''Chaos and Disorder'' is the eighteenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American recording artist

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

. It was released on July 9, 1996, by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. The album reached number 26 in the United States—his poorest performance with an album of new material since his debut album '' For You''—and number 14 in the United Kingdom. Prince refused to promote the album, still engaged in his fight against his Warner Bros. contract, and it was released simply to fulfill his contractual obligations. The inlay sleeve carries the message: "Originally intended 4 private use only, this compilation serves as the last original material recorded by (love symbol) 4 warner brothers records - may you live 2 see the dawn".Prince, "Chaos and Disorder" (1996)(2019 reissue), CD inlay sleeve The single " Dinner with Delores" was released in the United Kingdom only, and despite the low-key promotion, became a Top 40 hit, albeit a minor one by his previous standards. Despite having been out of print for years, the album was released digitally on Tidal in 2016, and on iTunes in 2018. It was reissued on CD and vinyl in September 2019. The inlay sleeve shows a bloody hypodermic needle with a dollar bill inside it, and a human heart sitting in a toilet bowl.Prince, "Chaos and Disorder" (1996)(2019 reissue), CD inlay sleeve

Production, release and re-appraisal

While Prince insisted that the album "was done very quickly", and that they were "seeing how fast and hard we could thrash it out", more than a third of it dates back to sessions for '' The Gold Experience'' and ''Come''. It also marked the return of Rosie Gaines, who sang on five songs, and Michael B. and Sonny T., in what were to be their last sessions as regular

New Power Generation The New Power Generation, also known as the NPG, was the backing band of musician Prince (musician), Prince from 1990 to 2013. They were replaced by 3rdeyegirl as his backing band in 2013. In 2015, the New Power Generation reunited as Prince's ...

members. A re-appraisal of the album after Prince's death lauded it as "a rocker with moments of some of Prince's finest guitar playing." Another described it as a "tightly-focused, grunge-oriented rock-funk collection" where "the grit and punch of the musicianship is what gives the album its overall raw edge". ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

wrote in his review that, "anybody expecting a kissoff or a throwaway radically underestimates his irrepressible musicality. Apropos of nothing, here's a guitar album for your earhole, enhanced by a fresh if not shocking array of voices and trick sounds and cluttered now and then by horns." At the time of its release, Prince told the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'': "I was bitter before, but now I've washed my face. I can just move on. I'm free."

Warner Bros. contract

After ''Chaos and Disorder'' it was 18 years before Prince released another album on Warner Bros., 2014's ''

Plectrumelectrum ''Plectrumelectrum'' is the thirty-sixth studio album by American recording artist Prince, and the only to feature his backing band 3rdeyegirl. It was released on September 26, 2014 by NPG Records under a renewed license to Warner Bros. Records ...

'', under a deal which gave back Prince control of his masters, the absence of which on his original contract had been a source of considerable acrimony.

Production, release and re-appraisal

Warner Bros. contract

Track listing

Singles

Charts

References

Further reading