CHAPTER FIVE: NPG SLAVE TO THE SYSTEM

The making of Exodus
When pressed by Guitar World in their November 1994 issue to identify role models on guitar, O(+> name-called Sonny Thompson from his New Power Generation (The NPG) band from when he was a teenager: “I thought Sonny was God. Sonny was my hero. A lot of what I do on guitar, I learned from him. I’d go over to his house, and we’d play records and he’d show me things on guitar.”

 
Having just finished work on the May 1994 configurations of Come and The Gold Experience, O(+> started work on the NPG: Exodus album with Sonny Thompson as the lead singer at Paisley Park 15 May 1994. O(+> brought in demos of some of the songs, including the newly recorded songs The Good Life and Count The Days, while other tracks were the outcome of jamming.

NPG keyboard player Morris Hayes revealed in the December 2017 edition of the Peach And Black Podcast what spurred the recordings: “We’re in the sound stage. We’re rehearsing and we’re just jamming. We were just on a break and Michael and Sonny are just unbelievable at playing together. (…) So, what they were trying to do was trick each other off the groove. Michael would play a little riff, and Sonny, and they were just trying to see who could shake the other, and they couldn’t shake each other. They were like, “Stop and do something,” and it was just crazy to even watch it. “That is crazy what y’all are doing!” So, I’m standing there, looking at them, just marveling at the whole situation, me and Barbarella, and then Prince walks in and says, “What’s happening?” (...) I’m like, “Dude, they’re trying to trick each other off the beat.” I said, “We should just be making this a record right now.” He walked to the phone right behind him. He calls in the studio head. We had an engineer named Ray Hahnfeldt. He calls Ray and says, “Can you get some tape in studio A and have them move all the gear into Studio A?” Just like that. He said: “Then we WILL make a record." (…) And then people start pulling up tape at the vault. Just like that. It’s like, “Oh, okay.”"

"And we go in, set up, they get everything checked out," Morris Hayes continued. "We cut like eight songs in a row. He's calling changes. We're making it up on the spot and him calling changes. The majority of that record, Exodus - all of that stuff, Billy Jack, everything, Hallucination, all of it - just on the spot. And then calling out who takes a solo here. And if you hear the outtakes, it's crazy. I hope one day they'll release it 'cause it's unbelievable."

Morris Hayes told about the recording process in further detail to The Current in September 2018: “Prince would get in the studio and basically call the changes. We said, “okay, we're going to do this song. It's going to be in D, and you give Michael Bland a beat.” Then he'd say, "play this beat," and then he'd give Sonny a bass line and then give me a keyboard part and then from there we'd just call what the changes are going to be - go to the four, go to the five, whatever - and then take a solo here. He'd just call your name out and you'd just solo. And then we'd go, after the fact, and do post-production and get the horn players and all this stuff. We'd call Mike Nelson, and he writes the horn scores out. And it was put together like that.”

”Get Wild took on a couple of different forms before you got to the version that was released,” NPG drummer Michael Bland revealed to Truth In Rhythm in 2022. “There was a version we recorded more like a live band and then Prince kind of gutted it and threw some electronic drums in there. He messed with the arrangement and something. I think he just kind of sampled and dragged in whatever he wanted from the live tracks and kind of reshaped the whole thing. He did that a number of times while we were there. That also happened with Race and 319. There are alternate versions of those that are like, full on!”

The first Exodus

Seven tracks were completed over a few days in May. The NPG Hornz played on Get Wild, New Power Soul, It Takes 3 and The Exodus Has Begun. The Steeles added background vocals on The Exodus Has Begun which O(+> performed himself, although in an electronically altered voice. An early version of Get Wild also featured O(+> himself on lead-vocal. An electric violin player, Denis Boder from the Los Angeles Philharmonics’ junior ensemble, was flown in to add a part to Hallucination Rain.

