The upcoming weeks 11 contributors will dissect each track from the 2014 ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ album, an album many consider to be his last true masterpiece. As I don’t want to steal anyone’s thunder, I’ll stick to the basics in this introduction. 
‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ is Prince’s 37th studio album. It was released worldwide between September 26th, 2014 (Europe) and September 30th, 2014 (US) along with its sister album ‘PLECTRUMELECTRUM’. Listen to ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ here: open.spotify.com/album/1xRg9g9Q…
‘PLECTRUMELECTRUM’ was promoted as 3RDEYEGIRL’s debut, whereas ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ was marketed as a Prince solo effort. However, if you look at the liner notes, they don’t mention Prince. The album is ‘produced, arranged, composed and per4med by @3rdEyeGirl and @Joshuaworld’.
It must be said though that @3rdEyeGirl was the Twitter handle Prince used back in the day, so it was him. But for a casual fan without a Twitter account it might have been confusing.
The albums were Prince’s first releases since 2010’s ‘20ten’ album, the four year gap between the releases being the longest ever in Prince’s recording career. Also, it was the first time he released two individual albums simultaneously.
And yes, Lotusflow3r and MPLSoUND were basically two albums at the same time, but those were part of the same package. These 2014 releases were very much separate releases.
What sets them apart within Prince’s body of work as well, is that they were the first releases on Warner Bros. Records since the much publicized ‘war’ between Prince and the label in the 1990s.
To most people that renewed cooperation between the label and the artist came out of the blue. Talks had been going on for a while at that point though. That might have been a reason for that four year long gap between albums.
‘20ten’ was only released in Europe as a freebee, given away as a cover mount with newspapers and magazines. There had been talks with Warner about a proper international release of the album, but somehow those ideas fell through.
One of the reasons the hatchet was buried somewhat is that according to the Copyright Revision Act of 1976 an artist has the ability to terminate master recording copyright after 35 years. And at that point the 35th anniversary of Prince’s debut ‘For You’ was getting close.
And as Prince had been very prolific, the 35th anniversary of all his other Warner albums would follow shortly after. So they definitely needed to talk.
The Copyright Revision Act also states that the ability to terminate copyrights does not apply had the artist/composer been under a ‘work-for-hire’ contract. Lawyers on both ends would be having a field day arguing if an artist under contract is a ‘work-for-hire’ relationship.
But instead Prince and Warner came together and worked things out. The exact details of the deal have never been disclosed, but as part of the deal Prince would deliver two new albums and Warner would be able to release a remaster of the ‘Purple Rain’ album.
In return Prince would gain control over his own masters, the control he had been fighting for ever since he went to war with Warner Bros. in 1993. It is not known if he got that control immediately for all albums, or one album at a time as soon as it hit the 35 year mark.
Warner Bros. Records chairman and CEO Cameron Strang said to be delighted about working with Prince. “He is one of the world’s biggest stars and a truly unique talent. We are also very excited about the release of new and re-mastered music from one of his greatest masterpieces.”
In that very same statement Prince commented: “A brand-new studio album is on the way and both Warner Bros Records and Eye are quite pleased with the results of the negotiations and look forward to a fruitful working relationship.”
The relationship was seemingly short lived, as after delivering ‘PLECTRUMELECTRUM’ and ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ Prince continued to release albums as an independent artist. But we don’t know what might have happened after 2016 and/or if there were any further plans.
A few hours after the statement was issued on April 18th, 2014, the new song ‘THE BREAKDOWN’ got a digital release. The song had been a staple during the 2013 3RDEYEGIRL shows, as well as other songs from the albums, such as ‘FUNKNROLL’.
In fact, ‘FUNKNROLL’ is the song connecting both releases, as both albums feature a version of the song. Here is the world premiere on television, about a month before the Warner announcement and over 6 months before ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ was released.
If you look closely at the 2014 Arsenio Hall Show performance, you’ll see not only Prince’s all female band 3RDEYEGIRL, but also Joshua Welton (@Joshuaworld) on keyboards. Welton was essential in creating ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ and was labeled co-producer.
