Unreleased Prince projects

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. The following is a list, in rough chronological order, of the most prominent of these unreleased works.

"The Rebels"

Before Prince formed The Time, he considered using his backing band as a side-project called The Rebels. The 1979 project was a group effort, with songs being written and sung by the various members. Andre Cymone and Dez Dickerson each contributed material and a few numbers were sung by Gayle Chapman. The project was eventually shelved but two of the songs composed by Prince were re-recorded and released much later: "If I Love U 2 Night" by Mica Paris (and later by Prince's wife-to-be Mayte Garcia) and "U" by Paula Abdul. The original Prince guide vocal for "If I Love U 2 Nite" appeared by mistake on the rare Mica Paris 'Stand For Love' EP, of which only a handful exist.

"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 cappella intro to the tour, immediately preceding the song "Uptown."

"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."

"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.

"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 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).

Madhouse: "24"

Prince worked on a third Madhouse album in 1987–1988 that was never released. Some of the tracks were altered and reused on Eric Leeds's "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.

"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.

"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.

"The Undertaker"

This recording was made in a continuous single live-in-the-studio pass in collaboration with NPG drummer Michael Bland and bassist Sonny T. Prince originally intended to give this live CD away free with 1,000 copies of "Guitar Player Magazine" in 1994 (uploading an original "The Undertaker" CD to iTunes, shows the year 1995 as the year the CD was "released"), but he was reportedly barred by Warner Bros. from doing so. Copies were leaked and bootlegged. The songs were guitar-heavy versions of rock and blues numbers, including a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" and new recording of "Bambi" (originally from 1979's "Prince"). The title track was a cover of a song previously given to Mavis Staples, while "The Ride," "Zannalee," and "Dolphin" would all be re-recorded future releases. A video recording of the performance is in circulation with small edits throughout the performance and "Dolphin" replaced by the official video of the song from "The Gold Experience".

;Track listing
#The Ride (10:54)
#Poor Goo (4:26)
#Honky Tonk Women (3:00)
#Bambi (4:49)
#The Undertaker (9:50)
#Dolphin (3:40)

"The Dawn"

"The Dawn" was to be the first Prince album after "Emancipation", but it was shelved in 1997. An acoustic version of the title track can be found on "The Truth". Prince had often thought of releasing an album called 'The Dawn' at many points during his career. The earliest known incarnation of 'The Dawn' was from 1986, and seems to have been some kind of musical (an idea that eventually resurfaced as 'Graffiti Bridge'). Another incarnation of 'The Dawn' was assembled around 1994, soon after Prince changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol. This time the content was made from tracks that would later surface on "Come" and "The Gold Experience". The last known incarnation of the album was assembled in 1997, this time it came very close to release, and was even advertised on the back of the free cassette single of 'The Holy River' given away at 'Borders' stores in 1997.

"Roadhouse Garden"

In 1998, Prince announced a comeback album of Prince & The Revolution that consisted 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. According to former Revolution keyboardist Dr. Fink, Prince asked for Wendy and Lisa's input on the album, but he didn't offer any compensation, so they declined his offer. Later, when people asked about the "Roadhouse Garden" album, his reply was "Ask Wendy and Lisa."

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.

"Crystal Ball"

Album

"Crystal Ball" was a 3-LP set to be released in 1987, The set was to consist 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. The album is notable for two reasons; it was the last studio album to be recorded with The Revolution and the events said to have surrounded its recording led to the resignation of both Wendy & Lisa, effectively dissolving Prince's band until the creation of The New Power Generation.

equel

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 the following:

*"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"

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.

"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" (Rap remix)
* "Underneath the Cream"
* "So Far, So Pleased" (a club-dance remix—mixed with portions of "Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic")
* "Hot wit You" (a club-dance remix)

"Underneath the Cream" was later released on Prince's Web site and an edit of the Nasty Girl Remix was released on the remix album "Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic".

"High"

In 2000 "High" was fully complete and ready to release in the summer of 2000, but the album was never released - a confusing decision, as the album was very commercial in sound and could have easily been his biggest hit in many years. A video was even recorded for the song "U Make My Sun Shine," a duet with Angie Stone, and it was also released as a single. Most songs were distributed via his [http://www.npgmusicclub.com NPG Music Club] . Prince released "The Rainbow Children" instead.

NPG: "Peace"

During the 2001 "HIT + RUN Tour" an 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.

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 questions & answers for one of Prince's fan weeks at Paisley Park. Most of the footage comes 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.

"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.

"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.

"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 boxed set containing:

- C-note
- Xpectation
- One Nite Alone - Solo Piano & Voice
- The Chocolate Invasion - Trax from NPGMC Volume 1
- The Slaughterhouse - Trax from NPGMC Volume 2
- The Glam Slam Club Mix
- The War

In November 2003, a problem with manufacturing was reported, and the project was put on hold. The only albums that have become available on CD in limited editions before were 'The War', available through 1-800-new-funk in 1998 and 'One nite alone' sent freely to NPG Music Club members in 2002. Furthermore, all albums have been made available for download via the NPG Music Club at various stages. An excerpt of 'The Glam Slam Club Mix' was possibly part of NPG Ahdio Show #11 and available as a free download in December 2001, 'C-note' and 'Xpectation' were free downloads for members in January 2003 and became available in The NPG Music Club Store in 2004, together with 'One nite alone', 'The Chocolate Invasion' and 'The Slaughterhouse'.

"3121" film

Near the end of 2005, Prince had written and produced for the singer Liza Hernandez (also known as Liza Lena) and, according to the Panamanian news site Prensa.com, "Has maintained a good friendship since they filmed together the film 31-21," and was, according to the site, supposed to be released in April 2006. There are references to the film on a few Prince forums, which, unfortunately for the sake of authenticity, only refer back to quotes from unofficial, unknown, or expired sources. There are no references to the film found on either Prince's official newsletter "3121.com" or in the Internet Movie Database. The cover of the 3121 CD reads '3121 - The Music', further fuelling speculation of a 3121 movie.

References

External links

* [http://www.housequake.com/archive/topic/36512-1.html The Second Coming]
* [http://www.dawnation.com/comingup.html#roadhousegarden Roadhouse Garden]
* [http://www.dawnation.com/comingup.html#nss Newfunk sampling CD series]
* [http://www.housequake.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58515 Crystall Ball 2]
* [http://www.housequake.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33125 The Hot X-perience]
* [http://www.dawnation.com/comingup.html#high High]
* [http://www.dawnation.com/comingup.html#ld Last December]
* [http://www.housequake.com/showthread.php?threadid=61034&highlight=liza%20lena 3121 Movie]
* [http://home.earthlink.net/~getwild/prince/otherouttakes.html List of unreleased songs written by Prince for other artists]
* [http://www.warr.org/purple.html albums produced by Prince]
* [http://www.thedatabank.org/ TheDataBank.org online library documenting the unofficial releases of Prince material]
* [http://www.smallclub.org/ List of bootleg material of Prince concerts]