CHAPTER SIX: BACK TO PRINCE AND THE O(+> ALBUM

Whispers And Echoes
On 27 March 1992, Prince left Minneapolis to stay at his apartment in Paris for a few days before joining his entourage in Japan for the opening of the Diamonds And Pearls tour. In the 1 April 1992 issue #5 of Uptown – The Magazine for Prince Fans and collectors – a track list for Prince’s next album Whispers And Echoes was reported, but Whispers And Echoes was fake news spread by Prince himself to find out who in his employ was leaking information to the media. The track list was made up of titles for songs recorded for himself, Carmen Electra and The Steeles. He knew who he gave the fake track lists to and soon after there was a major clean-up on security at Paisley Park which is why post-Whispers And Echoes outtakes became much more rare.

The Diamonds And Pearls tour began with five shows in Japan starting 3 April 1992 before moving on to Australia where it stayed until 3 May. The commercial success of Diamond And Pearls led to Prince broadening his audience to include a lot of young girls. Four songs from the forthcoming O(+> album were included in the setlist: Damn U, Sexy M.F., The Flow and a rap from My Name Is Prince.

The NPG featured Michael Bland on drums, Sonny Thompson on bass, Levi Seacer Jr. on guitar, Tommy Barbarella on keybords and Rosie Gaines on keyboards and vocals, as well as Tony Mosley, Damon Dickson and Kirk Johnson as The Game Boyz dancers. They were augmented by the five-piece The NPG Hornz section consisting of Michael B. Nelson, Brian Gallagher, Steve Strand, Kathy Jensen and Dave Jensen. The Diamond And Pearl dancers were Lori Elle and Robia LaMorte. Mayte also appeared as a middle eastern style dancer.

Prince with Diamond and Pearl on the Diamonds And Pearls tour

51 Hours with Diamond and Pearl
While in Sydney, Australia, Prince recorded the track 51 Hours at Platinum Studios in late April – early May 1992. The track was co-credited to Australian techno producer Mark Forrester because, according to synth programmer and engineer Angelique Cooper: “Mark Forrester and I were messing around with a dirty synth line when Prince walked into the control room from the studio. He loved the synth line and they continued to build the track up over the next 24 hours. (…) Prince came up with the lyrics and ultimately decided to use it as a single to launch the career of Diamond and Pearl.”

Mark Forrester and Angelique Cooper were brought to Paisley Park in May 1992 to help complete the track. Prince’s dancers Diamond and Pearl added their vocals to 51 Hours with a bit of assistance from Carmen Electra, while bits of Prince’s vocals and Margie Cox’ background vocals were retained from the original version. An edit of the Diamond and Pearl version was played on Spanish radio in the summer of 1992 and was said to be due for release after the Diamonds And Pearls tour. Prince had at least 20 copies made of a 12” vinyl single containing the full version of the Diamond and Pearl take, but the single remains unreleased.

Diamond And Pearl: 51 Hours 12” single (May 1992)
A) 51Hours (4:20)
B) 51 Hours (4:20)

Harem drama on tour
On 30 April 1992, the Sexy M.F. video was premiered prior to a show in Sydney and in November 2001, a live version of Live 4 Love from the Diamonds And Pearls album recorded in Sydney in April-May 1992 was made available to members of Prince’s NPGMC music club. While in Sydney, Prince recorded the song Peach at Studios 301 between 24 April and 3 May 1992. The track would get released on the 1993 The Hits/The B-Sides compilation. He also recorded a couple of songs with his band The NPG, Black M.F. In The House and You Ain’t Shit, M.F. which would get considered as B-side tracks for the Sexy M.F. single, as well as two versions of A 1,000 Hugs And Kisses – one featuring himself on lead vocal and the other featuring Rosie Gaines.

Mayte wrote in her 2017 book My Life With Prince – The Most Beautiful that on the tour, there was flirtation between her and Prince, but nothing below the belt. “He kissed me one night when we were in Australia, and I let him know I didn’t hate that, but I had no desire to be part of the harem. I remember a big party in London where Carmen was wearing a super cool little outfit with these sexy great boots, and Lori (aka Diamond) told me, “I turned down that same outfit when Prince bought it for me. Now Carmen’s wearing it.’”

“When Prince sensed my frustration, he just said, ‘Good things come to those who wait.’”

Planning releases during tour break

During a break from the tour in May 1992, Prince spent some time recording at Paisley Park in May 1992. Besides working on the Diamond And Pearl: 51 Hours single, he also worked on his own Sexy M.F. single. Initially the B-side was Black M.F. In The House but it got replaced by two Diamonds And Pearls album tracks before release. Black M.F. In The House got released on the 1993 The New Power Generation: Goldnigga album instead. The original 12” single also contained the track You Ain’t Shit, M.F. of which nothing is known but the title

Prince And The New Power Generation: Sexy M.F. 7” single (May 1992)
A) Sexy M.F.
B) Black M.F. In The House

Prince And The New Power Generation: Sexy M.F. 12” single (May 1992)
A) Sexy M.F.
B) Black M.F. In The House
     You Ain’t Shit, M.F.

