Come (album)
| Come | |||||
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| Prince's studio album | |||||
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Publication |
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admission |
January 1993 - March 1994 |
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| Label (s) | Warner Bros. Records | ||||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
48:43 |
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| occupation | All songs were produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince . His band members added the following to the recordings:
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Prince |
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Studio (s) |
Paisley Park Studios ( Chanhassen ) |
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Come is the 15th studio album by the American musician Prince . It was released on August 15, 1994 on the Warner Bros. Records label and is the first album that was part of the 1992 contract between him and the label. At that time, Prince had extended his current contract for six more albums to December 31, 1999. Due to differences with Warner Bros. Records, however, he dropped his stage name on June 7, 1993 and instead carried an unpronounceable symbol as a pseudonym. After that, Prince did not want to publish any new songs with the recording company, only songs that he had written before June 7, 1993.
The music on the album belongs to the genres funk , R&B , dance and pop . The lyrics are mostly about sex . Although neither Prince nor Warner Bros. Records did any noteworthy advertising for the album, it was able to achieve gold status in some countries. Some music critics rated Come very negatively and Prince did not tour the album.
Emergence
Prince recorded most of the songs on Come from January 1993 to May 1993 in his Paisley Park Studio in Chanhassen . He had recorded the song Race in 1991 in the Record Plant Studio in Los Angeles , but revised it in 1993. Letitgo is the only piece that Prince wrote specifically for the album Come ; he recorded it in his Paisley Park studio in March 1994, eight months after his name change at the time.
At the beginning of 1994, Prince had a worldwide commercial single success under his unpronounceable pseudonym with the song The Most Beautiful Girl in the World . He released it on his own label NPG Records in cooperation with the US independent label Bellmark Records. On March 11, 1994, Prince presented a new album to Warner Bros. Records called Come , but did not make The Most Beautiful Girl in the World on the tracklist :
| No. | Come : March 11, 1994 | annotation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | poem | later Orgasm renamed |
| 2 | Interactive | Released on Crystal Ball in 1998 |
| 3 | Endorphin machine | 1995 on The Gold Experience |
| 4th | Space | |
| 5 | Pheromones | |
| 6th | Loose! | |
| 7th | father | |
| 8th | Race | |
| 9 | Dark | |
| 10 | solo | |
| 11 | Strays of the World | Released on Crystal Ball in 1998 |
Warner Bros. was not very enthusiastic about the tracklist. Marylou Badeaux, then vice president of Warner Bros. Records, recalled: “The company was terribly disappointed with the album - some said it was complete shit. It was generally felt that he [Prince] was throwing rubbish over to us. ” Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker, then chairmen of Warner Bros. Records, asked Prince if he had songs like The Most Beautiful Girl in the World and Come and two or more could include three more stronger tracks in the album. Prince agreed and presented Warner Bros. Records on May 19, 1994 with a revised version of the album Come ; this time with the tracklist, which was finally officially released on August 16, 1994 - but Prince did not provide The Most Beautiful Girl in the World again. Marylou Badeaux said, “Mo and Lenny were upset that 'Beautiful Girl' [sic] was not on the record. It was believed that he [Prince] was just throwing something at the label to fulfill his contract. "Michael Bland, then drummer in Prince's band, said of the album Come :" It was a compilation of weak songs, on top of that had been produced stale. I had the feeling that we were cheating on the fans. "
Shortly after May 19, 1994, Prince Warner Bros. Records introduced another album called The Gold Experience . He suggested to Warner Bros. Records to release the album Come as the artist "Prince" and the album The Gold Experience under his pronounceable pseudonym. In addition, both albums should be released on his 36th birthday, June 7, 1994 - exactly one year to the day after Prince's name change. But this idea did not convince Warner Bros.; they are happy about the release of The Gold Experience , but at the right opportunity. Both albums were among the six albums on the deal that Prince signed with Warner in 1992.
Design of the cover
The record cover is a black and white photo of Prince standing in front of a gate of the Sagrada Família Cathedral in Barcelona. However, the perspective of the photo gives the impression that Prince is not standing in front of the cathedral, but in front of a cemetery. In the middle of the cover the name “Prince” can be read, including - as in a grave inscription - the years “1958” and “1993”; Prince was born in 1958 and changed his stage name in 1993. On the back of the cover in the upper left corner there is a photo of the apparently living Prince, dated "1958". In the upper right corner there is a photo of an apparently dead Prince; he is lying with his back on the floor, his head is turned to the right and his arms and legs are lying apart from the body. This picture is dated "1993".
The CD cover is designed as a folding cover that can be spread out into a poster measuring 240 × 237 mm - less high, but wider than A4 . The back of the poster is titled with the heading “Come” and in addition, the sentence “ … The dawning of a new spiritual revolution ” (German: “… The dawning of a new spiritual revolution”) is written in mirror writing .
The lyrics of the individual songs are not printed in the booklet and on the front of the cover you can read the warning “ Parental Advisory - Explicit Lyrics ” (German: “Note for parents - too clear lyrics”).
