23 Albums in a One Nite Stand?

Well, it’s been a while I know but I guess I’m back. At least for now. So, what brought me back? Well it seems that the Prince Estate has finally managed to get around to releasing some more of the purple catalog. In a press release from Sony’s Legacy Recordings, they announced that 23 albums would be made available for streaming on the 17^th of August (yesterday) and that a new anthology would be available for streaming and download as well. This new compilation titled Anthology 1995-2010 features 37 tracks culled from Prince’s various albums during this time frame. Even though I have heard every track on the release, I have to hand it to who ever came up with the tracklist, it flows rather nicely and I rather like the compilation. It is definitely worth a listen!

Here is the press release from Legacy Recordings or you can view the original article here:

The first wave of Prince catalog titles to be released through an exclusive agreement struck in June between SME and The Prince Estate focuses on 1995-2010, a crucial epoch in Prince history. 23 highly-collectible Prince catalog titles (many of them hard-to-find or out-of-print) and Prince Anthology: 1995-2010 (a newly-curated anthology of 37 essential tracks from the era) are now available across all major streaming services and digital service providers.

Listen to/buy Prince Anthology: 1995-2010 here: https://Prince.lnk.to/anthology

Many of these albums, long sought-after by fans and collectors, are available for the first time for streaming and download, adding more than 300 essential Prince songs to the artist's online in-print catalog.

For Prince, 1995-2010 was an unprecedented period of sustained and prolific creativity. Releasing fresh recordings at a rapid-fire pace through a variety of distribution strategies including his own online NPG Music Club, Prince was making some of the most provocative, experimental and soulful music of his career. Freed from major label demands and expectations, Prince was able to write, record and release his own music on his own terms.

Assembled and curated under the auspices of The Prince Estate, Prince Anthology: 1995-2010 brings together 37 key recordings from the era. Opening with the title track from Emancipation ("This is my most important record," said Prince when the album was released in 1996) and closing with the anthemic "We March" (from 1995's The Gold Experience), this new compilation provides a coherent musical chronicle of Prince's artistic and spiritual evolution through the late 20th and early 21st centuries in songs that continue to resonant in the culture.

Prince Anthology: 1995- 2010 draws spotlight tracks from The Gold Experience, Emancipation, Chaos and Disorder, Crystal Ball, The Truth, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone..., C-Note, N.E.W.S., Xpectation, Musicology (includes 2005 Best Male R&B Performance Grammy winner "Call My Name"), The Slaughterhouse, The Chocolate Invasion, 3121 (the first Prince album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200), Planet Earth, LOtUSFLOW3R, MPLSoUND and 20Ten.

Prince catalog titles newly available digitally via SME/Legacy are:

1. The Gold Experience (1995) ("The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" greyed out, partial album streaming only; album unavailable for download)

2. Chaos and Disorder (1996)

3. Emancipation (1996)

4. Crystal Ball (1998)

5. The Truth (1998)

6. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (1999)

7. Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (2001)

8. The Rainbow Children (2001)

9. One Nite Alone… (2002)

10. One Nite Alone…Live! (2002)

11. One Nite Alone...Live - The Aftershow: It Ain't Over (Up Late with Prince & The NPG) (2002)

12. Xpectation (2003)

13. N.E.W.S. (2003)

14. C-Note (2004)

15. Musicology (2004)

16. The Chocolate Invasion (Trax from the NPG Music Club: Volume 1) (2004)

17. The Slaughterhouse (Trax from the NPG Music Club: Volume 2) (2004)

18. 3121 (2006)

19. Planet Earth (2007)

20. Indigo Nights (2008)

21. LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)

22. MPLSoUND (2009)

23. 20Ten (2010)

