 is the 14th full-length studio album by Prince. It’s also the second and last album to be credited to Prince and the New Power Generation. It was released worldwide in October 1992 (twelve months after his previous album Diamonds And Pearls), and would be his last to be co-credited to a band until One Nite Alone... Live!, by Prince and the New Power Generation, in 2002.
The album’s unpronounceable name, , often leads to the album being referred to as Symbol or Love Symbol (Love Symbol was used as the identifying name on the top seal of the jewel case CD release and on the Peach single, which included My Name Is Prince as a b-side). would later become Prince’s name, in 1993, and he would go on to release six albums under that name (from 1995-1999).
The album’s cover photograph was taken from the 7 video, but on initial CD copies of the album, the symbol was embossed in gold into the jewel case itself; a very unusual move for CD packaging.
Sessions and compiling
Like the previous album, Diamonds And Pearls, for the most part did not contain any updated tracks from the vault; only The Flow was a re-recording, of the original track recorded in September 1990. The rest of the album’s 16 songs were written and recorded between September 1991, and March 1992 at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA.  Wanna Melt With U was the final track recorded for the album in Spring 1992. The only exception is Blue Light which was recorded earlier, in May 1991.
The released album contains two segues, featuring actress Kirstie Alley as reporter "Vanessa Bartholomew" which attempt to create a story for the album. Two early configurations of the album are known (see below for details), which contained additional segues to more fully explain the story of the album; these were removed from the final sequence to include Wanna Melt With U instead.
The album featured the same band as Diamonds And Pearls with a few minor changes. Rosie Gaines had left the band, and Mayte was introduced, adding vocals to a few tracks; additionally, D.J. Graves added scratching to some tracks, but he was not considered a member of the band.
While eight songs are essentially solo performances by Prince, the remaining eight songs feature Michael B. on drums, Sonny T. on bass guitar, Tommy Barbarella on keyboards, Levi Seacer, Jr. on rhythm guitar, and the rapping trio of Tony M. (performing lead raps) and Damon Dickson and Kirk Johnson (playing percussion and performing background raps/vocals). Additionally, the five-piece horn section of Mike Nelson, Kathy J., Dave Jensen, Brian Gallagher and Steve Strand contributed horns to some tracks.
Promotion
The album produced five commercially-released singles, Sexy M.F., My Name Is Prince (both of which preceded the album’s release), 7, Damn U (in the USA only) and The Morning Papers. Blue Light, Sweet Baby and Love 2 The 9’s were also planned as singles in early 1993, and acetates were made up for each single, but they were left unreleased, and The Morning Papers was released instead.
Prince toured extensively to support the album on the Act I tour (in North America) and the Act II tour, both of which largely focused on the album (although to a lesser extent on Act II); additionally, he regularly played some tracks from the album on the preceding tour, the Diamonds And Pearls Tour, which ended shortly before the album’s release.
The storyline of the album was adapted for the Act I tour. It was also the subject of a TV program (Act I) which was developed into a long form video (the 3 Chains O’ Gold home video released in 1994), and a comic-book (Three Chains Of Gold).
Charts
The album reached number 5 on the US The Billboard 200 Chart and number 8 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums Chart, but reached number 1 on the UK Gallup Top 40 Album Chart.
Certifications
On 17 December 1992, was certified platinum by the RIAA.
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Track listing
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LP
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- My Name Is Prince (6:38) 1
- Sexy M.F. (5:24) 2
- Love 2 The 9’s (5:44)
- The Morning Papers (3:57)
- The Max (4:30)
- Segue (0:21)
- Blue Light (4:37)
- Wanna Melt With U (3:50)
- Sweet Baby (4:01)
- The Continental (5:30)
- Damn U (4:24)
- Arrogance (1:35) 3
- The Flow (2:25) 4
- 7 (5:12) 5
- And God Created Woman (3:18)
- 3 Chains O’ Gold (6:02)
- Segue (1:29)
- The Sacrifice Of Victor (5:41) 6
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The vinyl long play format was release at same time as the CD.
