The Purple Bootlegs

About the track : The Sex Of It is the third track on Kid Creole and the Coconuts' eighth album Private Waters In The Great Divide (their third album on Columbia Records), and, a few weeks before the album's release, The Sex Of It was released as the album's first single. In 2003, it was included as the sixth and final track on the third and final disc on the compilation album The Ultimate Collection.

Basic tracking took place on 29 July 1987, at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota, a few weeks after the studios opened for recordings (the day before Eleven, Fifteen, Ten, Ten And ½, and three other instrumentals later named Night Owl, Overnight, Every Night and Andorra). August Darnell (a.k.a. Kid Creole) recorded his own vocals over the basic tracks in late 1989 or early 1990 (studio information is needed for his recording).

The album was completed and scheduled for release when Prince submitted the song in late 1989 (which he had promised when meeting Darnell in Europe during the Lovesexy Tour), and the record company delayed the release to include the song.

A handwritten tracklist for The Time’s Corporate World on which Prince and Morris Day worked on in Summer 1989 shows that The Sex Of It was, at one point, also considered for that album. But it is not known if an actual recording with Morris Day’s vocals took place.

Musicians (Prince unreleased version) :

Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted

Sheila E. - background vocals

Levi Seacer, Jr. - percussion, keyboards

Eric Leeds - tenor saxophone

Atlanta Bliss - trumpet

About the track : Slave 2 The System, previously titled Slave (not to be confused with Slave which is a different track), is an unreleased song recorded on 15 May 1994 at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota, during the first day of sessions for the New Power Generation's second album Exodus (on the same day as Get Wild, New Power Soul, The Exodus Has Begun, Hallucination Rain, Count The Days and It Takes 3).

The track includes lead vocals by Sonny T..

The song, as Slave, was included merged with Acknowledge Me as the third track (second song) on the 2 December 1994 configuration of Exodus, but was removed from later configurations.

The reason for the tracks being combined and tracked as only one track is not known.

In early-to-mid 1995, Prince (as SymbolSmallerBlue.png) re-recorded the track at Paisley Park Studios using entirely different music, including gentle strings, probably provided by Clare Fischer's orchestra.

A marching drum pattern from the track was sampled from Ain't No Place Like U, and was also used on the released version of Slave, which contains some lyrical and musical similarities to Slave 2 The System, but is otherwise a different song.

This version was included as the second track on a July 1995, configuration of the Emancipation album, and the third track on another 1995 configuration, but was removed as work on the album continued.

The track remains unreleased.

Musicians :

Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted

Clare Fischer - string orchestration (assumed)

About the track : Wally is an unreleased song originally recorded on 28 December 1986 at Prince's Galpin Blvd Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota (two days after finishing a three-month stay in Los Angeles by recording Pony Ride).

After finishing the song Prince ordered engineer Susan Rogers to erase all channels on the the 24-stem recording. Susan Rogers had commented that a cassette copy was made prior to its erasing. A new version for which Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss added horns, was recorded a short while afterwards.

The original version was a solo recording dealing with Prince's break-up with Susannah Melvoin, and thanking Wally Safford for being his friend. He felt the song was too personal, however, and kept adding layers of percussion and changing the feel of the track.

At the end of the session, against engineer Susan Rogers pleas not to, he insisted to erase all 24 tracks. At a later time Prince re-cut the track from scratch.

The song is not known to have been considered for inclusion on any configuration of Crystal Ball, Sign O' The Times or any other project.

This track is believed to be the only track Prince has ever deliberately erased the 24-track stems in full. A re-recording from scratch was done shortly after

This track is named after Wally Safford.

Musicians :

Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted

Eric Leeds - saxophone

Atlanta Bliss - trumpet

About the track : Schoolyard is an unreleased track recorded in June 1990 in London, England (during the same set of sessions that produced Daddy Pop and Walk Don't Walk, but mostly focused on Rosie Gaines' first solo album, recording My Tender Heart, Hold Me, Pain, Streetwalker, In The Name Of Love and Turn Your Lights Down Low). It was included as the third track on a December 1990, configuration of Diamonds And Pearls, but was discarded before later configurations once further tracks were recorded for the album. The song includes a narrative about a 16-year-old boy seducing a 14-year-old girl. The lyrics mention Squib Cakes by Tower Of Power (written by Chester Thompson, from their 1974 album Back To Oakland), which was sampled on both Release It (recorded prior to this track) and Sleep Around (recorded later). Although no official artist credit has been given to the track, its inclusion on the Diamonds And Pearls would have resulted in this track being credited to Prince and the New Power Generation, which is how it is listed here. The track remains unreleased.

Musicians :

Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted (assumed)

Michael B. - drums (assumed)

Levi Seacer, Jr. - bass guitar (assumed)

Tommy Barbarella - keyboards (assumed)

Rosie Gaines - keyboards and background vocals (assumed)

About the track : If I Could Get Your Attention (a.k.a. If Eye Could Get Ur Attention) is the sixth track on Taja Sevelle's first album Taja Sevelle.

The track was written by Prince, although credited to Taja Sevelle, who wrote additional lyrics, and was produced by Prince (although credited to the album's main producer, Chico Bennett).

