Third Man Records To Issue Previously Unreleased Prince Album
Third Man Records – co-owned by Jack White and Ben Blackwell – have revealed plans to issue Camille, a previously unreleased Prince album recorded in 1986.
“We’re finally going to put it out,” label co-founder Ben Blackwell told Mojo. “Prince’s people agreed – almost too easy.” The interview also reveals that White and Blackwell have recently paid $49,375 for a test pressing of Camille – believed to be one of possibly 25 copies in existence. “We had to show we had some skin in the game,” quipped White.
It’s not the first time that Third Man have worked with Prince’s spectacular catalogue, in 2020 they partnered with the Prince Estate to release Sign “O” The Times – The Singles, a 7×7″ box set limited to 1,987 copies. White explained Third Man’s thinking to Mojo, “Handing things off to the next generation is probably a good idea, right?”
The late musician originally planned on releasing the LP under his pseudonym Camille, a feminine alter-ego he voiced using pitch-shifted vocals, but the album was shelved shortly after getting a test pressing.
Camille features eight tracks, all of which have been officially released over the years. Housequake, Strange Relationship, and If I Was Your Girlfriend appear on the landmark 1987 double-album Sign O’ The Times; Feel U Up was released as the B-side to Batman single Partyman; Shockadelica became 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 saw the light of day as part of The Black Album; and lastly Rebirth Of The Flesh was recently released on the 2020 super deluxe reissue of Sign O’ The Times.