The Black Album

Artist: Prince
Released: Unofficially, 1987; Officially, 1994

Unreleased albums tend to develop their own mythology, becoming “lost classics” that reveal the genius of their composers. In most cases, however, the albums should have stayed “lost.” Prince, he of the 500 unreleased songs, is no exception to this rule. His infamous Black Album was supposed to hit the streets in late 1987, not that long after the double album Sign O’ the Times was released. Just a few weeks before its debut, the project was shelved, and all copies of the album were destroyed. Some said Prince felt uncomfortable releasing such a dark and sexually aggressive album (yeah, right), while others believed his label found it to be “unmarketable.” Some promotional copies that were sent to radio survived, so the album lived in bootlegged perpetuity until Warner Bros. quietly released it in 1994.

What’s evident upon first listen is that the album isn’t particularly good. “Le Grind” and “Cindy C.” are pretty good dance tracks that would have sounded at home on SOTT, and “Two Nigs United 4 West Compton” is grounded in a James Brown-style funk workout. The rest of the album traffics in uninspired jams (“Dead On It”), R&B treacle (“When 2 R In Love”), and an awkward rap parody entitled “Bob George,” that proves the Purple One never had a good handle on hip-hop.

One could argue that the Black Album was the beginning of the end for Prince as a consistent album artist (although Around the World In a Day, released in 1985, wasn’t exactly Revolver). Lovesexy was uneven, the Batman soundtrack forgettable, and Diamonds & Pearls half good. Even the Symbol album, his last truly consistent work, was mired in a convoluted narrative. As for the rest of this '90s and early '00s, the less said the better.

Standing In the Way of Control

Artist: The Gossip
Released: 2006

The Gossip live & in person:

1. Mothers’ Day 2000, Grog Shop (Old)
Opening for Sleater-Kinney (and thus being involved in the “Greatest Concert I’ve Ever Witnessed,” which is different than the “Greatest Performance I’ve Ever Witnessed), the band consists of a lead singer, a guitarist eating an ice cream popsicle, a drummer, and two “dancers,” one of whom looks like the woman who stole Rachel’s washing machine at the laundromat in an early “Friends” episode. Twenty seconds into their first song, Beth Ditto (the lead singer) stops the song, complains about the heat at the club, and then proceeds to take her shirt off and start over again. The band tears through ten songs in about fifteen minutes.

2. June 2001, Grog Shop (Old)
The band returns sans dancers and plays a similar, but lengthier set. The songs still clock in at 1:30, but the concluding “We Need a Revolution” lasts for nearly ten minutes. Ditto exhorts all the “queers and queens” to start the revolution. Although this technically excludes me, the six Straub’s I’ve had put me right in the thick of the sing-a-long.

3. July 2004, Grog Shop (New)
Performing at one of the first shows at the newly constructed Grog Shop, the Gossip plays material from its new, and somewhat more complex, album. The giant A/C unit at the center of the club alleviates any potential heat problems.

4. September 2005, Grog Shop (New) Playing tracks from the soon-to-be-released Standing In the Way of Control, the Gossip summon their inner Donna Summer and get discotastic for half of the show, reflecting the band’s new direction. There’s also enough garage rock to keep the faithful happy.