When 2 R In Love: The Ballads Of Prince is an unreleased compilation album, info about which first became publicly known at the press conference on 16 May 2000, at which Prince announced his return to using the name Prince (he had been using the stage name  for the previous seven years). In the press conference, Prince mentioned that he had worked on this album recently, but that Warner Bros. did not return his call asking to license the songs for his use.
However the idea of this album was already a decade older. A ballad compilation simply titled: Prince: When 2 R In Love was already put together in December 1991.
In June 2000, it was listed as an option for visitors at Prince: A Celebration to vote on for Prince’s next album (along with Crystal Ball Volume II, Madrid 2 Chicago, Roadhouse Garden, an unnamed live album, an unnamed rock guitar album, an unnamed album of cover versions and an undetermined new studio album).
The 1991 compilation had eleven tracks, a little over an hour in total, with a unique appearance of The Question Of U that has the Clare Fischer arrangement, that was omitted from the version on Graffiti Bridge. It also featured the full 8:01 version of Insatiable as penultimate track, while the other nine tracks were their previously released versions. Of note is that Adore also omitted the audience fade-out of It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night over its intro.
The track listing had likely changed to include other ballads (recorded before or after 1991), when Prince announced work on the project in late 2000, as the album contained an (unidentified) twelfth song at one point.
It is not known, but possible that Prince planned to, or had, re-recorded the material when working on it in late 2000. Given his relationship with Warner Bros. at the time, it seems likely the album would include re-recorded versions (similar to A Celebration, announced the following year). However it is unknown if any tracks were re-recorded at the time. It’s also possible any tracks would have been recorded only if Prince decided to pursue this project further.
The 2000 incarnation of album did not receive many votes by visitors at Prince: A Celebration, however, and was ultimately abandoned.
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Madrid 2 Chicago ◄
