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The Hits 1 Prince album
Warner Bros. Records
albumThe sustained quality here is remarkable.
Following the poor box office of the Graffiti Bridge movie, in 1991 Warner Bros Records started planning Prince’s first greatest hits package with The Black Album as the companion disc. But the plan was abandoned once Prince submitted Diamonds And Pearls.
Plans for the greatest hits package was revisited in 1993 when Prince fell out with the label and led him to change his name to Prince Love Symbol on 7 June. From then on he refused to give Warner any new material and so a greatest hits package became a necessity. Envisioned by the label as a five disc set and subsequently pared down to three CD discs, The Hits 1 was issued as a stand-alone item: a single CD as well as available as a double LP in vinyl format, with The Hits 2 and The Hits/The B-Sides comprising the set’s companion releases. The tracks forming the greatest hits collection was split across two separate releases with the more explicit songs grouped into The Hits 2 to avoid The Hits 1 likewise receiving a Parental Advisory warning which might harm its selling prospects. There was massive interest in the collection. Retailing 500,000 copies, The Hits 1 was certified Gold by the RIAA on 1 December 1993, ahead of its companion The Hits 2 attaining Gold certification on 12 April 1994. Both LPs rose to Platinum on 10 August 1995. In the UK, The Hits 1 entered the album chart on 25 September 1993 at number 5, and two weeks later was replaced in that spot by The Hits 2.
The Hits 1 houses eighteen tracks, opening with When Doves Cry, Prince’s most commercially successful song, topping the US Hot 100 for 5 weeks. It is joined by fellow chart topping single Let’s Go Crazy. Interestingly the configuration includes Adore, which was never released on a single neither as A- nor B-side. The Hits 1 also includes two previously unavailable tracks. The first, Pink Cashmere, was recorded by Prince on 10 June 1988 for his aborted album Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic intended for release that year. Inspired by the coat he gifted to girlfriend Anna Fantastic for her eighteenth birthday, the music features glorious orchestration crafted by Prince’s long-term collaborator Clare Fischer. The track was released in 1993 as the lead single in the promotion of this greatest hits package.
Pink Cashmere was backed with Soft And Wet, interestingly its liner notes credit Tommy Vicari for his production on the original recording, the first occasion Prince acknowledged Vicari for his work on Prince’s debut album For You. The other previously unreleased track was Prince’s only released version of Nothing Compares 2 U. Following the song’s outstanding success with Sinead O’Connor’s cover in 1990, Prince wanted to reclaim the song and included it in his live set. The version on The Hits 1 was recorded live during a Super Bowl after party staged at Paisley Park Studios on 27 January 1992 with the NPG, in which Prince duets with Rosie Gaines (Donald Trump in the audience). Prince’s original version recorded with The Revolution was later released on Warner Bros Originals compilation in 2019.
2020 and 2022 reissues
In recognition that The Hits 1 marked Prince’s first greatest hits package, on 15 December 2020 The Prince Estate in partnership with Warner Records reissued The Hits 1 as a limited double LP (tracks 1-10 configured on to disc one, 11-18 on disc two), pressed onto 180g purple vinyl. The album was further reissued on 4 February 2022, following the transfer of Warner’s previous distribution rights The Hits 1 and eleven other albums to Sony Legacy Recordings on 1 January 2021, however unlike the Warner reissue, the Sony Legacy republication included The Hits 2. Sony Legacy further reissued The Hits 1 on 4 November 2022, available on 150g “milky white” vinyl under exclusive license to the US chain store Target.
Data
- Producer
- Prince
- Label
- Paisley Park Records
- Distribution
- Warner Bros. Records
- Cover/Design
- Herb Ritts and Jeff Gold
- Released
- 33 years ago on 13 September 1993
- Reissued
- 15 December 2020
- Running Time
- 75:49
- US Chart Peak
- 46
- US R&B Peak
- 14
- UK Chart Peak
- 5
- Orig. Formats
-
Tracklist
- [Prince & The Revolution] (3:47)
- [Prince & The Revolution] (3:41)
- (3:02)
- (3:24)
- (3:48)
- (3:43)
- (4:09)
- (4:39)
- [feat. Jill Jones, Lisa Coleman and Dez Dickerson] (3:36)
- (3:38)
- Nothing Compares 2 U [duet with Rosie Gaines] (4:57) 1
- (4:39)
- Pink Cashmere (6:13) 1
- [feat. Cat Glover] (5:38)
- (3:42)
- (3:19)
- [Prince & the New Power Generation] (4:19)
- [Prince & the New Power Generation] (5:09)
Released as a single
1 Previously unreleased.
Singles from The Hits 1
Pink Cashmere
Paisley Park Records
- Released
- 31 August 1993
- Distribution
- Warner Bros. Records
- US Chart Peak
- 50
- UK Chart Peak
- No Release
- Cover/Art
- Herb Ritts and Greg Ross
- Formats
-
- Pink Cashmere (6:12)
- Soft And Wet (3:01)
Pink Cashmere
Paisley Park Records
12"/Maxi-Single
- Released
- 31 August 1993
- Distribution
- WEA Records
- US Chart Peak
- No Release
- UK Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- Cover/Art
- Herb Ritts and Greg Ross
- Formats
-
- Pink Cashmere [Vocal Version] (3:56)
- Pink Cashmere [Guitar Version] (3:58)
- The Future [Remix] [remix by William Orbit] (6:25)
- Glam Slam [Album Version] (5:04)
Pink Cashmere
Paisley Park Records
12"/Maxi-Single
- Released
- 31 August 1993
- Distribution
- WEA Records
- US Chart Peak
- No Release
- UK Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- Cover/Art
- Herb Ritts and Greg Ross
- Format
-
- Pink Cashmere [Vocal Version] (3:56)
- Pink Cashmere [Guitar Version] (3:58)
- Paisley Park [Album Version] (4:41)
- Glam Slam [Album Version] (5:04)
The Hits 1 album review
The Hits 1 is the family friendly release of the wider three disc set that comprises Prince’s first greatest hits compilation package. There are so many hits within Prince’s Warner Brothers catalogue it offered enough material to fill five CDs, however only three would materialise, the best of the best forming The Hits 1. Whilst including the classics When Does Cry, 1999, Sign O’ The Times and Alphabet St. one is left to ponder if space could have been given over to equally bona-fide hits such as Mountains (Parade album is completely unrepresented), the track peaked in the Hot 100 at 23. The questionable inclusion of Uptown was certainly no hit having charted 101. Warner Brothers certainly showcase the spread of Prince’s music under their tenure, which even at the time of this release was to continue another three years.
It is the inclusion of two songs, worthy of greatness themselves, that make The Hits 1 an essential album for new Prince fans: his live version of Nothing Compares 2 U (a duet given added reverence due to Rosie Gaines) and the silky Pink Cashmere. The Hits 1 is no mere re-release of past hits but a collection of future hits too, for they, like Prince were so far ahead of their time the tunes sound as fresh today as they did during the three decades from which they shaped music.
The Hits 1 is rated 5 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.
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