Love symbol
| Love symbol | |||||||||||
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| Studio album by Prince and The New Power Generation | |||||||||||
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Publication |
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admission |
December 1, 1991 - August 1992 |
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| Label (s) | Warner Bros. Records / Paisley Park Records | ||||||||||
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Format (s) |
Double album, CD |
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Title (number) |
18th |
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running time |
74:56 |
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| occupation | All songs were produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince and The New Power Generation. The following people completed the recordings:
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Prince |
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Studio (s) |
Paisley Park Studio ( Chanhassen ) |
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Love Symbol ( English for love symbol ) is the 14th studio album by the American musician Prince . He recorded it with his backing band The New Power Generation and released it on October 2, 1992 on the Warner Bros. Records / Paisley Park Records label. Love Symbol is a concept album because Prince designed a framework around the songs on the album. That's why he called it " Fantasy Rock - Soap Opera ".
The music on the album belongs to the genres of funk , hip-hop , pop , R&B and rock music. Carmen Electra , Clare Fischer and Kirstie Alley will be performing as musical guests . Love Symbol enjoyed international commercial success and received gold and platinum status in several countries. Music critics were divided about the quality of the album; the music was mostly praised, while the album concept was mostly rated negatively. A tour for the album followed only through the USA and Canada and was successful from a commercial point of view.
Emergence
Prince recorded the album Love Symbol , like the previous album Diamonds and Pearls (1991), together with his backing band The New Power Generation . There were personnel changes in the band in 1992: singer Rosie Gaines left the band and Prince brought dancer Mayte Garcia to join . Furthermore looked DJ Graves and the brass quintet The NPG Hornz participate in the album recordings. All songs of love symbol took Prince in his Paisley Park studio in Chanhassen in Minnesota on additional song blends found in the West Larrabee Studios in Los Angeles in California.
Prince album called Love Symbol as " fantasy - rock - soap opera " ( "fantasy rock soap opera") because he constructed a framework for action around the songs of the album around. An affair between himself and a 16-year-old princess from Cairo , who is played by Prince's girlfriend at the time and later first wife Mayte Garcia, serves for this purpose . Spoken transitions ("segues"), which are presented by the actress Kirstie Alley in the role of the reporter Vanessa Bartholomew, connect songs from the album with each other and represent the framework.
Prince recorded most of the songs on the album from December 1991 to March 1992, and he recorded the track Blue Light on May 12, 1991. On September 18, 1991 he recorded the song My Name Is Prince , which he originally did not want to publish on an album. On October 1, 1991 Prince Sweet Baby recorded and on December 1, the six songs Sexy MF , Love 2 the 9’s , Arrogance , The Sacrifice of Victor , The Morning Papers and And God Created Woman , where he played the last two pieces in one Take recorded. On December 5, he worked with the band The NPG Hornz, who played brass instruments on various songs . Prince had already recorded the song The Max in February 1988 , but after a revision at the end of 1991 it had almost nothing in common with the original version.
In January 1992 Prince continued the album recordings and played the five songs The Continental , Damn U , 7 , 3 Chains o 'Gold and The Flow . Prince originally recorded the song The Flow in August 1990, but this track has also been completely revised by him and does not resemble the original version. Actress Kirstie Alley's spoken transitions were recorded in early 1992 at the Record Plant studio in Los Angeles.
Prince recorded some of Love Symbol's songs on his own - apart from the backing vocals of individual band members and overdubs from The NPG Hornz - and also played all the instruments himself. He was busy with the album recordings until the end of March 1992 before going on a world tour with the Diamonds and Pearls tour from April 3 to July 12 .
Sound engineer Dave Friedlander said of the collaboration with Prince that for him it was the most arduous, but also the most enriching job he has ever done. Prince demands perfection and wants employees who follow his pace. They had no sleep for 48 hours, and Prince himself "might have gone home for an hour to take a bath and change clothes."
After the Diamonds and Pearls tour ended, Prince recorded the song Eye Wanna Melt with U in mid-July 1992 , which he originally wanted to release on the maxi single of 7 . But he decided at short notice to bring the song out on the actually completed album Love Symbol . Without this 3:50 minute song, the album had a total playing time of 76:41 minutes - the storage capacity of a compact disc at that time was only 78 minutes. Prince then deleted a large part of the explanatory transitions that were already on the album, so that the meaning of the framework on the published version of Love Symbol can no longer be clearly understood. In August 1992 he finally finished the album.
Original version of Love Symbol
Before Prince placed the song Eye Wanna Melt with U on the Love Symbol album , there were eight transitions ("segues") with a total length of eight minutes. These transitions explained the storyline more coherently than in the published version of Love Symbol .
Segue 1 (Intro) : A male narrator informs the listener that the framework story begins in 1997 in Minneapolis , Minnesota. A little boy named Michael is playing in the dirt and digs up a box containing the gold-colored “Three Chains of Turin” - also known as “3 Chains o 'Gold”. The city of Minneapolis is in the midst of a recession at this point in time . TV reporter Vanessa Bartholomew, played by actress Kirstie Alley , is on site at Prince's Paisley Park Studio to let TV viewers know that he is going on tour with his backing band The New Power Generation and wants to present an opera with new music. The little boy Michael finally comes home and gives his mother the "Three Chains of Turin". The mother, named "Mayte", is played by Mayte Garcia and embodies an Egyptian princess from Cairo . She takes the box and remembers five years back when she attended a Prince concert in 1992.
