Prince

Come

Labels / Brands:
Warner Records
Genre:
Funk, Soul / R&B
Style:
Soul, Funk

Not available

Specification
Description
Track-list

Condition	Sealed
Manufacturer	Europe
Format	LP, Black Vinyl, Reissue
Date of release	1994/2024
Barcode	603497839445

With the album cover art depicting Prince in front of a cemetery gate, and the years 1958-1993 scrawled under his birth name, it was clear that 1994 would mean the beginning of a new era for a newly reborn artist. Come would be the final album to be released under the name “Prince” until 2001’s The Rainbow Children, and it serves as the first chapter in a new era of his artistry - an era when he would simply be known by his unpronounceable symbol, and would establish himself as a commercially independent, revolutionary force in the music industry.

Come was recorded in various sessions at Paisley Park throughout January 1993 to April 1994, with the exception of Race the oldest and one of six on the album Prince originally created as the soundtrack for the Glam Slam Ulysses dance show, was recorded in LA at Record Plant studios in 1991. He reworked the track in May 1993. Pheromone, also intended for Glam Slam Ulysses, was inspired by Carmen Electra, the show’s dance captain.
Come was produced out of the wreckage of Prince’s dispute with Warner Brothers, having only the previous year signed a five album deal for a record-breaking $100 million. Rattled by lower than expected sales with NPG’s Love Symbol Album in 1992, the first album under that arrangement, Come became Prince’s final LP released under the label both credited as ‘Prince’ and to comprise newly recorded material. Henceforth, until 16 May 2000, Prince would be known as The Artist Formally Known As Prince () for the duration of his contract. His birth name he saw as a brand owned by Warner was declared to all intents and purposes dead. The LP’s cover duly displays the epitaph ‘Prince 1958-1993 having changed his name to the same unpronounceable title of NPG’s second album , on his birthday on 7 June 1993. He registered as a trademark on 22 February 1994.
Come passed through many configuration changes as Prince hoped to coincide its release with The Gold Experience – an album he recorded simultaneously with Come. Prince intended a double release, issued on the same day: The Gold Experience released under his newly formed independent label NPG Records, and leave Come to Warner Brothers. Warner flatly denied him that wish and even asked that The Most Beautiful Girl In The World be moved to Come. Prince refused, and a freshly recorded track Letitgo was instead released as the album’s first single, it pokes Prince’s rising frustration with the label “Fourteen years and tears I’ve longed to sing my song”; created in March 1994 this late minute addition, created when Prince was named , bumped Strays Of The World from the final configuration. Billy Jack Bitch and Now that would appear on The Gold Experience were recorded in this same session. The Letitgo single contained many remixes, produced by a Quincy Jones’s son “QD III”, and J-Swift. The latter album was postponed entirely, an act that in Prince’s eyes was the final nail in the coffin for his relationship with the record company. Suffering from his unwillingness to promote it Come sold only 500,000 units in the US, peaking at 15 on the Billboard Hot 200 it was Prince lowest selling LP since 1980. Come certified Gold by RIAA on 18 October 1994. Buoyed by the Act II Tour the previous summer, Come enjoyed better fortune in the UK – topping the album charts with 100,000 copies sold.

- goldiesparade.co.uk