A new configuration dated 28 May 1992 was also made of Prince’s O(+> album before the Diamonds And Pearls tour recommenced. Now However Much U Want was removed from the album, and the segue preceding it was moved to before Blue Light instead. Otherwise, the track list remained the same as the March 1992 configuration:

Prince And The New Power Generation: O(+> (28 May 1992)
1. Album Intro (1:40)
2. My Name Is Prince (6:38) (Prince/Tony Mosley)
3. Sexy M.F. (5:25) (Prince/Levi Seacer Jr./Tony Mosley)
4. Segue (0:58)
5. Love 2 The 9’s (5:45)
6. The Morning Papers (3:57)
7. The Max (4:30)
8. Segue (0:21)
9. Blue Light (4:38)
10. Segue (2:00)
11. Sweet Baby (4:01)
12. Segue (0:39)
13. The Continental (5:31)
14. Damn U (4:03)
15. Segue (0:22)
16. Arrogance (1:35)
17. The Flow (2:37) (Prince/Tony Mosley)
18. Segue (0:40)
19. 7 (5:09)
20. Segue (0:15)
21. And God Created Woman (3:18)
22. 3 Chains O’ Gold (6:03)
23. Segue (0:33)
24. The Sacrifice Of Victor (6:01)

Kylie Minogue on meeting Prince
In 2020, Australian pop star Kylie Minogue said in a chat with Zane Lowe on Apple Music: “Well, I had an almost dream come true, which was with Prince.”

She met Prince after one of his shows in London in 1992 and told him about her album plans. “I’m more gutsy than I kind of make out to myself sometimes. We just kind of hung out. I don’t even know what that means, but we hung out and he kind of put me on the spot a bit. He was like, ‘So where are your lyrics?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t… Where do you want your mic set up?’ I just like, wrote some lyrics. I didn’t even write songs then. I mean, I kind of wanted to, but I didn’t really, and I gave him some lyrics.”

Then Prince sent his driver to Kylie’s apartment with a tape. “There’s a cassette in my hand with Prince singing, a song called Baby Doll that I kind of was involved with, but he who slept four hours a night or something and just created stuff the rest of the other twenty hours. That was my almost. We didn’t record it. I suggested it to my label, and I think he would want it to do it all and they weren’t into that. That was that. I might’ve been kind of gutsy, but I wasn’t… I don’t know. I wasn’t sure enough of myself to say, ‘No.’”

Shhh… Sexy M.F. is released

The 8-9 minutes video for Sexy MF was released on VHS on 18 June 1992. The video also contained advertisements for the O(+> album and Carmen Electra’s album. The home video reached number one on the Billboard Top Music Videos chart and number 4 on the Top Video Sales chart even though MTV refused to show the Sexy M.F. video until late in the evening.

 

While in London, Prince recorded the original version of the song Shhh at Olympic Studio on 18 June 1992. It was during work on songs for Carmen Electra and might have been inspired by the Shhh on the cover of her Fun promo cassette and the marketing of her as a secret about to be unleashed on mankind. As for the song Shhh, it would be given to teen singer Tevin Campbell later in 1992.

On 21 June 1992, Prince’s actress girlfriend Troy Beyer guested onstage at Earl’s Court in London, dancing briefly during Sexy M.F. and on 30 June 1992, Sexy M.F. was released as a single. The song received very limited airplay because of its risqué lyrics. It only reached number 66 on the pop chart, but while the profane lyrics held back sales in America, it did reach number 5 in the UK charts. Troy Beyer did some promotion for Sexy M.F. by throwing a party which Prince did not attend at the Palladium in New York and giving radio interviews.

Prince And The New Power Generation: Sexy M.F. CD-single (1992)
Sexy M.F. (5:25)
Strollin’ (3:45)
Daddy Pop (5:16)

And then the Diamonds And Pearls tour wrapped in Paris on 12 July 1992.

Rosie Gaines with Prince and her tour bus tormenters

Rosie Gaines bullied out of The NPG
After the Diamonds And Pearls tour, Rosie Gaines did indeed leave The NPG to work on a solo album because according to Alex Hahn, the author of the book Possessed – The Rise and Fall of Prince, the atmosphere on the tour bus had resembled an out-of-control fraternity. The Game Boyz and other members of the male-dominated entourage had engaged in rampant womanizing and generally crude behaviour. “Tony M. and Damon seemed determined to make life miserable for many around them,” one observer noted.

Most unhappy was Rosie Gaines, the only woman on the bus. Several bandmembers, resentful of her prominent role onstage, had taunted her for being overweight and generally created an environment where few women would have felt comfortable. Gaines had voiced concerns to Gilbert Davison, Prince’s former bodyguard who was now his manager, but nothing changed. Finally, she had gone directly to Prince who seemed annoyed by the assertion that anything was wrong on his tour bus. “He didn’t want anyone to complain to him, ever,” Gaines recalled. Only when she threatened to leave the tour and told Prince that he might ultimately face legal trouble for some of the shenanigans on the bus did he act – not by intervening, but simply by transferring Gaines to another bus.

