The Very Best of Prince

chronology
The Very Best of Prince
Prince's compilation album
Publication ; (s)	July 31, 2001
admission	1979-1991
Label (s)	Warner Bros. Records / Rhino Records
Format (s)	CD , MC
Genre (s)	R&B , dance , funk , pop , rock music
Title (number)	17th
running time	73:18
occupation	Prince, Prince and The Revolution , Prince and The New Power Generation
production	Prince
Studio (s)	Alpha Studios ( Burbank (Los Angeles County) ) ; Dierks Studio Mobile Truck ; Hollywood Sound Recorder ( California ) ; Kiowa Trail Home Studio ( Chanhassen ) ; Sunset Sound ( Los Angeles ) ; First Avenue ( Minneapolis ) ; The Warehouse (Minneapolis) ; Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse ( Eden Prairie ) ; Paisley Park (Chanhassen) ; Warner Pioneer Studios ( Japan )

The Very Best of Prince ( English for The very best of Prince ) is the fourth compilation album by the American musician Prince . It was released on July 31, 2001 on the Warner Bros. Records label . The album contains 17 songs that were released as a single from nine different Prince albums from 1979 to 1992 .

Prince broke up with Warner Bros. Records in late 1999 and disagreed with the release of The Very Best of Prince . But the major label owned the copyrights to all songs that Prince recorded for this label at the time.

Although neither Prince nor Warner Bros. Records organized any noteworthy music promotion for the album, it achieved double status in England and platinum in the USA . After Prince's death in April 2016, The Very Best of reached number one on the US album hit parade, which had not been the case before.

Emergence

The contract between Prince and Warner Bros. Records expired on December 31, 1999, but at the beginning of the 21st century the major label contacted Prince's lawyers several times. Warner wanted to find out if Prince would again support the release of a greatest hits album. Already in 1993 he released three compilation albums with The Hits 1 , The Hits 2 and The Hits / The B-Sides on the music label Warner Bros. Records.

Warner originally wanted to release a greatest hits album called A Celebration in 2001 . Prince showed interest in this project at the beginning and wanted to contribute new, previously unreleased songs. Warner and Prince could then not agree on financial aspects - the major label was even willing to pay Prince higher royalties than they had agreed with him in previous contracts. But Prince declined this offer. Warner employee Gregg Geller was finally commissioned by the label to compile Prince's most commercially successful songs from 1979 to 1992 and to publish them under the title The Very Best of Prince .

On his website at the time, NPG-Music-Club.com, Prince criticized the release of The Very Best of Prince and announced that since Warner Bros. Records owns the copyrights to his songs, he would make "next to no money" on the album. Some industry insiders disagreed with this claim, saying that even if Prince did not belong to the Masters , he would receive royalties from the sales of The Very Best of Prince as an artist and songwriter . He would get further royalties from music publishing shares .

In 2014, Prince received full copyright from Warner Bros. Records for all songs he recorded for the label.

Design of the cover

On the front of the booklet you can see nine square photos of Prince, which are arranged in three rows of four one below the other. The oldest photo shows the record cover of the album Dirty Mind from 1980, the most recent photo shows Prince from 1990. The booklet can be unfolded and the cover of the respective singles from the compilation is shown on the front. Information on the 17 songs is printed on the back , no lyrics are available. In 2010 The Very Best of Prince was released with a different cover, the tracklist remained unchanged.

music

The music from the album The Very Best of Prince can be assigned to different musical genres; For example, I Wanna Be Your Lover and Little Red Corvette come from pop music , 1999 and Kiss from funk , When Doves Cry and I Would Die 4 U from electronic dance music , Let's Go Crazy from rock music and Cream and Diamonds and Pearls from the Contemporary R&B division .

List of titles and publications

No.	song	author	length
01	I wanna be your lover (edit)	Prince	2:57
02	1999 (edit)	Prince	3:36
03	Little Red Corvette	Prince	4:55
04th	When Doves Cry (edit)	Prince	3:48
05	Let's go crazy	Prince and The Revolution	4:39
06th	Purple Rain	Prince and The Revolution	8:40
07th	I would die 4 u	Prince and The Revolution	2:56
08th	Raspberry Beret	Prince and The Revolution	3:31
09	Kiss	Prince and The Revolution	3:46
010	Sign "☮" the Times (edit)	Prince	3:42
011	U Got the Look (duet with Sheena Easton )	Prince	3:46
012	Alphabet St.	Prince	5:38
013	Thieves in the Temple	Prince	3:20
014th	Gett off	Prince and The New Power Generation	4:30
015th	Cream	Prince and The New Power Generation	4:12
016	Diamonds and Pearls (edit)	Prince and The New Power Generation	4:19
017th	Money Don't Matter 2 Night	Prince and The New Power Generation	4:46

The Very Best of Prince was released on July 31, 2001 and is available for purchase as a compact disc and a music cassette . A 6-track promo CD with the songs When Doves Cry , Purple Rain , Kiss , Cream , 1999 and Money Don't Matter 2 Night has also been released in Germany.

