Come (album)
Encyclopedia
Come is the fifteenth studio album
by Prince
, released during his public dispute with his then-record company, Warner Bros
.
listing the above tracks, plus a few others: "Interactive", "Peach", "Pope", "Solo", and "Race". Most of these songs were newly written, except "Peach" (written in 1992), and "Race" (written in 1991 during the Love Symbol Album sessions - it uses a scratching sound effect similar to Love Symbol Albums "The Continental").
After Prince's name change to an unpronounceable symbol, he intended to release new songs under that moniker in formats other than albums. He would fulfill his contract to Warner Bros. by delivering unreleased material from his music vault. Prince conceived an "interactive musical experience" called Glam Slam Ulysses
- a musical loosely based on Homer
's Odyssey
. Thirteen tracks were selected and premiered as the first new material from Prince. These songs and many others would travel back and forth between different concepts of albums in a relatively short frame of time. The Dawn was a triple-album concept. The track listing is unknown, but the idea was scrapped for single album releases. Some of these ended up on Come, and some on a new album called The Gold Experience
. There was also an idea floating around for The Beautiful Experience
that took on various forms before its final release as a maxi single
.
On March 6, 1994, Prince submitted a tape of eight songs to Dutch radio stations which included the song "Pheromone". Five days later, he submitted the first version of the Come album to Warner Bros. The album consisted of: "Poem", "Interactive", "Endorphinemachine", "Space", "Pheromone", "Loose", "Papa", "Race", "Dark", "Solo", and "Strays of the World". This version of the album is exactly 45 minutes in length, has been leaked, and is known as the Come Test Pressing. Interestingly, the title track was absent. Warner Bros. rejected this version, and asked for the title track along with some other new material, such as the recent hit "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
". Prince went back into the studio and tooled with the title track, creating an 11-minute horn-boosted sexual romp. He added it to the album and resubmitted it to Warner Bros., and they agreed to it.
Prince changed the album once again, removing the more rock-oriented tracks "Interactive", "Endorphinemachine", and "Strays of the World". He broke up "Poem" into segues throughout the album, with the remainder retitled as "Orgasm", and also included the newly-written track "Letitgo". This final version was submitted to Warner Bros. on the same day as a configuration of The Gold Experience. Prince wanted them to release both albums simultaneously, so the Prince material would compete with the one released under the symbolic moniker in the charts (with the latter having more commercial material). Warner Bros. accepted both albums, but refused to release them both at the same time fearing the market would have too much Prince material in stock.
The guitar sound on "Orgasm" is a sample of a feedback guitar solo from a previous Prince track, "Private Joy
" from his 1981 album Controversy. The moaning on "Orgasm" is that of Vanity
, recorded in 1983 for the unreleased track "Vibrator". In the liner notes, Vanity is credited as "she knows".
Upon release, Come received little support from Prince, who derided the album as "old material", despite the fact that many of the tracks had been recorded during the same sessions that produced The Gold Experience. Since Prince placed the more up-tempo and commercial material from these sessions on The Gold Experience, the overall tone of Come is somewhat dark and experimental in nature. As it stands, the album is an interesting look inside Prince's mind, and one of his most sensual and foreboding albums; perhaps more so than The Black Album. Despite Prince's apparent marketing neglect, Come performed moderately well, reaching #15 in the U.S., going gold
and receiving heavy R&B
airplay with the single "Letitgo". In the UK, the album was a huge hit, debuting at #1. Prince also released two maxi single
s in support of the album.
In 1993, a funkier instrumental version of the song "Pheromone" was used as the theme music for the BET
music video program, Video LP
.
The album cover proclaims "Prince: 1958–1993", indicating that Prince had "died" in 1993, and was reborn under his Love Symbol alias. The church depicted in the background of the record's cover is the Sagrada Família
in Barcelona
. The outtakes from the photoshoot for the cover of the album were released a year before in The Sacrifice of Victor, Prince's first book.
; except where indicated.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
, released during his public dispute with his then-record company, Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
.