For the remainder of the tour, Gaines had felt a deep schism between herself and much of the band and she spent almost all of her offstage time alone. “That tour was the worst time of my life,” she said. “What was happening on the bus had nothing to do with Prince, but he didn’t do anything to protect me, either. (…) “When he was with the boys, then I was just another woman to him,” Gaines said. “He was kind of a male-chauvinist at that point. He would say things like, 'Oh, she must have her period.'”

Rosie Gaines told Liz Jones, the author of the book Purple Reign – The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, that “Prince would be with Mayte, Diamond and Pearl, and I would be the only woman with the band. And there were members of the band who were jealous of my friendship with Prince, who would call me names or disrespect me. Michael Bland was cool, and a couple of others, but the rest of the band were horrible. I told Prince that he had to get rid of these people, they were no good, he shouldn’t have them around him, they were bad for his health. But he wouldn’t address the problem, so I decided to leave.”

Wrapping work on the O(+> album
Immediately after returning home to Paisley Park in Minneapolis in mid-July following the Diamonds And Pearls tour, Prince did some additional work on the O(+> album. He edited The Flow and The Sacrifice Of Victor, making them a bit shorter, and recorded the new song Eye Wanna Melt With U. Otherwise, the album remained the same as the previous configuration.

Prince And The New Power Generation: O(+> (late summer 1992)
1. Album Intro (1:40)
2. My Name Is Prince (6:38) (Prince/Tony Mosley)
3. Sexy M.F. (5:25) (Prince/Levi Seacer Jr./Tony Mosley)
4. Segue (0:58)
5. Love 2 The 9’s (5:45)
6. The Morning Papers (3:57)
7. The Max (4:30)
8. Segue (0:21)
9. Blue Light (4:38)
10. Eye Wanna Melt With U (3:50)
11. Sweet Baby (4:01)
12. Segue (0:39)
13. The Continental (5:31)
14. Damn U (4:03)
15. Segue (0:22)
16. Arrogance (1:35)
17. The Flow (2:26) (Prince/Tony Mosley)
18. Segue (0:40)
19. 7 (5:13)
20. Segue (0:15)
21. And God Created Woman (3:18)
22. 3 Chains O’ Gold (6:03)
23. Segue (1:30)
24. The Sacrifice Of Victor (5:41)

Eye Wanna Melt With U was initially left off the CD version of the album because of time restraints but was planned for a bonus track available only on the cassette. The CD clocked in at 76:41 minutes and the cassette at 81:08 minutes. CDs could only hold about 78 minutes’ worth of music at the time, making it impossible to include the track on the disc. However, Prince decided to shelve several of the segues to make room for the track on the CD.

Photos: Jeff Katz

Single choices from the O(+> album
In the 2004 book Possessed – The Rise and Fall of Prince, author Alex Hahn wrote: “The promotional campaign for O(+> got off to a poor start over a dispute regarding the choice of a lead single. While Prince favored My Name Is Prince, Warner’s pop music department argued for 7. ‘7 just blew me away,’ recalled Vice President Jeff Gold. But Prince insisted on having his way. Why he believed so strongly in My Name Is Prince is unclear, but he may have felt it would appeal to the same audience that had bought into the hip-hop aspects of the Diamonds And Pearls album.”

Warner Brothers made an in-house CD dated 2 August 1992 with remixes of My Name Is Prince, but the four Contemporary Radio Mixes had no involvement from Prince. The Album Sampler had the same run-time as 2 Whom It May Concern and may have been that track.

Prince And The New Power Generation: My Name Is Prince Warner Bros in-house CD (2 August 1992)
1. Album Sampler (4:02)
2. My Name Is Prince – Radio Remix (5:08)
3. My Name Is Prince – Edit of Radio Remix (4:23)
4. My Name Is Prince – Contemporary Hit Radio Mix #1 (3:40)
5. My Name Is Prince – Contemporary Hit Radio Mix #2 (3:30)
6. My Name Is Prince – Contemporary Hit Radio Mix #3 (4:04)
7. My Name Is Prince – Contemporary Hit Radio Mix #4 (3:53)
8. My Name Is Prince – Original 12” Mix (9:56)
9. My Name Is Prince – Original 12” Mix Edit (8:06)

After recording a new version of - or simply updating - the September 1988 Graffiti Bridge outtake The Rock That Keeps Rolling on 7 August, scenes for a video for My Name Is Prince were filmed in Minneapolis on 11 August and on 22 -23 August. The parts of the video for My Name Is Prince featuring Kirstey Alley acting as a reporter were shot in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Prince kept busy in the studio by producing his own remixes of My Name Is Prince, Sexy M.F. and 7 in the autumn of 1992. Two remixes of Sexy M.F. by Keith “KC” Cohen, Sexy M.F. (12” Remix) and Sexy Mutha (Edit of 12” Remix) would get released on the My Name Is Prince CD-singles. 