With the exception of Money Don't Matter 2 Night , all 17 songs from The Very Best of Prince were already released in 1993 on the compilation The Hits / The B-Sides . The order of the tracklist of The Very Best of Prince is sorted chronologically according to the release date of the single releases and consists of the following nine Prince albums:

1979: Prince - I Wanna Be Your Lover
1982: 1999 - 1999 and Little Red Corvette
1984: Purple Rain - When Doves Cry , Let's Go Crazy , Purple Rain and I Would Die 4 U
1985: Around the World in a Day - Raspberry Beret
1986: Parade - Kiss
1987: Sign "☮" the Times - Sign "☮" the Times and U Got the Look
1988: Lovesexy - Alphabet St.
1990: Graffiti Bridge - Thieves in the Temple
1991: Diamonds and Pearls - Gett Off , Cream , Diamonds and Pearls and Money Don't Matter 2 Night .

Some songs are available in an edit version , i.e. in a shortened version compared to the respective album version. Singles were not decoupled from the album The Very Best of Prince , as there are no previously unreleased songs on the album. Music videos exist for all songs from the album.

tour

On June 15, 2001, Prince began his A Celebration Tour in Saint Paul , Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center , where he gave another concert on June 16. Concerts in Columbus (Ohio) , Detroit and Omaha followed . But after the concert on June 28 in Milwaukee , Prince broke off his current tour after six concerts ; originally the tour was supposed to include a total of 22 concerts in the USA and end on August 5, 2001 in Anchorage . Prince did not provide any reason why he did not attend the remaining 16 concerts. In 2001 he only performed on July 6th at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal . He only gave live concerts again in January 2002.

From then on there was speculation in the press that Prince had deliberately canceled the tour in order not to advertise the upcoming release of The Very Best of Prince in July 2001 ; he did not approve of the release of the album and did not want to support Warner Bros. Records.

It was later revealed that Prince's father, John L. Nelson, was seriously ill and Prince wanted to stay with him. On August 25, 2001, John L. Nelson died at his home in Chanhassen , Minnesota, aged 85 .

reception

Press

The CD The Very Best of Prince was hardly noticed or rated by musical magazines. The US music magazine Rolling Stone distributed four out of five possible stars, but did not explain how this result came about. Music journalist Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic gave the maximum number of five possible points and praised the album as “perfect for those who just want a Prince record and want to hear some of his best songs.” Nina Hortig from Amazon.de said: “For Beginners and fans: This Very Best Of [sic] is worth the money. "

Charts and awards

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	5 (14 weeks)	14th
Austria (Ö3)	5 (20 weeks)	20th
Switzerland (IFPI)	1 (1) (19 weeks)	19th
United Kingdom (OCC)	2 (54 weeks)	54
United States (Billboard)	1 (1) (68 weeks)	68

The Very Best of Prince achieved the highest ranking in the countries mentioned in May 2016 after Prince's death. In 2001 the album reached number 6 in Germany, number 13 in Austria, number 17 in Switzerland and number 66 in the USA. The Very Best of Prince has been sold around three million times worldwide since 2001 and has been awarded gold and platinum status several times around the world:

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	2 × platinum	140,000
Belgium (BEA)	gold	50,000
Germany (BVMI)	gold	150,000
Canada (MC)	gold	50,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	platinum	15,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	platinum	80,000
United States (RIAA)	platinum	1,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × platinum	600,000
All in all	3 × gold 7 × platinum	2,085,000

Main article: Prince / Music Sales Awards

literature

Jason Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). Chartwell Books, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-7858-3497-7 .
Ronin Ro: Prince - Inside The Music And The Masks. St. Martin's Press, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-312-38300-8 , OCLC 428027211 .
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 The Very Best of Prince

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Ro (2011), p. 305.
↑ ^a ^b Uptown (2004), p. 267.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ro (2011), p. 311.
↑ Draper (2016), pp. 198-199.
↑ Booklet of the CD The Very Best of Prince by Prince, Warner Bros. Records, 2001
↑ Booklet of the 6 track radio sampler The Very Best of Prince by Prince, Warner Bros. Records, 2001
↑ ^a ^b Uptown (2004), p. 265.
^ Ro (2011), p. 312.
↑ Prince ( Memento from April 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine album review on Allmusic.com
↑ 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 .

[r305-1] Ro (2011), p. 305.

[u267-2] Uptown (2004), p. 267.

[r311-3] Ro (2011), p. 311.

[4] Draper (2016), pp. 198-199.

