THE BLACK ALBUM
The Black Album is the sixteenth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on November 22, 1994 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was originally planned for release on December 7, 1987, as the follow-up to Sign o’ the Times and was to appear in an entirely black sleeve with no title or even a credit to Prince; hence it was referred to as The Black Album. Dubbed The Funk Bible by preceding press releases, and in a hidden message within the album itself, the work seemed to be a reaction to criticism that Prince had become too pop-oriented. The album was withdrawn a week before its release date, and was replaced with the album Lovesexy, a brighter pop-oriented album with elements of religious affirmation. (More from Wikipedia)
Some bootleg albums have been big sellers. When Prince came up with a funk album scheduled for release in 1987 that he later shelved called The Black Album (where the front cover was completely black without any lettering), the handful of promotional albums that had already been released were widely bootlegged in all formats. Official sales figures are obviously not available, but an estimated 500,000 bootleg copies were sold before the album was officially released in 1994.
(August 2012)