The song My Name Is Prince begins , in which Prince sings, among other things, that he is "the chosen one". The following song, Sexy MF, is addressed to Mayte; In the lyrics of the song, Prince assures her that for him it's "not about sex, it's all about love"; he would discuss their future together with her in a villa on the French Riviera . Prince also wants to teach her "the true meaning of love" so Mayte will be ready to marry him.
Segue 2 : Prince assigns Kirk Johnson, member of The New Power Generation, to track down Mayte. But Johnson announced that he could not stop the princess because she was surrounded by a group of seven thugs. But Mayte was able to give him the box with the "3 Chains of Turin" and a message on videotape. In this message she tells Prince that she is now in Cairo and that he should guard the "3 Chains of Turin".
In the lyrics of the following song Love 2 the 9’s , Prince deals with maximum love; he sings about the "kind of love that takes over your body, mind and soul". The play also includes an interrogation of Mayte in which she replied to the question of her age with " Jailbait ". When asked about her profession, she says, "For many [people] it is a sex symbol , but I actually have sense too". Prince wrote the lyrics of the fourth song, The Morning Papers , from the perspective of the third person; he is about the age difference (15 years) between him and Mayte and Prince sings, for example: "He realized that love was new, naive in every way ... so he had to wait". When the song ends, Mayte asks where Prince is. But this only says: "You can relax now, everything is under control". Then begins the song The Max , which is about fate , perseverance and "belief in yourself".
Segue 3 : The first conversation between Prince and the reporter is initiated; in a telephone interview, she introduces herself as Vanessa Bartholomew. Prince asks where she has been lately. Bartholomew answers that she has been trying to interview him for a long time. When she mentions that she was recording the telephone interview, Prince immediately hangs up the phone. The next day she calls him again, apologizes for the last phone call and assures him that this time she will not record the phone call. During the interview, Prince speaks through a special telephone, a "tongue box", as in the movie Barbarella from 1968. After the conversation, the song Blue Light begins .
Segue 4 : This transition is about the "Three Chains of Turin". Vanessa Bartholomew tells Prince that these are worth a fortune. In addition, the "Three Chains of Turin" are as old as the pyramids and have magical powers . According to Bartholomew, the chains had been stolen and a reward of half a million dollars was offered for arresting the thieves. Bartholomew also warns Prince that if he doesn't tell the truth, she will reveal his love story with the 16-year-old princess. When she asks for Prince's name, this "Victor" replies, to which she replies: "You know, if you don't tell me the whole truth, I'll have to think of something myself." Then Prince hangs up the phone again without comment Segue 1 narrator announces that Prince has disappeared from now on. The song Sweet Baby follows . Similar to The Morning Papers , Prince sings the lyrics as an observer in the third person. Mayte is described as a princess abandoned by Prince and fortune. But Prince promises confidence and says that better days are coming very soon.
Segue 5 : A member of The New Power Generation invites Mayte to a party. You can also hear a choir singing the phrase "three chains o 'gold" twice. Mayte replied, "They are all I have in this world". This is followed by the song The Continental , which has no particular reference to the framework story. Then begins the song Damn U , which is again dedicated to Mayte. In the lyrics, Prince sings about a "crazy love affair" and that he and Mayte are "like animals", "born to procreate." At the end of Damn U , Prince says this song is dedicated to all people in love. But then he says, "This is dedicated to all whores," by which he means journalists . Vanessa Bartholomew tries again to interview Prince and asks who his god is. When Prince answers with "you", she wants to know from him whether this corresponds to reality or whether this answer is another facade of his. But Prince just laughs, whereupon Bartholomew asks why he is acting so arrogantly.
In the lyrics of the next two pieces, Arrogance and The Flow , Prince deals with frequently asked questions from reporters. In the transition between the two songs he says the sentence "She [Mayte] came like a flame, and I wasn't cold anymore", to which Vanessa Bartholomew reacts with "That's a bit disreputable for this lady of just 16 years".
Segue 6 : This is a short monologue spoken by Mayte. She says that her father was killed by seven men. These seven men are also their personal bodyguards . Now she is afraid that the men are after her and want the "Three Chains of Turin". “You must never find them. They must never find us, ”pleads Mayte Prince. Song 7 follows .
Segue 7 : At the end of the song, Mayte says to Prince, “Now look in the mirror. If you are the beginning, I am the end, and all things in between are reflected in it. "In the booklet of love symbol are the lyrics of 7 in mirror writing the words" revelation "(Eng .: revelation ) and" the book "(dt .: Revelation of John ). Prince describes the lyrics of 7 close to the depiction of the Apocalypse in the biblical Revelation of John.
In the lyrics of And God Created Woman , Prince describes Mayte as "the love of his love" and the "soul of his soul". It seems like Prince wants to draw a parallel with Adam and Eve to make it clear that he and Mayte are inseparable. In the following song, 3 Chains o 'Gold , Prince laments the loss of Mayte, who is with someone else. "Bad girl, if one of us has an appointment with the undertaker , which one will it be?" Asks Prince in the lyrics. He also announces that he owns the "3 Chains o 'Gold".
