Dream Factory (album)

Dream Factory
Studio album by Prince and The Revolution
Released	Unreleased
Recorded	Summer 1982 – July 1986
Genre	Rock, pop, funk
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Prince and The Revolution

Dream Factory was an unreleased double LP project recorded by Prince and The Revolution from 1986.

Prince's band, The Revolution, were invited to the studio to contribute to a majority of the material for the planned album, with the notable exceptions of "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" and "Starfish & Coffee" (co-written by Susannah Melvoin). Prince had not had this level of collaboration before with the band; he and the Revolution by 1983 began working together increasingly. Some tracks included a few band members, most tracks none, some were full band recordings or included many other extra musicians. By June 1986, Dream Factory had expanded to a 19-track double album that now included solo recordings by Prince, whilst tracks such as "Big Tall Wall", and "Teacher, Teacher" were removed. The Revolution was dissolved in October 1986, after which many of the album's tracks were incorporated into what was now a planned solo three LP project entitled Crystal Ball. However, Prince's record distributor at the time, Warner Bros., balked at a three LP release, so the project was reduced to a two LP set and retitled Sign o' the Times.

In March 2009, Vibe magazine featured the album on its "51 Albums That Never Were," calling it a "coulda-been classic," and even streaming "All My Dreams" for a limited time. Vibe also interviewed former Revolution members Wendy and Lisa on the project.

Even though the album was never officially released, there is a bootleg CD available of the July 1986 track configuration, which comes with a color pencil sketch made by Susannah Melvoin as cover, which was a concept for the prospective sleeve. Interestingly this album cover is attributed to The Flesh rather than Prince and The Revolution.

Side A

Side B

Side A

Side B

Side C

Side D

Side A

Side B

Side C

Side D

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Wikipedia