Guitar is the second track from Prince's 32nd album Planet Earth, and a week prior to the album's initial release (with the Mail on Sunday newspaper in the UK and Ireland), Guitar was released as the album's first single in Europe. Five and a half months prior to the album's release, however, a completely different version of Guitar (often described as a demo, although not officially labelled as such), was available for purchase as an mp3 download from 3121.com to coincide with Prince's appearance on the Superbowl Half-Time show on 4 February 2007. Additionally, six weeks prior to the album's release, the album version of Guitar was available for download on Verizon Wireless in the USA, and a short promotional clip of Prince and his band performing the song was used in TV advertisements.
In 2011, new bandmember Andy Allo posted on her Facebook page the track Guitar (Acoustic), seemingly a rehearsal take of the track, recorded only with Prince and Allo (complete with Prince giving direction to Allo). Interestingly, the meta-data of the track gives the artist credit as "Prince/Allo", and gives an album title of "The L/C", about which nothing is known. The artwork embedded in the track also gives the credit "Prince/Allo", while the artwork's photo is a picture of Prince lifting up Allo's guitar (see artwork below). The song was also offered as a free download at ThisIsRealMusic.com.
Initial tracking dates are uncertain, but it is believed that the track was recorded in early 2007 at either Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA or at 3121 at The Rio Las Vegas, NV, USA. The initially-released version appears to be a solo production by Prince, while Michael B. has confirmed that both he and Sonny T. appear on the album version (album credits are not split up by track). A recording date for the 2011 rehearsal between Prince and Allo is not known, but assumed to be in July 2011, while on the Welcome 2 America Euro 2011 Tour in Europe.
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