Today I finally managed to aquire a copy of The Black Album. I know it was supposed to be released in 1987 but was held back at the last minute. Beyond that I don't know much about it. Could someone please share the story behind it?

Thanks

http://www.prince.org/faq...Prince_FAQ

In late 1987, Prince planned to release an album popularly known as the Black Album. The actual album had an all-black cover with only a catalog number, and no artist information or title. The Black Album contains eight tracks, most of which are "funk" songs.

The album was canceled mere days before its scheduled release, after hundreds of thousands of copies were pressed. A few escaped destruction, and rank among the most coveted Prince collectables. In addition, the Black Album became the most bootlegged record of all time.

At the time, a rumor circulated that Warner Bros. canceled the album due to concerns about explicit lyrics. Prince, on the other hand, has said that he canceled the project after having a religious experience involving a vision. What really happened? Per Nilsen, respected author of several books on Prince, claims that Prince decided to scrap the album after an experiment with the drug MDMA (aka ecstasy) that resulted in a bad trip. Former Prince associates have confirmed the ecstasy story.

The Black Album was replaced with Lovesexy, an album that contained one track ("When 2 R in Love") from the Black Album. In 1994, Warner Bros. officially released the Black Album as a limited edition.

floralelephants said:

Good review!

I just took it from the Frequently Asked Questions on this website. . .

floralelephants said:

Didn't know that, sorry!

Well, you copied and pasted quite nicely . . .

Thank you very much! I pride myself in my copying and pasting skills!

All the Uptown Prince books have something about the Black album, they are a very good investment.

Cut & Paste:

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Prince was upset at the lacklustre reception of Sign O The Times in the USA, the 'white' press was saying it was great, the 'black' press was saying he had lost it (his funk), after ATWIAD and Parade, he was going too hippy-ish, too "white".

This had been building since Purple Rain, and was a (minor) factor in the split with Revolution (a whole other story).

You know, Prince was cutting edge in 1981/82, he was out there, was he Black, was he White, was he straight, was he Gay, was he funk, was he New Wave?

That was fresh then, but now, Black music had moved on, rap was here, N.W.A. were around the corner.

So he decided to put together an album of hard funk and 'black music' that would silence his critics who said he had lost his roots - the album, to be entitled - "The Funk Bible" (a title referenced in the opening lines of Le Grind).

The album was compiled entirely of previously recorded material (except for the newly recorded When 2 R In Love), and was to be released without any promotional at all, and without any information about the artist who had recorded the album.

It was labelled on the Warners release schedule as "Something" by "Someone" So it wasn't the follow-up to SOTT (That was scheduled to be the original Graffiti Bridge - which was already well underway with a script and a soundtrack).

It was meant to be a side-project, taking some of the ideas from the Camille album (a funk album with no reference to Prince as the artist) and some of the projects from around that time and earlier, Madhouse, The Flesh.

The album was made up of several songs Prince had recorded for Sheila E's birthday party, 1986, a few out-takes and odd songs.

With him being compared to rap - Dead On It was a direct commentary/attack on Rap, which Prince (at the time) derided - he thought, since rappers didn't play their own instruments, they were untalented (oh the irony come 1991!)

Prince was in a real unsure state at this time - The criticism didn't help - he had split up with Revolution, his long time band members and friends, who he had rose to fame with, and whom had become some of his closest ever collaborators (Wendy & Lisa), he'd broken off an engagement (Susannah, Wendy's identical twin), and Sign O' The Times was somewhat made up of older tracks from the Dream Factory and the Revolution era - so he had yet to prove himself 100% as an artist without the Revolution (even though their input on record was limited - they did have a prominent public image).

So what with personal and professional turmoil, and critical remarks biting where it hurt, he wasn't that confident, he had started to question his own ability.

So he put together The Funk Bible, an album that says 'You don't think I can do Funk (Black) music any more - Listen to this, this is the stuff I do on my day off, this is the stuff I DON'T put on record!'

He pressed up an acetate and took it to the club Ruperts in MPLS to test the waters (House was coming in then, no doubt it was trickling into Minneapolis from places like Chicago, and you can hear it in the first two tracks - especially with Cat's rap in Cindy C (a very slightly altered rendition of J M Silk's Music Is The Key rap - one of the earliest cross-over House hits).

At the club a certain number of events unfold, and this is open to interpretation, but according to several people close to Prince at the time, including Matt Fink (keyboardist since 1979) and Susan Rogers (Studio Engineer for years).

Prince took ecstasy (E, MDMA) that night, and met, poet and singer, Ingrid Chavez (Aura in Graffiti Bridge).

Apparently Prince had a bad trip and that night he went back to Paisley Park with Ingrid, after excusing himself with a stomach ache, he called up Susan Rogers and asked her to come to the studio (all employees are on 24 hour call, so it wasn't that wierd) - she recalls that he looked very spaced-out, and he asked if she loved him, and if she would stay with him, he freaked her out a bit, and she said she loved him, but would not stay. [This comes from Per Nilsen's DMSR, from an interview with Susan Rogers].

She soon left Prince's employment.

The next day, Prince called Mo Ostin (head of Warners) and requested that the album be cancelled (regardless of what you may read, it was *entirely* Princes decision to cancel the album). This was 7 days before the scheduled release date, and the album had already been printed up in the thousands.

Incidently, when Ostin left WB, it wasn't around the time Prince started vocalising his distain with Warners and the whole name change thing occured.

The album copies were destroyed, but obvious some escaped. Prince received several cases of LPs, which he gave out to friends and close associates - and copies also escaped to the collectors market.

A few days later Prince recorded the whole Lovesexy album in a matter of weeks, practically in the order it is on the album, although I Wish U Heaven replaced The Line (still unreleased, but circulating). And both Lovesexy and Positivity are both different from their original incarnations (Positivity originally had Cat's Cindy C. rap).

Lovesexy was originally scheduled as the lead single (official mixes and edits exist - uncirculating).

Anna Stesia pretty much tells the story of that night in the club on the bad trip - The beautiful girl is Ingrid, Greg is Greg Brooks - dancer and body guard from the Parade/SOTT tours.

When the album was released in 1994, it was part of (but didn't directly contribute to) Prince's contractual obligations to Warners. It had been under possible release several times before that, most notable as part a two-CD set in 1991 - the first CD to be a best of upto 1990.

After the failure of Lovesexy in the USA (worst selling album since Controversy), and the disappointment of Graffiti Bridge -

both film and album - Warners wanted to let the market rest a while, and put out a best of.

Prince had other ideas - a new batch of songs embracing the new form of Black pop music, rap, featuring his new protegee, Tony M. - Diamonds & Pearls.

You could say that The Black Album was the pivot on which Prince's career thus far rests - before it, album after album of progression and inginuity - after it, self-doubt, band-wagon jumping and technically fluffery.

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hmmm if this is true, its very interesting.....i'm still not sure i really buy it or not

thanks a lot nouveaudance, very informative. I'll have to look around for those uptown books.

missfee said:

Which parts do you question?

NouveauDance said:

Well i mean i'm the type person if everybody else is saying something about the subject, their views could be false unless i hear the story from the person itself.

Thats all i meant by that.

Ahh, I see.

Well you're right, everybody has their own perception of an event.

Although the one outlined above is corroborated by several people's statements, not just one.