"Hallucination Rain was crazy," Morris Hayes recalled in the Peach And Black Podcast, “because he was like, “Yeah, Morris, I flew in this violinist to come in. You just record him and you just color in the sounds.” I used a bunch of stuff to make up the spooky sounds and all of this kind of stuff. Ans then I just recorded the violinist. Prince called back in the studio. “You got something?” “Yeah, he killed it. There’s one area where maybe you should listen because I don’t know if that should be re-recorded.” He heard it. He said, “No, leave it. Leave it. That’s great.” It kinda sounded like a mistake, but he liked it. It was kinda sideways. (…) He just played this one note flat, but he dug it. He was like, “No, that’s cool. I like it. Just leave it.”"

"It was crazy because he ruined like three really expensive microphones recording that song," Morris Hayes continued, "because he wanted his guitar to sound really crazy. So, what they did is: They got a bucket of water and put, like three mikes in it and, like wrapped them in plastic and then put 'em down in this bucket and then put that bucket in front of his guitar amp. And we killed about two or three of those mikes recording that because they'd get wet and it'd fry 'em. (...). He's like: "I don't care." But that guitar has got a real weird sound, because it's playing through water in a bucket."

Additional post-production work, including the recording of a number of segues, followed before the first configuration of the album was compiled. O(+> was the songwriter on all of the songs, except for Get Wild which was co-written with Sonny Thompson. The Good Life didn’t get included on the first configuration. As the track list on the back cover doesn’t list segues, it is possible there weren’t any on the initial configuration.

The New Power Generation: Exodus (summer 1994)
The Exodus Has Begun
Get Wild
Count The Days
It Takes 3
New Power Soul
Hallucination Rain

Another configuration quickly followed on 19 June 1994 that had It Takes 3 and New Power Soul in switched places and the track list printed on both the back cover and CD now included segues.

The New Power Generation: Exodus (19 June 1994)
1. NPG Bum Rush The Ship (1:33)
2. Exodus Has Begun (10:45)
3. NPG Operator (Segue) (0:34)
4. Get Wild (5:56) (O(+>/Sonny Thompson)
5. Sonny Turns The T.V. Off (0:48)
6. Count The Days (3:24)
7. DJ Gets Jumped (Segue) (0:22)
8. New Power Soul (5:38)
9. DJ Seduces Sonny (Segue) (0:45)
10. It Takes 3 (3:59)
11. Gettin’ The Soup Ready (Segue) (0:16)
12. Hallucination Rain (11:07)
13. Spooky Soup (Segue) (0:09)
14. NPG Outro (0:11)

NPG Outro was a hidden track advertising a sequel, New Power Soul, “coming soon on NPG Records”

Playing Kirk J remixes instead of Exodus
From 28 May to 26 July 1994, O(+> embarked upon a summer tour of clubs in Minneapolis, Miami, Los Angeles and New York dubbed The Love Experience. Get Wild was occasionally performed as a 10 to 15 minutes long party number.

Prior to 14 October 1994, O(+> also produced a bunch of remixes of Get Wild: Get Wild (Money Maker), Get Wild (Kirky J’s Get Wild), Get Wild (Club Mix), Get Wild (Get Wild In The House) and Get Wild (Money Maker Funky Jazz Mix).

Former Game Boyz dancer Kirk Johnson didn’t just remix Get Wild, though. After having sequenced the Exodus album, O(+> went into the Warner Brothers office in Burbank, California, to play some new music for Mo Ostin, Lenny Waronker, Benny Medina and Ross Thyret, but not the new Exodus album, no. Instead, he played them side 1 of a 12” acetate dated 21 June 1994 containing three remixes by Kirky J., namely Head, Pop Life and How You Want To Be Done. An edit of the latter would get released as Tell Me How U Wanna B Done on the 1998 Crystal Ball collection. O(+> forgot the 12” acetate when he left the office and Warners was allowed to make cassette copies off it before O(+> sent an aide to retrieve it.