Keith “KC” Cohen also did two remixes of My Name Is Prince, 12” Club Mix and Hard Core 12” Mix. A Greg Royal did a House Mix of My Name Is Prince and there is also an unreleased Alternate Club Mix.

With talks of 7 becoming a single, Prince also produced remixes of that song. On 9 August 1992 he had recorded an E Flat version, and now he made an Acoustic Version and an After 6 Long Version of which an edit was also made. A Mix 5 Long Version of which an edit also got made didn’t make the CD maxi-single, but it got bootlegged as 7 (Final Vocal Version).

At some point in 1992, Prince recorded an instrumental that musically resembled Sexy M.F., so it received the title Son Of Sexy M.F. At one point during the track, Prince calls out for a guitar solo from Mike Scott who would join The New Power Generation in late 1996.

Photos: Jeff Katz

Signing the infamous contract with Warners
On 31 August 1992, Prince signed a new recording contract with Warner Bros. His existing contract was extended, and the reconfigured contract called for $10 million in advance per record with a royalty rate of around 20 per cent - a figure that placed Prince near the top of music industry artists. However, the deal was structured so that if an album didn’t sell 5 million copies worldwide, he would not receive the $10 million advance for his following album. As part of the deal, Paisley Park would become a joint venture between Prince and Warner Bros. Previously, Prince would deliver the master and Warners would do the rest - manufacture, distribute and market the records. Under the new agreement, Paisley Park would decide how much to spend on videos and promotional activities.

Alan Leeds, president of the Paisley Park record label since 1989, told Prince biographer Matt Thorne for his 2012 book Prince: “His contract was coming up for renewal and both Madonna and Janet Jackson had had contract renewals that had gained headlines and he wanted a deal that would trump the Madonna deal. He was so desperate to get that headline that he was allowing his team to negotiate away certain royalties, certain publishing rights and all kinds of things in order to get bigger guarantees. It was one of those deals that was all on paper. It was all incentive-driven, so while it was technically accurate to say the deal was worth $100 million or whatever the number was, it was predicated on, ‘If you sell this many units, then you’ll get this big advance and if it all worked out then you’ll get this.’ It was a smoke-and-mirrors deal.”

In August or September 1992, Prince recorded the instrumental track Sunday Afternoon which would get re-recorded and released by Candy Dulfer on her album Sax-A-Go-Go on 1 March 1993. In September, an Instrumental Remix of the O(+> album track The Max was made by NPG member Levi Seacer Jr. and Prince recorded the songs When The Lights Go Down and Extraordinary that would get released on the 1999 The Vault… Old Friends 4 Sale compilation originally made in 1996. Finally, he recorded a theme song for Coca Cola which wasn’t used commercially, however. The Library of Congress registration of Prince’s version is dated 22 October 2022.

Release of My Name Is Prince single
My Name Is Prince was released as a single on 29 September 1992. It reached number 36 on Billboard’s Pop Chart and 25 on the R&B Chart. Many interpreted the line “you must become a prince before you’re king anyway” as a poke at Michael Jackson who had proclaimed himself King of Pop in 1991. Tony Mosley refuted the allegation, however, saying it was an attack on anybody who sets themselves up as kings of anything.

Prince And The New Power Generation: My Name Is Prince CD-single (1992)
1. My Name Is Prince (Edit) (4:05)
2. Sexy Mutha (Edit of “Sexy MF” Remix) (3:55)
3. 2 Whom It May Concern (4:02)
4. My Name Is Prince (6:38)

2 Whom It May Concern was a musical advertisement for the O(+> album, featuring snippets of the songs from the album. The basic track was the same as the 7 (After 6 Edit) remix.

In 2016, NPG member Tommy Barbarella told Rolling Stone: “I really like the O(+> album, because it was the most ‘band’ record. He wanted a band sound. He would show us these songs and say, ‘Now go here, now go there.’ I remember when we recorded Love 2 the 9’s, and I was like, ‘This feels like classic R&B but really original and unique.’ And then of course when the record comes out there’s that track My Name Is Prince. That’s all him and that’s the first single, and we’re all like, ‘Nooo!’ There were a lot of other better songs on there, and we all felt like the single kind of killed it.”

On 3 October 1992, footage for a video of the last song recorded for the O(+> album Eye Wanna Melt With U was shot at Glam Slam, Minneapolis.

Release of the O(+> album
13 October 1992 saw the release of Prince’s 14th album, titled simply by the unpronounceable symbol O(+> - a variation of Prince’s trademark fusing of the female and male signs. The record was commonly referred to as “Love Symbol” or “The Symbol Album.” A series of videos for the songs were promised with the true meaning of the O(+> symbol to be revealed in the final video. A press release explained that the album told a “rock soap opera” based on the relationship between Prince and a 16-year-old princess from Cairo, Egypt, portrayed by Mayte. The story also involved Vanessa Bartholomew, a reporter played by actress Kirstey Alley who was attempting to interview Prince. Some of the songs were linked by segues of dialogue between the characters.

The production of the songs on the album was denser and more complex than anything Prince had previously done. Having once been a “minimalist” known for his stripped-down arrangements, O(+> showcased a similar band-oriented sound as on Diamonds And Pearls, but funk and dance numbers featured even more prominently.

