sound) on
2 Nigs seemed to fight against the fast and loose vibe it was
trying to go for. Rockhard In A Funky Place is a great Camille
track, and ends the album well. Maybe the Black Album
should've included more Camille tracks, as they really fit the
playful funky vibe of the album.

DavidEye said:

NOOO!!!

I never saw why he or anyone else thought that the songs were so "dark"??? I enjoyed them myself.

DavidEye said:

I think what Alan Leeds said totally sums it up:

"...I thought it was a fun album. I don't think it's as profound as legend has it. In the long run, I don't think when somebody judges his career 20 years from now, they're going to say that that was an absolute high point. But it's a cool record. Legend made it more important than it is."