Segue 8 : This is followed by a short conversation between Prince and Mayte, how they are both happy and have a child together. Vanessa Bartholomew also answers again and asks Prince why he had not told her the truth. In response, drummer Michael Bland from The New Power Generation asks the question: “What is sacrifice?” (“What is sacrifice?”). The album Love Symbol ends with the song The Sacrifice of Victor , which contains " Amen " as the last word in the lyrics .
Advertising campaign
Initially, music manager Frank DiLeo , who had worked for Michael Jackson from 1984 to 1989 , was responsible for the advertising campaign for the album Love Symbol . But he was fired by Prince after he shared the same opinion as the Warner board of directors regarding the selection of the single releases; Prince wanted to release My Name Is Prince as the first single , while Warner and DiLeo favored song 7 .
For Love Symbol's moderate sales figures compared to the previous album Diamonds and Pearls , Prince blamed the record company Warner Bros. Records. He accused her of not promoting the album intensely enough. Warner, however, was of the opinion that Prince was too present in the mass media ; five single releases within seven months was too much and radio stations did not want to play any more songs from the album. In Warner's opinion, this was a sign of market oversaturation with Prince's music. Marylou Badeaux, then Vice President of Warner Bros. Records, described the mood among Warner employees towards Prince as follows: “It was clear that people were fed up. Many said to me: 'This guy is completely crazy.' ”. Aside from greatest hits compilations, Love Symbol was the last Prince album to reach platinum status in the US with sales of over one million until Musicology was released in 2004.
Design of the cover
Prince's 14th studio album officially had no name when it was released in October 1992. On the front cover you can see the unpronounceable symbol that Prince wore as a pseudonym instead of a name from 1993 to 2000 . This symbol is a combination of Mars and Venus symbol represents, so initially some mass media the album among other Androgyny (dt .: androgyny ) called. The album was also referred to as Untitled (German: Untitled ) and Prince and The New Power Generation because these are given as the performers. Only a year after its release, the album was given an official name when Warner Bros. Records released the single Peach in a special edition with My Name Is Prince as the B-side on CD on October 11, 1993 ; there is to read on the back of the cover, the following sentence: "Taken from the album Love Symbol " (dt .: "From the album Love Symbol removed").
With some CD editions, the symbol is embossed or printed on the otherwise transparent flap of the jewel case , so that the cover image of the actual booklet does not include the symbol. There you can see a futuristic city that can be interpreted as the New Jerusalem . On the street shown, Prince plays the guitar while Mayte Garcia dances to it. The couple is in the middle of a circle of twelve seated girls. On the back cover of the double LP you can see a band photo of Prince and The New Power Generation , including the tracklist of the songs. In addition, a shadowy portrait of Mayte Garcia can be seen above the band photo . The lyrics of the songs can be found in the inner sleeve.
In the booklet of the CD there are additional photos showing Prince and his band members. The track list can be found on the back, with the numbering of the individual songs and the respective time information in Roman numerals . The top of a pyramid can be seen as the background image. Various small messages can be read in the background of the printed lyrics, such as “the yellow cloud will croon” (German: “The yellow cloud will sing softly”), “Prince's mother’s 1st name is mattie” (German: “The first name Prince's mother is Mattie ")," prince's favorite food is stewardesses "(dt .:" Prince 'favorite food are stewardesses ") or" do not buy the black album "(dt .:" Buy the Black album is not ") .
music
The music on the Love Symbol album is influenced by the genres of funk and dance pop , namely the songs My Name Is Prince , Sexy MF , The Max , The Continental , The Flow and The Sacrifice of Victor ; rap passages can also be heard in these songs . The album also includes songs from the genres of pop and rock music , such as The Morning Papers , 7 and 3 Chains o 'Gold . It is the first Prince album to explicitly mention samples of songs by other musicians.
The first song, My Name Is Prince, contains elements from the hip-hop genre , starting with samples of the Prince songs I Wanna Be Your Lover (1979), Partyup (1980) and Controversy (1981). The announcement "Prince and the New Power Generation" comes from the spokesman Burton Richardson (* 1949) of the Arsenio Hall Show on September 4, 1991, in which Prince appeared at the time. Prince wrote the lyrics together with Tony Mosley, who also does the rap passages for the song. The line of text "You have to be a prince before you are king" was interpreted by some media as a swipe at Michael Jackson , who from 1991 onwards referred to himself as the "King of Pop". Mosley, however, contradicted this presumption, saying it was directed against anyone who describes himself as "the King of anything". My Name Is Prince also includes groans from Kim Basinger , although she is not mentioned as a contributor.
The abbreviation MF in the song Sexy MF stands for “ Motherfucker ”, although this word is not used as a swear word in the context , but in the sexual area. The song is sometimes reminiscent of a typical James Brown piece from the funk genre. Prince wrote the lyrics together with Tony Mosley and Levi Seacer Jr., who designed the chorus "You sexy Motherfucker" and mostly sings it himself. Seacer had got used to greeting his colleagues in the Paisley Park Studio with the phrase “you sexy motherfucker!”, Which inspired Prince to use this phrase as a chorus. Mosley contributed the line of text "sexy motherfuckers wiggle their asses". Sound engineer Tom Garneau used an Akai S1100 sampler to create a "clean" version of Sexy MF ; he replaced the word "Fucker" with a shout from Prince.
