Category: Prince

Prince – Batman (Soundtrack) (1989)

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Batman is the eleventh studio album by American recording artist Prince and the soundtrack album to the 1989 film Batman. It was released on June 20, 1989 by Warner Bros. Records. As a Warner Bros. stablemate, Prince’s involvement in the soundtrack was designed to leverage the media company’s contract bound talent as well as fulfill the artist’s need for a commercial revival. The result was yet another multi platinum successful cross media enterprise by Warner Bros., in the vein of Purple Rain.

The album stayed at number one on the Billboard 200 for six consecutive weeks, being his first number one album since Around the World in a Day, while its lead single, “Batdance”, became his first number one song since “Kiss“. It is certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The album was recorded in six weeks, from mid February to late March 1989, and Prince used three tracks recorded earlier: “Electric Chair”, “Scandalous!“, and “Vicki Waiting” (originally known as “Anna Waiting”, named for his then girlfriend Anna Fantastic). Originally, the songs “1999” and “Baby I’m a Star” from earlier albums were slated to be used in the film, but Prince instead recorded an entire album’s worth of material with Batman samples and lyrics. In a 2001 Rolling Stone interview, Prince revealed that the project was initially supposed to be a collaboration between himself and Michael Jackson: “Did you know that the album was supposed to be a duet between Michael Jackson and me? He as Batman, me as the Joker?” Prince would have sung funk songs for the villains, while Michael Jackson would have sung ballads for the heroes. This never came to fruition as Jackson was busy with his Bad World Tour and already signed with Epic Records (the label he had been with since 1975), while the film was a Warner Bros. production. The album was performed entirely by Prince, with a few exceptions: Sheena Easton duets with Prince on “The Arms of Orion“, “Trust” features a sampled horn part by Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss, and “The Future” features strings by Clare Fischer sampled from the then unreleased 1986 track “Crystal Ball” and samples of the Sounds of Blackness choir. “Batdance” includes a sample of Prince’s technician Matthew Larson, and “Partyman” features the vocal performance of then girlfriend Anna Garcia (credited as Anna Fantastic).[1] All dialogue sampled on Prince’s Batman album is taken directly from a workprint of Batman and therefore lacks ADR and foley. This is especially noticeable in the beginning of the first track, “The Future”, with dialogue of Michael Keaton speaking as Batman.

In the album’s liner notes, the lyrics of each song are associated with one of the characters in the film: “The Future” and “Scandalous” are credited to Batman; while “Electric Chair” and “Trust” are credited to the Joker. “Vicki Waiting” is sung from the perspective of Bruce Wayne, while “Lemon Crush” comes from Vicki Vale; the two characters share the duet, “The Arms of Orion”. “Partyman” was inspired by Prince’s first meeting with Jack Nicholson (out-of-character) on-set.

 

Track listing

  1. The Future – 4:07
  2. Electric Chair – 4:07
  3. The Arms of Orion (with Sheena Easton) (Sheena Easton, Prince) – 5:02
  4. Partyman – 3:11
  5. Vicki Waiting – 4:51
  6. Trust – 4:23
  7. Lemon Crush – 4:15
  8. Scandalous (John L. Nelson, Prince) – 6:14
  9. Batdance – 6:13

All songs written by Prince, except where noted.

 

Personnel

Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released: June 20, 1989
Recorded: June 1988 – March 1989 Studio Paisley Park Studios
Genre: Rock, Pop, Funk, Soul, Synth-pop, Dance
Length: 42:52

Label – Warner Bros. Records

Prince – The Black Album (1994)

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The Black Album is the sixteenth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on November 22, 1994, by Warner Bros. Records. It was originally planned for release on December 8, 1987, as the follow-up to Sign o’ the Times[1] and was to appear in an entirely black sleeve with no title or even a credit to Prince; hence it was referred to as The Black Album. Dubbed The Funk Bible by preceding press releases, and in a hidden message within the album itself, the work seemed to be a reaction to criticism that Prince had become too pop-oriented. It was his attempt to regain his Black audience.

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. The original compact disc pressing was made by Sony DADC rather than WEA Manufacturing. After Prince became convinced that the album was “evil”, he ordered it to be withdrawn a week before its release date. It was replaced with the album Lovesexy, a brighter pop-oriented album with elements of religious affirmation.

Prince invoked Camille, the alter-ego behind his unreleased 1986 album Camille, as the guiding force responsible for The Black Album.

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.

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 Lovesexy Tour, he ends up being shot. The name for the track was a combination of Bob Cavallo (former manager), and Nelson George, who was felt to have become very critical of Prince. “Bob George” features a growling monologue that is pitched down (using a Publison) to the point of being almost unrecognizable as Prince. The voice at the end of the song that says “bizarre” is actually a stock sound from the Fairlight CMI IIx library, with its pitch raised.