7 was signposted by the mirror-image words “revelation” and “the book” next to the lyrics in the booklet and the lyric did indeed correspond closely to the portrayal of the apocalypse in the Book of Revelations in the bible that described how God’s people would triumph over seven evil kings and find eternal love in heaven.

Prince And The New Power Generation: O(+> (13 October 1992)
1. My Name Is Prince (6:39)
2. Sexy M.F. (5:25)
3. Love 2 The 9’s (5:45)
4. The Morning Papers (3:57)
5. The Max (4:30)
6. Segue (0:21)
7. Blue Light (4:38)
8. Eye Wanna Melt With U (3:50)
9. Sweet Baby (4:01)
10. The Continental (5:31)
11. Damn U (4:25)
12. Arrogance (1:35)
13. The Flow (2:26)
14. 7 (5:13)
15.And God Created Woman (3:18)
16. 3 Chains O’ Gold (6:03)
17. Segue (1:30)
18. The Sacrifice of Victor (5:41)

The Album Intro, the segue preceding Love 2 The 9’s, the segue preceding The Continental, the segue preceding 7 and the segue preceding And God Created Woman had been removed to make room for Eye Wanna Melt With U. Also, the 2 minute segue of Prince calling Vanessa originally preceding Sweet Baby was edited and replaced the segue originally preceding The Sacrifice Of Victor. And 7 now started with the ending of the segue that had previously preceded it.

Photos: Jeff Katz

Critical reaction
O(+> divided critics. Some proclaimed it a masterpiece and lauded the NPG as Prince’s most accomplished and versatile band ever while others complained that the album showcased far too much of Prince’s self-indulgent side. The music of 3 Cains O’ Gold and the lyrics of My Name Is Prince in particular drew negative comments. Many critics felt the story about Prince pursuing a 16-year-old princess suggested that his grasp on reality was limited. Few could make sense of the “rock soap opera” concept, which was dismissed as “ridiculous,” “baffling” or simply “a mess.” Clearly, Prince made a pivotal mistake by not releasing the album as it was originally conceived – the short segues that were left on the released version only served to confuse the listeners.

O(+> didn’t attain the same level of success as Diamonds And Pearls. Both the US and international sales were halved in comparison to the predecessor, but it did sell 3 million copies worldwide. The album was certified platinum and reached number five on the US Pop Chart and eight on the R&B chart. Frank Dileo had initially worked with Warner Bros. on the promotion of the album, but he was fired after taking sides with the record company executives against Prince in discussions about the choice of singles. For Prince, O(+> was a huge disappointment, coming after the tremendous success of Diamonds And Pearls. He blamed Warner Bros. for failing to support the album adequately. The general feeling at the company was that the album’s lack of spectacular success was due primarily to over-exposure. With five singles released from Diamonds And Pearls within seven months Warner Bros. noticed an increased resistance from the radio stations to play the singles from O(+>, clearly indicating that the audience couldn’t absorb more music from Prince at the time being. Unquestioningly, a contributing factor was that O(+> didn’t contain as many radio-friendly songs as Diamonds And Pearls.

Prince’s career took a downhill slide after the release of O(+>, In fact, the record became his last album of new material of the 90’s to sell in excess of 1 million copies in the US. His later albums, excluding The Hits/The B-Sides compilation and the independently released Crystal Ball set, averaged less than 350.000 copies each. The disagreements between Prince and Warner Bros. developed into a public feud and Prince has termed this period of frustration, bitterness and disenchantment with his career “the friction years.”

Release of My Name Is Prince maxi and 7 single
On 22 October 1992, a maxi single of My Name Is Prince was released.

Prince: My Name Is Prince CD maxi-single (1992)
1. My Name Is Prince (Original Mix Edit) (8:06
2. My Name Is Prince (12” Club Mix) (8:11)
3. My Name Is Prince (House Mix) (7:18)
4. My Name Is Prince (Hard Core 12” Mix) (7:55)
5. Sexy M.F. (12” Remix) (7:34)

On 2 November 1992, Prince recorded a song titled Remember Me, but it didn’t get released as a B-side on any of the O(+> album singles or anything, though. But 75 minutes of video-clips from the O(+> album were shown at a Billboard convention in Hollywood on 5 November 1992 and on 16 November the videos for 7 and Damn U premiered on MTV and BET respectively followed by a 7” vinyl single release of 7 b/w 7 (Acoustic Version) the day after. It peaked at number 7 on the Pop Chart and 61 on the R&B Chart. Damn U was released on 7” vinyl b/w 2 Whom It May Concern the same day as 7, but it didn’t make the Pop Chart. It reached number 32 on the R&B Chart though.

A promo CD-single of 7 contained all the versions made of the song:

Prince And The New Power Generation: 7 promo CD-single (1992)
1. 7 (Album Edit) (4:23)
2. 7 (After 6 Edit) (4:20)
3. 7 (Album Version) (5:09)
4. 7 (Acoustic Version) (3:54)
5. 7 (After 6 Long Version) (5:15)
6. 7 (Mix 5 Long Version) (4:56)
7. 7 (Mix 5 Edit) (4:06)

When the 7 CD-single was officially released on 3 December 1992, it did not include the album version or the two Mix 5 versions.