The piece Love 2 the 9’s consists of two different musical segments: It begins as a jazz- inspired pop song with falsetto singing by Prince. The second section begins at 2:13 minutes and contains rap vocals, the rhythm of which consists of electric bass , guitar licks and extended trumpet - and saxophone - phrases .
The love song The Morning Papers is an R & B - ballad in the field of pop music. The Max comes from the genre radio, with piano - riffs , the melodies support the song. At one point, Prince plays an oriental -inspired synthesizer melody that his own song Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic is borrowed from 1988, which was published only in 1999 by him.
The song Blue Light contains elements of the reggae genre , which was new to Prince's musical repertoire. Eric Leeds plays the saxophone on the piece . Originally, Blue Light should also be released as a single. Eye Wanna Melt with U is a monotonous sounding song that contains elements from the genre of techno . In the lyrics, Prince deals with the 16-year-old Princess Mayte, who is the leading actress in the framework of Love Symbol . The lyrics are all about sexual innuendo and Prince describes how "busy" he is with her. He suspects she was a virgin and points out that she had safe sex with Mayte.
Sweet Baby is another R&B ballad that Prince performs in his typical falsetto singing. The song's arrangements are sparse, so that its piano playing is emphasized. Originally, Sweet Baby was also planned as a single release. The song The Continental is to be assigned to the genre rock, the lyrics again contain sexual suggestions; Prince wants to show "how a boy and girl should have fun". The Continental ends with a phone conversation between Carmen Electra and Prince, who asks how Electra "wants it to be taken care of". Damn U is another R&B ballad in falsetto singing typical of Prince, Clare Fischer contributed the string orchestra arrangements. At the end of the song there is subtle applause.
The subsequent song Arrogance contains a partly autobiographical lyrics, because Prince was repeatedly accused of a certain arrogance at the beginning of his rock star career. The track contains samples of the songs I Know You Got Soul (1987) by Eric B. & Rakim , Jazz it Up (Jazz Mix) (1991) by the CFM Band and Niggaz4Life (1991) by NWA . In the lyrics of The Flow , Prince deals with paparazzi persecuting him and his resulting distrust of journalists . Among other things, he asks, "Does it really matter where I take my naps or who I go to bed with?"
7 includes a sample of the song Tramp , which was written in 1967 by Jimmy McCracklin and Lowell Fulson - Carla Thomas and Otis Redding had a commercial success with the song at the time. Unusually for a Prince song, 7 begins with the chorus repeated twice; first a cappella and then accompanied by drums and electric bass. The use of the cymbal and sitar gives the song a touch of oriental music . In the lyrics, Prince deals with the afterlife, among other things ; “There will be a new city with streets made of gold. Young people are brought up so that they never get old. And there will be no death. "
The song title of And God Created Woman is borrowed from the name of the film And Always Lures The Woman from director Roger Vadim from 1956, who is called And God Created Woman in English . The piece is from the soul- pop area and the focus of the arrangements is on smooth synthesizers as well as bass and trumpet lines. The lyrics are based on the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden .
3 Chains o 'Gold has a total of six musical sections and several tempo changes. The song begins with moderately fast guitar rock, in the second section the tempo slows down and a flute and a string orchestra lead into a dreamy romantic segment. In the third section, the guitar takes on the leading role again and Prince's voice has been recorded several times with a multi-track recorder , giving the impression of a choir . A piano staccato and castanets can also be heard. In section four, the music forms the pompous climax with opera- like singing by Prince. In section five, the rock segment returns from the beginning of the song and the piece pauses for a brief moment . The sixth and last section consists of a threatening choir singing in which deep breaths from Prince can be heard. 3 Chains o 'Gold recorded Prince live in the studio in just one take . The music is sometimes melodramatic and bombastic and is more reminiscent of musical and theater music than rock music. In addition, 3 Chains o 'Gold is reminiscent of the song Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) by the band Queen .
The last song on the album Love Symbol is called The Sacrifice of Victor and contains a sample of God Made Me Funky (1975) by The Headhunters . The Sacrifice of Victor again contains semi-autobiographical content; for example, Prince sings about Bernadette Anderson, who in real life was a kind of surrogate mother for him during his teenage years. "The Lady Bernadette said to me, 'Whatever you do, my son, you will have to sacrifice a little discipline'".