Evolution of the album
Most of the songs from the Come album were recorded in early 1993 during a highly prolific time for Prince. An early collection of tracks included: "Come", "Endorphinmachine", "Space", "Pheromone", "Loose", "Papa", "Dark", and "Poem". It was unknown at this time if these tracks were indeed intended for an album. In late May 1993, Prince's then band member, Mayte Garcia, sent a letter to a Prince fanzineFanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
listing the above tracks, plus a few others: "Interactive", "Peach", "Pope", "Solo", and "Race". Most of these songs were newly written, except "Peach" (written in 1992), and "Race" (written in 1991 during the Love Symbol Album sessions - it uses a scratching sound effect similar to Love Symbol Albums "The Continental").
After Prince's name change to an unpronounceable symbol, he intended to release new songs under that moniker in formats other than albums. He would fulfill his contract to Warner Bros. by delivering unreleased material from his music vault. Prince conceived an "interactive musical experience" called Glam Slam Ulysses
Glam Slam Ulysses
Glam Slam Ulysses was a 1993 musical production by Prince, loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, featuring a combination of live performances and video, with thirteen previously unreleased songs....
- a musical loosely based on Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
. Thirteen tracks were selected and premiered as the first new material from Prince. These songs and many others would travel back and forth between different concepts of albums in a relatively short frame of time. The Dawn was a triple-album concept. The track listing is unknown, but the idea was scrapped for single album releases. Some of these ended up on Come, and some on a new album called The Gold Experience
The Gold Experience
The Gold Experience is the seventeenth studio album by Prince . It was released on September 26, 1995...
. There was also an idea floating around for The Beautiful Experience
The Beautiful Experience
- Promo :- Singles and Hot 100 chart placings :* "Staxowax"# "Staxowax" – 4:59# "Sexy Staxophone and Guitar" – 3:36* "Mustang Mix"# "Mustang Mix" – 6:19# "Mustang Instrumental" – 3:23- Chart performance :...
that took on various forms before its final release as a maxi single
Maxi single
A maxi single or maxi-single is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an a-side song and a b-side song.-The first maxi singles:...
.
On March 6, 1994, Prince submitted a tape of eight songs to Dutch radio stations which included the song "Pheromone". Five days later, he submitted the first version of the Come album to Warner Bros. The album consisted of: "Poem", "Interactive", "Endorphinemachine", "Space", "Pheromone", "Loose", "Papa", "Race", "Dark", "Solo", and "Strays of the World". This version of the album is exactly 45 minutes in length, has been leaked, and is known as the Come Test Pressing. Interestingly, the title track was absent. Warner Bros. rejected this version, and asked for the title track along with some other new material, such as the recent hit "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World (Prince song)
"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" is a song by Prince from his 1995 album The Gold Experience It was his first release since changing his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol. With the consent of Prince's usual record distributor Warner Bros...
". Prince went back into the studio and tooled with the title track, creating an 11-minute horn-boosted sexual romp. He added it to the album and resubmitted it to Warner Bros., and they agreed to it.
Prince changed the album once again, removing the more rock-oriented tracks "Interactive", "Endorphinemachine", and "Strays of the World". He broke up "Poem" into segues throughout the album, with the remainder retitled as "Orgasm", and also included the newly-written track "Letitgo". This final version was submitted to Warner Bros. on the same day as a configuration of The Gold Experience. Prince wanted them to release both albums simultaneously, so the Prince material would compete with the one released under the symbolic moniker in the charts (with the latter having more commercial material). Warner Bros. accepted both albums, but refused to release them both at the same time fearing the market would have too much Prince material in stock.
The guitar sound on "Orgasm" is a sample of a feedback guitar solo from a previous Prince track, "Private Joy
Private Joy
"Private Joy" is a song by American musician Prince from his 1981 album Controversy, released as the B-side of the single "Do Me, Baby". The song describes how Prince will never reveal the identity of his secret lover....
" from his 1981 album Controversy. The moaning on "Orgasm" is that of Vanity
Vanity (performer)
Denise Katrina Matthews , better known as Vanity, but sometimes credited as Denise Matthews-Smith or D.D. Winters, is a Canadian-born former singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and model from the 1980s until the early mid-90s...
, recorded in 1983 for the unreleased track "Vibrator". In the liner notes, Vanity is credited as "she knows".
