Love Symbol Album

Warner Bros. Records

I love this band. I just wish they were all girls.

The unpronounceable Prince love symbol or Love Symbol Album was the second and last album Prince co-credited to the New Power Generation. Like the preceding Diamonds And Pearls album, it absorbs many musical genres, unlike that album, however, however, Prince wrote all the songs for the Love Symbol Album and centred its overall theme on his supposed relationship with a princess, played by Mayte – the band’s newly employed dancer, who he would eventually marry in real life.

The Love Symbol Album, was Prince’s first album released under his record-breaking $100m five-album contract extension signed with Warner Brothers following the success of his previous album Diamonds And Pearls.

For the initial pressing of the CD version of the album, it’s jewel case is unusual, being embossed with a gold Prince love symbol (Prince love symbol), the unpronounceable name of the album, which Prince would adopt the following year in replacement to his own birth name, due to his rising dispute with Warner Brothers over the terms of his recording contract and the control that placed on his music. The Love Symbol Album was also released as a alternative gold slip-case limited edition. It enjoyed moderate success in the US – peaking in the Billboard chart at 5, and is certified Platinum by RIAA. It fared better in the UK where it topped the album charts and sold 300,000 units.

The New Power Generation

Vocials/Guitar: Prince
Drums: Michael Bland
Rhythm Guitar: Levi Seacer Jr.
Keyboards: Tommy Barbarella
Bass Guitar: Sonny Thompson
Vox/Purpleaxxe: Rosie Gaines
Raps: Tony Mosley
Vocals: Damon Dickson; Mayte Garcia
Percussion: Kirk Johnson

Data

Producer: Prince & the New Power Generation
Label: Paisley Park Records
Distribution: Warner Bros. Records
Cover Art/Photo: Jeff Gold and Greg Ross
Released: 27 years ago, 5 October 1992
Running Time: 74:58
US Chart Peak: 5
UK Chart Peak: 1
Prince Album: #14

Track list

My Name Is Prince [feat. Tony Mosley] (6:37) ^{1 2}
Sexy M.F. [feat. Tony Mosley] (5:25) ^{1 3}
Love 2 The 9's [feat. Mayte and Tony Mosley] (5:45)
The Morning Papers (3:57) ¹
The Max [feat. Mayte and Tony Mosley] (4:30)
Segue [feat. Kirsty Alley] (0:21)
Blue Light (4:38)
Eye Wanna Melt With U (3:50)
Sweet Baby (4:01)
The Continental [feat. Carmen Electra] (5:31)
Damn U (4:25) ¹
Arrogance [feat. Tony Mosley] (1:35) ⁴
The Flow [feat. Tony Mosley] (2:26)
7 (5:09) ¹
And God Created Woman (3:18)
3 Chains O' Gold (6:03)
Segue [feat. Kirsty Alley] (1:30)
The Sacrifice Of Victor [feat. Tony Mosley] (5:40)

¹ Released as singles.
² Rap written by Tony Mosley.
³ Co-written with Tony Mosley and Levi Seacer Jr.
⁴ Co-written with Tony Mosley.

Singles from Love Symbol Album

Sexy M.F.

Paisley Park Records

Released: 30 June 1992
US Chart Peak: 66
UK Chart Peak: 4

Sexy M.F. [feat. Tony Mosley] (5:25)
Strollin' (3:36)
Daddy Pop [feat. Tony Mosley] (5:15)

My Name Is Prince

Paisley Park Records

Released: 29 September 1992
US Chart Peak: 36
UK Chart Peak: 7

My Name Is Prince [Edit] [feat. Tony Mosley] (4:05)
Sexy Mutha (3:55)
2 Whom It May Concern (4:02)
My Name Is Prince [feat. Tony Mosley] (6:38)

My Name Is Prince [Remixes]

Paisley Park Records

Released: 22 October 1992
US Chart Peak: No Release
UK Chart Peak: 51

My Name Is Prince [Original Mix Edit] (8:05)
My Name Is Prince [12" Club Mix] (8:11)
Sexy M.F. [12" Remix] (7:34)

7

Paisley Park Records

Released: 17 November 1992
US Chart Peak: 7
UK Chart Peak: 27

7 (5:09)
7 [After 6 Edit] (4:20)
7 [After 6 Long Version] (5:15)
7 [Acoustic Version] (4:20)
7 [Album Edit] (4:23)
2 Whom It May Concern (4:02)

Damn U

Paisley Park Records

Released: 17 November 1992
US Chart Peak: 108
UK Chart Peak: No Release

Damn U (4:04)
2 Whom It May Concern (4:02)

The Morning Papers

Paisley Park Records

Released: 1 March 1993
US Chart Peak: 44
UK Chart Peak: 52

The Morning Papers (3:57)
Live 4 Love (6:58)
Love 2 The 9's [feat. Mayte and Tony Mosley] (5:46)

Supporting tour

Act I Tour

1993

25 shows from 8 March to 7 April, 1993

Love Symbol Album – review

An album with no name is a touch sell, commercially. More tough for Warner Bros. it was also the first album of that auspicious new contract, a deal which would sour and ultimately destroy their long-standing relationship with Prince. It always struck me as a little odd to release a song called My Name Is Prince then for him to go and change his name before the next album, but what a rollicking song it was for a concert opener for the 77,000 audience for his first and only visit to Wembley Stadium. To fill a venue that big Prince filled this album with sweeping thumping and operatic scale numbers. Love Symbol Album follows in the footsteps of Diamonds And Pearls in that they were following rather than blazing new trails for music – Love Symbol Album was Prince’s first album to feature segues. The narrative of Love Symbol Album is the future, mostly evident through the over confidence of 7 and the self-indulgent 3 Chains O’ Gold (Prince’s take of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody) it is full of scope too: the bumping The Maxand the auto-biographical The Sacrifice Of Victor. From the comical Blue Light, to the impossible to broadcast Sexy MF as well as the self adulating My Name Is Prince (“the one and only”). Prince’s obsession both with the female form and with himself give explanation enough why this could only be named the male/female, Love Symbol Album.