[5] Booklet of the CD The Very Best of Prince by Prince, Warner Bros. Records, 2001

[6] Booklet of the 6 track radio sampler The Very Best of Prince by Prince, Warner Bros. Records, 2001

[u265-7] Uptown (2004), p. 265.

[8] Ro (2011), p. 312.

[9] Prince ( Memento from April 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

[10] Stephen Thomas Erlewine album review on Allmusic.com

[11] Prince. officialcharts.de, accessed on February 16, 2019 .

[12] Prince. austriancharts.at, accessed on February 16, 2019 .

[13] Prince. hitparade.ch, accessed on February 16, 2019 .

[14] Prince. officialcharts.com, accessed February 16, 2019 .

[15] Prince - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed February 16, 2019 .


Studio albums	For You (1978) • Prince (1979) • Dirty Mind (1980) • Controversy (1981) • 1999 (1982) / 1999 Deluxe (2019) • Purple Rain (1984) / Purple Rain Deluxe (2017) • Around the World in a Day (1985) • Parade (1986) • Sign "☮" the Times (1987) • Lovesexy (1988) • Batman (1989) • Graffiti Bridge (1990) • Diamonds and Pearls (1991) • Love Symbol (1992) • Come (1994) • Black Album (1994) • The Gold Experience (1995) • Chaos and Disorder (1996) • Emancipation (1996) • Crystal Ball (1998) • The Truth (1998) • The Vault… Old Friends 4 Sale ( 1999) • Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999) • The Rainbow Children (2001) • One Nite Alone… (2002) • Xpectation (download album - 2003) • NEWS (2003) • The Chocolate Invasion (download album - 2004) • The Slaughterhouse (Download album - 2004) • Musicology (2004) • 3121 (2006) • Planet Earth (2007) • Lotusflow3r (2009) • MPLSound (2009) • 20Ten (2010) • PlectrumElectrum (2014) • Art Official Age (2014) • HITnRUN Phase One (2015) • HITnRUN Phase Two (2015) • Piano & A Microphone 1983 (2018) • Originals (2019)
Mix tapes	NYC (1997)
Extended plays	The Scandalous Sex Suite (1989) • New Power Generation Remixes (1990) • Gett Off Remix EP (1991) • Cream Remixes (1991) • My Name Is Prince Remixes (1992) • 7 Remixes (1992) • The Beautiful Experience (1994 ) • Letitgo Remixes (1994) • Space Remixes (1994) • Eye Hate U Remixes (1995) • 1999 - The New Master (1999) • The Greatest Romance Ever Sold Remixes (1999) • The Breakfast Experience (2013)
Remix albums	His Majesty's Pop Life / The Purple Mix Club (1985) • The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold) (1995) • Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic (2001)
Live albums	One Nite Alone… Live! (2002) • One Nite Alone… The Aftershow: It Ain't Over! (2002) • C-Note (2003) • Indigo Nights (2008) • Live in Detroit - November 30, 1982 (2019)
Soundtracks	Purple Rain (1984) • Under the Cherry Moon (1986) • Batman (1989) • Graffiti Bridge (1990) • Girl 6 (1996)
Compilation albums	The Hits / The B-Sides (1993) • The Hits 1 (1993) • The Hits 2 (1993) • The Very Best of Prince (2001) • Ultimate (2006) • 4Ever (2016) • Anthology: 1995–2010 ( 2018)
Tours	Prince tour (1979–80) • Fire It Up tour by Rick James (Prince as opening act - 1980) • Dirty Mind tour (1980–81) • Controversy tour (1981–82) • 1999 tour (1982–83) • Purple Rain Tour (1984–85) • Hit-N-Run Tour (1986) • Parade Tour (1986) • Sign-o'-the-Times-Tour (1987) • Lovesexy -Tour (1988-89) • Nude-Tour (1990) • Diamonds-and-Pearls-Tour (1992) • Act-I-Show (1993) • Act-II-Show (1993) • The Ultimate Live Experience (1995 ) • Japan ′96 (1996) • Love-4-One-Another-Charities-Tour 1997 (1997) • Jam-of-the-Year-Tour (1997-98) • Newpower-Soul-Tour / Newpower-Soul- Festival-Tour (1998) • Hit-N-Run-Tour (2000–01) • One-Nite-Alone-Tour (2002) • World-Tour 2003 (2003) • Musicology Live 2004ever (2004) • Per4ming Live 3121 in Las Vegas (2006–07) • 21 Nights in London: The Earth Tour (2007) • 20Ten Tour (2010) • Welcome 2 America Tour (2010–12) • Live Out Loud Tour (2013 ) • Hit-N-Run-Tour (2014) • Hit-N-Run-Tour 2015 (2015) • Piano & A Microphone (2016)