Upon release, Come received little support from Prince, who derided the album as "old material", despite the fact that many of the tracks had been recorded during the same sessions that produced The Gold Experience. Since Prince placed the more up-tempo and commercial material from these sessions on The Gold Experience, the overall tone of Come is somewhat dark and experimental in nature. As it stands, the album is an interesting look inside Prince's mind, and one of his most sensual and foreboding albums; perhaps more so than The Black Album. Despite Prince's apparent marketing neglect, Come performed moderately well, reaching #15 in the U.S., going gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
and receiving heavy R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
airplay with the single "Letitgo". In the UK, the album was a huge hit, debuting at #1. Prince also released two maxi single
Maxi single
A maxi single or maxi-single is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an a-side song and a b-side song.-The first maxi singles:...
s in support of the album.
In 1993, a funkier instrumental version of the song "Pheromone" was used as the theme music for the BET
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
music video program, Video LP
Video LP
Video LP was a half-hour, live viewer call-in program that debuted in 1986 on BET . It primarily showcased R&B/Soul and Hip-Hop music videos. The original hostess was Robin Breedon, but the most well-known host was Sherry Carter from 1989 until 1992, when she moved on to co-host Video Soul from...
.
The album cover proclaims "Prince: 1958–1993", indicating that Prince had "died" in 1993, and was reborn under his Love Symbol alias. The church depicted in the background of the record's cover is the Sagrada Família
Sagrada Familia
The ' , commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. The outtakes from the photoshoot for the cover of the album were released a year before in The Sacrifice of Victor, Prince's first book.
Track listing
All tracks composed and arranged by PrincePrince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
; except where indicated.
- "Come" – 11:13
- "SpaceSpace (song)"Space" is a song by Prince from his 1994 album Come.The B-side of the single is actually the album track. The A-side is the "Universal Love Radio Remix" of "Space", with completely new lyrics....
" – 4:28 - "Pheromone" – 5:08
- "Loose!" – 3:26
- "Papa" – 2:48
- "Race" – 4:28
- "Dark" – 6:10
- "Solo" (Prince, David Henry Hwang) – 3:48
- "LetitgoLetitgo"Letitgo" is a song by Prince from his 1994 album Come. Despite statements that the album consisted entirely of "old" material, "Letitgo" was actually newly composed for the album. The mid-tempo song relies heavily on a drum machine pattern and bass guitar with synthesizers in the refrain. A...
" – 5:32 - "Orgasm" – 1:39
Promotional vinyl bonus tracks
- "Space" (Universal Love Remix) – 6:10
- "Space" (Funky Stuff Remix) – 5:42
- "Letitgo" (QDIII Instrumental Mix) – 5:00 (retitled "Instrumental" for single release)
- "Letitgo" (JH. Swift #3 Instrumental) – 5:43 (retitled "(-) Sherm Stick Edit" for single release)
Personnel
- Airiq Anest – programming
- Michael BlandMichael BlandMichael Bland is best known as a drummer for Prince starting in 1989. He was with Prince during The New Power Generation era and played with him live and on albums for 7 years....
(as Michael B.) – drums - Tommy BarbarellaTommy BarbarellaTommy Barbarella is an American keyboardist. He was a member of The New Power Generation, Prince's recording and stage band, from 1991–1996.In 2010, Barbarella became a member of Nick Jonas and the Administration along with other former members of The New Power Generation, drummer Michael Bland...
– performer - Jearlyn Steele Battle – sampling
- Kathleen Bradford – background vocals
- Chronic Freeze – engineer, mastering, mixing
- Brian Gallagher – horn
- Tom Garneau – assistant
- Ray Hahnfeldt – engineer, mixing
- Kimm James – assistant
- Dave Jensen – horn
- Kathy Jensen – horn
- Eric LeedsEric LeedsEric Leeds is an American jazz and funk musician who plays the saxophone and other woodwind and brass instruments. He is best known for his work with Prince.- Biography :Leeds was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of a retailer...
– flute - Mayte – background vocals
- Micah Nelson – horn
- Ricky Peterson – keyboards
- Prince – arranger, composer, vocals, background vocals, producer, engineer, mixing
- Steve Strand – horn
- Sonny T. – performer
- Tom Tucker – engineer, mixing