The Black Album (Prince album)
The Black Album | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Warner Bros. 25677 (original pressing) 45793 (second pressing) | ||||
Producer | Prince | |||
Prince chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
MusicHound Rock | 2.5/5[5] |
Q | [6] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [7] |
Select | 1/5[8] |
Tom Hull | B[9] |
The Village Voice | A−[10] |
The untitled sixteenth
The 1987 promo-only release had no printed title, artist name, production credits or photography printed; a simple black sleeve accompanied the disc. On promotional copies, only a song listing and catalog number—25677—were printed on the disc itself. The commercial version was to only have the catalog number—printed in pink—on the spine.
Music
Prince invoked Camille, the alter-ego behind his unreleased 1986 album Camille, as the guiding force responsible for The Black Album.[12]
The opening track also mentioned the title of the album as being The Funk Bible, which was a consideration during work on this project. The title refers both to the album's all-black cover design and to Prince's attempt to earn back his credibility among the black pop audience.[13]
The album features one of the most atypical Prince songs: "Bob George", in which he assumes the identity of a profane man who suspects his girlfriend to have had an affair with a man named Bob. He asks her what the man does for a living and learns that Bob manages Prince, whom he dismisses as "that skinny motherfucker with the high voice". The gun-wielding alter ego then fires a multitude of gunshots, and ends up being raided by the police. During live performances of the song during the
The Black Album features songs such as the hip hop parody "Dead on It", which playfully makes the accusation that all rappers are tone-deaf and unable to sing, and the playful "Cindy C.", which refers to supermodel Cindy Crawford. The rhyme at the end of the song was originally written by Steve "Silk" Hurley and was included on a song titled "Music Is the Key", which was previously released by Chicago house-music group JM Silk, of which Hurley was the founder. Hurley would later go on to remix two of the songs from the "Gett Off" maxi-single, the Housestyle and Flutestramental versions.
The album contains several instances of the portrayal of characters, using either a sped-up or slowed-down vocal track by Prince (as on "
The instrumental jazz-funk jam "2 Nigs United 4 West Compton" was revisited as a live song on the One Nite Alone... Live! album, but it was hardly the same track.
"Rockhard in a Funky Place" was originally considered for inclusion on the Camille project and then the planned Crystal Ball album. After the album's fade out, dissonant feedback fades in, followed by Prince saying "What kind of fuck ending was that?" before fading out again. "When 2 R in Love" is the only ballad on the album, and reappeared on Lovesexy, which was released the next year.
Prince performed "Bob George", parts of "When 2 R in Love", and "Superfunkycalifragisexy" on his
Samples of "Bob George" would later show up on the "Dub Beats" official promo mix of
Withdrawal
The album was abandoned shortly before its intended release after Prince experienced a spiritual epiphany and became convinced it was "evil";[16] he later blamed the album on an entity named Spooky Electric, described as a demonic, low-voiced alter-ego induced by Camille.[17] The decision may have been influenced by Prince's having a bad experience on MDMA.[18] Prince recalled all copies and abandoned the entire project, leaving roughly 100 European promotional copies in circulation, and several American copies that would be widely bootlegged in the coming years.
Immediately after the decision to pull The Black Album from stores, the album emerged on the streets in bootleg form, arguably becoming popular music's most legendary bootleg since the Beach Boys' aborted 1967 album Smile.[19]
In the music video for the lead single from Lovesexy, "Alphabet St.", a message quickly scrolls down the screen that reads: "Don't buy The Black Album, I'm sorry."[20]
In April 2016, an original promo copy from 1987 was sold on Discogs' marketplace for a then-record of US$15,000.00.[citation needed] In 2017, five copies were discovered in the United States, with one of those selling for US$42,298.[21] In June 2018, another copy of the original album was found in Canada—this copy later sold on the Discogs marketplace for $25,000.[21][22]
Legal release
The Black Album was finally released by Warner Bros. Records on November 22, 1994—again, containing only a track listing and the new catalog number 45793 printed onto the disc itself, and a copyright date of 1994 (with the exception of "When 2 R in Love", which was released in 1988 on Lovesexy). Although it was released in a strictly limited edition and was pulled on January 27, 1995, the album was re-released exclusively to Tidal in 2016.[23]
In the week of the album's official release, Warner ran an ad at the back of the November 26, 1994, issue of Billboard that offered owners of counterfeit copies a free copy of the legal release, provided they mail their bootleg copy to the label in exchange. This offer was given only to the first 1,000 individuals who sent in their copies.[24]
Reception
Reactions to the 1987 promo release were largely positive. Several celebrities, including U2's The Edge and Bono, cited it as one of their favorite albums of 1988 in a Rolling Stone magazine poll. Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, compared Prince's approach to George Clinton's "sonic wallop and communal craziness", adding that "the bassy murk never lets up, and at its weirdest [...] it's as dark as "Cosmic Slop."" Commenting on the scarcity of advance-release copies, he recommended that "those who pine for heavy funk should nag their local dealers".[25] The New York Times' Jon Pareles remarked that both The Black Album and Lovesexy "show a musician experimenting like mad with every musical parameter, and so prolific that he has to cut back his output so he won't be competing with himself". He observed that The Black Album "answers the Beatles' eclectic White Album with Prince's own tour of black music styles (from a skeletal, synthesized blues to a rap, with extended stops at James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic); it has black humor and nasty fantasies."[26]