Prince And The New Power Generation: 7 CD-single (1992)
1. 7 (Edit) (4:23)
2. 7 (Acoustic Version) (3:54)
3. 7 (After 6 Edit) (4:20)
4. 7 (After 6 Long Version) (5:15)

Broadcast of Act I and The Ryde Dyvine
On 18 December 1992, ABC TV broadcast Act I in their In Concert series. The Act I broadcast served as the basis for the 3 Chains of Gold VHS home video that was completed in December 1993 and got released 16 August 1994. The film mixed fictional elements with interview footage and video clips of songs from the O(+> album.

Act I lasted 40 minutes and opened with the video of 2 Whom It May Concern. The next scene featured Mayte in a busy oriental town, walking back to her palace with her bodyguards. Seven shadowy figures lurked in the background. Back in her palace, she went for a bath in a pool with her servant girls. The scene then cut to the seven men who walked into Mayte’s father’s room and stabbed him to death. Mayte arrived in the room just in time to see the seven men drop her father to the ground and flee. Her father died in her arms. The scene faded out to Mayte riding across an Egyptian desert with a backdrop of the pyramids and accompanied by Oriental-tinged music.

Act I then continued with the videos for Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, The Continental, Damn U and 7 interspersed with interview snippets with NPG members. They talked about Mayte’s role in the band, how it’s all now about her now, and she herself explained how she met Prince and influenced the O(+> album.

The day after the broadcast of Act I, on 19 December 1992 ABC TV broadcast The Ryde Dyvine in their In Concert series. Filmed at Paisley Park, the 45-minute The Ryde Dyvine featured live performances by Prince and several Paisley Park Records artists. The first act was The Crayons, a group assembled to back up Sonny Thompson for the performance of The Ryde Dyvine. The line-up included The NPG’s Morris Hayes on keyboards. Then followed performances by Carmen Electra (Everybody Get On Up), George Clinton (Get Satisfied), Rosie Gaines (My Tender Heart) and Mavis Staples (You Will Be Moved). Interspersed between the performances were clips of Troy Beyer trying to locate Prince among the audience and at his Paisley Park home.

The second half of The Ryde Dyvine was a five-song set by Prince and The NPG. They performed Sexy MF, Love 2 The 9’s, Eye Wanna Melt With U, 3 Chains O’ Gold and The Sacrifice of Victor.

The entire show is on YouTube right here:

Spiritual revelation in Puerto Rico?
In late December 1992, Prince spend a few days in Puerto Rico, visiting Mayte who was on Christmas vacation there with her parents. In her 2017 book My Life With Prince – The Most Beautiful, Mayte wrote that she went to hang out with Prince and found him sitting on top of the piano in his hotel room, looking out over the ocean, and that he told her that he was going to change his name to O(+>.

Prince himself would say when changing his name officially on his birthday 7 June 1993 that it was during this trip that he had a deep spiritual experience that made him decide to change his name to the symbol of his latest album. O(+>s 1996 wedding program described the event: “All alone, staring at the ocean, he implores the heavens for an answer – ‘What is the symbol? What does it really mean?’ A voice says to him, ‘It’s your name.’”

However, the story seemed largely made up after the fact, just like Prince created a mythology of what made him decide to shelve the Black Album in 1987. Upon returning home from Puerto Rico, Prince didn’t tell anyone that anything unusual had happened, but merely complained about the cockroaches in his hotel room on the trip.

Meanwhile, Eric Leeds did a Sax Mix of the O(+> album song Damn U. It was supposed to be the B-side of a Sweet Baby single of which a test pressing was made on 27 January 1993 along with a test pressing of a Blue Light single, but the singles weren’t released. 

Prince And The New Power Generation: Sweet Baby single (27 January 1993)
A) Sweet Baby (4:01)
B) Damn U (Sax Mix) (4:03)

Prince And The New Power Generation: Blue Light single (27 January 1993)
A) Blue Light
B) Walk Don’t Walk

In early February 1993, footage for a video of Blue Light was shot outside Glam Slam, Los Angeles.

Then, Prince’s record company Warner Brothers produced an in-house CD dated 11 February 1993 with new remixes of 7 that never saw the light of day, though.

Prince: Seven Warner Bros in-house CD (11 February 1993)
1. Final Vocal (5:01)
2. TV Track (4:37)
3. Instrumental (5:36)
4. Drums And Vocals (5:00)
5. Rumble Mix (5:02)
6. Final Vocal Safety Remix (5:03)
7. Bigger End Chorus (6:37)

The Act I tour of the USA
Prince announced a tour in support of the O(+> album in the USA and on 18 February 1993, he previewed this new Act I show with a performance at Glam Slam, Minneapolis. The concert was filmed. On 25 February 1993, Prince and The New Power Generation appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show in advance of the tour. By now, Prince and Mayte’s relationship had become sexual and on the Arsenio Hall show, she flipped coins with her stomach. During the performance of My Name Is Prince, Prince burned a negative review of the O(+> album. It was written by Minneapolis music critic Jon Bream. The Morning Papers, Blue Light and The Max were also performed during the show.

