PROLOGUE

The unreleased 1993 and 1994 configurations of Come and The Gold Experience whose stories were chronicled on the Prince Vs. Warner Brothers – The Fans Lost blog would be the last truly inspired and great new O(+>/Prince material for many years afterwards. Some of his subsequent album releases were marred by his lyrics dealing more and more openly with his Jehova’s Witnesses beliefs, making bass player Larry Graham disliked by a lot of Prince fans for having converted him.

Fans took solace in collections featuring material from O(+>/Prince’s famous vault with hundreds of unreleased tracks – releases like Crystal Ball (1998), The Vault… Old Friends 4 Sale (1999), the NPG Music Club releases (2001), The Chocolate Invasion (2004) and The Slaughterhouse (2004). This blog examines the evolution of these projects, as well as the unreleased Roadhouse Garden (1998), The New Power Generation: Peace (2000), High (2000) and Crystal Ball II (2000). And with its title track coming from the vault, here’s even a look at the 1999 Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic project which signaled O(+>’s return to using the name Prince.