Prince & the New Power Generation's Diamonds and Pearls: Official Classic album

On its initial release in October 1991, Prince & the New Power Generation's Diamonds and Pearls peaked at Number 2 in the Official Albums Chart (kept off by Simply Red’s juggernaut album Stars), spending 10 weeks in the Top 10 and 45 weeks in the Top 40.

Today, we explore what makes Diamonds and Pearls an Official Classic, and how the record remains relevant in 2023.

What makes Prince & the New Power Generation's Diamonds and Pearls an Official Classic?

In the stellar career of Prince, Diamonds and Pearls (which produced singles including Cream, Gett Off and title track Diamonds and Pearls) remains his biggest-selling album in the UK and his biggest non-soundtrack album worldwide, coming at the peak of his powers in the early Nineties.

Why is it relevant now?

The album is the latest in the Prince canon to receive the “Vault” treatment, and is released this week (Friday October 27).

The Minneapolis superstar (who tragically died in April 2016 aged just 57) famously recorded constantly, often through the night, at his Paisley Park studio complex; leaving huge volumes of unreleased material in his so-called, legendary “Vault”.

This incredible legacy of recordings has formed the backbone of the Prince estate’s reissues programme over recent years – and this time it's Diamonds and Pearls' time to be unlocked.

As well as a completely new remaster of the album, a series of packages offer 47 previously unreleased tracks, including more than two hours of concert video from the era, across digital download and stream, CD, Blu-Ray and, of course, vinyl. The album is the first by Prince to be fully remixed in Dolby ATMOS, delivered via Blu-Ray format. The packages being made available include:

•    Super deluxe edition* – 7x CD & Blu-Ray, or 12 x LP & Blu-Ray , audio-only download and streaming
•    Deluxe edition* – 4x 180g vinyl | 2 x CD
•    Remastered album* – 1 x CD, 2 x clear vinyl , download and streaming.

Also available via HMV.

(*Affiliate link - if you purchase via links in this article, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.)

WATCH Prince & the New Power Generation's Cream music video below:

MORE: See where every Prince song and album has charted in the UK

Five facts about Diamonds and Pearls:

1. In 1991, Prince was coming off the first cool streak of his career. After his steamroller successes in the 1980s, the soundtracks to Batman (starring Michael Keaton in the lead role) and Prince’s own Graffiti Bridge were given a muted reception. Diamonds & Pearls re-ignited the artist and lit the fuse on his 1990s hot streak, which included 1994’s The Most Beautiful Girl In the World, which remains to this day the artist’s only Official UK Number 1 single.

2. Diamonds & Pearls was the first Prince album to feature The New Power Generation, his first credited backing band since The Revolution were jettisoned after the 1986 album Parade. The band ultimately included (among others) on backing vox Rosie Gaines, guitar Levi Seacer and keys Tommy Barbarella, plus Mayte Garcia, a dancer who became Prince’s muse, wife and the mother to their child, Amir.

3. A companion release to the album reissue is a singles boxed set, limited to just 1,991 numbered sets worldwide, featuring the six singles released in 1991 and 1992, and including a single of the previously unreleased tracks Alice Through The Looking Glass and Horny Pony (Version 2).

4. By the time of Diamonds and Pearls, Prince was still just 33 – but had been a recording artist since signing to Warner Bros aged 19 and releasing an average of an album a year for the intervening 14 years. Diamonds & Pearls was his 13th studio album. 

5. Diamonds and Pearls was the last album before the beginning of the Love Symbol era. In October 1992, Prince & the New Power Generation released a new album  - but instead of giving it a formal title, the sleeve featured an unpronounceable symbol (explained by Prince as being a combination of the male and male symbols).

Widely known as the Love Symbol album, it featured the track My Name Is Prince. But by the following summer he had fallen out with his label (who refused to release his music as fast as he was recording it) – and on his 35th birthday (June 7 1993) announced that he was no longer answering to his christened name, but should instead by referred to as [Love Symbol]. He only dusted off “Prince”, following the expiry of his contract in 2000.

MORE: Albums still to come in 2023

Liner notes:

One fascinating facet of the release, which has Prince aficionados particularly excited, is the inclusion of an hour-long concert recorded by Prince with the New Power Generation at the artist’s own Glam Slam club in Minneapolis on January 11 1992.

An example of the artist’s legendary small club shows, which invariably punctuated his tours (he played such after-hours gigs at Bagley’s, Café de Paris and Camden Palace in London at various stages of his career), it is an extremely rare example of a genuine video recording and has never previously seen the light of day, even on bootleg. The recording, which was a warm up for the Diamonds & Pearls tour, ends with a police raid after the show continues beyond the club’s curfew.

It has been mixed from scratch from the 24-track master and is offered in 2K video, in stereo, 5.1, Dolby True HD and Dolby ATMOS formats.

Further listening:

Where to start?

While Prince was famous in the latter years of his life as among the greatest live performers on the planet, at his Eighties peak, he produced some of the greatest albums of all time. His 1982 release 1999 and 1984’s Purple Rain were his breakthrough albums, 1986’s Parade, 1987’s Sign O’ The Times arguably his greatest recorded moments. For the Prince newcomer, the recent reissues of Sign O’ The Times and 1999 would represent the strongest starting point.

Buy Prince & The New Power Generation's Diamonds and Pearls reissue:

Prince & the New Power Generation's Diamonds and Pearls reissue is released Friday October 27 2023. 

•    Super deluxe edition* – 7x CD & Blu-Ray, or 12 x LP & Blu-Ray , audio-only download and streaming
•    Deluxe edition* – 4x 180g vinyl | 2 x CD
•    Remastered album* – 1 x CD, 2 x clear vinyl , download and streaming.

Also available via HMV.

(*Affiliate link - if you purchase via links in this article, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.)