HITNRUN Phase Two

NPG Records

Album

Albums – remember those?

HITNRUN Phase Two was tragically the final album released by Prince during his lifetime.

Not a body of thematic work written to form an album, HITNRUN Phase Two could be described instead as a compilation, giving a home to four tracks previously available as stand-alone singles: Extraloveable (issued in 2011), Rock And Roll Love Affair (2012), Screwdriver (2013) and Baltimore (issued in 2015 in response to the Baltimore race riots), none of course were issued in promotion of this album. Groovy Potential was another previously available track from 2012 unattached to the album. Featuring sampled drum tracking by Michael Bland, Groovy Potential was offered as a download from 3rdeyetunes.com in 2013. In fact just three tracks were created specifically for HITNRUN Phase Two; the jazzy Look At Me, Look At U, the funky Stare – released to the streaming platform Spotify on 30 July 2015 a matter of days after Prince demanded the removal of all his material from that service to grant exclusivity to Jay-Z’s rival platform TIDAL, and Revelation – the highlight of the collection.

The remaining tracks are reworkings of songs gleaned from the vault. Black Muse – which at 3:35 slides into 1000 Light Years From Here; it and When She Comes hail from studio sessions intended for an abandoned album titled Welcome 2 America of 2010. The original cut of 1000 Light Years From Here was posthumously released in Welcome 2 America in 2021. Prince laid down the original Extraloverble in 1982 (when named Xtraloveable) and although was reinterpreted and renamed in 2011 when released as a single to support the Canadian leg of his Welcome 2 America Tour, its 2013 HITNRUN Phase Two iteration has its name restored to Xtraloveable. Andy Allo’s rap in the 2011 version of the song is removed and replaced with horns. 2Y. 2D. (abbreviating ‘too young to dare’), When She Comes and Big City all filed into the vault in 2010/11 are each granted new lease of life with a tremendously expanded eleven-piece NPG Hornz to give them punch for HITNRUN Phase Two – the horns were dubbed in 2013. All of the previously created tracks were glossed up and tweaked in 2014 to form the appearance of a cohesive album.

Without notice or fanfare HITNRUN Phase Two dropped on TIDAL on 12 December 2015 as MP3 / FLAC file download and bundled with the already available HITNRUN Phase One – published on iTunes 3 days later. The two albums were created in parallel at Paisley Park Studios, with Joshua Welton programming tracks for HITNRUN Phase One in studio B and Prince in studio A producing two albums; polishing up old as well as recording new material for HITNRUN Phase Two and co-producing the debut solo Back In Time for his latest protege Judith Hill. HITNRUN Phase Two was no mere continuation of HITNRUN Phase One. Whilst Welton’s very electronic project was more adventurous as was intended to introduce Prince to new genres such dubstep and a younger audience. HITNRUN Phase Two was created as a more conventional Prince sounding pan-genre LP. Together they showcase Prince’s musical dexterity as well as correct his lack of availability on streaming platforms which had been harming both physical and digital sales of his music.

Following its release, Prince appealed to his Twitter followers to ‘petition’ Warner Brothers to issue the album in physical format. When the CD ultimately surfaced on 21 January 2016 it was obtainable only by mail order fulfilled by his favourite record store, Minneapolis’ The Electric Fetus. A supporting tour named Piano & A Microphone Tour was launched that same evening, and continued until it was ended abruptly in April 2016. The full worldwide retail release HITNRUN Phase Two followed on 29 April 2016 but by tragic coincidence was scheduled in the week following Prince’s death, 21 April. By this time most fans owned copies already, and because of its stuttered release HITNRUN Phase Two retailed only 57,000 units and suffered in the US Billboard album chart as result, entering at number 40. Faring better in the UK the album peaked at a respectable 21.

As more a compilation than single body of work, HITNRUN Phase Two delivers a disjointed listening experience, lurching across all points on the compass, from garage rock with Screwdriver, to the Broadway like Big City, and from topical Baltimore to comical Stare. Unaware of his health challenges, critics at the time said whereas HITNRUN Phase One oozed energy, HITNRUN Phase Two suggested the music innovator entered creative fatigue. Prince’s final words in the closing track “That’s it.” poignantly sign off what tragically became his final album. Years of tireless performing had exerted its toll on 21 April 2016 when Prince died having suffered a fatal overdose from the powerful opioid-based painkiller fentanyl.