List of titles and publications
| No. | song | author | length |
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| 1 | My name is Prince | Prince , Tony Mosley | 6:38 |
| 2 | Sexy MF | Prince, Levi Seacer Jr., Tony Mosley | 5:25 |
| 3 | Love 2 the 9's | Prince | 5:45 |
| 4th | The Morning Papers | Prince | 3:57 |
| 5 | The Max | Prince | 4:30 |
| 6th | segue # 1 | Prince | 0:21 |
| 7th | Blue light | Prince | 4:38 |
| 8th | Eye Wanna Melt with U | Prince | 3:50 |
| 9 | Sweet baby | Prince | 4:01 |
| 10 | The Continental | Prince | 5:31 |
| 11 | Damn U | Prince | 4:25 |
| 12 | Arrogance | Prince | 1:35 |
| 13 | The flow | Prince, Tony Mosley | 2:26 |
| 14th | 7th | Prince, Jimmy McCracklin , Lowell Fulson | 5:13 |
| 15th | And God Created Woman | Prince | 3:18 |
| 16 | 3 chains o 'gold | Prince | 6:03 |
| 17th | segue # 2 | Prince | 1:29 |
| 18th | The Sacrifice of Victor | Prince | 5:41 |
Love Symbol was released in October 1992 as a double album on record , as a compact disc and as a compact disc in a censored version on which the word " Fuck " has been deleted. The album was also released as a special edition on compact disc in a gold foil slipcase.
Single releases
Five singles were released from the album. On June 30, 1992, Sexy MF was released with the song Strollin ' as B-side , which can also be found on the album Diamonds and Pearls (1991). Because of the lewd lyrics, Sexy MF was rarely played on radio around the world. My Name Is Prince was released on September 28, 1992 as the second single, in the USA the single was released a day later; the single version is shortened to 4:04 minutes. The B-side is the track Sexy Mutha , a remix version by Sexy MF , in which the chorus only sings “you sexy mutha” instead of “you sexy motherfucker”. 7 and Damn U were both released on November 17, 1992, with Damn U deliberately decoupled for the US R&B charts. The B-side is the then unreleased song 2 Whom It May Concern , which is reminiscent of Sexy MF in terms of rhythm and contains samples of songs from the album Love Symbol . The single version of 7 is 4:23 minutes long, on the B-side the song can be heard in an acoustic version . The fifth and final song was released on March 1, 1993, The Morning Papers , in the USA it was not released until April 3. The version is identical to the album version and the B-side is the song Live 4 Love , which can also be found on the album Diamonds and Pearls .
Music videos
Prince had several music videos produced for songs from the Love Symbol album. From March 20 to March 22, 1992 he shot a music video for the song Sexy MF in his Paisley Park Studio in Chanhassen , Minnesota , in which Troy Beyer plays the female lead. Sexy MF - The Home Video was released on VHS on June 16, 1992 . The nearly nine-minute long music video reached number one on the US Billboard video charts for six weeks and received gold status in the USA for 50,000 copies sold. On Blu-ray Disc and DVD 's Sexy MF - The Home Video has not been published to date (as of 2020).
Prince also shot footage for the music video of the song The Continental in his then home in Los Angeles , California, at the end of March 1992 , and integrated footage that was created in Japan in early April 1992. The video recordings for the single Damn U and The Morning Papers were made in 1992 at Paisley Park Studio. In the music video for Sweet Baby , Mayte Garcia strolls through the city of Minneapolis, among other places. The video also shows the Giza pyramids .
On August 11, 1992, Prince recorded footage for the video My Name Is Prince at Paisley Park Studio, and on August 22 and 23, additional scenes were filmed in Los Angeles, this time including Kirstie Alley as reporter Vanessa Bartholomew. The scenes in the news studio were shot on September 10, 1992 and were shot in the Minneapolis , Minnesota-based studio of the local news channel KMSP-TV, which belongs to the US company Fox Broadcasting Company . The music video was directed by Randee St. Nicholas.
In late summer 1992, Prince produced a music video for 7 that was filmed at Paisley Park Studio. In addition, recordings were made in Los Angeles on a large sound stage, on which a total of 24 children perform, of which twelve boys wear costumes like Prince and twelve girls costumes like Mayte Garcia. Prince edited the footage from the 7 video over and over again, so that he didn't finally complete it until September 1993.
On October 3, 1992, Prince recorded sequences for Eye Wanna Melt with U in what was then the glam slam club in Minneapolis. In early February 1993, he recorded footage for Blue Light in front of the glam slam club in Los Angeles, and rapper Tony Mosley also filmed people entering the club. Both glam slam clubs no longer exist today.
Warner Bros. Records only released the direct-to-video 3 Chains o 'Gold on August 16, 1994 - the day Prince's 15th studio album Come - almost two years after the album Love Symbol was released . This shows the framework of the album Love Symbol and Prince presents 11 of the 16 songs as a music video, some of them in a shortened version. 3 Chains o 'Gold is 73 minutes long, only appeared on VHS and Laserdisc and reached number five on the US Billboard video charts. When the direct-to-video was released, Prince was still under contract with the record company Warner Bros. Records, but was in a dispute with them and had given up his name on June 7, 1993.
Cover versions
Occasionally musicians recorded cover versions of songs from the Love Symbol album ; The Songrise Orchestra released an instrumental CD in 1999 called The Music of Prince , which includes versions of My Name Is Prince , The Morning Papers and 7 , among others . The piece My Name Is Prince was spoiled by Bart Simpson in 1993 with the title My Name Is Bart ; It was sung by the Bart Simpson voice actress Nancy Cartwright . In 2000, Stefan Raab poked fun at the song with his version of Die geile Schwedin from last year (My Name Is Knilch) .