O(+>: Side 1 12” acetate (21 June 1994)
1. Head (Remix) (6:31)
2. Pop Life (Remix) (6:09)
3. How You Want To Be Done (5:12)

The Pop Life remix was also considered as a B-side for the autumn 1994 Space single. There was probably also a side 2 acetate as Kirk J. also made remixes of When Doves Cry, Alphabet St., Sexy M.F. and The Continental. Many of the Kirk J. remixes were edited and segued together for the Kirk J’s B Sides Remix on the March 1995 Prince: Purple Medley single.

A different Exodus

In November 1994, O(+> continued work on Exodus before assembling a new configuration of the album on 2 December 1994. Sonny Thompson recorded his vocals on the Gold Experience outtakes Acknowledge Me, Mad and Funky Design, as well as Love, Thy Will Be Done - a classic Prince/Martika collaboration previously released by Martika in 1991.

Get Wild was about to get released on a soundtrack, so a new version was made for the Exodus album. Also, a new version of Superhero, a 1992 MPLS song released as a 1994 single credited to The New Power Generation featuring The Steeles, was recorded that incorporated a cover of Billy Preston’s Outa Space. Two other covers were recorded for the project, Funky by The Chamber Brothers and John Fogerty’s Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The lead vocal on Proud Mary was performed by guest-star Derek Hughes with whom O(+> also recorded Somebody’s Somebody of which two slightly different versions were made. Both remain unreleased.

A brand-new track was written for Exodus, Slave, which was fairly short and got tracked with Acknowledge Me as one track. A new segue entitled Sonny Segue went between Count The Days and DJ Gets Jumped Segue. To make room for all of the new material, O(+> removed D.J. Seduces Sonny, It Takes 3, Gettin’ The Soup Ready, Hallucination Rain, Spooky Soup and NPG Outro and edited New Power Soul shorter. The new version of Get Wild was also the 7” version rather than the full version which remains unreleased, but was used for the music video.

The New Power Generation: Exodus cassette (2 December 1994)
1. Operator Segue (0:34)
2. Get Wild – 7” (4:30) (O(+>/Sonny Thompson)
3. Slave/Acknowledge Me (6:15)
4. Superhero (7:20) - incorporates Outa Space (Preston/Greene)
5. Count Segue (0:49) – previously named Sonny Turns The T.V. Off
6. Count The Days (3:24)
7. Sonny Segue (0:50)
8. DJ Gets Jumped Segue (0:22)
9. New Power Soul (3:57)
10. Mad (5:26)
11. Love, Thy Will Be Done (4:41) (Prince/Martika)
12. Funky (4:14) (Chambers)
13. Proud Mary (4:19) (John Fogerty)
14. N.P.G. Bumrush The Ship Segue (1:33)
15. Exodus (10:45)
16. Funky Design (4:18)

The brief Slave track got reworked into a full-fledged song for early configurations of O(+>’s Emancipation album in 1995, but was ultimately also left off that album.

Finalizing Exodus
On 6 December 1994, the soundtrack album to the film Pret-A-Porter was released. The compilation included the version of Get Wild from the 19 June 1994 Exodus configuration extended with a few seconds of the NPG Operator at the beginning.

Pret-A-Porter – Music From The Motion Picture (6 December 1994)
The New Power Generation: Get Wild (5:58)

In December 1994, O(+> recorded two new songs, Return Of The Bump Squad and Big Fun, which would end up on the third and final configuration of Exodus. On 5 January 1995, O(+> sequenced an NPG Records artist sampler cassette.

NPG Records Sampler Experience cassette (5 January 1995)
1. N.P.G. Operator (0:14)
2. 1-800 NEW FUNK (0:38) – previously NPG Operator Segue
3. NPG: Get Wild (0:34)
4. NPG: DJ Gets Jumped (Segue) (0:22)
5. NPG: New Power Soul (0:34)
6. NPG: Sonny Turns The TV Off (Segue) (0:43) – previously Count Segue
7. NPG: Count The Days (0:34)
8. N.P.G. Operator (Segue) (0:12)
9. Tora Tora Experience: (Lemme See Your Body) Get Loose! (0:33) - previously Loose Dub
10. N.P.G. Operator (Segue) (0:05)
11. Madhouse: Asswhuppin’ In A Trunk (0:34) - previously Asswoop
12. Madhouse: Ethereal Segue (0:28)
13. Madhouse: Parlor Games (0:34)
14. Derek Hughes: Somebody’s Somebody (0:46)
15. N.P.G. Operator (Segue) (0:17)
16. The NPG Orchestra: Kamasutra (Excerpt) (0:42)

