Unreleased Prince projects


was well known in the entertainment industry for having a vast body of work that remains unreleased. It has been said that his vault contains multiple unreleased albums and more than 50 fully produced music videos that have never been released, along with albums and other media. The following is a list, in rough chronological order, of the most prominent of these unreleased works. Many were later released and circulated among collectors as bootlegs.

1976 demo tape

The self-titled tape contains versions of released songs that were composed, written, and sung by Prince during sessions at Sound 80 Studios at the age of 18. He designed cover art for the 1/4" reel, and its submission to Warner Bros. would lead to his signing. In June 2023, an eponymous demo reel from 1976 was put up for auction after it was discovered in the attic of record executive Russ Thyret, who would later sign Prince for his debut album For You, by record executive Jeff Gold, seller of valuable musical artifacts. Gold was contacted by Thyret's wife after his death to sell the accumulation of the executive's career. When put up for auction, the tape contents were ripped and transferred to a CD-R that was to be included with the purchase.

Track listing

  1. "Just as Long as We're Together"
  2. "My Love Is Forever"
  3. "Jelly Jam"

    The Rebels

Before Prince formed the Time, he considered using his backing band as a side-project called the Rebels. The 1979 project was a group effort, with songs being written and sung by the various members. André Cymone and Dez Dickerson each contributed material and a few numbers were sung by Gayle Chapman. Instead of making something that sounded similar to his R&B solo output, Prince wanted go into more rock elements of songs such as "I'm Yours" and "Bambi". The project was eventually shelved feeling that the material sounded too generic, but two of the songs composed by Prince were re-recorded and released much later: "If I Love U 2 Night" by Mica Paris and "You" by Paula Abdul. The original Prince guide vocal for "If I Love U 2 Nite" appeared by mistake on the rare Mica Paris Stand for Love EP, of which only a handful exist. From 10 to 21 July 1979, the band recorded nine tracks together at Mountain Ears Sound Studio, Boulder, CO, US:
  • "Too Long"
  • "Disco Away"
  • "Thrill You or Kill You"
  • "You"
  • "If I Love You Tonight"
  • "The Loser"
  • "Hard to Get"
  • Untitled instrumental by Dez Dickerson
  • Untitled instrumental by André Cymone
No further sessions under the name "The Rebels" are known to have taken place.

''The Second Coming''

The Second Coming was planned to be a documentary film and live album from Prince's Controversy Tour directed by Chuck Statler, that was shot during the 7 March 1982 concert at Bloomington, Minnesota. The tour was professionally filmed, with a storyline between songs, but the project was abandoned, likely due to Prince's schedule producing the Time and Vanity 6. The title comes from a prerecorded a cappella intro to the tour, immediately preceding the song "Uptown".
Set list of the 7 March 1982 show at the Met Center, Bloomington, MN, US
  1. Intro: "The Second Coming"
  2. "Uptown"
  3. "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?"
  4. "When You Were Mine"
  5. "I Wanna Be Your Lover"
  6. "Head"
  7. "Annie Christian"
  8. "Dirty Mind"
  9. "Do Me, Baby"
  10. "Controversy"
  11. "Let's Work"
  12. "Jack U Off"
  13. "Private Joy"

    ''Apollonia 6'' film

A mini film project as four-track video was filmed, loosely based on the Apollonia 6 album. It was directed by Brian Thomson, an Australian production designer of the original stage versions of The Rocky Horror Show and Jesus Christ Superstar, and scripted by Keith Williams, with a cast comprising Ricky Nelson, Edy Williams and Buck Henry. Shot in a Los Angeles film studio in 1985, and produced by British video firm Limelight, the video never went beyond the rough-cut stage. The songs featured on the film are "Happy Birthday, Mr. Christian", "Sex Shooter", "Blue Limousine" and "Ooo She She Wa Wa".
The plot introduced three lingerie-clad widows gathered to listen to the reading of Mr. Christian's will and testament, which leaves them nothing and encourages them to work. The imagery and set is very 1960s revamped into 1980s colorful graphic trends. The scenes show prominent neon words such as "FILL" at a gas station for "Blue Limousine", where Brenda Bennett has the main vocal role, "EAT" at a diner for "Ooo She Wa Wa", where Susan Moonsie leads while the two others find themselves struggling in front of piles of dirty dishes to wash. The part featuring Apollonia in the leading role features the word 'BUY' in a supermarket set.

