Maps of Music

HITnRUN Phase Two (2015)

Where the lyrics of HITnRUN Phase Two take you, and where it was really made.

This album first existed only as a Tidal streaming release, and its worldwide CD came out only after Prince had died.

Key places

Paisley Park studio (2015)

Recording site Paisley Park Studios — The album's recording studio is listed as Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota, in the source. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Hit n Run Phase Two: 39th studio album by American musician Prince
• Last album released during Prince's lifetime
• Continuation of the previous album, Hit n Run Phase One
• First released exclusively on the Tidal streaming service on December 12, 2015, for streaming and purchase
• Physical CD given away to attendees of Piano & a Microphone Tour shows in Australia and New Zealand
• Worldwide CD release on May 6, 2016, through Universal Music Group

Background

• Prince confirmed on Twitter that a physical CD would be released during a weekend of Paisley Park shows in January 2016
• Worldwide CD release came just over two weeks after Prince's death
• The album includes "Baltimore", made in memory of Freddie Gray
• Sound is more organic than the recent Art Official Age

Recording

• Booker T. Jones handled engineering duties
• Large brass section, the "NPG Hornz": five saxophonists, four trumpets, and two trombones

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Prince Rogers Nelson, born June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota; died April 21, 2016 at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
• Signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1977 at age 18; first album For You released April 7, 1978.
• Career spanned funk, rock, R&B and pop, with estimated sales over 100 million records.

Career

• Breakthrough with Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981) and 1999 (1982).
• Purple Rain (1984) made him the first singer to hold the number-one film, album and single in the US at the same time.
• Sign o' the Times (1987) is widely considered his greatest work.
• Changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993, becoming known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince; reverted to Prince in 2000.
• Won seven Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic average of 63 out of 100, based on 13 reviews, which means generally positive reviews
• Rolling Stone (Kory Grow): called it Prince's most consistently engaging album in years, with echoes of his past work while still sounding modern
• Paste (Holly Gleason): praised the funk, describing the music as undulating, fizzy, and almost light-headed
• NME (Matthew Horton): said the album reconnects Prince with the funkiest and occasionally crunkiest essentials, though not always with his superior sense of melody
• The Independent (Andy Gill): thought it might be Prince's best record in a decade or two, and the most confident confirmation of his qualities in many years
• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): said Prince dropped the contemporary electronics and flashy guitar of the previous record for a streamlined, even subdued soul album
• musicOMH (John Murphy): called Phase Two wildly inconsistent, with some flashes of Prince's brilliance
• Pitchfork (David Drake): found it underwhelming, describing a craftsman's tracing rather than an artist's interpretation
• Consequence of Sound (Geoff Nelson): said songs such as "Xtraloveable", "Screwdriver", and "When She Comes" came across as Prince doing Prince, a cut-rate version of his earlier fecundity

Records

• Debuted at No. 23 on the US Top R&B Albums chart, selling 2,000 copies in its first week
• Re-entered at No. 13 when Prince died four months later
• Peaked at No. 3 on the chart dated May 21, 2016
• Peaked at No. 5 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart
• Reached No. 40 on the Billboard 200
• Sold 57,000 copies as of November 2016

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album carries a Tidal-first history: it was released there on December 12, 2015, before any physical CD existed.
• The track listing was originally set as a continuation of Hit n Run Phase One, with "Baltimore" as track 12; on Tidal the album is now split into a two-volume bundle.
• "Stare" contains interpolations of Kiss from Parade (1986) and Sexy Dancer from Prince (1979).
• "Xtraloveable" was originally written for Vanity 6 and demoed in early April 1982 before being scrapped.
• "Screwdriver" was originally released as a single in February 2013.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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