Sexy MF covered The Adults in 1998 and Anastacia released a live sung medley in 2001 that included Sexy MF . In 2011 Malcolm Braff , Reggie Washington and Lukas König recorded a new version of Sexy MF . Song 7 was covered by the group Kings of Disguise in 1997 and Solomon Burke jr. Featuring Tom Semon & "Chief" Lee Bryan reinterpreted it in 2001. Ho'onu'A performed Blue Light in 2000.
tour
| Typical setlist for the Act I show from March 8, 1993 - April 17, 1993. |
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| All songs are authored by Prince , unless otherwise stated |
Five months after the release of the album Love Symbol , Prince and his backing band The New Power Generation toured the US and Canada with the Act I show . It began on March 8, 1993 in Fort Lauderdale , Florida at the Sunrise Musical Theater (now known as The Faith Center) and ended on April 17, 1993 in Los Angeles, California at the Universal Amphitheater . It was the first time since the Lovesexy tour in 1988 that Prince went back on tour in his home country. The Act I show was divided into two sections: in the first section Prince played all of Love Symbol's songs except for Arrogance and The Sacrifice of Victor , in the second section he presented older and some of his most commercially successful songs. Prince gave 23 concerts in the US and 2 in Canada, which were attended by a total of 127,000 people and grossed approximately 3.9 million US dollars. The length of the concert varied from 120 to 145 minutes. Most of the critics praised the Act I show and were impressed by Prince's audience appeal, and the musical versatility of The New Power Generation was highlighted. The daily newspaper The Washington Post wrote about Prince: "One of his microphones was a phallic gun , the equipment was sensational, and the singer has a talent for movement, from the Barry White can only dream of.". Negative reviews mainly related to the framework of the concerts, which was similar to that of the album Love Symbol . Music journalist Jon Bream attended the final concert of the Act I show in Los Angeles and concluded that it was Prince's worst live concert in the past twelve years.
The New Power Generation consisted of the following nine members during the Act I show:
- Damon Dickson - dancer and rapper
- Kirk Johnson - percussion and dancer
- Levi Seacer Jr. - guitar
- Mayte Garcia - dancer
- Michael Bland - drums
- Morris Hayes - keyboard
- Sonny Thompson - electric bass
- Tommy Barbarella - keyboard
- Tony Mosley - dancer and rapper
In addition, the band The Hornheads, who called themselves The NPG Hornz from 1992 and consisted of the following five members, also took part:
- Brian Gallagher - tenor saxophone
- Dave Jensen - trumpet
- Kathy Jensen - saxophone
- Michael B. Nelson - trombone
- Steve Strand - Trumpet
Dave and Kathy Jensen are married to each other. Brian Gallagher (born November 23, 1963) died of a pulmonary embolism on March 3, 2016 at the age of 52 .
From July 26, 1993 to September 7, 1993, Prince toured Europe with The New Power Generation and named this Act II show. He gave 27 concerts that were attended by a total of 750,000 people - including visitors to four Rock-over-Germany music festivals . The Act II show's setlist included a selection of Prince's most successful hits, as well as a few songs considered popular among Prince fans.
Aftershows
From 1986 onwards, Prince occasionally played an aftershow after the main concert, i.e. another concert after midnight. His aftershows took place in smaller music clubs in front of mostly 300 to 1,500 spectators and Prince did without the lavish stage shows, choreographies and light shows of his main concerts. In addition, he designed the song selection differently and often did without his top ten hits. Some of the aftershows' highlights were guest appearances by well-known musicians.
At 4 of the 25 concerts on the Act I show, Prince played an aftershow. Lenny Kravitz and the American singer Tyler Collins (born October 29, 1966) performed on March 27, 1993 in New York City at Club USA . On April 6, 1993 in Chicago in the Chicago Metro, Buddy Miles and US actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner , known as “Theo” from The Bill Cosby Show , were present as musical guests. Otherwise, no guest musicians took part in USA aftershows.
At 9 of the 27 concerts of the Act II show in Europe, Prince also played after shows, the last of which was filmed on September 8, 1993 in London in Bagley's Warehouse and on March 6, 1995 under the title Live! - The Sacrifice of Victor was released on VHS . Mavis Staples and The Steeles appeared as guest musicians at this aftershow , otherwise there were no guest musicians at the aftershows in Europe.
reception
Press
Music critics were divided on the rating of the album Love Symbol . Some praised the music on the album and described it as "bombastic". Others were bothered by the orchestral arrangements and the rap passages of some of the songs. In particular, the lyrics of My Name Is Prince and the music of 3 Chains o 'Gold aroused negative comments. Prince's backing band The New Power Generation has been described as the most talented and versatile band he has ever had.
Critics were not convinced of the framework of the album. this casts doubt on Prince's understanding of reality as he is hunting a 16-year-old princess. In addition, the frame story made largely no sense, which is why it was referred to as "ridiculous", "confusing" and "chaos". Per Nilsen, author of several Prince books, said Prince made a "key mistake" by failing to publish the original version of Love Symbol . The short transitions that remained on the album irritated the listener.
Melissa Heng of the US newspaper St. Paul Pioneer Press was enthusiastic about the album and wrote in 1992 that it was "one of the most exciting of the year" and "an excellent funk collection". Love Symbol is "indispensable in every music collection of honorable music lovers." In conclusion, Heng drew: "This is an album that Michael Jackson can only dream of". It awarded the highest rating of four points. The US music magazine Spin also selected Love Symbol as one of the best albums of 1992.
