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The Hits 2 - album by Prince, Warner Bros. Records (1993)

The Hits 2 Prince • Warner Bros. Records • 1993
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1993

1993
The Hits 2

1994

Singles Review (5 / 5) Prince Biography Prince Albums Greatest Hits

The Hits 2

Warner Bros. Records

album

The Hits 2 forms volume two of the compilation released as a stand-alone product (as both single disc CD and double LP formats) as part of a wider release with The Hits 1 and as a triple disc set The Hits/The B-Sides including parts one and two and a companion third disc of B-sides. The Hits 2 houses the more explicit material of the set (Dirty Mind, Head, Sexy MF, Gett Off and Peach) to avoid the companion disc The Hits 1 also receiving a Parental Advisory warning and thus potentially harm the sales of both. The warning of course had no affect on sales and The Hits 2 became a top 5 in the UK hit, and in the US received RIAA’s Platinum certification on 10 August 1995.

Maybe this really does mark some sort of significant career fracture, some sort of ending.

The tracks Kiss and Cream configured into The Hits 2 are two of Prince’s five tracks to top the US singles chart. Despite being a Prince greatest hits package The Hits 2 features Head which was only a B-side to Do It All Night in 1981, a single which did not chart. The track’s inclusion is purely to cover the compass points of Prince’s career on the compilation.

Prince’s commercial breakthrough happened in 1983 with the release of Little Red Corvette which received heavy exposure on radio and the newly launched MTV. It was his first top 10 hit single.

Two previously unreleased tracks appear in the configuration: Peach (recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London during Prince’s stint for the Diamonds And Pearls Tour at Earls Court) was released as a single in support of The Hits 2, and Pope (recorded at Paisley Park Studios in May 1993 in the same sessions that produced the album Come). The yelping sampled in Peach is Kim Basinger who played the character Vicky Vale in the Batman movie Prince did the soundtrack for and then dated in 1989 – she helped him pen an early version of the script for the Graffiti Bridge movie. Peach was the compilation’s promotional single, given a multi-format issue for the European market where sales of Prince’s music was strongest. In the UK, Peach was available as two packages CD1 and CD2 to maximise sales. It peaked in the UK Gallup chart at number 14. Its US counterpart, a double A-side with Nothing Compares 2 U failed even to enter the Hot 100. The compilation’s second single was another Europe only release, reissuing Controversy, and reached 5 in the UK chart. Pope was released as a B-side on the single Letitgo promoting Prince’s fifteenth studio album Come, in August 1994. The two new tracks are included into the compilation to induce fans to purchase The Hits 2, which peaked at 54 in the US chart, compared to 46 for The Hits 1, resulting in The Hits 2 outselling its companion by almost 300,000 units.

Released on 13 September 1993, The Hits 2 is inauspiciously Prince’s final album released under Paisley Park Records. Although it was essentially Prince’s label, set up in 1985, Paisley Park Records was established and funded out of a joint venture agreement with Warner Bros Records, who withdrew from the arrangement on 1 February 1994 in consequence of their ongoing dispute with Prince over the terms of the contract the parties signed at the end of August 1992. On cutting off its source of income, Paisley Park Records effectively closed that day. Prince’s future releases continued under the auspices of his independent label NPG Records, created at the height of the dispute in the summer of 1993.

Prince | The Hits 2
Photography by Herb Ritts

2022 reissue

Sony Legacy reissued The Hits 2 on 4 November 2022, accompanied with The Hits 1, available on 150g “milky white” vinyl exclusive to Walmart in the US, with The Hits 1 disc exclusive to 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
4 February 2022
Running Time
74:41
US Chart Peak
54
US R&B Peak
23
UK Chart Peak
5
Orig. Formats

Tracklist

  1. Controversy
    Controversy Controversy (1981)
    (3:35)
  2. Dirty Mind
    Dirty Mind Dirty Mind (1980)
    (3:49)
  3. I Wanna Be Your Lover
    Prince Prince (1979)
    (2:56)
  4. Head
    Dirty Mind Dirty Mind (1980)
    [feat. Lisa Coleman] (4:43)
  5. Do Me, Baby
    Controversy Controversy (1981)
    (3:55)
  6. Delirious
    1999 1999 (1982)
    (2:38)
  7. Little Red Corvette
    1999 1999 (1982)
    [feat. Lisa Coleman and Dez Dickerson] (4:55)
  8. I Would Die 4 U
    Purple Rain Purple Rain (1984)
    [Prince & The Revolution] (2:56)
  9. Raspberry Beret
    Around The World In A Day Around The World In A Day (1985)
    [Prince & The Revolution] (3:31)
  10. If I Was Your Girlfriend
    Sign O’ The Times Sign O’ The Times (1987)
    (3:46)
  11. Kiss
    Parade Parade (1986)
    [Prince & The Revolution] (3:45)
  12. Peach [feat. sample of Kim Basinger] (3:48) 1
  13. U Got The Look
    Sign O’ The Times Sign O’ The Times (1987)
    [duet with Sheena Easton] (3:46)
  14. Sexy MF
    Love Symbol Love Symbol (1992)
    [Prince & the New Power Generation] (4:29)
  15. Gett Off
    Diamonds And Pearls Diamonds And Pearls (1991)
    [Prince & the New Power Generation] (4:30)
  16. Cream
    Diamonds And Pearls Diamonds And Pearls (1991)
    [Prince & the New Power Generation] (4:12)
  17. Pope [feat. Mayte] (3:28) 1
  18. Purple Rain
    Purple Rain Purple Rain (1984)
    [Prince & The Revolution] (8:40)

