Unreleased Prince projects
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Prince is well-known in the entertainment industry for having a vast body of works that have never seen the light of day. It has been said that his vault contains over 50 fully produced music videos that have never been released, along with albums and other media. Two rational explanations can be given:
- Prince is a very prolific artist. He creates/created more work than can reasonably be published.
- Prince's eccentricity
The following is a list, in rough chronological order, of the most prominent of these unreleased works.
[edit] The Rebels
Before Prince formed The Time, he considered using his backing band as a side-project called The Rebels. The band was a group effort, with songs being written with the various members. The project was shelved but two of the songs were released much later: "If I Love U 2 Night" by Taja Seville (and later by Prince's wife Mayte) and "U" by Paula Abdul.
[edit] The Second Coming
The Second Coming was planned to be a documentary film and live album from Prince's Controversy tour in 1981. The tour was professionally filmed but the project was abandoned, likely due to Prince's schedule producing The Time and Vanity 6. The title comes from a prerecorded a capella intro to the tour, immediately preceding the song "Uptown".
[edit] The Flesh
The Flesh was a project of live jam sessions recorded in late 1985 to early 1986. The project was abandoned when Prince began work on Parade although a small instrumental portion of a track called "Junk Music" made it into the film Under the Cherry Moon. A circulating outtake from these sessions is titled "U Got 2 Shake Something".
[edit] Dream Factory
Dream Factory was a double LP project recorded with The Revolution from 1986. Many of the tracks would later be incorporated into Crystal Ball (see below) or be released through other outlets over the years.
[edit] Camille
Camille is an unreleased album by Prince, recorded in 1986. The album was planned to consist of 8 tracks in a speeded up vocal that sounded like a female voice. The album was to be released under the name of "Camille" (who would not be pictured on the cover) and not as a "Prince" album. The concept was abandoned and most of the tracks were incorporated into Crystal Ball (see below).
[edit] Crystal Ball
A 3-LP set to be released in 1987, Crystal Ball was an expansive set of various tracks from 1985–1986. Although several Dream Factory tracks were incorporated, this set was to be marketed as a solo album by Prince. Warner Bros. Records balked at the album's length so Prince begrudgingly trimmed it to the 2-LP Sign “☮” the Times, which many still consider to be his best album.
[edit] The Black Album
In 1986–1987 Prince recorded The Black Album, a funk-oriented album whose erotically-charged lyrics were considered so blatant that it was not officially released. However, the album circulated heavily through the bootleg underground music world until it was finally given an official release in 1994.
[edit] Madhouse: 24
Prince worked on a third Madhouse album in 1987/1988 which was never released. Some of the tracks were altered and reused on Eric Leeds' Times Squared album released in 1991. Interestingly, a totally different version of 24 was recorded with members of the New Power Generation and Eric Leeds in 1993 but this also was not released, with the exception of the track "17" of the 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation album. Some of the tracks were on the rare "Sampler Experience" cassette.
[edit] Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic
The original Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic (note spelling) album was shelved when Prince started working on the Batman soundtrack in late 1988. The album shared some tracks with Graffiti Bridge and the title track was finally released in 1999 on an almost totally new album of the same name.
[edit] The Tora Tora Experience
At the height of his troubles with Warner Bros. Records in 1994, Prince contributed as "Tora Tora" on the NPG's Exodus album. Happy with this pseudonym, a full album was recorded as Tora Tora, but it remains unreleased. Very little is known about this project, but it was mentioned on the 1995 "Sampler Experience" cassette.
[edit] The Undertaker
Prince originally intended to give this live CD away free with 1,000 copies of Guitar Player Magazine in 1994, but he was told by Warner Brothers that he couldn't. Some rare copies were leaked and heavily bootlegged.
The album's track list was as follows:
- "The Ride"
- "Poor Goo"
- "Honkey Tonk"
- "Bambi"
- "Zannalee"
- "The Undertaker"
- "Dolphin"
[edit] Welcome 2 The Dawn
Welcome 2 The Dawn was to be the first 
album after The Gold Experience, but it was shelved in 1996, in favor of Emancipation. An acoustic version of the title track can be found on The Truth.
[edit] Roadhouse Garden
In 1998, announced a comeback album of 'Prince & The Revolution', consisting of unreleased songs. It was most likely never released because of a dispute with the original Revolution members. One of the mentioned songs, "Splash" was released on Prince's web site.
