Prince, The Hits 1
PrinceTHE HITS 1.
Prince's first major hits collection compresses more than a decade of constant reinvention into one disc, then adds material that longtime listeners had never heard before.
Album artwork shown for commentary and historical reference. Image source: Cover Art Archive / MusicBrainz.
SEVEN THINGS
WORTH KNOWING.
Recording stories, credits, physical details and numbers worth keeping with the record.
The Hits 1 was released in 1993 as one of the two individual hits discs drawn from the three-disc The Hits/The B-Sides set.
The collection contains 18 tracks and runs more than 75 minutes.
Prince's official store describes the compilation as covering best-selling material released between 1978 and 1992.
The track list reaches all the way back to Prince's debut single, "Soft and Wet."
The collection includes two Prince No. 1 singles, "1999" and "Let's Go Crazy."
At the time of release, "Pink Cashmere" was a previously unheard Prince recording and was issued as a single ahead of the compilation.
The set also introduced a live Prince performance of "Nothing Compares 2 U," the song he wrote for The Family that later became a worldwide hit for Sinéad O'Connor.
WHY THIS
ALBUM MATTERS.
The Hits 1 works because it does not reduce Prince to one era or one sound. Funk, rock, pop, ballads and studio experiments all sit next to each other, which makes the compilation feel less like a summary and more like evidence of how quickly he kept changing.
THE
NUMBERS.
TRACKS
One disc carries eighteen Prince recordings.
MINUTES
The CD runs longer than seventy-five minutes.
STARTING POINT
The official collection reaches back to Prince's debut single.
THE
PHYSICAL OBJECT.
The cover turns Prince himself into the entire visual statement. It is a career retrospective with almost no nostalgic clutter, just a stark portrait and minimal type.
RESEARCH SOURCES
Facts are checked against artist, label, archival and recording-credit sources before publication.
KEEP
DIGGING.
More recording stories, strange credits, cover art, chart numbers and details hiding inside the records.