THE RITUALISTIC LIFE and MURDER of PRINCE:
PT. 4 SEGMENT 19 (Pt.4):
"The Exodus Has Begun" 1995-1996
Released on Patreon 7/31/2021
Run Time: 1 HR 40 MIN
-"The Ritualistic Life and Murder of Prince" series is available to Patrons on the "Sign O' The Times" tier of support and higher on the Spooky Electric XPOSED Films Patreon channel.
This is the last episode of PART 4 of “The Ritualistic Life and Murder of Prince” series, concluding Prince’s 1st “19” year phase in his career and life in the music business.
Prince has been recording a secret album behind Warner Brothers’ backs
We pick up this episode in Spring 1995, after The “Ultimate Live Experience" tour of Europe, where back in Minnesota, Prince is focusing on his next new album project: a 3 CD album, 1 hour per CD, composed of about 50 new songs. Prince has been recording this 3 disc album, dubbed “Emancipation” since about 1994, when he first began to understand that he had to leave WB and break his contract. Prince is planning for this “Emancipation” CD to be his first release after leaving Warner Brothers, and Prince plays all the instruments himself on this new project, and it is composed of all NEW music, not "vault" material as he has been giving Warner Brothers to fill out his contract.
Meetings between Prince and Warner Brothers reach new levels of hostility
In late Spring of 1995, Prince meets again with Danny Goldberg, the new Chairman and CEO of WB Records to negotiate the release of "The Gold Experience" album and the "Exodus" album by The NPG in the USA. Remember from the last episode, SEGMENT 19 (PT. 3) “Slave 2 The System” 1995, that the “Exodus” album has been released in Europe, but Prince has not been allowed to release the album worldwide yet. And also, Prince has been badmouthing Warner Brothers in the media, and saying that they are holding back “The Gold Experience” to punish him.
As a result of the meeting, Goldberg and Prince "agree" that if Prince stops bashing WB in the media, "The Gold Experience" and "Exodus" will be released in the Fall. However, Prince gives a "shocking" interview for Esquire (Special Autumn Issue, 1995) in the presence of a WB Exec, and other media outlets, continuing to bash WB, while talking about a NEW album of 50 songs that he will release when he is "free".
When WB catches wind of this, they realize that Prince has definitely breached his contract by submitting mediocre material to them, saving the best music for himself, and also that he broke the agreement he made with Goldberg to stop bad mouthing WB in the media, so they cancel the release of "Exodus" in the USA.
By the Fall, Prince has begun meeting with WB again, and these meetings have turned into shouting matches and all out brawls. Prince is now not only demanding to release what he wants, when he wants, but also to retain ownership of the MASTER recordings of his complete back catalogue. WB is offended at Prince's demands and tensions continue to rise.
"The Gold Experience" is finally released at the end of September, but now Prince has lost interest in promoting it. He now just sees the album as another step towards leaving Warner Brothers.
Mayte Garcia’s flimsy claims about her relationship with Prince in 1995
Mayte and Prince are still dating at this time, but according to her "book", “The Most Beautiful, My Life With Prince” published in 2017, months after Prince’s death, she realizes NOW looking back, that Prince was on drugs at the time. She also details in her book the circumstances behind the “marriage proposal" from Prince and wedding on February 14, 1996.
Ever since Mayte has come into the series and into Prince’s life in 1990 (SEGMENT 16: “The Graffiti Bridge Movie, Album, and The Nude Tour” (Pt.2), SEGMENT 17: “Diamonds and Pearls” (Pt.1), SEGMENT 17: Diamonds and Pearls” (Pt.2), SEGMENT 18: “Love Symbol” (Pt.1), and SEGMENT 18: “Love Symbol” (Pt.2)), we have steadily discussed many of the claims she has made about Prince in her book and I have debunked most of it by researching the actual events, and by just using a bit of common sense. In this episode, We look again at and debunk more untruths, "shifting stories", and lies from the book, constructed in order to gain attention and some relevance in Prince’s life after his death, and in line with an agenda to gain favor with “the powers that were” in order to cash in on Prince’s death.
Also in the episode, we learn that Prince has also been recording Mayte's solo album "in isolation" since 1994. This was to spare her the embarrassment of frequent wrong notes, and from exposing her lack of singing ability. No one at Paisley Park or in the “inner circle” thinks the project will be a success, and simply regard the project as a way for Prince to spend more time with Mayte.
The album “Child of the Sun” is released in December in Europe only, since WB refuses to release it in the USA. The album and its singles do not sell and do not enter any charts anywhere.
Authorship of “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” is disputed
Also in 1995, two Italian songwriters Bruno Bergonzi and Michele Vicino, sue Prince for plagiarizing the song "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", a worldwide hit for Prince in 1994. The songwriters claim that the song borrows heavily from a song they wrote called “Takin’ Me to Paradise” released in 1983. After an appeal of a judgment in Prince’s favor in 2003, The Rome court overturns the judgment in 2007, certifying the two songwriters as legal co-authors of “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”. The song, has been banned for distribution since 1995 in Italy, but because of this legal action, "The Gold Experience" album to this day has not been reissued by Warner Brothers or Prince’s estate.
Another change at Warner Brothers leads to Prince Escaping the “19” year Contract
Danny Goldberg only lasts 8 months as Chairman of WB Records, and at the end of 1995, is replaced by Russ Thyret, one of the WB Execs that signed Prince back in 1977. Thyret agrees to release Prince from the contract, ending a “19” year relationship that has made over $300 Million for WB Records. WB Execs begin talking about the contract termination in the media, openly sharing their belief that Prince has become a joke in the music business, and will never reclaim the relevance and success he had received in the 1980’s.
Prince fires The New Power Generation after a short "7" stop tour of Japan in January of 1996.
Remember from the 2019 episode: SEGMENT 12 (Pt.2) “The Parade Music”, how at the end of the Japanese Leg of the “Parade” tour of 1986, Prince fired The Revolution in order to release that last phase of his career, and to move into new musical directions. There was something similar to this going on with Prince at this time, as he prepares to leave WB and step into a free and independent stage of his life and career in the music business.
We end this episode with Prince preparing to go into contract termination negotiations with Warner Brothers with his new lawyer, L. Londell McMillan.
The next episode PART 5, SEGMENT 1 we will pick up Prince’s story in early 1996 where Prince is getting married and is negotiating his exit from the Warner Bros Records contract, stepping into the last “19” year cycle of his life in the music business.
*26 Unreleased Prince tracks and 12 Video OUTTAKES and MUSIC XTRAS (OVER 8 HOURS )from the episode posted for Patrons of the “Lovesexy” Tier of support and higher.
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