24. Prince Anthology: 1995-2010

Prince Anthology: 1995-2010

01. Emancipation (from Emancipation, 1996)

02. Black Sweat (from 3121, 2006)

03. P. Control (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

04. Crucial (from Crystal Ball, 1998)

05. The Love We Make (from Emancipation, 1996)

06. Eye Hate U (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

07. The Greatest Romance Ever Sold (from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, 1999)

08. Eye Love U, But Eye Don't Trust U (from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, 1999)

09. Gold (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

10. Guitar (from Planet Earth, 2007)

11. Dream Factory (from Crystal Ball, 1998)

12. The Work Part 1 (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)

13. Call My Name (from Musicology, 2004)

14. Strays of The World (from Crystal Ball, 1998)

15. Shhh (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

16. Dreamer (from LOtUSFLOW3R, 2009)

17. Chaos and Disorder (from Chaos and Disorder, 1996)

18. Endorphinmachine (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

19. Musicology (from Musicology, 2004)

20. Northside (from The Slaughterhouse, 2004)

21. When Eye Lay My Hands on U (from The Chocolate Invasion, 2004)

22. Beautiful Strange (from Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, 2001)

23. Future Soul Song (from 20Ten, 2010)

24. Empty Room (from C-Note, 2004)

25. 3rd Eye (from The Truth, 1998)

26. U're Gonna C Me (from One Nite Alone..., 2002)

27. Dinner With Delores (from Chaos and Disorder, 1996)

28. Ol' Skool Company (from MPLSoUND, 2009)

29. 4ever (from LOtUSFLOW3R, 2009)

30. West (from N.E.W.S., 2003)

31. Xpedition (from Xpectation, 2003)

32. Muse 2 The Pharaoh (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)

33. Somewhere Here On Earth (from Planet Earth, 2007)

34. U Make My Sun Shine (from The Chocolate Invasion, 2004)

35. 1+1+1 Is 3 (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)

36. Chelsea Rodgers (from Planet Earth, 2007)

37. We March (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

About Legacy Recordings

Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, is home to the world's foremost library of historically significant commercial recordings, a peerless collection of works by the most significant musical artists of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Across a variety of platforms, the label has revolutionized the catalog market, offering contemporary music fans access to thousands of meticulously restored and remastered archival titles representing virtually every musical genre including popular, rock, jazz, blues, R&B, folk, country, gospel, Broadway musicals, movie soundtracks, rap/hip-hop, world music, classical, comedy and more.

About The Prince Estate:

The Prince Estate passionately presents Prince's life and work, and cultivates opportunities to further his legacy. As the singular, authoritative source on all things Prince, The Prince Estate inspires and educates fans, celebrates Prince in his totality, and stewards Prince's legacy into the future. www.princeestate.com

SOURCE Legacy Recordings

Related Links

http://www.legacyrecordings.com

So, there you have it world, okay? Ain’t nothing like funky music so turn it up and rock hard in a funky place! Until next time, peace & B-wild!!!!!!!!!

RSD 2018 - Hunting 4 1999

Let’s flashback to Saturday, April 21, 2018.  It’s a beautiful spring day here in the Music City which I was hoping would be a good sign for I was on the hunt.  You see, this day was Record Store Day and I was on the hunt for the Warner Bros. single disc reissue of the 1999 album. Since I am one of those nocturnal creatures of the night, I had just gotten off work, quickly changed clothes and Ms. Spooky and I made our way to nearest Wrecka Stow where a line had already formed. We took our place in line like the good obedient automatons that society has turned us into meanwhile I could not shake the image of the lines of children marching into the meat grinder from Pink Floyd’s The Wall. As we stood with the 200 or so other people in front of us, we idly chit-chatted and listened to the banal ramblings of three soon-to-be lawyers as they discussed how they had the solutions to all of the world’s problems. Even as one of them talked about how he couldn’t manage to even parallel park his car.  Wait… what? You can’t parallel park your car but you can solve the world’s problems? Okay there Skippy McGriffin!!! Sorry, I digress, but I had to listen to Skippy and the Wonder Twins for almost two hours until the store opened.  While waiting in line, I discovered that several people in front of me were also in search of the same record I was. Hmmmm… this did not bode well for me. I needed to come up with a Plan ‘B” but what could that be? Then inspiration struck me. Well, not really. I wouldn't say it struck me or that I was actually inspired at all. You see, what happened was I actually got a message on Twitter from my friend Gina in Ohio.  Seems Gina was in search of 1999 as well and was having much better luck.  Where I was in line with hundreds of others, she was at her local Wrecka Stow with just a couple of people.  So Plan “B” was born.  If she could, she would grab an extra copy of 1999 for me just in case I couldn’t grab one for myself.  So we waited.