''The Flesh''

The Flesh was a project of live jam sessions recorded in late 1985 to early 1986. The project was abandoned when Prince began finalizing work on Parade although a small instrumental portion of a track called "Junk Music" made it into the film Under the Cherry Moon.
The Flesh was a kind of precursor to Madhouse. All the tracks were jazz-funk instrumentals. The songs were recorded in 3 sessions soon after Christmas 1985 at Sunset Sound.
The first session was on December 28, 1985:

Prince, Eric Leeds, Sheila E. and Levi Seacer Jr. recorded 8 tracks:
  • "Slaughterhouse"
  • "U Just Can't Stop"
  • "Run Amok"
  • "Mobile"
  • "Madrid"
  • "Breathless"
  • "High Calonic"
  • "12 Keys"
Prince was so pleased with the results that they all returned to the studio 2 days later to record another 3 tracks:
  • "U Gotta Shake Something"
  • "Voodoo Who"
  • "Finest Whiskey"
On January 5, 1986, Prince, Leeds, Sheila E. and Seacer returned to the studio once more, this time with Wendy & Lisa, and Wendy's brother, Jonathan Melvoin. They recorded another 6 tracks:
  • "Groove in C Minor"
  • "Slow Groove in G Major"
  • "Groove in G Flat Minor"
  • "Junk Music"
  • "Up from Below"
  • "Y'all Want Some More"
On January 22, 1986, Prince assembled an album by "The Flesh" entitled which consisted of the following tracks:
;Side one
  • "Junk Music "
;Side two
  • "U Gotta Shake Something "
  • "Up From Below "
  • "Conversation Piece " – recorded separately on January 12, 1986
  • "Y'all Want Some More "
"Junk Music" was originally an hour long, but was edited down to 20 minutes for the album. Another track from around this time, "A Couple of Miles", was an instrumental that Prince recorded on December 26, 1985, to which Leeds added some saxophone on December 30. The album was shelved due to the fact that Prince's time was taken up with other projects. Prince liked the idea of releasing an instrumental jazz-funk album under a pseudonym. He finally got round to it in 1987, but renamed the project Madhouse and ditched the old Flesh tracks in favor of fresh new recordings.

Prince and the Revolution: ''Dream Factory''

Dream Factory was a double LP project recorded with the Revolution from 1986. The entire band was invited into the studio and contributed to most of the original tracks, so it meant that the songs would either be full band performances, solo recordings by Prince or largely recorded by Prince with certain members contributing, namely Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. Many of the tracks would later be incorporated into Crystal Ball or be released through other outlets over the years.

''Camille''

Camille is an unreleased album by Prince, recorded in 1986. The album was planned to consist of 8 tracks recorded by the singer in a feminine, sped up vocal. The album was to be released under the name Camille and not as a Prince album. The album was canceled weeks prior to its release and most of the tracks were incorporated into the unreleased album Crystal Ball, which evolved into Sign o' the Times. Most of the music had been released officially in some form or another, however, one song, "Rebirth of the Flesh" remained unreleased in its original form until 2020 when it was released on Sign o' the Times – Super Deluxe Edition. In 2001, a live rehearsal of "Rebirth of the Flesh" recorded with the Sign o' the Times band was released on Prince's website. This version, however, had profanity edited from the lyrics.

''Crystal Ball''

Crystal Ball was a 3-LP set to be released in 1986, The set was to consist of various tracks from 1985 to 1986. Although several Dream Factory tracks were incorporated, this set was to be marketed as a solo album by Prince. Warner Bros. Records balked at the album's length so Prince begrudgingly trimmed it to the 2-LP Sign o' the Times, which many still consider to be his best album. The album is notable for two reasons; it was the last studio album to be recorded with The Revolution and the events said to have surrounded its recording led to the resignation of both Wendy & Lisa, effectively dissolving Prince's band until the creation of the New Power Generation.

Madhouse: ''24''

Prince worked on a third Madhouse album recorded during July–December 1988, with a planned release in early 1989, featuring the cover model Maneca Lightner. The album has never materialized. Some of the tracks were altered and reused on Eric Leeds' Times Squared album released in 1991. A totally different version of 24 was recorded with members of The New Power Generation and Eric Leeds in 1993, but this also was not released, with the exception of the track "17" of the 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation album. Some of the tracks were on the rare "The Versace Experience" cassette. Both versions of the album circulate on the internet.

Track listings

;1989 configuration
  1. "17 "
  2. "18 "
  3. "19 "
  4. "20 "
  5. "21–24 " ", "22 ", "23 " and "24
;1994 configuration
  1. "17"
  2. "Rootie Kazootie"
  3. "Space"
  4. "Guitar Segue"
  5. "Asswoop"
  6. "Ethereal Segue"
  7. "Parlor Games"
  8. "Michael Segue"
  9. " Give It Up"
  10. "Sonny Segue"
;May 1995 configuration
  1. "17"
  2. "Rootie Kazootie"
  3. "Space"
  4. "Guitar Segue"
  5. "Asswoop"
  6. "Ethereal Segue"
  7. "Parlor Games"
  8. "Michael Segue"
  9. "Overture #5"
  10. "Overture #6"
  11. "18 & Over"
  12. " Give It Up"
  13. "Sonny Segue"