In November 2015, a re-recording of the track by Prince (now titled If Eye Could Get Ur Attention) was available to stream as Tidal's Purple Pick of the Week. A few weeks later, on 3 December 2015, Tidal opened a download store which included If Eye Could Get Ur Attention among many other previously-streamed tracks by Prince (including Stare, Stones (by The Golden Hippie) and Pretzelbodylogic Reloaded, along with the updated version of the album The Chocolate Invasion).

Basic tracking of the original version (with Prince on vocals) took place on 10 May 1986, at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California (four days after recording incidental music for Under The Cherry Moon, on the same day as Frustration, the day before Boy U Bad and It). Recording dates and studio information for Taja Sevelle's vocal overdubs are not known.

In mid-September 1993, the song was tried out during early sessions for Mayte's first album at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota, and was included as the fifth track on an early version of the album, which was titled Latino Barbie Doll at the time. The track was removed when the album evolved into Child Of The Sun, however.

A re-recording of the track with Prince on lead vocals (now titled If Eye Could Get Ur Attention), which was believed to have been recorded in Autumn, 2014, at Paisley Park Studios (during sessions for the Judith Hill album Back In Time), was premiered over the PA prior to an unannounced Prince show at Paisley Park Studios on 16 November 2014 (a.m.) (along with Revelation, The X's Face, a new recording of A 1,000 Hugs And Kisses, Ain't About 2 Stop and a remix of Pretzelbodylogic), following a show by FKA twigs in a different room.

A 21-second snippet of the same recording was made available almost a year later on Prince's Soundcloud account on 4 November 2015, five days before the full track was made available on Tidal.

It had been speculated that this new recording was intended for inclusion on Hitnrun Phase Two, but was not included on that release.

Musicians (2014 version) :

Prince - lead vocals and all instruments, except where noted

John Blackwell - drums

Andrew Gouché - bass guitar

Xavier Taplin - keyboards

Marcus Anderson - vocoder saxophon

About the track : Love (Never Has 2 Say Goodbye) is an unreleased song assumed to have been recorded in 1995 or early 1996 at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

It is not known if the track was considered for Emancipation and removed as the album underwent many changes.

Musicians : Prince - all vocals and instruments (assumed)

About the track : Neon Telephone is the sixth track on Three O'Clock's first and only Paisley Park Records album Vermillion (their fourth and final album), and soon after the album's release, Neon Telephone was released as the album's second single (which also turned out to be the band's final single). Writing credit is given to Joey Coco, a pseudonym used on a few 1985-7 songs given to other artists (including You're My Love, Telepathy and Baby Go-Go).

Basic tracking took place on 10 July 1985 at the Washington Avenue Warehouse in Edina, Minnesota (the day after Love Or $). It was initially considered for use on Parade and/or Under The Cherry Moon but was instead saved for later use (it did, however, inspire the use of a neon telephone in Christopher Tracy's apartment in the movie Under The Cherry Moon).

It was sent to Three O'Clock for consideration along with Girl O' My Dreams, We Can Funk, Teacher, Teacher and Can't Stop This Feeling I Got, but the band decided to use only this track. Three O'Clock's vocal overdubs and instrumentation were recorded in 1987 - early 1988 at American Recording, Woodland Hills, California, retaining only Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman's background vocals from the original recording.

Musicians :

Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted

Lisa Coleman - keyboards and background vocals (uncertain involvement)

Wendy Melvoin - guitars and background vocals (uncertain involvement)

About the track : Red Scarlet is an unreleased song, presumably recorded at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota in April or May 1993, as a solo recording by Prince. It is unknown if this uptempo song with a sampled beat about a girl name Scarlet whose scarf was red, was intended for any particular project.

Musicians : Prince - all vocals and instruments

About the track : I Wonder is an unreleased song recorded in 1990 or 1991 at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota. It is unknown if this song was intended for any particular project at the time of recording.

During Prince: A Celebration in June 2000, computer screens at Paisley Park Studios offered names of a selection of tracks which users could vote on for inclusion on Crystal Ball Volume II, and while I Wonder (now retitled Eye.png Wonder) was chosen by fans, the project was ultimately abandoned.

Musicians :

Prince - all vocals and instruments (assumed)

About the track : Lust U Always is an unreleased song recorded in 1982 at Prince's Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The song paraphrases some lyrics from Annie Ross's song Twisted (notably covered by Joni Mitchell, and later played a few times on the One Nite Alone... Tour), but thematically fits in well with much of his 1981-2 material, concerning the narrator's uncontrollable lust for a woman.

It is not known if the song was intended for Prince's next album 1999 or any other project. It was submitted for copyright five years after its recording, on 14 December 1987, and Prince offered it to English singer-songwriter Robert Palmer soon after. Palmer re-recorded the song but it was ultimately not included on his Heavy Nova album released in June 1988 because of its lyrics :""I had to record it because I didn't want to offend the chap, did I? But I thought the lyric stank."

During Prince: A Celebration in June 2000, computer screens at Paisley Park Studios offered names of a selection of tracks which users could vote on for inclusion on Crystal Ball Volume II, and while Lust U Always was chosen by fans, the project was ultimately abandoned.

The song was not included on 1999 Deluxe in 2019 because of a rape reference in its lyrics and remains unreleased.

Musicians : Prince - all vocals and instruments (assumed)