Love Symbol (Prince album)

Love Symbol
Studio album by Prince and the New Power Generation
Released	October 13, 1992
Recorded	September 11, 1990; May 12, 1991; September 18, 1991 – March 1992; July 1992[citation needed]
Genre	R&B pop soul funk rock hip hop[1]
Length	75:00
Label	Paisley Park, Warner Bros.
Producer	Prince and the New Power Generation
Prince chronology
Diamonds and Pearls (1991) Love Symbol (1992) The Hits/The B-Sides (1993)
Alternative cover
Cover without the symbol
Singles from Love Symbol Album
"Sexy MF" Released: June 30, 1992 "My Name Is Prince" Released: September 29, 1992 "7" Released: November 17, 1992 "Damn U" Released: November 17, 1992 "The Morning Papers" Released: April 3, 1993

Love Symbol is the fourteenth studio album by American recording artist Prince, and the second of two that featured his backing band the New Power Generation. It was released on October 13, 1992 by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records.^[2] It was originally conceived as a "fantasy rock soap opera" with various spoken segues throughout (with its storyline becoming the basis for the direct-to-video film 3 Chains o' Gold),^[3] and contains elements of R&B, pop, soul, funk, and rock styles.

The official title of the album is an unpronounceable symbol depicted on its cover art, which Prince copyrighted under the title "Love Symbol #2" and adopted as his stage name from 1993 to 2000 to protest his treatment by Warner Bros. Records (which had refused to steadily release his back catalog of unreleased music, and trademarked his given name for promotional purposes).^[4][5] The release has been referred to under titles such as Love Symbol, Symbol Album, or Symbol.^[6]

Its first two singles, "Sexy MF" and "My Name Is Prince", achieved modest success on the US pop chart, though both made the top ten in the United Kingdom. Conversely, the third single, "7", was not as successful in the United Kingdom, but was a top ten hit in the United States.

Storyline[]

An early configuration of the album contained as many as eight segues as well as an intro. Together, they explained the album's storyline: An Egyptian princess (played by Mayte Garcia, in her debut on a Prince album) falls in love with a rock star (Prince) and entrusts him with a religious artifact, the Three Chains of Turin (or Three Chains o' Gold) during her escape from seven assassins, as referenced in "7".^[7] However, in a last-minute attempt to add an additional song ("I Wanna Melt with U", which was originally considered to be a B-side to the "7" maxi single, and which contains several sampled sounds also present in "7"), most of the segues had to be cut for album length. The few that remained were somewhat confusing in context. The unreleased segues have been bootlegged since. Garcia would become Prince's wife in 1996.

On the released album, the segues featuring Kirstie Alley as reporter Vanessa Bartholomew are mostly kept intact. In them, she attempts to interview Prince but fails; at first, he hangs up when being told he is being recorded, but in a later segue, Prince gives nonsense answers to Vanessa's requests. A few lines in which Vanessa inquires about the Three Chains of Turin was edited out of the final version.

3 Chains o' Gold, a direct-to-video film produced and directed by Prince, was released in 1994. The film is based on the storyline and songs of the Love Symbol Album and contains some of the original segues which were planned to be on the album.

Marketing[]

Warner Bros. Records pushed for "7" to be released as the album's first single. However, Prince instead pushed for "My Name Is Prince" to serve as lead single, arguing that its sound would appeal better to listeners that had enjoyed Diamonds and Pearls.^[8]

Critical reception[]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[9]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	A−[10]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[11]
The Guardian	[12]
Los Angeles Times	[13]
Q	[14]
Rolling Stone	[14]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[15]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	7/10[16]

The Love Symbol Album was voted the 14th best record of 1992 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide, published by The Village Voice.^[17] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, later wrote of the album: "Designed to prove his utter inexhaustibility in the wake of Diamonds and Pearls, by some stroke of commerce his best-selling album since Purple Rain, this absurdly designated 'rock soap opera' (is he serious? is he ever? is he ever not?) proves mainly that he's got the funk."^[10]

Track listing[]

All tracks written by Prince, except where noted; all tracks arranged and produced by Prince and The New Power Generation.