In early 1995, O(+> continued work on Exodus. Sonny Thompson added co-lead vocal to Return Of The Bump Squad and lead-vocal to Big Fun. Eric Leeds added horn overdubs to the tracks on 16 January 1995. The O(+> tracks Slave/Acknowledge Me, Mad, Love, Thy Will Be Done and Funky Design were removed from the album, as was Superhero, Sonny Segue and the covers of Funky and Proud Mary. Instead O(+> added The Good Life and edits of DJ Seduces Sonny and Gettin’ The Soup Ready and brought a now shorter Hallucination Rain back.

New Power Soul, NPG Bum Rush The Ship and The Exodus Has Begun were also edited for length. A new song Cherry Cherry with guitar by Michael Scott was added to the configuration, as was a handful of new segues of which two featured O(+> prominently, Mashed Potato Girl and New Power Day. O(+> sequenced the third and final configuration of Exodus before going to Europe 19 February 1995.

The final configuration contained an abundance of segues – 12 of them and outnumbering the actual songs on the album of which there were nine. This might have contributed to the lack of success of the album. It basically only garnered interest from hardcore O(+> fans.

“It got really crazy with these segues we were doing,” Morris Hayes admitted in the Peach And Black Podcast interview. “We came back one day and there was like 400 of these and we’re like, “Dude, he’s going over the cliff with these segues, man.” He just was having a ball. We’re like, “Prince, that’s enough, man.” It was his thing. He loved to be funny and have that kind of comedy in it.”

A cassette of the new figuration featured a version of Get Wild that included a “do you like music?” sample that was removed before the album got mastered. The version of The Exodus Has Begun on the cassette tape also featured a “the icing on the cake” sample that likewise got removed before release.  

NPG: Exodus (17 March 1995)

1. N.P.G. Operator Intro (0:34) – previously 1-800 NEW FUNK

2. Get Wild (4:32)

3. Segue (0:38)

4. DJ Gets Jumped (Segue) (0:22)

5. New Power Soul (4:10)

6. DJ Seduces Sonny (Segue) (0:38)

7. Segue (0:42) – previously Sonny Turns The TV Off

8. Count The Days (3:24)

9. The Good Life (5:48)

10. Cherry, Cherry (4:44)

11. Segue (0:18)

12. Return Of The Bump Squad (7:20)

13. Mashed Potato Girl Intro (Segue) (0:21)

14. Segue (3:00)

15. Big Fun (7:26)

16. New Power Day (Segue) (3:49)

17. Segue (0:15) – previously Gettin’ The Soup Ready

18. Hallucination Rain (5:49)

19. NPG Bum Rush The Ship (Segue) (1:40)

20. The Exodus Has Begun (10:06) – previously Exodus

21. Outro (0:35)

The full version of Hallucination Rain was intended as a B-side for a Return Of The Bump Squad 12” single that was never released, though.

NPG: Return Of The Bump Squad 12” (1995)
A) Return Of The Bump Squad
B) Hallucination Rain (11:07)*

On 30 January 1995 O(+> received the American Music Award of Merit and the ceremony closed with a 10th-year anniversary performance of We Are The World. O(+> joined the celebrity group gathered onstage, including Sheila E. and Wendy and Lisa, but he didn’t sing. Instead he was sucking on a lollipop and when Quincy Jones held his microphone toward O(+>’s mouth, O(+> responded by holding his lollipop to Quincy Jones’ mouth. When Quincy Jones went for a lick, O(+> quickly pulled the lollipop back. Many took offense to O(+>’s refusal to sing and Quincy Jones supposedly told O(+> afterwards: “As far as I’m concerned, you’re still a prick.”