On 6 December 2016, HITNRUN Phase Two was recognised with what was Prince’s thirty-eighth Grammy nomination; Best Engineered Album of 2016. It would lose to David Bowie’s Blackstar, one of several music icons who also died in 2016: Leonard Cohen, Sir George Martin, George Michael and Maurice White. It was the year the music died.

Cover story

British illustrator Martin Homent’s series ‘The Many Faces of Prince’ features in his second collaboration with cover artwork, continuing the theme began with HITNRUN Phase One. Homent would also be commissioned to design backdrops for Prince’s Piano & A Microphone Tour, the last artwork created for Prince in his lifetime.

Performers

Vocals / all Instr

Prince

Keyboards

Cassandra O'Neal ^{Big City}

Xavier Taplin ^{Look At Me, Look At U and Revelation}

Justin Stanley ^{2Y, 2D}

Drums

Michael Bland ^{Groovy Potential}

Hannah Ford Welton ^{Big City}

John Blackwell

Bass Guitar

Ida Nielsen ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Xtraloveable, Screwdriver and Big City}

Andrew Gouché ^{When She Comes and Revelation}

Guitar

Donna Grantis ^{Big City, Screwdriver}

Trombone

Michael B. Nelson

Joey Rayfield ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City}

Roy Agee ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City}

Trumpet

Steve Strand

Dave Jensen

Lynn Grissett ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City}

Steve Reid ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City}

Phil Lassiter ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City}

Nick Marchione ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City}

Tenor Saxophone

Kenni Holmen

Keith Anderson ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City}

Marcus Anderson ^{Look At Me, Look At U and Revalation}

Alto Saxophone

Adrian Crutchfield ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City}

Baritone Sax

Kathy Jensen

Sylvester Onyejiaka ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair and Big City}

BK Jackson ^{Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City}

Orchestration

Adi Yeshaya ^Baltimore

Data

Producer

Prince

Label

NPG Records

Distribution

NPG Records

Cover/Design

Martin Homent

Released

9 years ago on 12 December 2015

Running Time

58:00

US Chart Peak

40

US R&B Peak

5

UK Chart Peak

21

Prince Album

#39

Orig. Formats

Tracklist

1. Baltimore

   Baltimore(2015)
   [feat. Eryn Allen Kane] (4:33)
2. Rocknroll Loveaffair

   Rock And Roll Love Affair(2012)
   (4:01) ¹
3. 2Y. 2D. [feat. Andy Allo] (3:50)
4. Look At Me, Look At U (3:27)
5. Stare

   TIDAL.com
   (3:45)
6. Xtraloveable

   Extraloveable(2011)
   (5:00) ²
7. Groovy Potential

   3rdeyetunes.com
   (6:16)
8. When She Comes (3:45)
9. Screwdriver

   Screwdriver(2013)
   (4:15)
10. Black Muse [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease & Liv Warfield] (7:21)
11. Revelation (5:21)
12. Big City [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease, Liv Warfield & Ledisi] (6:26)

Released as a single

¹ Originally Rock And Roll Love Affair when released as a single.
² Originally Extraloveable when released as a single.

Singles from HITNRUN Phase Two

Extraloveable

NPG Records

Released

23 November 2011

Distribution

Universal Music Group

US Chart Peak

Did not chart

UK Chart Peak

Did not chart

Cover/Art

Randee St. Nicholas

Format

1. Extraloveable [feat. Andy Allo] (5:01)

Rock And Roll Love Affair

NPG Records

Released

22 November 2012

Distribution

Purple Music

US Chart Peak

22

UK Chart Peak

Did not chart

Cover/Art

Justine Walpole

Formats

1. Rock And Roll Love Affair [Extended Mix] (5:25)
2. Rock And Roll Love Affair [Jamie Lewis Club Mix] (7:40)
3. Rock And Roll Love Affair [Jamie Lewis Stripped Down Mix] (6:48)
4. Rock And Roll Love Affair (4:01)
5. Rock And Roll Love Affair [Jamie Lewis Club Radio Mix] (3:36)
6. Rock And Roll Love Affair [Jamie Lewis Stripped Down Radio Mix] (3:42)

Also available as a 12" picture disc (tracks 1-3).

