Herc's Mix - Prince's 1999

This was the song that kicked it all off for HERC.  If he had heard any songs by Prince prior to his one, he doesn't remember them and as long as HERC lives (SPOILER ALERT: the palm reader said it was going to be "a long, long time") this will be the one song he'll always associate with the Purple One.  [Come back this Friday for the full story on that one... the song, not the palm reader.]

Prince's 1999 was where his sound took a great leap forward, where he used his home studio as his secret weapon laboratory and stretched the boundaries of music, lyrics and autonomy like no one ever had. It was the genesis of his plan for world dominance that culminated with the mega success that was Purple Rain.  He was writing so many songs he had to give them away to old friends and puppet acts (HERC means that in the best possible sense) like The Time and Vanity 6 and those he couldn't give away or hide on the b-side of his singles got thrown into the mythical Vault.

 

scan by kissmyblackads.blogspot.com

The sprawling double album known as 1999 was unleashed upon an unsuspecting public in October 1982 further cementing HERC's unassailable notion that it was the single greatest year in popular music.  The recipe for this magnum opus? Combine equal parts synthesizers and drum machines to form 11 songs, season with vocal effects then sprinkle liberally over four sides of vinyl and give it a crazy purple collage cover - that's 1999.

scan from sodahead.com

The first single was the titular song, released a full month ahead of the album.  In it's single edit form, the track is barely three minutes long or half the running length of the original album track.  It's initial chart run was disappointing until "Little Red Corvette" dragged it up to #12.  The song did rise to the top of the Hot Dance Club Play chart, dethroning another Prince-penned song: Vanity 6's "Nasty Girl".  

Robotic synth icon Gary Numan recorded a cover version of "1999" and put it on the b-side of one of his singles.  In the U.S., the original "1999" single featured a non-album B-side that would later be covered by Alicia Keys and Adam Lambert.

The second single from 1999 is at the top of this post - the almost perfect pop song known as "Little Red Corvette" which was released in time for Valentine's Day 1983.  It became Prince's first Top 10 track, peaking at Number Six on the Pop chart.  The U.S. single's B-side was an edit of the album track "All The Critics Love U In New York" while the A-side was almost 2 minutes shorter than the album version!  

In a couple of non-U.S. markets, a retail 12" single of "Little Red Corvette" was released that contained an 8:22 Dance Mix commonly referred to as the Mayday Mix among fans. It was later issued as a CD single in Germany.  In the U.S, this version only surfaced on a promo only 12" single for club and radio jocks until it was finally released on Ultimate Prince in 2006.

scan courtesy princevault.com

Just as they had been sequenced on the album, the third single released from 1999 was the frantic "Delirious" which was perfectly paired with the non-album B-side "Horny Toad", a relentless rockabilly hybrid.  The single became Prince's second Top Ten track, reaching #8.  The single's  length is edited down almost 90 seconds from the album version.  Along with "1999" and "Little Red Corvette", "Delirious" makes up the first side of the first record in the double album 1999 set.   As triplets on the album, they run just over 15 minutes - as single edits, they clock in at only 9:21!

scan courtesy of princevault.com

The fourth and final U.S. single from 1999 was the super salacious "Let's Pretend We're Married" edited down to exactly half of it's 7:20 album length.  The single was released more than 12 months after the album and failed to crack the Top 50.  If you flipped the single over, the B-side was the equally lascivious "Irresistible B****".  As you can tell by the cover art, Prince, in addition to losing his shirt, was losing his subtlety.

1999 is nearly as critically acclaimed as Purple Rain.  The album sits at Number 163 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2008.  The songs "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" currently rank 215th and 109th, respectively, in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time which was most recently updated in 2009. 

For those you who prefer it, check out this Songza playlist HERC built around 1999 HERE.  Keep in mind that Songza plays songs randomly so the original album's sequencing will not be reflected.

Without further ado, here's HERC's mix of 1999 on Spotify.  Of course the very nature of a HERC's mix is messing with the running order of the original album.  Enjoy!