Greg Sandow of the US magazine Entertainment Weekly gave Love icon on a scale of A + to F the grade A- and said that Prince was "funkier than ever before, perhaps even the funkiest musicians, which is available at the moment." About Prince ' Backing band The New Power Generation he wrote that the band was capable of many more styles of music than rock and funk.
The US magazine Billboard was of the opinion, among other things, that the album had "something of the best and most inventive music in Prince's career". The magazine also praised the musical potential of The New Power Generation. In conclusion, Billboard concluded that Love Symbol was reminiscent of "the glory days of James Brown and The JB's ".
JD Considine of the US music magazine Rolling Stone concluded: "As always, Prince let himself be carried away by his ambitions and turned a work that could just be fun into a mess with a concept." He gave three and a half stars out of five. British music magazine New Musical Express said "Prince's musical performance is positively hallucinogenic ".
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave Love Symbol four and a half stars out of five and was impressed with the music on the album. On the other hand, the framework story is equipped with "ridiculous texts and annoying transitions from Kirstie Alley". Music journalist Robert Christgau was of a similar opinion and wrote that calling the album concept a “rock soap opera” was “absurd” - rather the concept proves that Prince owns the funk. Christgau awarded the grade A- .
Jon Bream of the national newspaper Minneapolis Star Tribune was unimpressed by the album; Although it was "admirable" that Prince reminded of Duke Ellington , but in the overall conclusion he described Love Symbol as "a royal disappointment". When Prince performed on the Arsenio Hall show on February 25, 1993 , presenting four songs from the Love Symbol album , he burned a copy of the Jon Bream article live on stage during the performance.
After Prince's death in April 2016, the music journalists Albert Koch and Thomas Weiland from the German music magazine Musikexpress reviewed the album Love Symbol and gave it four out of six stars. Among other things, they wrote that the album was “a real band album with the usual sound suspects.” At the same time, Prince emphasized “ his will to evolution with the electronic I Wanna Melt With U ”. 25 years after the publication of Love Symbol, the album was reviewed by the music journalist Sassan Niasseri in 2017 from the German edition of the music magazine Rolling Stone ; he gave four out of five stars and said among other things: "At least half of the album songs are successful". In addition, Love Symbol was arranged opulently and stylistically diverse.
Charts and awards
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
5 (19 weeks) | 19th |
 Austria (Ö3)
|
1 (1) (16 weeks) | 16 |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
4th (12 weeks) | 12 |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
|
1 (1) (21 weeks) | 21st |
 United States (Billboard)
|
5 (35 weeks) | 35 |
The album Love Symbol was sold around three million times worldwide and has been awarded gold and platinum status several times around the world.
- CH: 1 × gold for 25,000 copies sold in 1992.
- US: 1 × platinum for 1,000,000 copies sold on December 17, 1992.
- AU: 1 × platinum for 70,000 copies sold in January 1993.
- UK: 1x platinum for 300,000 copies sold on May 1, 1993.
- FR: 1 × gold for 100,000 copies sold in 1993.
- AT: 1 × gold for 25,000 copies sold on March 17, 1994.
- JP: 1 × gold for 100,000 copies sold in April 1994.
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1992 | Sexy MF |
DE11 (17 weeks) DE |
AT6 (12 weeks) AT |
CH8 (17 weeks) CH |
UK4 (7 weeks) UK |
US66 (4 weeks) US |
• Partially boycotted by radio stations
|
| My name is Prince |
DE19 (10 weeks) DE |
AT7 (5 weeks) AT |
CH14 (10 weeks) CH |
UK7 (5 weeks) UK |
US36 (11 weeks) US |
||
| 7th |
DE77 (7 weeks) DE |
- |
CH28 (6 weeks) CH |
UK27 (6 weeks) UK |
US7th  (23 weeks)US |
• US: March 10, 1993: Gold (500,000+)
|
|
| Damn U | DEnvDE | ATnvAT | CHnvCH | UKnvUK |
US108 (8 weeks) US |
• Only decoupled in the USA
|
|
| 1993 | The Morning Papers | - | - |
CH31 (10 weeks) CH |
UK52 (3 weeks) UK |
US44 (11 weeks) US |
|
- When 7 hit the top ten on the US hit parade in 1993, it was the eleventh consecutive year for Prince with at least one top ten single hit in the US since Little Red Corvette (1983).
literature
- Mobeen Azhar: Prince 1958–2016: His life in pictures and text. Edition Olms, Oetwil am See / Zurich 2016, ISBN 978-3-283-01265-6 , OCLC 951825985 .
- Jake Brown: Prince in the Studio (1975-1995). Colossus Books, Phoenix 2010, ISBN 978-0-9790976-6-9 , OCLC 276814904 .
- Jason Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). Chartwell Books, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-7858-3497-7 .
- Jon Ewing: Prince - CD Books : Carlton Books, Rastatt 1994, ISBN 3-8118-3986-1 , OCLC 75552811 .
- Mayte Garcia : The Most Beautiful Girl: My Life With Prince. mvg Verlag, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-86882-897-9 , OCLC 1014191154 .