Retrospective reviews since the album's limited official release have been more mixed. In one of the few unambiguously negative appraisals,
Track listing
All tracks are written by Prince, except where noted
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Le Grind" | 6:44 |
2. | "Cindy C." | 6:15 |
3. | "Dead on It" | 4:37 |
4. | "When 2 R in Love[a]" | 3:59 |
Total length: | 21:35 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
5. | "Bob George" | 5:36 | |
6. | "Superfunkycalifragisexy" | 5:55 | |
7. | "2 Nigs United 4 West Compton" | 7:01 | |
8. | "Rockhard in a Funky Place" | Prince, Eric Leeds | 4:31 |
Total length: | 23:03 |
Personnel
- Prince – lead and backing vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, Hammond organ, Ensoniq Mirage, Fairlight CMI, Oberheim OB-Xa, Oberheim OB-8, Prophet VS, Yamaha DX7, bass guitar, Linn LM-1, LinnDrum, drums, percussion, handclaps, Publison IM90 Infernal Machine
- Sheila E. – backing vocals (1, 2), percussion (2), handclaps (2), drums (7), sampled line from "Holly Rock" (3)
- Eric Leeds – saxophone (1, 2, 8), flute (8)
- Atlanta Bliss – trumpet (1, 2, 8)
- Cat Glover – backing vocals (1), backing vocals and rap (2), spoken vocals (7)
- Boni Boyer – backing vocals (1, 2)
- Susannah Melvoin – backing vocals (1, 2, 8), handclaps (2, 8)
- Jill Jones – backing vocals (1, 2, 8), handclaps (2)
- Susan Rogers – engineer
Charts
Chart (1994) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA)[29] | 15 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[30] | 7 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[31] | 35 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] | 49 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[33] | 8 |
UK Albums (OCC)[34] | 36 |
US Billboard 200[35] | 47 |
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[36] | 18 |
References
Notes
- ^ AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
- ^ a b Harris, Keith (June–July 2001). "Every Original CD Reviewed - Prince". Blender. No. 1. New York City: Alpha Media Group.
- ISSN 1049-0434. Archived from the originalon October 5, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
- ^ Campbell, Chuck (November 25, 1994). "Yello Has More To Say Than 'Oh Yeah'". Knoxville News Sentinel.
- ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
- ^ "Prince - Black Album CD Album". CDUniverse.com. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
- ^ Hoard (2004), p. 655. Portions posted at "Prince: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 20, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
- ^ Hall, Matt (February 1995). "Prince - The Black Album". Select. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ Hull, Tom (n.d.). "Rock (1970s)". tomhull.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (June 28, 1988). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
- ^ "1987 - Welcome to the Funk Bible". The Black Album. theblackalbum.info. August 13, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
- ^ Gottschalk, Kurt (March 2011). "In Which Prince at Last Wins the Battle Against Evil, and Yet Y'all Still Make Fun of Him". Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- ^ Carcieri, Matthew Prince: A Life in MusiciUniverse.com (2004), p. 49
- ^ Nilsen, Per. Dance Music Sex Romance: Prince: The First Decade. SAF Publishing Ltd; 2nd Revised edition (2003), p. 229
- ^ YouTube
- ISBN 0-8230-7749-7.
- ^ Price, Simon (March 24, 2016). "Battle Of The Black Album: Jay-Z vs Metallica vs Prince". The Quietus. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- Vulture. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
- ISBN 9780946719648.
- ^ Deriso, Nick (December 8, 2017). "30 Years Ago: Prince Suddenly Shelves 'The Black Album,' But Why?". diffuser.fm. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ^ a b Savage, Mark (June 5, 2018). "Rare Prince album surfaces in Canada". BBC News. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ "50 Most Expensive Vinyl Records". Discogs. April 16, 2024. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
- ^ Cox, Jamieson (June 7, 2016). "A bunch of Prince's weirdest albums are now available on Tidal". The Verge. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
- ^ Billboard, November 26, 1994 p. 138
- ^ Christgau, Robert (June 28, 1988). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
- OCLC 1645522. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
- ^ Hall, Matt (February 1995). "Prince - The Black Album". Select. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ISSN 1049-0434. Archived from the originalon October 5, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Prince – The Black Album". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Prince – The Black Album" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Prince – The Black Album" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Prince – The Black Album". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ "Prince | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ "Prince Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ "Prince Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
Sources
- Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
External links
- The Black Album at Discogs
- Public Notice: Bootleg Copies of "Black" Album – By Billboard (Advertisement by Warner Bros. Records)
- What I'm Listening to Now: The Black Album – By Questlove