[edit] Newfunk sampling CD series
A 7-CD set of Prince samples for producers and DJs was announced in 1999 for a onetime fee of $700. It remains unreleased.
[edit] Crystal Ball II
This was a follow up to the 1998 outtake album Crystal Ball. Fans who attended Prince's Paisley Park Studios during June 2000 were given the opportunity to vote for their favorite outtakes out of a list of 23 and 17 were selected. For unknown reasons it was never produced.
The tracks included:
- "3 Nigs Watchin' a Kung Fu Movie"
- "Adonis & Bathsheba"
- "American Jam"
- "Come Electra Tuesday" (not selected)
- "Electric Intercourse"
- "Everybody Wants What They Don't Got"
- "Evolsidog"
- "Eye Wonder"
- "Girl" (not selected)
- "Girl O' My Dreams"
- "Gotta Stop (Messin' About)" (not selected)
- "If It'll Make U Happy" (not selected)
- "Katrina's Paper Dolls"
- "Kiss" (Unreleased Xtended Version)
- "Love & Sex"
- "Lust U Always"
- "Others Here with Us"
- "She's Just a Baby" (not selected)
- "Strange Way of Saying Eye Love U"
- "Turn It Up"
- "U're All Eye Want"
- "Xtra Lovable"
[edit] Crystal Ball DVD
Another little-known project that was due to be released at the same time as Crystal Ball II was an accompanying Crystal Ball DVD. This was to contain music videos made for tracks off both volumes of the Crystal Ball albums.
[edit] The Hot X-perience
In 2000, a vinyl maxi single was announced. It would contain new club remixes of "Hot Wit U" featuring Eve.
On July 19, 2000, DJ Wolf played some unreleased mixes, likely from The Hot X-perience, at a club known as The Front in Minneapolis, Minnesota:
- "Hot Wit You" (Nasty Girl Remix)
- "Hot Wit You" (a "hip hop"-like remix)
- "Underneath The Cream"
- "So Far So Pleased" (a 'Club/Dance' remix - mixed with portions of "Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic")
- "Hot Wit You" (a 'Club/Dance' remix)
"Underneath The Cream" was later released on Prince's website and the "Nasty Girl Remix" was released on the remix album Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic.
[edit] High
In 2000 High was fully complete and ready to release in the summer of 2000 but the album was never released. Most songs were distributed via his NPG Music Club. Prince instead released The Rainbow Children.
[edit] NPG: Peace
During the 2001 "HIT + RUN Tour" a NPG single from the forthcoming new NPG album was sold. It featured the title track and "2045: Radical Man" as flip side. The album remains unreleased, while "Radical Man" was given to Spike Lee for his Bamboozled soundtrack.
[edit] Unnamed Paisley Park Fan Q&A Documentary
In the summer of 2001 actor/director Kevin Smith contacted Prince to gain permission to use The Most Beautiful Girl in the World for a scene in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Although he was denied permission, he agreed to film a documentary of reaction and Q&A for one of Prince's fan weeks at Paisley Park. Most of the footage from 5 sessions of Prince and Smith discussing the music with fans rests in Prince's vault, while some was used originally to promote The Rainbow Children album and for background video at his live concerts.
[edit] Madrid 2 Chicago
A new album was announced for 2001. The title track and "Breathe" were distributed via the NPG Music Club, but the full album remains unreleased.
[edit] Last December
Announced in the "One Nite Alone..." tour book in March 2002, the title is a track from The Rainbow Children. The album has never materialized.
[edit] The Chocolate Invasion
In 2003 it was announced that the "members only" tracks from the first years of the NPG Music Club would be released in a 7-CD box set. In November 2003, a problem with manufacturing was reported and the project was put on hold. Some of the albums were available to downloaded via the new NPG Music Club when the site was available.
[edit] 3121 film
Near the end of 2005 it was said that Prince had written something for Liza Hernandez and has maintained a good friendship since they filmed together the film 3121, that would be released in April of 2006. More details were promised by October 1. There were no updates at their site since and no news was communicated about the movie.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- The Second Coming
- Roadhouse Garden
- Newfunk sampling CD series
- Crystall Ball 2
- The Hot X-perience
- High
- Last December
- 3121 Movie
