"Camille" lives! (Photo: Wikipedia)
Jack White is known for spontaneous acts of generosity -- paying the Masonic Temple's back taxes, rejuvenating music on vinyl with a pressing plant where fans can watch it happen -- and now Detroit's highest-profile rock star (whom we share with Nashville, yes) is giving life to a project the late artist Prince had shelved.
A copy of "Camille" pressed before its cancellation (Photo: Wikipedia)
The songs from "Camille," described as a mythical lost album by Prince fans, aren't really lost. They've all been released elsewhere. But as Stereogum explains, it's about the legend, and getting them all in one place:
In 1986, Prince recorded Camille, an album built around one of his alter-egos. For a few years, Prince had been experimenting with pitch-shifting his own voice upwards, creating a sort of androgynous vocal effect. Using that effect, Prince knocked out 10 songs in a couple of days, and he planned to release those songs under the name Camille rather than his own name. But after finishing up the album, mastering it, and pressing up a tiny number of copies, Prince abandoned the project.
Rather than drop them all at once, he spread them out on subsequent records:
A few of those Camille tracks — “Housequake,” “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” “Strange Relationship” — ended up on Prince’s classic 1987 double album Sign O’ The Times.
Others ended up on "soundtracks, B-sides, and deluxe reissues," Stereogum reports.
Ben Blackwell, Third Man's co-founder, said the project has the support of the Prince estate (obviously). No release date is set.
