Prince & The New Power Generation release Love Symbol in the UK
It is the second and album credited to Prince and the New Power Generation. Released twelve months after his previous album "Diamonds And Pearls," it would be his last to be co-credited to band until "One Nite Alone... Live!" by Prince and the New Power Generation in 2002.
The album's unpronounceable name often leads to it being referred to as "Symbol or "Love Symbol" (the latter was used as the identifying name on the top seal of the jewel case CD release and on the Peach" single, which included "My Name Is" as a B-side). This symbol would later become Prince's name in 1993, and he would go on to release six albums under that name from 1995 to 1999.
The album’s cover photograph was taken from the "7" video. However, on the initial CD copies of the album, the symbol was embossed in gold into jewel case itself, which was a very unusual move for CD packaging.
Similar to the previous album, Diamonds And Pearls, of the tracks on this album not updated from the vault; only "The Flow" was a re-recording the original recorded in September 1990. The rest of the album's 16 songs were written and recorded between September 1991 and 1992 at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA. "Wanna Melt With U" was the final track recorded for the album in Spring 1992. The only exception is "Blue Light," which was recorded earlier, in May 1991.
The released album includes two seg featuring actress Kirstie Alley reporter "Vanessa Bartholomew," which attempt to a narrative for the album. Two early configurations of the album are known (see below for details), which contained additional segues to more fully explain the story of the album. These were removed from final sequence to include "Wanna Melt With U" instead.
The album featured the as Diamonds and Pearls with a few minor changes. Rosie Gaines had left the band, and Mayte was introduced, adding vocals to a few tracks. Additionally, D.J. Graves contributed scratching to some tracks, although he not considered a member of the band.
While eight songs are essentially solo performances by Prince, the remaining eight feature Michael B. on drums, T. on bass guitar, Tommy Barbarella on keyboards, Levi Se, Jr. on rhythm guitar, and the rapping trio of Tony M. (performing lead raps), Damon Dickson, and Kirk Johnson (playing percussion and performing backgroundaps/vocals Additionally, the five-piece horn section comprising Mike Nelson, Kathy J., Dave Jensen Brian Gallagher, and Steve Strand contributed to some.
The album produced five commercially-released singles: "Sexy M.F.," "My Is Prince" (both of which preceded the album’s release), "7," "Damn U" (in the USA only), and "The Morning Papers." "Blue Light, "Sweet Baby," and "Love 2 The9’s" were also planned singles in early 1993, and acetates were made up for each single, but they were left unreleased, and "The Morning Papers" was released instead.
Prince toured extensively to support the album on the Act I tour in North America and the Act II tour, both of which primarily focused on the album, though to a lesser extent on Act. Additionally, he regularly performed some tracks from the album on the preceding Diamonds and Pearls Tour, which concluded shortly before the album's release.
The album reached number 5 on the US The Billboard 200 Chart and number 8 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums Chart, but reached number 1 on the UK Gallup Top 40 Album Chart.
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