- My Name Is Prince (6:38) 1
- Sexy M.F. (5:24) 2
- Love 2 The 9’s (5:44)
- The Morning Papers (3:57)
- The Max (4:30)
- Segue (0:21)
- Blue Light (4:37)
- Wanna Melt With U (3:50)
- Sweet Baby (4:01)
- The Continental (5:30)
- Damn U (4:24)
- Arrogance (1:35) 3
- The Flow (2:25) 4
- 7 (5:12) 5
- And God Created Woman (3:18)
- 3 Chains O’ Gold (6:02)
- Segue (1:29)
- The Sacrifice Of Victor (5:41) 6
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All songs written by Prince, except where noted.
1 Written by Prince, Rap written by Tony M.
2 Written by Prince, Tony M. and Levi Seacer, Jr.
3 Written by Prince and Tony M.
4 Contains a sample of Tramp, written by Lowell Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin, as performed by Lowell Fulson
5 Contains samples of I Know You Got Soul, written and performed by Eric B. & Rakim, Jazz It Up (Jazz Mix), written and performed by C.F.M. Band and Niggaz 4 Life, written by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre and MC Ren, as performed by N.W.A.
6 Contains a sample of God Made Me Funky, written by Bennie Maupin, Bill Summers, Blackbyrd McKnight, Mike Clark, Paul Jackson, as performed by The Headhunters
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Personnel
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- Prince - all instruments, except where noted
- Michael B. - drums on Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, Sweet Baby, Damn U, Arrogance, And God Created Woman and 3 Chains O’ Gold
- Sonny T. - bass guitar on Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, Sweet Baby, Damn U, Arrogance, And God Created Woman and 3 Chains O’ Gold
- Levi Seacer, Jr. guitar on Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, Sweet Baby, Damn U, Arrogance, And God Created Woman and 3 Chains O’ Gold
- Tommy Barbarella - keyboards on Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, Sweet Baby, Damn U, Arrogance, And God Created Woman and 3 Chains O’ Gold
- Tony M. - rap on My Name Is Prince, Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Max, The Flow, background shouts on Arrogance and The Sacrifice Of Victor
- Kirky J. - background vocals and shout on My Name Is Prince, Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Max, Arrogance, The Flow and The Sacrifice Of Victor
- Damon Dickson - background vocals and shouts on My Name Is Prince, Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Max, Arrogance, The Flow and The Sacrifice Of Victor
- Mayte - vocals on Love 2 The 9’s, The Max, Blue Light and And God Created Woman
- William 'Diamond J.' Graves - scratching
- Michael B. Nelson - trombone on Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, Arrogance, The Flow, And God Created Woman, 3 Chains O’ Gold and The Sacrifice Of Victor (credited as "Mike Nelson")
- Kathy Jensen - baritone saxophone on Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, Arrogance, The Flow, And God Created Woman, 3 Chains O’ Gold and The Sacrifice Of Victor (credited as "Kathy J.")
- Dave Jensen - trumpet on Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, Arrogance, The Flow, And God Created Woman, 3 Chains O’ Gold and The Sacrifice Of Victor
- Brian Gallagher - tenor saxophone on Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, Arrogance, The Flow, And God Created Woman, 3 Chains O’ Gold and The Sacrifice Of Victor
- Steve Strand - trumpet on Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, Arrogance, The Flow, And God Created Woman, 3 Chains O’ Gold and The Sacrifice Of Victor
- Kirstie Alley - "Vanessa Bartholomew" on Segue, Damn U, Arrogance and Segue
- Michael Koppelman - bass guitar and (uncredited) keyboards on Blue Light
- Eric Leeds - saxophone on Blue Light
- Atlanta Bliss - Trumpet on The Max (uncredited and sampled from an unknown recording)
- Carmen Electra - rap on The Continental
- Clare Fischer - string orchestration on Damn U
- Chuck Thomas - drums on 7 (uncredited, sampled loop from Tramp by Lowell Fulson)
- Fred Steele - background vocals on The Sacrifice Of Victor
- JD Steele - background vocals on The Sacrifice Of Victor
- Jearlyn Steele - background vocals on The Sacrifice Of Victor
- Jevetta Steele - background vocals on The Sacrifice Of Victor
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1991: Diamonds And Pearls ◄