The Black Album features songs such as the hip hop parody “Dead on It”, which playfully makes the accusation that all MCs 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 “If I Was Your Girlfriend“, “U Got the Look“, “Strange Relationship“, and “Housequake”, all from the Sign o’ the Times album).

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 planned Crystal Ball album and then the Camille project. 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 Lovesexy Tour. “When 2 R in Love” was usually part of the piano medley in Act II, whereas the other two songs were part of the Act I segment, where Prince’s evil side showed through (coinciding with the idea that The Black Album was evil, hence its being pulled from release by Prince). Act II was his born-again segment, with more upbeat spiritual songs, highlighting most of the Lovesexy songs, and top 40 hits.

Samples of “Bob George” would later show up on the “Dub Beats” official promo mix of Madonna‘s 1989 single “Like a Prayer“.

Side 1

  1. “Le Grind” – 6:44
  2. “Cindy C.” – 6:15
  3. “Dead on It” – 4:37
  4. “When 2 R in Love” – 3:59 *

Side 2

  1. “Bob George” – 5:36
  2. “Superfunkycalifragisexy” – 5:55
  3. “2 Nigs United 4 West Compton” – 7:01
  4. “Rockhard in a Funky Place” – 4:31

*Also appears on Lovesexy.

All songs written by Prince, except #8, music written by Prince and Eric Leeds.

Personnel

Notes
Released: November 22, 1994
Recorded: 1986–87
Genre: Funk
Length: 44:43

Label – Warner Bros. Records

Prince – 3121 (2006)

3121 (pronounced “thirty-one twenty-one”) is the thirty-first studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on March 21, 2006. 3121 was released by NPG Records and distributed, under a “1-Album Deal”, by Universal Music.
The album’s first single, “Te Amo Corazón“, was released in the United States on December 13, 2005, and debuted at number 20 on the VH1 countdown; the second single, “Black Sweat“, was released on February 2, 2006.
The title of the album was believed to be a reference to the address of Prince’s rented Los Angeles mansion. A lawsuit filed against Prince by the landlord (NBA player Carlos Boozer) indicates an entirely different address (1235 Sierra Alta Way). However, Prince has repeatedly referred to the property as “3121”; indeed, the lawsuit alleges he painted 3121 on the exterior of the property, and the album’s liner notes indicate that it was “recorded at Paisley Park Studios and 3121.”
According to another explanation the album’s title refers to a verse in the Bible (Psalm 31:21). “Blessed be Jehovah (God/Yahweh), For he has rendered wonderful loving-kindness to me in a city under stress.” Prince made a reference to this during a performance of the title track on the 2006 BET Awards; “Where’s the real party at? Shake your tambourines! BET read Psalms; that’s where it is.”
A further explanation reveals that 3121 refers to the album being Prince’s 31st release and the release date being the 21st.
Album sessions started in November 2004 with the recording of the song “3121” with Michael Bland and Sonny T.
Ostensibly inspired by the 1964 children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Prince included a limited number of “purple tickets” with the album. Lucky winners who found tickets were flown in from Europe, Asia, Mexico and the US to attend a semi-private performance (along with a long list of celebrities) at Prince’s home in Los Angeles.
3121 reinforced Prince’s big comeback after the release of 2004’s Musicology. It became the first Prince album ever to debut at number 1.

Tracklist

1. “3121” – 4:31
2. “Lolita” – 4:06
3. “Te Amo Corazón” – 3:35
4. “Black Sweat” – 3:12
5. “Incense and Candles” – 4:04
6. “Love” – 5:45
7. “Satisfied” – 2:50
8. “Fury” – 4:02
9. “The Word” – 4:11
10. “Beautiful, Loved and Blessed” (featuring Támar) – 5:43
11. “The Dance” – 5:20
12. “Get On the Boat” – 6:18

All tracks written by Prince, except where noted.

Personnel

  • Michael Bland (on “3121”), Cora Coleman Dunham (on “Te Amo Corazón”, “Get On the Boat”) – drums
  • Sonny T (on “3121”), Joshua Dunham (on “Te Amo Corazón”, “Get On the Boat”) – bass
  • Maceo Parker, Candy Dulfer, Greg Boyer and Ray – horn section
  • Herbert Urena, Ricky Salas (on “Te Amo Corazón”), Sheila E. (on “Get On the Boat”) – percussion
  • Clare Fischer – string arrangements
  • The New Power Generation (shouts), Támar (and co-lead on “Beautiful, Loved and Blessed”) – additional and backing vocals
  • Prince – all other instruments and voices
Technical

Notes
Released: March 21, 2006
Recorded: November 2004 – 2005, Studio 3121 and Paisley Park
Genre: R&B, funk, rock, electronica
Length: 53:42

Label – NPG, Universal Records