Exodus live

On 3 March 1995, O(+>’s European Gold Experience tour opened in London. The British newspaper The Guardian reported that some fans were given the Sampler Experience cassette which included brief snatches of unreleased O(+> music: “Some of those samples were taken from a pending album by O(+>’s band The New Power Generation which features O(+> on guitar and some vocals. That record will be released on NPG Records. Warner Bros. is keeping an eye on that project, wary of the prospects for a new O(+> album being slipped to the public outside of his contract.”

“The important thing is that my fans hear this music, whether it be through duplicating cassettes or (…) just turn up at radio stations and play the people our music,” O(+> told Time Out.

The Ultimate Live Experience, as the tour was dubbed, lasted until 31 March 1995. O(+> occasionally played Get Wild, Superhero, Love, Thy Will Be Done, Funky and Proud Mary. At an aftershow in London, 22 March, O(+> advertised the NPG album, “it’ll be out next Monday,” and played a mostly instrumental version of Big Fun and Funky Design. At the aftershow the next night, O(+> led the audience in a Funky Design chant and added: “This CD is a little different than the others. WE put this one out, you understand? We ain’t running this shit. Oh, yeah, I’m a slave when it comes to my solo career, but when I’m with my homies ain’t nothing going on but the riffs and it’s funky. London, pick it up. Check it out. Sonny doin’ most of the leads on there. That’s my idol.”

Count The Days was played at a rehearsal, but with lead vocal by Sonny Thompson.

On 15 March 1995, The NPG taped a short performance of Get Wild for BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops which was broadcast the following day. O(+> appeared in the role of band member Tora Tora. His face was covered with a red veil.

Release of Exodus

While O(+> was in the final stages of his European tour, Exodus was released on NPG Records in England, Australia and parts of Europe on 27 March 1995. The album was said to be about musical and spiritual freedom (from record companies). The album sold modestly, mainly attracting attention from converted O(+> fans. His background vocals were all over the record.

There was one small moment of the album that was considered as heresy, though. That was in the DJ Gets Jumped-segue where Sonny Thompson rips the 1986 Prince And The Revolution masterpiece Dream Factory off the DJ’s turntable, saying: “Fuck this disco! Don’t you all wanna hear some real music?”

The cover inlay advertised the sequel, New Power Soul: “Exodus is a journey 2 long 2 live thru a single CD or cassette. If U would like a cassette of the next installment of New Power Soul, call 1-800-NEW-FUNK.”

But no sequel became available prior to the NPG being disbanded 8 March 1996.

The first single release from Exodus was Get Wild.

The NPG: Get Wild – The Single (early 1995)

1. Get Wild (4:33)

2. Beautiful Girl (4:39)

3. Hallucination Rain (5:52)

Beautiful Girl was a sax version of O(+>'s hit single The Most Beautiful Girl In The World performed by Eric Leeds.

The NPG: Get Wild – The Maxi Single (early 1995)

1. Money Maker (6:01)

2. Kirky J’s Get Wild (6:38)

3. Club Mix (5:44)

4. Get Wild In The House (6:14)

5. Get Wild (4:33)

6. Money Maker Funky Jazz Mix (6:20)

The music video featured the full version of the (4:33) album/single edit.

On 7 April 1995, O(+>, as Tora Tora, promoted Exodus as DJ in a 30-minute NPG special called Radio WNPG on BBC Radio One. He interviewed the other band members and played tracks from Exodus and remixes of Get Wild. The next day a British TV-show, The White Room, aired two live performances taped three days earlier with Sonny Thompson on co-lead vocal: A clean version of Count The Days and Get Wild.

The Good Life in the US

By 12 May 1995, O(+> was back in the US and met with Warner Bros. new top management. The meeting led O(+> and Warner Bros. to settle their differences, at least for the time being. New Warner Bros. Chairman, Danny Goldberg, agreed to release Exodus in the US. In turn, Goldberg believed he had extracted from O(+> a commitment to stop bashing the label in public as he had done while in England.

