Prince Easter Egg - References to Unreleased Albums

Camille is the name of one of his many alter ego's

Camilla sings "If I was your girlfriend" on the album sign 'o' times

actually, prince has many references throughout all of his albums that relate, in some way or another, to another song or album. the concepts lovesexy, new power soul, new power generation... the list goes on. an interesting one is "rave un2 the joy fantastic" which goes as far back as the batman soundtrack. or, rather, the b-side 200 balloons and the remixes of batdance.

Another reference to an unreleased album can be seen during the Video to Lovesexy (Lovesexy 1988). During the section where Prince is seen to be jumping over letters from the alphabet, there is a hidden message in the background urging people not to buy the (then unreleased) Black Album.

Actually, I own the Crystal Ball album. It is three discs longs with an extra bootleg disc. So Crystal Ball has been released.

Brett: The Crystal Ball that has been released is a 1997 release of "previously bootlegged material", and has little in common with the release planned in 1986, except the title with title track. "Black Album" is the only "unreleased" full-length album that has later been released.

Yup, Camille was that funky "voice", or Prince's alter ego. He sang a lot of the songs on Sign Of The Times, and on some B-sides and unreleased songs.

The title song 'Sign "O" The Times' was just about the only song written specifically for that album, but there aren't as many tracks from "The Crystal Ball" on SOTT as you would think. It is more or less the Camille album, with a load of "Dream Factory" recordings and one or two tracks for the album proper. The "Crystal Ball" 3 CD set (or 5 CD, I suppose) bears no relation whatsoever to the unreleased album of late 1986, aside from the title track - as said in a previous comment. Also, the comment about Prince music being full of references to unreleased things is perfectly accurate. Of course, at the time of recording he probably has no idea what will end up being unreleased. For example, there is an excerpt from the track "Dream Factory" on the NPG album "Exodus". I think such things, with Prince, aren't an easter egg as such - not an intentional reference to unreleased (and therefore hidden) goodies. They are just an unavoidable consequence of the sheer amount of recording Prince used to do - particularly in the mid to late 1990's.

Just in response to the "dont buy the black album" egg, if anyone gets the chance to look check out the sleeve/booklet for the "love symbol" album. Where it has the song lyrics there are messages written in a hebrew-type font (the wallpaper-like patterns in the background). One of the messages reads "dont buy the black album", others include "Prince's favourite food is stewardesses" and "have you had your plus sign today?". The latter references the song "positivity" off the LoveSexy album.

There's actually another Camille track that is not included on the compiled "Camille" album of 1986. Back in 1988 when I bought the 12-inch single "I Wish U Heaven", wasn't I surprised when I turned the record over to find an unlisted track, "Scarlet Pussy". In stark contrast to the purple and paisley label of the A-side, the B-side was printed on a peach and black label and credited to none other than Camille her/him self. It may have been recorded after the 1986 sessions. The song has shades of George Clinton's "Atomic Dog". I'm not sure if you would include 1986's "Love or Money" (B-Side to "Kiss") in the Camille set, or as just another sped up vocal. Looking back, it sounds like something of a pre-Camille effort.