The day after the Arsenio Hall Show appearance, on 26 February 1993, Prince also previewed the Act I show at Glam Slam in Los Angeles to a celebrity crowd that included Kirstey Alley, Carmen Electra and Sheila E. A portion of My Name Is Prince was broadcast on MTV and Friday Night Videos.

Then, from 8 March to 17 April 1993, Prince toured in the USA with the Act I show. These Act I concerts were divided into two sets. The first was devoted to the O(+> album. The second set included primarily older songs. The band consisted of Michael Bland on drums, Sonny Thompson on bass, Levi Seacer Jr. on guitar, Morris Hayes and Tommy Barbarella on keyboards, as well as Tony M as rapper, Kirk Johnson on percussion and the dancers Damon Dickson and Mayte. They were augmented by the NGP Hornz consisting of Michael B. Nelson, Brian Gallagher, Steve Strand and Kathy and Dave Jensen.

The O(+> album songs performed were My Name Is Prince, Sexy MF, Love 2 The 9’s, Damn U, The Max, The Morning Papers, Blue Light, The Continental including a rap performed by Prince from the Carmen Electra song Everybody Get On Up, The Flow, Eye Wanna Melt With U, Sweet Baby, And God Created Woman, 3 Cains O’ Gold and 7.

Interspersed between the songs were dramatic re-enactments of the mostly unreleased segues from the O(+> album. Although most critics lauded Prince’s showmanship and the musical versatility of the NPG, the show received a fair amount of criticism for the contrived plot starring Mayte as the Egyptian princess on the run from her father’s killers and her romance with Prince, complete with a reporter trying to get an interview with Prince. It was argued that the fairy tale elements of the show indicated that Prince was out of touch with reality.

Showing his growing dissatisfaction with Warner Bros., many of the concerts included comments by Prince about people telling him that he was writing too much music and that his audience couldn’t keep up with him.

Gun mic to the head
Michael B. Nelson of The NPG Hornz shared this story with Rolling Stone in 2016 about the 1993 Act I tour: “It was difficult at times. There’s a trombone solo on the O(+> album. There’s a medley called Arrogance and The Flow. We’re listening back to it, and he goes, ‘See Harry Connick beat that.’”

“On tour, that solo had to be played as is. It had a high B in it, which isn’t a terribly high note, but it’s a higher note on a brass instrument. Occasionally you’re gonna miss a note. When we did the three nights at Radio City, I was playing the solo, and right before I went for that high B, somebody threw a towel right by me, or something. It broke my concentration, and I cracked this high note. The next day, he came by and said, ‘You’re gonna play that solo right tonight?’ We’d been out for months, and I miss one note, and you’re gonna bust my balls about it? But in my defiance, rather than just saying, ‘Yes, sir,’ I said, ‘I’ll do my best.’ And he says, ‘Uh, you did your best last night.’ And he walks away.”

“That night, it gets to the solo, and this was when he was using the gun mic – the mic with a pistol grip. I’m playing my solo and coming up to that note, and right before that note he comes up and puts the gun mic to my head. I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ And he kept doing it. And it was like a week of him doing this, and I’m freaking out. It wasn’t showbiz at that point. It was, ‘Don’t you ever do that again.’”

“The rest of the tour I decided I’m going to close my eyes; I’m going to pretend he’s not there. I never missed it again. It was really traumatic for me. I really saw it as being really nasty. He did like to push the band with fear. He just wanted it to be perfect all the time. And he wasn’t always cheerful about how he wanted that. It took me a long time to come to terms with that.”

During the Act I tour, the O(+> album song The Morning Papers was released as a single and music video on 3 April 1993:

Photo: Jeff Katz

Prince And The New Power Generation: The Morning Papers CD-single (1993)
1. The Morning Papers (3:57)
2. Live 4 Love (6:58)
3. Love 2 The 9’s (5:46)

The name-change from Prince to O(+>
After the Act I tour ended on 17 April 1993, Prince worked on a live album to document the tour. It may have included the live tracks from the Act I tour included in the 2001 NPG Ahdio Show #4 (Damn U, The Max and Johnny from New York 25 March 1993) and #9 (Let’s Go Crazy, Kiss, Irresistible Bitch, She’s Always In My Hair, When You Were Mine, Insatiable and Scandalous from New York 26 March 1993). It’s possible the project was abandoned because of Warner Brothers’ hesitancy to release too much Prince music at the time where they had a greatest hits package in the works.

On 1 June 1993, the official Controversy fan magazine received a letter from Mayte. The letter attempted to explain that Prince had changed after a trip to Puerto Rico and that he knew what the meaning of the symbol on his latest album was. He would reveal the meaning after a planned Act III tour. However, this tour of Australia and Japan never materialized.