Screwdriver

NPG Records

Released

4 February 2013

Distribution

Purple Music

US Chart Peak

Did not chart

UK Chart Peak

Did not chart

Format

1. Screwdriver (4:13)

Baltimore

NPG Records

Released

26 May 2015

US Chart Peak

Did not chart

UK Chart Peak

Did not chart

Cover/Art

Martin Homent

Format

1. Baltimore [feat. Eryn Allen Kane] (4:33)

Supporting tour

Piano & A Microphone Tour

2016

• 11 shows 16 to 25 February, 2016 (Australia and New Zealand)
• 9 shows 28 February to 14 April, 2016 (North America)
• 18 original dates 24 November to 22 December, 2015 (cancelled Europe leg)

HITNRUN Phase Two – review

HITNRUN Phase Two was released without notice, catching fans out – I was checking into a hotel in Nice when spotting the news on Twitter and being completely unable to report on it. HITNRUN Phase Two opens with Baltimore, Prince’s upbeat tribute to Freddie Gray whose death in police hands resulted in unrest in the city. For its time when released Baltimore as a standalone track over half a year earlier became one of six repackaged within what became Prince’s final LP, to give more casual fans the chance to hear these songs that would have would have otherwise passed them by. Hardcore fans have longer memories. Reissued track 1 leads into reissued track #2, Rocknroll Loveaffair first released 2012. Joining it are 2013’s Groovy Potential and the even older Xtraloveable of 2011, all reworked and tightened in their 2015 outing, proving yet again the never satisfied Prince was firmly of the school of George Lucas, that given the opportunity shall forever tinker with their creations whether the outcome is for better or worse. Unlike HITNRUN Phase One which was recorded and compiled within a mere 90 days from conception to delivery, HITNRUN Phase Two is at the other extreme and a markedly unspontaneous affair. The result of allowing tracks too much time to marinate between original recording and this album is its overall lack of cohesion and a project which feels more of a wash-up collection rather than a ‘written for’ album – more Crystal Ball than Lovesexy. Some don’t fit at all; Baltimore, and most notably 2013’s Screwdriver is an odd inclusion since it that was essentially reclaimed by 3rdEyeGirl and remains a mystery it never appeared on Plectrumelectrum. Baltimore was created at a particular moment and its presence diminishes poignancy so far after the circumstances of its creation. Crusade singles are better left as standalone releases, think S.S.T. and F.U.N.K. That is not to say HITNRUN Phase Two is a less worthy addition to Prince’s canon, it simply lacks that box fresh vibe, although neither did Graffiti Bridge and so it keeps good company. Yet the consequence is a loss of sense of occasion. HITNRUN Phase Two is a far cry from the urgency of Art Official Age and HNR1. The best material are the new additions; the lively 2Y. 2D (2 Young 2 Dare), dating from 2013 gets its first studio release. We then slide into Look At Me, Look At U this and Revelation restoring the mark of Prince’s unmistakable quality. Proceedings are slowed further with the waltzy When She Comes (think Satisfied) only to pick up with high school garage rock Screwdriver – the contrast jarring and not unlike switching on a light in a pitch dark room that the promptitude of the light offends the eyes. The best is Black Muse, a delicious Chelsea Rodgers reboot impossible to crank loud enough to do justice, and the silkily smooth Look At Me, Look At U, and the sublime Revelation. The finale is Big City, a theatrical affair boosted with its vast horn ensemble and is the closing reminder that HITNRUN Phase Two is a hotchpotch but one which will flower even further over time when the listener is able to consider all its tracks a body of work than a herding up of the old and the new. A wash-up album, issued so close to Prince’s death barely four months later. Had he, like his sister Tyka said, given all he had in the tank and completed his life’s purpose? Had his health affected the creative process? Revelation and Black Muse showed Prince was still a force to be reckoned with. But all good things they say never last. Rest in peace Prince, lay down your funky weapon.

HITNRUN Phase Two is rated 4 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.

Related release

HITNRUN Phase One

NPG Records (2015)

About this release and review