Although Goldberg had not committed to any specific timetable for releasing Exodus, O(+> assumed it would be rushed out almost immediately. When this failed to happen, he believed he had been misled. He felt that Goldberg did not understand him or his music.

In May O(+> recorded The Good Life (Big City Remix) which he performed himself. It was included on an unreleased 1995 collection of O(+> songs entitled Playtime by Versace that was intended as a gift for Gianni and Donatella Versace. He also produced The Good Life (Bullets Go Bang Remix) and a promotional CD-single was made with the two remixes and a couple of edits of which the Big City Radio Edit remains unreleased.

The New Power Generation: The Good Life promo CD-single (May 1995)

Big City Radio Edit (4:14)*
Big City Remix Full Version (5:05)
Album Edit (4:02)*
Bullets Go Bang Remix (5:14)
Album Version (5:48)

The NPG in Miami photographed by Nicole Nodland

O(+> celebrated his 2^nd birthday by giving a couple of concerts at Glam Slam Miami 7-8 June 1995. He performed Return Of The Bump Squad, Get Wild and Big Fun. Sonny Thompson performed Count The Days. A video for The Good Life was filmed on 8 June. It was the second single to be released from Exodus after additional remixes with no involvement from O(+> had been made of the track.

The New Power Generation: The Good Life single (May/June 1995)
1. The Good Life (Album Version) (Edit) (4:01)
2. The Good Life Life (Platinum People Edit) (4:22)

The New Power Generation: The Good Life maxi single (May/June 1995)
1. The Good Life (Platinum People Edit) (4:12)
2. The Good Life (Platinum People Mix) (6:40)
3. The Good Life (Dancing Divaz Mix) (6:40)
4. The Good Life (Bullets Go Bang Remix) (5:14)
5. The Good Life (Big City Remix) (5:05)
6. The Good Life (Album Version) (5:48)

The Dancing Divaz Mix became a club hit in Europe.

For the US release of a single from Exodus, it was decided to do a double single with both The Good Life and Get Wild. A promo single was made that included the same album edit of The Good Life as on the European single, but now retitled Radio Edit. Edits of Get Wild (Money Maker) and (Money Maker Funky Jazz Mix) were also made. None of the edits made the final single releases.

The N.P.G.: The Good Life/Get Wild promo CD single (June 1995)
The Good Life (Radio Edit) (4:02)*
The Good Life (Album Version) (4:41)
Get Wild (Album Version) (4:33)
Get Wild (Money Maker Radio Edit) (4:13)*
Get Wild (Funky Jazz Radio Edit) (4:15)*

On 13 June 1995, Warner Bros. released the The Good Life/Get Wild single in the US. The maxi single included an edit of Free The Music which contained snippets of the NPG album songs over a drum machine beat.

The New Power Generation: The Good Life US single (June 1995)

1. The Good Life (5:48)

2. Get Wild (Money Maker Remix) (6:01)

The New Power Generation: The Good Life US maxi single (June 1995)

1. The Good Life (Album Version) (5:48)

2. The Good Life (Bullets Go Bang Remix) (5:14)

3. The Good Life (Big City Remix) (5:05)

4. Free The Music (1:48)

5. Get Wild (In The House Remix) (6:14)

6. Get Wild (Club Mix) (5:44)

The promo video was released 14 September 1995, but the single failed to chart in the US. It managed to reach number 29 in the UK, though, and in the summer of 1997, it re-entered the charts at number 15 thanks to airplay of the Platinum People Mix on a “rock” station.

US release cancelled

Prior to 8 July 1995 O(+> made an edit of Get Wild In The House for a “soundtrack” to a Versace fashion show during Paris Fashion Days 8-10 July 1995. 

