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Diamonds And Pearls - The Singles is a collection of 7" singles released two months prior to the Diamonds And Pearls (Super) Deluxe Edition.
The collection contains remastered editions of the commercial 7" singles (and one promo CD-single / 12" picture disc single) from the time of original Diamonds And Pearls album in 1991 - Gett Off, Cream, Insatiable, Diamonds And Pearls, Money Don’t Matter 2 Night and Thunder (which had been released as a promo CD, and 12" picture disc). Additionally, the set includes a unique single, Alice Through The Looking Glass b/w Horny Pony (Version 2). Alice Through The Looking Glass had been released for streaming and download prior to the collection’s release.
The box set has been compiled with the commercial 1991 and 1992 US 7" singles as a template. But some of the 7" singles in this box set have different b-sides compared to their original releases. The original Cream single had its b-side Horny Pony replaced with Gangster Glam in this box set, as Horny Pony is also the b-side to Gett Off. The original US 7" single for Diamonds And Pearls contained X-cerpts From The Songs: Thunder, Daddy Pop, Strollin’, Jughead, Money Don’t Matter 2 Night, Push, Live 4 Love as its b-side. In this box set this compilation of album track snippets has been replaced with the European b-side Q In Doubt.
For this box set art director Mathieu Bitton recreated the artwork for every single from scratch. No scans of the original releases were used. Somewhat odd the original 1991 US 7" single for Diamonds And Pearls was released in a white paper sleeve. So Bitton based the artwork for that 7" single in the box set on the 1991 US cassette single art, not on the more common international Diamonds And Pearls single artwork. In a Facebook post Bitton confirmed that the set had been planned for release by the Prince Estate for 2022, and that this planned release was going to include a 12-page booklet filled with unseen photos. This booklet was omitted from the 2023 release that was issued under supervision of the new team that took over The Estate in the summer of 2022. Bitton also revealed that the version of Alice Through The Looking Glass was different (an early mix) than the one that ended-up being released.
The set was limited to 1,991 units (in honor of the year the Diamonds And Pearls album was first released, 1991). All seven 7” singles were manufactured on pearl white vinyl in picture sleeves. Each set was accompanied by seven special collectors picture cards with photos by Randee St. Nicholas, and came housed in a numbered 7” box.
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2020: Sign O’ The Times - The Singles (collection) ◄
