The one thing you could say about Prince, the late great artist who brought witty and lusty funk-rock to pop music, is that he liked to stay busy. He was incredibly prolific, churning out music at a pace that seemed almost inhuman. There were rumors that Prince had a vault filled with unreleased material as he was unable to put it all out for fear by his record label of releasing too much music. And the most amazing part was that almost all of these extra songs that have managed to slip out over time were actually good, more than worthy to have appeared on any of his albums.
One example is "Erotic City", the now classic jam from 1984 that was simply put as a B-side to the single of "Let's Go Crazy" from the "Purple Rain" soundtrack. Prince would continue to put many interesting songs as B-sides of his singles and eventually put some of his most popular ones on the 1993 box-set of his first greatest hits collection as a bonus CD.
And other thing about Prince is that he liked to share. He was more than willing to provide music for artists that he admired like Chaka Khan, Sheena Easton and Patti LaBelle as well as lending a helping hand to many new musicians he would introduce that would go on to find some success like Sheila E, Vanity 6, and The Time.
"Originals" is the latest posthumous release, following last year's "Piano and a Microphone 1983", which features the demos of fifteen songs by Prince that he wrote and gave to other artists. This collection features his versions of Apollonia 6's "Sex Shooter"; "Jungle Love" and "Gigolos Get Lonely Too" which would be recorded by The Time; "You're My Love" that country music artist, Kenny Rogers would perform and "Manic Monday" which would become the breakout single for the rock band, The Bangles. And then there's "Nothing Compares 2 U" that was originally given to the band he formed called The Family which they recorded on their 1985 self-titled album before Sinéad O'Connor covered it five years later and made it a worldwide hit. Prince's demo version appears here on this album but it has been released previously. Enjoy a few examples to see how fully formed these songs were in demo and how he could have easily released these versions:
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" was a surprise hit and it topped the U.S. charts for six weeks and sold over two million copies. The Go-Go's were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
" (1982) and "
" (1984) before breaking up due to personality conflicts, creative differences and drug addiction.
" (2001) and has continued to tour together many times over the years.
". It featured the singles, "Hero Takes the Fall" and "Going Down To Liverpool" which got good reviews and created some buzz but not a lot of radio play.
". That song took them to number two on the U.S. charts but their next single, "Walk Like An Egyptian" took them to number one around the world.
" (1988) before putting an end to the Bangles and going their separate ways.
" (2003). Ms Steele left the group in 2005 but the Bangles still continue to tour with an unofficial band replacement, Abby Travis.
" was successful, selling over a half a million copies in the U.S. and the first single went to number three on the charts.
" (2007). It has the very American artist singing French chansons and pop standards.
" that came out this June.
