Maps of Music

Come (1994)

Where the lyrics of Come take you, and where it was really made.

Prince released this album under the unpronounceable 'Love Symbol' contract period, and its cover states 'Prince: 1958–1993' to mark the end of the Prince name.

Key places

Early 1993 sessions at Paisley Park (1994)

Recording site Paisley Park Studios — Most songs from the Come album were recorded here in early 1993, during a highly prolific period for Prince. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Early 1993 sessions at The Record Plant (1994)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — Most songs from the Come album were also recorded here in early 1993, alongside the sessions at Paisley Park. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Cover photo in front of the Sagrada Família (1994)

Album cover Sagrada Família — The album cover photo was taken in front of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. The exact spot is not given in the source. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Come: fifteenth studio album by American recording artist Prince
• Released on 16 August 1994 by Warner Bros. Records
• Prince's final Warner Bros. album under his own name
• For the rest of his contract, he was represented by an unpronounceable 'Love Symbol' and called 'The Artist Formerly Known as Prince' in the media
• Tone is somewhat dark and experimental, since the more up-tempo and commercial material from the same sessions went onto The Gold Experience
• Lyrical themes are overtly sexual on tracks such as 'Come' and 'Pheromone', with a light touch of seduction on 'Space'
• 'Papa' also touches on child abuse and neglect

Background

• Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993 and planned to release new songs under that name in formats other than albums
• He intended to fulfill his Warner Bros. contract by delivering unreleased material from his music vault
• Glam Slam Ulysses, an 'interactive musical experience' loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, was conceived in this period
• Songs moved between projects, including a planned triple album called The Dawn
• Material from this era later ended up on Come, The Gold Experience and The Beautiful Experience
• In May 1993, Mayte Garcia sent a letter to a Prince fanzine listing track titles that all later appeared on Come in some form
• On 6 March 1994, Prince sent a tape of eight songs to Dutch radio stations
• Five days later he submitted the first version of Come to Warner Bros.; this version runs exactly 45 minutes and is known as the Come Test Pressing
• The test pressing lacked the title track, and Warner Bros. rejected it
• Warner Bros. asked for the title track and other new material, including the recent hit 'The Most Beautiful Girl in the World'
• Prince then removed the rock-oriented tracks 'Interactive', 'Endorphinemachine' and 'Strays of the World', broke up 'Poem' into segues, and added the newly written 'Letitgo'
• The final version was submitted on the same day as a configuration of The Gold Experience
• Prince wanted both albums released at once, but Warner Bros. accepted both and refused to release them simultaneously

Recording

• Most songs were recorded at Paisley Park Studios and The Record Plant in early 1993
• The period is described as a highly prolific time for Prince
• The guitar sound on 'Orgasm' samples a feedback guitar solo from 'Private Joy' on the 1981 album Controversy
• The moaning on 'Orgasm' is Vanity, recorded in 1983 for the unreleased track 'Vibrator'
• The liner notes credit Vanity under the name 'she knows'

Cover

• The cover photo was taken in front of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona
• Outtakes from the photo shoot appeared in the 1994 book Prince Presents: The Sacrifice of Victor
• The cover reads 'Prince: 1958–1993', marking the symbolic death of the Prince identity in 1993 and its rebirth under the Love Symbol alias

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Prince Rogers Nelson, born June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota; died April 21, 2016 at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
• Signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1977 at age 18; first album For You released April 7, 1978.
• Career spanned funk, rock, R&B and pop, with estimated sales over 100 million records.

Career

• Breakthrough with Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981) and 1999 (1982).
• Purple Rain (1984) made him the first singer to hold the number-one film, album and single in the US at the same time.
• Sign o' the Times (1987) is widely considered his greatest work.
• Changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993, becoming known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince; reverted to Prince in 2000.
• Won seven Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Prince gave the album little promotional support, and the label gave little as well
• Prince publicly derided the album as old material, even though many tracks were recorded in the same sessions as The Gold Experience
• In the United States the album reached number 15 and went gold, with heavy R&B airplay for the single 'Letitgo'
• It was the first Prince album since Controversy (1981) without a US top 10 single
• Overseas it did better, reaching the top 10 across Europe and topping the UK Albums Chart
• Prince released two maxi singles in support of the album

Records

• US: number 15, gold certification
• US singles: 'Letitgo' at number 31 on the Hot 100 and number 10 on the R&B chart; 'Space' at number 71 on the R&B chart
• UK: debuted at number 1
• Europe: top 10 in several countries

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• A funkier instrumental version of 'Pheromone' was used as the theme music for the BET music video program Video LP in 1993
• The cover reads 'Prince: 1958–1993', indicating that the Prince identity had symbolically died in 1993
• The guitar sound on 'Orgasm' is sampled from a feedback guitar solo on 'Private Joy' from Controversy
• The moaning on 'Orgasm' is Vanity's, recorded in 1983 for the unreleased 'Vibrator'
• Outtakes from the cover photo shoot appeared in the 1994 book Prince Presents: The Sacrifice of Victor

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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