As time crawled past with glacier like speed, I followed Gina’s progress on Twitter since she is an hour ahead of me.  She breezed in to her local Wrecka Stow and snatched up her copy of 1999 but alas, a copy for me was not to be found. But not one to give up, the campaign quickly turned to another Wrecka Stow that she knew had a couple of copies of the album.  Meanwhile, the line I was in slowly inched its way inside my Wrecka Stow here in Music City. Another update from Gina to let me know that she had arrived at Checkpoint Bravo and that golden goose had flown the coop, in other words, she was at the new Stow but they were sold out of 1999.  Damn! Plan “B” isn't looking too hot right now! Finally I make my way into my local Stow and what do you know, no 1999. Not a copy to be found anywhere, which is exactly what I feared. Ms. Spooky decided to ask one of the employees, you know just in case we had overlooked it or it was in some special place we hadn’t thought of looking.  So she finds an employee, some 20-something kid with shaggy-mop hair that looks like he’s closer to 12 years old and asks him if they have 1999 by Prince.  He says, “Prince? Hmmm… Prince is probably in the ummmm. Probably in the P’s.  I’d check in that area.” Wow!!! Thank you sooo much. I would never have guessed to look there. Someone call NASA and let them know that I found their missing rocket scientist. On a side note, do you know how hard it is to type while you are rolling your eyes? Pretty damn hard.  Anyway, back to the Mensa-Man of the Year candidate and our search for the ever-elusive 1999.  So after the shocking epiphany of checking in the “P” section, I decided it was time to leave.  As I slowly walked to the car, head hanging in defeat, I sent Gina a message to let her know that we had failed miserably also but thanks for trying.  She replied back, “Good news! I got you one!” Apparently while I was dealing with the rocket surgeon (yeah, rocket surgeon – you know - part rocket scientist, part brain surgeon), she had gone to a third Wrecka Stow and hit the jackpot. Then after a few days wait, I received a package in the mail and I was the proud owner of a Record Store Day 2018 Exclusive single-disc re-issued Prince album 1999.

This is what the Purple Army is all about.  True Funk Soldiers coming together in the spirit of Love 4 One Another and helping each other out. So thank you once again, Gina and of course thank you for each and every day, Ms. Spooky! To the rest of you, remember to Love 4 One Another, Love 4 Each Other, Love 4 Us All! Peace, B-Wild & Stay Funky!!!

Prince drops surprise album "HITnRUN Phase 2"

Just three short months after releasing HITnRUN Phase One, the enigmatic impresario from North Minny has surprised the Purple Army with another new album.  Fans were shocked Saturday to find that HITnRun Phase Two was available on Tidal.  Released with no announcement and no fanfare, other than a blog update from the all-knowing Dr. Funkenberry, Phase Two appeared on Tidal for streaming and download but it didn't stay secret for very long.  Word quickly spread throughout the Purple Army, with 17 horns blowing the arrival of the Partyman and the news media soon trumpeting the news across all seven continents (uh....hmmmmm......I don't know how much media coverage this actually got in Antartica).  The new album featured 12 songs, six of which were new and unreleased while others had been released or leaked in one form or another over the last couple of years.  Where as Phase One seemed to be a project for Josh Welton, Phase Two is nothing if not a Prince album.  If I had to choose between the two, I would pick Phase Two any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  If you get the chance, you should definitely cop this and give it a listen or three.

I'll be back later with my attempt at a review of both Phase One and Phase Two but for now, peace and be wild!