Prince : The black album

There's virtually no vinyl record in history more sought after
by collectors than a genuine copy of Prince's Black Album.
(Rolling Stone)

Germany LP 9362-45793-1

Released: 21 November 1994 (Germany, UK)
Length: 44:44
Label(s): Warner Bros. Records

    •    Side 1:
    1.    Le Grind (6:44)
    2.    Cindy C. (6:14)
    3.    Dead On It (4:37)
    4.    When 2 R In Love (3:58)
    •    Side 2:
    1.    Bob George (5:36)
    2.    Superfunkycalifragisexy (5:55)
    3.    2 Nigs United 4 West Compton (7:00)
    4.    Rockhard In A Funky Place (4:30) 1 

All songs written by Prince, except where noted. 

1  Music written by Prince and Eric Leeds

"The Black Album" is the 16th full-length studio album by Prince. Officially, it has no title and no credited artist. It's known as "The Black Album" due to its plain black sleeve, which contains no information apart from the catalogue number printed on the spine in peach letters. The sticker on the 1994 release labeled it "The legendary Black Album". It was originally intended to be released on 8 December 1987, but was canceled at Prince's request just prior to release (on 1 December 1987). It was finally given a limited release in November 1994 (just three months after his previous new release Come).

1994 release
The release was fairly low-key, and no singles were released from the album (although an all-black video with lyrics was produced for When 2 R In Love), but the album was widely regarded in the music industry and the music press as a legendary album. Due to the nature of its original release plan (no artist credit, no title etc.) and its cancellation at the last minute, the album was widely bootlegged, and is commonly regarded as the most heavily bootlegged album of all time, by any artist.

Plain black sleeve. Title sticker on the front: Prince The legendary Black Album Limited Edition

Sleeve, back:
Peach barcode sticker: Made in Germany by WARNER Music MFG. Europe
Embossed [Warner 'W' logo] on bottom

Spine:
[printed with peach color / on some copies the spine is printed in red color (not yet in database)]
9362-45793-1 Warner Bros. Records Inc., 3300 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505-4694. 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10019-6908.

Plain black inner sleeve

Side A, label:
©1994 ℗1994, *1988 Warner Bros. Records Inc. for the U.S. and WEA International Inc. for the world outside the U.S.
[the asterisk refer to track A4 which was previously released on the Lovesexy album]

Side B, label:
©℗1994 Warner Bros. Records Inc. for the U.S. and WEA International Inc. for the world outside the U.S.

Runouts:
"Hü" and a random digit are etched, the rest is machine stamped