On 12 August 1995, The NPG performed an Exodus set at a Love 4 One Another concert at Paisley Park. Sonny Thompson sang lead on Return Of The Bump Squad, Count The Days and The Good Life. O(+> took over for The Good Life (Big City Remix), before Sonny concluded the set with Cherry Cherry and Get Wild.

O(+> performed a short version of Mad at another Love 4 One Another concert at Paisley Park, 26 August 1995.

On 30 August 1995 a promo video for Count The Days premiered on BET. It was the third and final single release from Exodus.

The New Power Genration: Count The Days single (August 1995)

1. Count The Days (Clean Version) (3:24)

2. Count The Days (3:24)

3. New Power Soul (4:10)

In an interview in the Autumn 1995 issue of Esquire Gentleman, O(+> talked about his slavery to Warner Bros. Records. Warner Bros. officials cancelled the US release of Exodus in retaliation.

Disbanding the NPG and the final Exodus tracks

In early 1996, O(+> resumed The Gold Experience tour, this time in Japan 8 – 20 January 1996 and on Hawaii 17 – 19 February 1996. The shows included a short performance of Funky, as well as Get Wild played in a medley with P. Control like in P. Control (House Mix).

By this time, the relationship between O(+> and The NPG had deteriorated to the point where “Prince acted in a manner that I had never seen him act before with this particular lineup ever,” drummer Michael Bland revealed to biographer Alex Hahn for the 2004 book Possesed - The Rise And Fall Of Prince. “He was really and truly angry with us.”

“The writing was on the wall,” Michael Bland elaborated in a 2024 YouTube interview with Funkatopia. “Early in 96, like in January, we went to Japan and the first night, the gig didn’t go so well. Partly, it was because I think they were trying to save money on the carny and like, boating the equipment to Japan. I think they tried to leave early to save money. But we lost time in rehearsal, and we didn’t have any days to prep when we got to Japan. So, the soundcheck was all we had. And it had been like three and a half weeks, so the first show was not a disaster, but it was subpar and Prince, he stopped talking to us for like a week.”

O(+> and his band had always engaged in a joint prayer before going onstage, but before one of the Japanese concerts, a bodyguard informed the band that O(+> wanted to pray alone. “That was particularly mean,” Bland recalled to Alex Hahn. “I’m a Christian man, so I have to forgive, but I’ll never forget that. From that night on, we never prayed with him again.”

“I would absorb a lot of abuse and then a moment would come where I would face it,” Michael Bland elaborated in a 2022 Truth In Rhythm interview. “If I knew I was right and he was being unduly sarcastic or difficult with me, I’d cut to the chase. (…) The tension was getting high. We weren’t getting along, even in Japan. During that run, after a show we went to a kind of twentyfour-hour McDonalds – for Big Macs or something and Prince comes walking in, like about ten minutes after we got there, but like the cool run, like the paparazzi run, with security and up to the upper level in this McDonalds. And we’re all kind of looking at each other and I can’t remember who he sent down to say, ‘Hey, Prince wants to know if you guys want to join him upstairs.’ We looked at each other and I think I might have been the one who said, ‘No, that’s alright. We’re good right here.’ One of us said it and nobody even blinked. By that time, we were, ‘We’re not dating you. We don’t have to take the abuse. If you wanna box us out, we can do the same thing to you.’”

“He was writing songs about ‘I need a band.’” Michael Bland recalled to Funkatopia. “I think Morris found some lyrics he’d put away. He had started writing a song about ‘I need a band. I need a band that won’t let it fly when I scold them. I need a band.’ Well, that ain’t me!” And so O(+> disbanded the NPG on 8 March 1996.

In 1998, O(+>’s own version of Acknowledge Me was released on the Crystal Ball collection while O(+>’s versions of Mad and Funky Design were released as downloads to members of Prince’s now defunct internet site, NPG Music Club, in February 2001. A live version of Return Of The Bump Squad from Paisley Park 22 October 1995 was made available as a download to premium members in March 2001. In August 2001, all members could download the previously unknown Get Wild (Miami Mix) which was probably made in 1994.