Mixtape Monday: "My Name Is PRINCE!"

HERC helped someone move this past weekend and was rewarded for his feats of strength with a Sony CD Changer Stereo System with punctured speakers... but the cassette deck works!  Mixtape Monday is back in business!  

MRS. HERC had the pleasure of reaching into the big box of tapes and pulling out this week's featured tape and she picked one you'd think HERC would remember but he swears he doesn't.

Titled "My Name Is PRINCE!" after Prince's declarative title track from his 1992 Symbol album, there are 26 Prince songs spanning most of his career, from Dirty Mind in 1980 through the 1998 release of Crystal Ball.  There are b-sides and live tracks but no extended or remix versions.  In fact, several single edits are used instead of longer album versions.  Strangely, the tape's title song is nowhere to be found.  The tape itself is a TDK CDing II 110 minute cassette with both purple and gold accents on its clear case.

HERC thinks that the tape was one of six that came with a carrying case that he received as a gift from an office Christmas party but what perplexes him is the tracklist - it has a few of his favorite songs but nowhere as many as he would put on a Prince mixtape for his own personal enjoyment which makes him think he had made it for someone else, either on a whim or by commission.  And though he clearly created the tape insert, he claims no memory of it.

See what he means about the insert?  Talk about minimal liner notes.  Cool Purple Rain-style font on the song titles though.  Far from a comprehensive selection, almost half of the songs are from the Nineties.  Despite owning his masters now, there are a few albums Prince hasn't made available on Spotify like Diamonds & Pearls, Crystal Ball and The Gold Experience.  Based on the most recent songs on the tape, HERC's best guess is he made the tape in 1997 or 1998 for a friend at work. and either never gave it to them or he made a copy for himself.

			SIDE A		54:21
	1982		1999		06:19
	1982		Little Red Corvette		04:57
	1982		Delirious		04:01
	1982		Horny Toad		02:13
	1993		Ripopgodazippa		04:39
	1995		The Ride (live)		05:14
	1992		Blue Light		04:38
	1980		When You Were Mine		03:44
	1984		17 Days		04:00
	1997		Don't Play Me		02:48
	1987		I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man		06:29
	1996		One Of Us		05:19
			SIDE B		54:09
	1984		Let's Go Crazy		04:40
	1981		Controversy (single)		03:39
	1984		When Doves Cry (single)		03:47
	1986		Last Heart		03:01
	1987		Forever In My Life		03:31
	1993		Nothing Compares 2 U (live)		04:57
	1985		She's Always In My Hair		03:27
	1986		Kiss		03:45
	1996		I Like It There		03:15
	1993		Peach		03:48
	1991		Cream		04:13
	1984		I Would Die 4 U		02:59
	1984		Baby I'm A Star		04:24
	1995		Gold (single)		04:43

Speaking of awkward playlists, get a load of the tape below. One of HERC's DJ friends enlisted in the Air Force in 1989 and was shipped overseas as part of Operation Desert Shield in 1990.  When they guy returned to the States, he reestablished contact with HERC and mentioned that he had picked up "something special" for him "over there".  A few weeks later, this tape arrived in the mail:

It came in a light blue clamshell style case so big that an unwrapped TDK SA90 fits inside of it.  The case reminds HERC of a small version of the cases VHS rental tapes used to come in - remember those?   Inside the case, HERC found this tape:

Tucked behind the tape, held in by four tiny tabs, was this unintentionally hilarious lyric sheet featuring songs like "Little Re Corvetle", "Rapsbery Beret" and "Betdance" (and the lyrics are just as butchered as the song titles):

click to embiggen

So which tape would you rather listen to?  Astoundingly, HERC claims to have never listened to The Very Best Of Prince tape.  He's kept it for almost 25 years, tucked away in a box.