The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold) is a promotional cassette of previously-unreleased material by that was given to attendees of the Versace collection of Paris Fashion Week over the course of three consecutive days, beginning 8 July 1995.
The cassette was mostly a promotional tool for 's upcoming album The Gold Experience, but also contained tracks from other planned projects, the New Power Generation's second album Exodus (which had already been released in Europe), Madhouse's third album 24 (which was ultimately left unreleased) and The NPG Orchestra's Kamasutra (which was released in early 1997).
Unlike other NPG Records sampler cassettes of the era, many tracks were remixed or edited specifically for this release to make listening to the cassette a complete listening experience. In addition, several tracks feature overdubbed vocals by of either "Versace" or "The Versace Experience". As such, many of the tracks are not available in the same form elsewhere.
Also unusually for NPG Records sampler cassettes, The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold) was released in conjunction with Warner Bros. This is likely due to the links with The Gold Experience, which was planned for release by NPG Records and Warner Bros. on 12 September 1995, as indicated on the cassette insert, although the release was later postponed to 26 September 1995.
Artwork for a CD-version was also made, but it is unclear if any promos were actually pressed on CD.
The limited release cassette eventually got a proper, although still limited release for Record Store Dy in 2019 on 13 April 2019
Recording process
Ten of the 15 tracks included on The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold) are remixes or edits of tracks that would appear on The Gold Experience. Of these, Hate U (Remix) is a blend of the album version with the Quiet Night Mix by Eric Leeds included on the Hate U maxi-single.
Two of the three remixes of Pussy Control (later renamed P. Control for official release) are listed as appearing on The Hate Experience, a variation of the Hate U maxi-single which was ultimately not released. Get Wild In The House is a remix of Get Wild, taken from the New Power Generation's second album Exodus (which had already been released in Europe), although the mix is an edit of the full track on the Get Wild maxi-single.
Free The Music is included and was taken from the New Power Generation's The Good Life maxi-single (A longer version of Free The Music would be included on The Good Life Exodus Sampler Experience). Sonny T. and Rootie Kazootie are edits of the full tracks taken from Madhouse's third album 24 (which was ultimately left unreleased). Kamasutra Overture # 5 is included in full; it was renamed Serotonin before being released on Kamasutra in 1997.
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