Music and lyrics
The album is mainly influenced by the music style of the genres R&B , dance , funk and pop . Unlike most of his albums from the 1990s, Prince uses mostly electronic music in Come ; Synthesizers and drum computers dominate most of the songs. Many of Come's songs are shaped more by groove than melodic subtleties. The arrangements are mostly kept simple and do without decoration. The connection between individual songs is formed by synthesizer passages sounding like rushing water and instructions from Prince, which he either speaks or whispers. The lyrics are mostly about sex
The title track Come is a slow bass line and Brass accompanied -Arrangements that a combination of jazz - and radio - Phrases are made. The lyrics sometimes contain suggestive passages such as: “Can I suck you , baby?” And “Can I fuck you , baby?” In addition, moans and smacking can be heard in places in the song. Apart from that, the lyrics also deal with a spiritual theme; In the course of this, Prince often repeats the sung sentence "the soul calls, and here is the reason for it". Overall, the eleven-minute title track seems lengthy at times.
The song space is supported by lively and dreamy synthesizer sounds that contrast the bass playing that develops into a repetitive figure in the song. The lyrics appear to contain sexual innuendos with spiritual overtones. For example, Prince sings, "Anything I'll do with your body, baby, I'll do with your head."
While the first two songs Come and Space have a relaxed beat , Pheromone is dominated by an unyielding drum beat. According to Prince, the actress Carmen Electra inspired the lyrics to the song.
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The song Loose! is an up-tempo number that fuses techno- inspired sounds with rock guitars. Prince sings the lyrics in a moved and angry voice.
Papa forms a contrast to the mostly dance-oriented songs Pheromone and Loose! . Other than these is Papa a slow blues -beeinflusste number with minimal tools we focused on low-key guitar Phrases and a slide guitar - Lick . The lyrics tell the story about child abuse and father suicide . Towards the end, Prince says in the middle of the song: "Don't abuse children, or they'll turn out like me". The lyrics, which are mostly spoken by Prince, convey a seemingly dark intimacy.
Race is from the musical genres pop music and dance. With “Face the Music” the song contains a sample of the singer Jearlyn Steele Battle - the backing vocals on Race are from Mayte Garcia , Prince's future wife. In the lyrics, which Prince sometimes recites in a rap- like chant , he deals with racism .
The song Dark is a rhythm-and-blues ballad typical of Prince , which is accompanied by French horns arranged in a jazzy way. The lyrics revolve around the obsession of a man abandoned by a woman who treated him badly.
Prince mainly performs solo a cappella ; his voice is only accompanied by artificially produced harp playing . While Prince was creating the music for the song, the US writer David Henry Hwang wrote the lyrics, which claim that without a lover you feel imperfect. Originally, Prince and Hwang planned further musical projects, which did not materialize in the following period.
Letitgo is the only song that Prince wrote specifically for the album Come . After he had recorded all the other songs in 1993, Letitgo followed in March 1994. The song has a lively beat with a memorable melody. The hookline of the song has a pronounced oriental sound. Letitgo is written in a minor key , which gives the song a dark and depressed mood. The lyrics - which Prince only wrote after his name change - expresses how he had to comply with the demands of the music industry and thus could not articulate and reproduce his true feelings.
In the song Orgasm , Denise Katrina Matthews - better known by her stage name Vanity - is the woman at Prince's side. He had already written the song Vibrator for her in 1983 , but it was not published. Orgasm is a passage from the vibrator where only vanity moans can be heard. The piece Orgasm consists only of the sounds of rushing water and a passage of a screeching guitar borrowed from the end of Prince's song Private Joy , which appeared on the 1981 album Controversy . Vanity is not officially mentioned in the booklet as a partner of Orgasm - only the note "she knows" can be read in the booklet.
List of titles and publications
| No. | song | author | length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Come | Prince | 11:13 |
| 2 | Space | Prince | 4:27 |
| 3 | Pheromones | Prince | 5:08 |
| 4th | Loose! | Prince | 3:26 |
| 5 | father | Prince | 2:48 |
| 6th | Race | Prince | 4:28 |
| 7th | Dark | Prince | 6:10 |
| 8th | solo | Prince | 3:48 |
| 9 | Letitgo | Prince | 5:32 |
| 10 | Orgasm | Prince | 1:39 |
Come was released on August 15, 1994 in the UK and a day later in the US. The album is available on compact disc , vinyl record and compact cassette . Cover versions of songs on the album are not known.
Singles
Two singles were released from the album: Letitgo was released on August 9, 1994 and the single version has been shortened to 4:15 minutes. The B-side solo is identical to the album version on Come .
The second single was released on November 1, 1994 Space . The single was only released in the USA and Japan. On the A side, the song is available in the abbreviated Universal Love Remix , which is 3:58 minutes long. The album version is on the B-side.
Music videos
On April 3, 1994, five months before the release of Come , the British television channel Sky One showed the film The Beautiful Experience . This film - produced by Prince under his unpronounceable pseudonym - is 70 minutes long and consists of scenes from a Paisley Park concert on February 13, 1994 and music videos from songs that were still unreleased at the time. The film includes music videos from the songs Come , Pheromone , Loose! , Papa and Race , which were only released in August 1994 on the album Come . Since Prince found himself in a dispute with his then record company Warner Bros. Records in 1994, he also released productions under his pseudonym at the time, which he concluded with other companies parallel to the current Warner Bros. contract.