“Ever since Prince and eye walked thru the doors at the end of the 7 video – he has changed,” Mayte wrote. “Maybe it was the wonderful effect the children had on all of us. Maybe it was the fact that he killed off several images of himself during the video (an act he has yet 2 explain 2 anyone). Maybe it was the trip he made 2 Puerto Rico. All eye know is that he’s changed. (…) When Prince came back from Puerto Rico he said very simply ‘Eye know what the symbol on our album is now…’ and I said, ‘That’s nice. Any chance in heaven of U telling me?” And he said, ‘No, U’ll find out at the end of Act III.’ (…) ‘Please tell me now, eye won’t let anyone else know eye promise.’ And he said, ‘Well, eye can’t say just yet, but eye’ll give U a hint – my name isn’t Prince.’”

In a press release on Prince’s 35th birthday on 7 June 1993, Prince’s publicity firm announced that Prince had changed his name to the symbol of his latest album. The motivation behind the decision and the actual pronunciation of the symbol quickly became the most talked-about subject in the pop world. A common theory, not least among fans, was that his new name was Victor – an argument based on the self-referential lyrics of The Sacrifice Of Victor on O(+> and the line “When I reach my destination that’s when I’ll know, that’s when my name will be Victor.”

The Act II tour of Europe
From 26 July to 8 September 1993, O(+> toured Europe with his Act II show. Apparently, he had read the reviews of Act I because gone were The Game Boyz and the musical theatre aspects of the princess Mayte storyline. Act II was basically a greatest hits show. With the recent announcement of his name change, the tour was hyped as the last chance fans would have to see him perform songs recorded under the name of Prince. To this end, the Controversy fan club had polled members to find the songs they would most like to hear on the tour.

Fully aware of the speculations about the pronunciation of his name, O(+> would often ask the audience, “What’s my name?” When they replied “Victor?” he’d say, “No, but with you by my side I will be victorious.” He would close some shows by saying, “This is my name” and then a sign with the O(+> would light up. O(+> was also very outspoken about his disenchantment with Warner Bros., saying he’d make no more records for them – instead he would come play his new music live to the fans.

Only My Name Is Prince, a medley of Sexy MF and Love 2 The 9’s, a short instrumental version of And God Created Woman and 7 from the O(+> album were included in Act II. However, The Sacrifice Of Victor was played in the last show of the tour. O(+> performed Blue Light and The Sacrifice Of Victor at aftershows.

My Name Is Prince was the opening number of Act II and would often surprise fans and make them gasp in astonishment when the figure taking the stage stripped to reveal it wasn’t O(+>, but Mayte before the actual O(+> took the stage. He would say, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, I hate to do this but for you I must,” like he didn’t really want to play Prince songs, but he was playing them now to put them to rest.

Release of 3 Chains O’ Gold
O(+> completed the 3 Chains O’ Gold video in December 1993. Telling the story of the O(+> album, it’s a 90-minute compilation of 11 music videos and linked scenes. The basic plot begins with the assassination of Mayte’s father. Convinced that only Prince can protect her and her three sacred chains of gold from the assassins, she searches him out and they fall in love. The epilogue ends with his rebirth and the announcement that from this time forward, Prince’s name will be the unpronounceable O(+>.

Piranha Music – an imprint of DC Comics, released the comic book Prince And The New Power Generation: Three Chains Of Gold in May 1994. It was written by Dwayne McDuffie, penciled by David Williams, Steve Carr and Deryl Skelton and inked by Josef Rubenstein with a cover by Steve Parke. Three Chains Of Gold told the story of the Love Symbol album, and an interesting part is the explanation of how Prince’s new symbol came to be put together. The three chains of gold each have a different pendant hanging from them. Wearing all three chains at once, they look like the symbol.

On 16 August 1994, 3 Cains O’ Gold was finally released as a home video by Warner Bros. By then, O(+> had long since moved on to new projects like the Come and Gold Experience albums. Arguably, it wasn’t the audience who couldn’t keep up with the productivity of O(+>, but Warner Bros. Anyway, the video gave more sense to the plot on the O(+> album. It featured videos for My Name Is Prince, Sexy M.F., Love 2 The 9’s, The Morning Papers, The Max, Blue Light, Eye Wanna Melt With U, Sweet Baby, The Continental, Damn U and 7.

*

Known Prince songs from the O(+> album era that remain unreleased include Gett Off’s Cousin, Boom Box, Do U Wanna Rock?, Rave Church Style, Go-Go Rap, Face 2 Face, Goodbye, Check It Out, Baby Doll, the album segues, Son Of Sexy M.F., In The Middle Of The Night, There, The Rock That Keeps Rolling, Remember Me and the original Prince versions of However Much U Want, Johnny, With This Tear, Shhh, Sunday Afternoon, Blood Is Thicker Than Time, House In Order, Holly Don’t Care, The P, The Halls Of Desire, Paris 17984302 and Uncle Sam as well as several unreleased remixes of O(+> album songs. That should suffice for a couple of O(+> Deluxe Edition bonus CDs of Vault tracks.