| Camille (album) |
Article Index for Camille |
Website Links For Camille |
Information AboutCamille (album) |
''Camille'' is an unreleased Studio Album by Prince , recorded in 1986 and intended for release in early 1987. The album consisted of eight tracks which featured speeded up vocals. It was intended for the album to be released under the name of Camille (who would not be pictured on the cover) and not as a Prince album. Instead, the cover art was going to be a child-like drawing of a stick figure with X's for eyes. No mention of Prince was going to appear anywhere on the album, and the intention was that it would sell on it's own merits without the aid of the "Prince" name (much like the Madhouse albums). EVOLUTION OF THE ALBUM After the cancellation of the '' Dream Factory '' project, Prince went back into the studio to record new material. He wrote a track called "Housequake" with a sped-up vocal similar to the ''Dream Factory'' title track (and his earlier " Erotic City ," the B-side to " Let's Go Crazy "). He was so pleased with the new song that he composed an entire album's worth of material with the same altered vocals. The voice itself began to take on the Persona of Camille (named after the French Hermaphrodite ) and an album was planned. The album had gotten to the stage of being given a catalog number when Prince changed his plans (having written more material) and compiled the 3-LP opus '' Crystal Ball ''. Seven of the tracks on ''Camille'' were incorporated into ''Crystal Ball'', but when Warner Bros. Records forced Prince to trim the album down to the 2-LP '' Sign “O” The Times '', only three made the cut. TRACK LISTING # "Rebirth of the Flesh" # "Housequake" # " Strange Relationship " # "Feel U Up" # "Shockadelica" # "Good Love" # " If I Was Your Girlfriend " # "Rockhard in a Funky Place" TRACK DESCRIPTIONS "Shockadelica" "Shockadelica" was actually written as a tongue-in-cheek message to long-time friend of Prince and former guitarist for The Time , Jesse Johnson , who had released a highly successful solo album titled ''Shockadelica'' in 1986. It was Prince's way of communicating his belief that an album with an incredible title like "Shockadelica" should have an equally incredible title track to Johnson. Johnson's album ''Shockadelica'' did not have a song with a title track on it; conversely, the only released albums that Prince recorded to date that had not had a track bearing the album's name were his self-titled second album, his "Love sign" album, and the infamous '' Black Album '', by most accounts arguably the most bootlegged album of all-time, which was pulled from release at the last minute by Prince and only saw the light of day years later as a result of a contract dispute with Warner Bros. Records ). RELEASES OVER TIME Despite the project never seeing the light of day in its original form, Prince was reportedly very pleased with the ''Camille'' material, and nearly all of the tracks have since been released on other Prince projects: As mentioned above, "Housequake," "Strange Relationship," and "If I Was Your Girlfriend" were included on ''Sign "O" the Times'' in 1987. Later that year, "Shockadelica" was released in full version as the B-side to the 12-inch single "If I Was Your Girlfriend." "Good Love" was used in the film '' Bright Lights, Big City '' and included on the soundtrack; a slightly edited version was released on Prince's CD Boxed Set '' Crystal Ball '', ten years later. The second single from the '' Batman '' album, " Partyman ," was released in 1989 with "Feel U Up" was the B-side. "Rockhard in a Funky Place" was the closing track on '' The Black Album '', which received an official release in 1994. "Rebirth of the Flesh" remains unreleased, though a live rehearsal was released on Prince's Web site in 2001. "U Got the Look," from ''Sign "O" the Times'' was credited to Camille, as was "Scarlet Pussy," the B-side to " I Wish U Heaven " from 1988's '' Lovesexy ''. Neither song was intended for the ''Camille'' album, however. Prince still occasionally records with Camille-like vocals, most recently on the title track for his 2006 album '' 3121 ''. SEE ALSO |
|
|