It is the first time Prince has shared producer credits on an album. Welton was also made responsible for the ‘Purple Rain’ remaster that was part of the Warner deal. That ‘Paisley Park Remaster’ was released posthumously in 2017 as part of the ‘Purple Rain Deluxe Edition’.
If you look closely at the ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ album cover, you’ll notice that the ‘Purple Rain’ album is featured on there as well, as Prince is posing in front of the diamond award he received for the album. It is quite fitting if you consider the deal that was made.
It is a coincidence though as the photoshoot Maya Washington (@mayasworld) did with Prince was never intended to be a ‘cover shoot’. On Instagram she recalls that it was ‘just another fun creative shoot’. instagram.com/p/BTKy_tSAe-s/
After seeing the pics, Prince canceled her flight and let her stay for another week to edit & perfect the images. That’s how the album artwork came to be. Of course it also harks back to the iconic covers of ‘Prince’ and ‘Controversy’ as we basically see Prince in the same pose.
Check out @mayasworld explanation behind the photo (and her extremely cool self portrait that was a test shot).
https://twitter.com/mayasworld/status/987875540836106243?s=20&t=krNFBFqCq4LhJdIeSwrwmQ
On a side note, it isn’t the first time Prince uses ‘other artwork’ as part of the design of a new album.
On the inside it says ‘there used 2 be a time when music was a spiritual healing 4 the body, soul, & mind…’ and immediately you understand the title ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’. We live in times that popular music has lost that magic power it used to have.
If you look at the inside sleeve, you see an inversion of the cover image, in which binary code can be seen. It seems to have the same message as The Matrix movies, in which mankind lives in a computer generated reality.
If you look closely the photo on the back cover features the very same binary code in both a window and a light reflection.
The collaborations with @mayasworld and @joshuaworld seem to have been part of a bigger movement from Prince’s end to work with young talent and giving them space to develop themselves and basically giving them more room to do so than previous collaborators.
Other collaborators on ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ are the 3RDEYEGIRL ladies of course, Lianne La Havas (as Charlotte Ann Telepathy), Marisa Jack (as The Golden Hippie), Andy Allo and singer Delilah (as Paloma Ayana).
Like Washington and Welton most of them weren’t even born when Prince was a global superstar.
This was the first Prince release since the passing of his long term collaborator Clare Fischer, so also the first time he used a new string ensemble. The strings are provided by Minnesota group STRINGenius, arranged by Adi Yeshaya, produced by the Hornheads’ Michael B. Nelson.
Also in the credits is a certain H.C. I II II. I haven’t a clue who that is. Does anyone know?
‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ did quite well in the charts. In the Billboard 200 it reached number 5 (‘PLECTRUMELECTRUM’ went to number 8) and in the Billboard R&B chart it went to number 1 (while ‘PLECTRUMELECTRUM’ took the top spot in the rock chart).
Outside of the US it also did well, reaching number 2 in France and Norway, number 3 in Hungary, number 4 in the Netherlands and Switzerland, number 6 in Japan and number 8 in Austria, Belgium, Ireland and the UK.
The hype sticker on the album sleeve says ‘including the hit single FUNKNROLL’ and that’s stretching it a bit. The song never was released as a single, so it never charted. The actual singles (‘BREAKFAST CAN WAIT’, ‘THE BREAKDOWN’ & ‘CLOUDS’) did not make any real impact either.
That said, the impact ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ made was quite big. Especially after Prince passed away, people started paying attention to this album as being one that – on some songs at least – seemed to foreshadow what was going to happen.
And looking back it is one of his most consistent albums in his career, both conceptually and musically. That’s why the #PrinceTwitterThread we're about to embark on is completely dedicated to ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’.
The next couple of days you can expect threads by: @dbpmccarthy, @Henk_Liebeek, @CaseyRain, @dmsrblog, @RShumays, @RichardCole_NOW, @Art0fficialAge, @DaysOfWild, @TonyaPendleton and the series is hosted by yours truly @EdgarKruize and thread master @deejayumb.
Make sure you follow @PrinceThread and/or my co-host @deejayUMB for all updates and summaries.
I’ll be back later this week for a thread on The Gold Standard, but first up tomorrow is @dbpmccarthy with a thread about ‘ART OFFICIAL CAGE’.
Remember there really is only one destination… Enjoy the ride!
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