Prince defied Warner Bros. Records' request to shoot a music video for the single Letitgo . Warner Bros. Records then produced a promotional clip for the single, consisting of a compilation of images from the direct-to-video production 3 Chains o 'Gold . Like the album Come, this film production was also released on August 16, 1994, is 73 minutes long and consists mainly of music videos for Prince's 1992 album Love Symbol . Warner Bros. Records found one for the Letitgo music video, among other things Scene from 3 Chains o 'Gold showing Prince signing a contract.
reception
Press
The reviews of the album Come were partly very negative; For example, the US daily Detroit Free Press wrote : " Come is a hastily blown album that does not live up to the expectations that usually precede a Prince record." Other reviews referred to Prince's previous name change, so it meant US music magazine Rolling Stone : "Normal artists make a mistake, but this guy specializes in public relations disasters that confuse his loyal fans and thoroughly undermine his status as the great cross-genre innovator of the last decade." Other critics complained , the music on the album sounds predominantly “unimaginative” and “lackluster”, and the lyrics are partly “too clear” and “sexually overloaded” - Come be Prince's “Sex Album”.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic was also not very enthusiastic and awarded Come two out of five stars. After listening to the album, the purpose of Come is clear: It only serves to fulfill the contract, "no more and no less."
Prince himself did not advertise Come and, unlike usual for him, did not follow the album release on a tour . In the years that followed, Prince only rarely played songs from the album at concerts. His former record company, Warner Bros. Records, also barely did a promotion for Come in 1994 .
After Prince's death in April 2016, the album was reviewed by music journalists Albert Koch and Thomas Weiland from the German music magazine Musikexpress and awarded three out of six stars. They wrote, "The eleven-minute title song is a highlight in the Prince song catalog - although there is a slight tendency towards self-plagiarism and weaknesses in the songwriting to be identified".
Charts and awards
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
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9 (11 weeks) | 11 |
 Austria (Ö3)
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4th (10 weeks) | 10 |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
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4th (13 weeks) | 13 |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
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1 (1) (9 weeks) | 9 |
 United States (Billboard)
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15th (10 weeks) | 10 |
Come was awarded gold status internationally in 1994:
- UK: 1 × gold for 100,000 copies sold on August 1, 1994
- US: 1 × gold for 500,000 copies sold on October 18, 1994
- FR: 2 × gold for 200,000 copies sold in 1995
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
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DE
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AT
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CH
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UK
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US
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| 1994 | Letitgo |
DE45 (11 weeks) DE |
AT29 (2 weeks) AT |
CH21 (11 weeks) CH |
UK30 (4 weeks) UK |
US31 (14 weeks) US |
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| Space | DEnvDE | ATnvAT | CHnvCH | UKnvUK | - |
• Only decoupled in the US and Japan
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In the USA, for the first time since the single I Wish U Heaven - released in 1988 from the album Lovesexy - no single from a Prince album made it into the US Top 100.
literature
- Jason Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). Chartwell Books, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-7858-3497-7 .
- Alex Hahn: Obsessed - Prince's turbulent life . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2016, ISBN 978-3-85445-610-0
- Uptown: The Vault - The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince. Nilsen Publishing, Linköping 2004, ISBN 91-631-5482-X , OCLC 186521364 .
Web links
- Princevault , information about the album Come
Individual evidence
- ↑ Booklet of the CD Come by Prince, Warner Bros. Records, 1994.
- ↑ a b c d e f Uptown: The Vault. 2004, p. 395.
- ↑ a b Uptown: The Vault. 2004, p. 159.
- ↑ a b Hahn: Obsessed. 2016, p. 261.
- ↑ a b c Uptown: The Vault. 2004, p. 162.
- ↑ a b c d Hahn: Obsessed. 2016, p. 266.
- ↑ a b Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). 2016, p. 118.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Uptown: The Vault. 2004, pp. 395-395.
- ^ Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). 2016, p. 119.
- ↑ Come. In: Princevault.com. January 8, 2018, accessed January 10, 2018 .
- ↑ Uptown: The Vault. 2004, p. 167.
- ↑ Uptown: The Vault. 2004, p. 170.
- ↑ Space. In: Princevault.com. April 20, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Uptown: The Vault. 2004, p. 618.
- ↑ a b Uptown: The Vault. 2004, p. 396.
- ↑ Uptown: The Vault. 2004, pp. 628-629.
- ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Prince - Come. In: Allmusic.com. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ From the big Prince special - an overview of all albums. In: Musikexpress.de. May 22, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Prince. officialcharts.de, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Prince. austriancharts.at, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Prince. hitparade.ch, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Prince. officialcharts.com, accessed February 16, 2019 .
- ^ Prince - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed February 16, 2019 .
- ^ BPI - Certified Awards Search. In: bpi.co.uk. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Gold & Platinum. In: riaa.com. 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ Les Certifications depuis 1973. In: Infodisc.fr. April 8, 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 (French).
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US