The summer of '89 I was in New York City looking for bootleg copies of the Black Album (which I found) and I was in a small record store in the village and I saw something which I have never seen again to this day. Help me out and tell me if I'm crazy or if this item really does exist.

I asked to see the Prince stack of 45 picture sleeves from behind the counter and one of them was some type of limited edition 45 with Prince music and art work by Salvador Dali. I asked about it and they guy said something about a special series of 45's with art from famous painters on the covers. It was pretty expensive (around $50-75) at the time and I passed on buying it. I've never seen or heard of it again since then.

Has anyone ever heard of this? Does anyone own this 45? I don't know if it was a real Warner Bros. release, or just some weird limited edition 45 that some small company knocked off.

Any help in getting this figured out would be appreciated!

Positivity, Ya'll!
David

Yeah, Rolf Harris also did one for Grafitti Bridge but Prince thought it tasteless and garish.
[This message was edited Wed Nov 5 15:46:09 PST 2003 by Number23]

As a painter--- or formerly so-- I feel compelled to chime in. Two of my favorite artists together. However, I've got nothing...

Could it have been something from ATWIAD? The single covers were zoomed-in from the album cover.

I have seen at a record store in the city an obviously bootleged 45 with a black and white sleeve - there was no artwork by Dali, but it said "The Salvador Dali EP". I think it had a live version of "Purple Rain" on one side and something else on the other.

There is a vinyl bootleg called the Salvador Dali EP with a black and white cover.

The artwork has nothing to do with Salvador Dali as far as I am aware. For a start, Dali's last known painting, according to his official biography, was completed in 1983, following which he retreated into virtual reclusivity. Secondly, the cover is a photographic image from a collection used in the Sign O' The Times tour book, as I recall - Prince in cap with shades on.

The text of 'Prince and the Revolution' is in red, using the Purple Rain font.

The musical content is from the London, Wembley Arena performance on August 14th, 1986 towards the end of the show featuring 'Kiss' and 'Miss You' with Ron Wood and Sting guesting.

The 'sleeve' is in fact a piece of paper folded in half, then half again. Opened out, one side is blank.

The other side comprises one quarter - front cover (as decsribed above), one quarter (rear cover) a black and white image of Dali painting at an easel.

the text says:

The Best Kept Secret Is The Best Kept Secret Of All

The 'painting' simply has the words:

Produced composed arranged and performed by Prince, below which it reads:

331/3 RPM

Face A Kiss
Face B Miss You (Jagger/Ricahrd) the Roof Is On Fire

Wembley 14/8/86 Featuring .....Ron Wood Guitar ..... Sting bass

the other half of this 'sleeve' is a photograph of part of the poster from the Purple Rain LP (from the When Doves Cry video set) against a paisley background.

.
[This message was edited Thu Nov 6 4:37:04 PST 2003 by langebleu]

"miss u" single with dali stuff in black n white

whodknee said:

Salvador Dali is your favourite artist?
Talented draughtsman and his very early work is great but the paintings and style he's most famous for, the surrealist movement, are skin deep. He was the ultimate "consumers" artist, mush like Warhol with his Campbells soup tins... thats why his work ends up in poster form on so many student walls.
He painted what the masses wanted, not what he had a passion for.
He even signed blank canvasses for others to pass off their own work as his.
He was an interesting extraordinary character but money took over from art, he lost relevance and his work became boring but pretty.

langebleu hit that one right on the head! I used to own this 45 but sold it on ebay years ago for like $15.00.
Mark

Oooh, I bought this about a month ago for £2.
It's crap.

---

Langebleu thanks for the detailed post. I'm pretty sure what you describe is what I saw back in '89. The part about the Dali painting on the easel is what really locks it in for me.

The guy at the record store spun me a different tail, so either he was trying to sucker me or didn't know any different.

Thanks for clearing this up...

Positivity Ya'll
David

funkyfine said:

Dali decreased the value of his work by saturating the market with prints of his paintings.

Peter Max is doin the same thing these days unfortuneatly.

Warhols soup cans looked fantastic beside his flat portraits of celebs. Elvis was no longer an individual a person, he was a mass produced product, just like the soup cans, presented in the same manner. Flat, posterized, artificial colors, in complete contrast to a lifelike portrait of someone. Warhol was pretty sincere in his sentiments toward mass production and pop culture. His work was accessible to the general public just because it was fun and colorful, but I wouldn't consider his message simply skin deep.
[This message was edited Thu Nov 6 14:21:36 PST 2003 by Tom]

Dali started off brilliantly, and continued brilliantly for quite a long time before he went all crap.

Much like other another artist I could name.