Rock And Roll Love Affair Prince single

Purple Music

single

Two people in love with nothin’ but the road ahead.

Rock And Roll Love Affair was recorded at Paisley Park Studios in the winter of 2011, with Prince accompanied by a full live band. The track premiered on iHeartradio on 17 September 2012 and received commercial release in Europe through a Swiss independent label named Purple Music, issued as a CD and 12″ picture vinyl. Receiving fair airplay across the Clear Channel network in the US, it caused the song to chart and entered Billboard’s Hot R&B singles at number 22.

Rock And Roll Love Affair references Prince’s developing relationship with his then girlfriend and band-member Andy Allo. The pair at that time was working on the production of her solo album Superconductor. Allow appears alongside Prince in the Rock And Roll Love Affair promotional video directed by esteemed music video producer Chris Robinson. It was the first video to receive Prince’s approval to broadcast on YouTube. Rock And Roll Love Affair was available in both CD and vinyl formats, and would become Prince’s final single to be issued in physical format.

The single features remixes completed by house music Swiss producer Cem Berter, stage named Jamie Lewis, who created the label Purple Music in 1997. Lewis first collaborated with Prince in 2011 to mix his single Dance 4 Me and a second time to remix 2nite for Bria Valente. A Remix 7 was later available only as a download from 3rdEyeGirl.com on 5 February 2013. Rock And Roll Love Affair was Prince‘s highest charting single since 1994’s The Most Beautiful Girl In The World. Because of this, the song was re-released on 12 December 2015 configured into Prince’s thirty-ninth and what would become final album HITNRUN Phase Two – and the track was renamed Rocknroll Loveaffair.

Performers

Vox/All instr.

Prince

Backing vox

Andy Allo

Bass Guitar

Ida Nielsen

Drums

John Blackwell

Trombone

Michael B Nelson

Joey Rayfield

Trumpet

Steve Strand

Dave Jensen

Nick Marhione

Philip Lassiter

Lynn Grissett

Baritone sax

Kathy Jensen

BK Jackson

Sylvester Onyejiaka

Alto sax

Adrian Crutchfield

Tenor sax

Kenni Holmen

Keith Anderson

Data

Producer

Prince

Label

NPG Records

Distribution

Purple Music

Cover/Design

Justine Walpole and Chris Robinson

Released

13 years ago on 22 November 2012

Running Time

31:12

US Chart Peak

Did not chart

UK Chart Peak

121

Orig. Formats

Tracklist

CD

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

12" Picture Disc

1. Rock And Roll Love Affair [Original Mix] (5:25)
2. Rock And Roll Love Affair [Jamie Lewis Club Mix] [remix by Jamie Lewis] (7:40)
3. Rock And Roll Love Affair [Jamie Lewis Stripped Down Mix] [remix by Jamie Lewis] (6:48)

Rock And Roll Love Affair single review

Getting strong amount of airplay was an unusual affair for Prince in his late career, considering Prince’s strained relationships with major record labels, Rock And Roll Love Affair enjoyed traction. It accompanied a physical format EP distributed by house music specialist label Purple Music, having produced the dance mixes of Dance 4 Me for Prince in 2011. Rock And Roll Love Affair has a full horn section. Andy Allo was his muse at this time and together they put out her terrific studio album Superconductor, more smooth rock there is no trace to be found of the titular rock ‘n’ roll. Thank the heavens Prince discovered 3rdeyegirl and took the real rock show on the road.

Rock And Roll Love Affair is rated 3.5 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.

Related release

HITNRUN Phase Two

NPG Records • 2015

About this release and review