Third Man Records have revealed plans to issue Prince’s previously unreleased 1986 album Camille. “We’re finally going to put it out,” label co-founder Ben Blackwell told Mojo. “Prince’s people agreed – almost too easy.” The late musician originally planned on dropping the LP under his pseudonym Camille, a feminine alter-ego he embodied through pitched-up vocals and androgynous fashion, but the album was shelved shortly after getting a test pressing.
Camille includes eight tracks in total, all of which have been officially released—although hard to track down, to some extent—over the years. “Housequake,” “Strange Relationship,” and “If I Was Your Girlfriend” appear on Sign o’ the Times; “Feel U Up” is the B-side to Batman single “Partyman;” “Shockadelica” is the B-side to 1987 single “If I Was Your Girlfriend;” “Good Love” appears on the Bright Lights, Big City soundtrack; “Rockhard in a Funky Place” is on The Black Album; and lastly “Rebirth of the Flesh” was recently added to the 2020 super deluxe reissue of Sign o’ the Times.
Next month, Alamo Drafthouse will screen a 4K restoration of Sign o’ the Times in theaters nationwide. Welcome 2 America, Prince’s first posthumous album of all unreleased material, came out in 2021. It was preceded by a handful of never-before-heard songs: “Cosmic Day,” “Born 2 Die,” and “Hot Summer.”
Revisit “Prince Was a Queen-Maker” and “What It Was Like to Be Prince’s Personal Photographer” on The Pitch.