- Alex Hahn: Obsessed - Prince's turbulent life . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2016, ISBN 978-3-85445-610-0
- Ronin Ro: Prince - Inside the Music and the Masks. St. Martin's Press, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-312-38300-8 , OCLC 428027211 .
- Matt Thorne: Prince. Faber and Faber, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-571-27349-2 , OCLC 794814748 .
- Touré: I Would Die 4 U - Why Prince Became an Icon. Atria Books, New York 2013, ISBN 978-1-4767-0549-1 , OCLC 829784300 .
- 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.com , information about the album Love Symbol
Individual evidence
- ↑ Love Symbol - Chart information. In: chartsurfer.de. 2017, Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Booklet of the CD Love Symbol by Prince and The New Power Generation, Warner Bros. Records / Paisley Park Records, 1992.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Uptown (2004), p. 390.
- ^ Larrabee Sound Studios: Larrabee Sound Studios. In: Larrabeesoundstudios.com. 2015, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e Hahn (2006), p. 243.
- ↑ Azhar (2016), p. 66
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 125.
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 127.
- ^ The Max. In: Princevault.com. October 20, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 128.
- ↑ Damn U. In: Princevault.com. December 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Arrogance. In: Princevault.com. February 27, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Brown (2010), pp. 205-206.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 135.
- ↑ Dawnation: 10th anniversary of the Love Symbol album (1992). In: Dawnation.com. 2002, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Thorne (2012), p. 286.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), pp. 390-391.
- ↑ a b Thorne (2012), p. 288.
- ↑ Garcia (2017), p. 161.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Uptown (2004), p. 391.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Uptown (2004), p. 392.
- ↑ a b c d Ewing (1994), p. 104.
- ↑ a b Thorne (2012), p. 289.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), pp. 391-392.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Uptown (2004), p. 393.
- ↑ Hahn (2006), p. 242.
- ↑ Hahn (2006), p. 246.
- ↑ Album cover of the CD Peach - Part 2 of a 2 CD-Set by Prince, Warner Bros. Records / Paisley Park Records, 1993.
- ^ Ro (2011), p. 228.
- ↑ My Name Is Prince. In: Princevault.com. February 24, 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Hahn (2006), p. 238.
- ^ Ro (2011), p. 227.
- ↑ Blue Light. In: Princevault.com. March 24, 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Sweet Baby. In: Princevault.com. December 10, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Touré (2013), pp. 130-131.
- ↑ Touré (2013), p. 124.
- ↑ Thorne (2012), p. 292.
- ↑ Touré (2013), p. 28.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 134.
- ↑ a b Draper (2011), p. 245.
- ↑ My Name Is Prince. In: Princevault.com. February 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Uptown (2004), p. 137.
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 138.
- ^ The Morning Papers. In: Princevault.com. November 24, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 142.
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 129.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 133.
- ↑ Gold & Platinum. In: riaa.com. 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Garcia (2017), p. 173.
- ↑ My Name Is Prince. In: Princevault.com. October 7, 2017, accessed October 31, 2017 .
- ↑ 7. In: Princevault.com. December 22, 2017, accessed March 16, 2018 .
- ↑ Garcia (2017), p. 189.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 139.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 168.
- ↑ Discover the original. In: Coverinfo.de. Retrieved on April 8, 2017 ( Enter Prince in "Search" ).
- ↑ Prince on WhoSampled
- ↑ SecondHandSongs - a cover songs database. In: Secondhandsongs.com. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 141.
- ↑ Ewing (1994), p. 111.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), pp. 140-141.
- ^ Ro (2011), p. 238.
- ↑ Chris Riemenschneider: Brian Gallagher of Greazy Meal and Prince's NPG dies unexpectedly at 52. In: Startribune.com. March 5, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ Uptown (2004), pp. 147-148.
- ^ One-Off Performance March 27, 1993 (am). In: Princevault.com. December 21, 2016, accessed April 18, 2018 .
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 143.
- ^ One-Off Performance September 8, 1993 (am). In: Princevault.com. September 30, 2017, accessed April 18, 2018 .
- ↑ Brown (2010), p. 204.
- ↑ a b Brown (2010), p. 212.
- ↑ a b c d Brown (2010), p. 211.
- ↑ Brown (2010), pp. 204-205.
- ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Prince and the New Power Generation / Prince - The Love Symbol Album. In: Allmusic.com. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ Robert Christgau: Prince and The New Power Generation. In: RobertChristgau.com. 1992, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Draper (2011), p. 116.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 140.
- ^ ME editors: From the big Prince special - an overview of all albums. In: Musikexpress.de. May 22, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Sassan Niasseri: Prince - Love Symbol. In: Rollingstone.de. October 30, 2017, accessed October 31, 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 .
- ^ Edelmetall 1992. In: Hitparade.ch. 2017, Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ ARIA charts. In: aria.com. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ BPI - Certified Awards Search. In: bpi.co.uk. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ Les Certifications depuis 1973. In: Infodisc.fr. April 8, 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 (French).
- ↑ IFPI - Gold & Platinum. In: ifpi.at. 2017, Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Japanese Charts - The newest charts. In: ukmix.org. November 2, 2012, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ Ewing (1994), p. 113.