Released as a single

1 Previously unreleased.

Singles from The Hits 2

Peach, single from The Hits 2, Paisley Park Records (1993)

Peach

Paisley Park Records

Released
4 October 1993
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
14
Cover/Art
Steven Rothfeld and Greg Ross
Formats
  1. Peach [feat. sample of Kim Basinger] (3:48)
  2. My Name Is Prince [Edit] [feat. Tony Mosley] (4:05)
Peach, single from The Hits 2, Paisley Park Records (1993)

Peach

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
4 October 1993
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
14
Cover/Art
Steven Rothfeld and Greg Ross
Format
  1. Peach [feat. sample of Kim Basinger] (3:48)
  2. Girls & Boys [Edit] (3:47)
  3. My Name Is Prince [Edit] [feat. Tony Mosley] (4:05)
  4. Partyman [Edit] (3:07)
Peach [CD 1], single from The Hits 2, Paisley Park Records (1993)

Peach [CD 1]

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
4 October 1993
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
14
Cover/Art
Steven Rothfeld and Greg Ross
Format
  1. Peach [feat. sample of Kim Basinger] (3:48)
  2. Mountains (3:58)
  3. Partyman [Edit] (3:07)
  4. Money Don't Matter 2 Night [Edit] (4:12)

Also issued as a 2 disc CD digipak set including CD2.

Peach [CD 2], single from The Hits 2, Paisley Park Records (1993)

Peach [CD 2]

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
11 October 1993
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
14
Cover/Art
Steven Rothfeld and Greg Ross
Format
  1. Peach [feat. sample of Kim Basinger] (3:48)
  2. I Wish U Heaven (2:43)
  3. Girls & Boys [Edit] (3:47)
  4. My Name Is Prince [Edit] [feat. Tony Mosley] (4:05)

Also issued as a 2 disc CD digipak set including CD1.

Peach / Nothing Compares 2 U, single from The Hits 2, Paisley Park Records (1993)

Peach / Nothing Compares 2 U

Paisley Park Records

Released
18 November 1993
Distribution
Warner Bros. Records
US Chart Peak
107
UK Chart Peak
No Release
Cover/Art
Steven Rothfeld and Greg Ross
Formats
  1. Peach [feat. sample of Kim Basinger] (3:48)
  2. Nothing Compares 2 U [Edit] [duet with Rosie Gaines] (4:17)
Controversy [reissue], single from The Hits 2, Paisley Park Records (1993)

Controversy [reissue]

Paisley Park Records

Released
29 November 1993
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
5
Cover/Art
Herb Ritts and Greg Ross
Formats
  1. Controversy [Edit] (3:35)
  2. The Future [Remix] [remix by William Orbit] (6:25)

Also available as a 7" picture disc.

Controversy [CD 1], single from The Hits 2, Paisley Park Records (1993)

Controversy [CD 1]

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
29 November 1993
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
5
Cover/Art
Herb Ritts and Greg Ross
Format
  1. Controversy [Edit] (3:35)
  2. The Future [Remix] [remix by William Orbit] (6:25)
  3. Glam Slam (5:04)
  4. D.M.S.R. (8:15)

Issued as a 2 disc CD digipak set with CD2.

Controversy [CD 2], single from The Hits 2, Paisley Park Records (1993)

Controversy [CD 2]

Paisley Park Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
6 December 1993
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
5
Cover/Art
Herb Ritts and Greg Ross
Format
  1. Controversy [Edit] (3:35)
  2. Anotherloverholenyohead (3:58)
  3. Paisley Park (4:41)
  4. New Power Generation (Part II) (2:57)

Also part of a 2 disc CD digipak set including CD1.

The Hits 2 album review

Let’s face it, Prince’s best songs are his dirtiest. When Warner Brothers put out their first Prince greatest hits compilation so many of his hits slotted into the category Parental Advisory they had to be grouped into their own naughty disc as part of the triple CD set that was to make up The Hits / The B-Sides. The Hits 2 is the real butter in this muffin, bolstered the more by the inclusion of two previously unreleased songs, Peach and Pope – one exploring the virtues of hot-pants, the other suggesting an alternative vocation for the piccolo. The Hits 2 contains Head, Dirty Mind, Sexy MF and continues at pace, slowing down only for If I Was Your Girlfriend, all tracked in chronological order.

A notable exclusion from the configuration is Darling Nikki, the track that triggered the the badge of honour parental advisory sticker for explicit material, leaving surprisingly just two tracks from Purple Rain making an appearance. The Hits 2 is an essential album not only for Prince fans but all those who appreciate the joy of real music by a real musician.

The Hits 2 is rated 5 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.

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