PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - RASPBERRY BERET (12" VINYL) PRO-A-2313 PROMO

The 12" promo for "Raspberry Beret", like the other singles from this album, is special in that it has its own unique artwork on the picture sleeve.  Of course that artwork is limited to a dark red background, pink lettering and some trippy fonts, but it's still quite different from the commercial release and unique to this one 12".

The back of the sleeve is blank.  The labels on the actual record are the standard Warner Bros. blanks.  They feature a full color version of the logo on top and then more WB logos appearing as watermarks across the face of the label.  

The Paisley Park logo appears on the left hand side of the label just above the serial number and the words, "Promotional Copy.  Not For Sale."  The track repeats on both sides and is the single edit of the song.  The record plays at 33 1/3 RPM.  Prince is the composer of the track and this promo is limited to the American market.  The Paisley Park logo also appears on the front cover of the sleeve.

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - RASPBERRY BERET
01. Raspberry Beret 03:31 (Prince)
02. Raspberry Beret 03:31 (Prince)

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - RASPBERRY BERET (7" VINYL) 7-28972 PROMO

The promotional 7" vinyl of "Raspberry Beret" has the single version of the song repeating on both sides.  

Unlike the commercial single, the promo label uses the generic Warner Bros. label with the wording printed over the top.  The Warner Bros. logo appears on the right side of the label in full color and then repeats as a watermark across the face of the label.  

The words, "Promotion Not For Sale" appear above the color Warner logo and the Paisley Park logo is on the left side just below the time listing.

This promo single was issued in the commercial sleeve and in a generic Warner Bros. Records sleeve.

Prince is the author of the track and the record shares the same serial number as the commercial single.

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - RASPBERRY BERET
01. Raspberry Beret 03:31 (Prince)
02. Raspberry Beret 03:31 (Prince)

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - POP LIFE (12" VINYL) PRO-A-2331 PROMO

Like other promotional 12" releases at the time, this item has an original cover.  The track repeats on both sides and the song is the single version of "Pop Life".

Unlike the commercial single, the label on the record is the generic Warner Bros. label with the Warner Bros. logo appearing once in full color and then almost as a watermark across the rest of the label.

The Paisley Park logo appears on the cover and also on both sides of the label directly above the serial number.  The words "Promotional Copy.  Not For Sale." appears below the serial number.

This record is 33 1/3 RPM and Prince is the composer of the song.  The back cover is blank.

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - POP LIFE
01. Pop Life 03:43 (Prince)
02. Pop Life 03:43 (Prince)

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - POP LIFE (7" VINYL) 7-28998 PROMO

Like most singles on Paisley Park, the 7" single for "Pop Life" also has a promotional version.  The earlier Paisley Park singles released promotional records in the same sleeves as the commercial versions.

I've explained promotional singles in a previous entry, so I won't get into it here.  The single version of the song repeats on both sides and the words "Promotion Not For Sale" appear under the track time.

It shares the same serial number with the commercial release.

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - POP LIFE
01. Pop Life 03:42 (Prince)
02. Pop Life 03:42 (Prince)

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - AMERICA (12" VINYL) PRO-A-2300 PROMO

This is the promotional 12" release of "America".  As you can see, it's kinda cool because it has artwork unique to the release.  Notice how "Prince and the Revolution" is written using the "Purple Rain" font.  The front of the cover is the interesting font used for the song "America" on the album release.  The Paisley Park logo appears on the cover and the back cover is blank white.

The version on the record is the single version of the song and repeats on both sides.  Under the promotional serial number you can find the warning, "Promotional copy. Not for sale."

Three of the singles from "Around The World In A Day" are given unique artwork for the promotional 12".  

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - AMERICA

01. America 03:40 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Matt Fink, Mark Brown, Bobby Rivkin)

02. America 03:40 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Matt Fink, Mark Brown, Bobby Rivkin)

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - AMERICA (7" VINYL) 7-28999 PROMO

There are two versions of the 7" single of "America".  One is the commercially sold version and the second is the promotional version.  For those of you who aren't familiar with promotional items, they are usually printed and sent to radio stations and record stores.  Places where people who can influence sales will listen and hopefully promote the music further.

Because it's free, they are traditionally low end when it comes to content.  However, some artists make the promotional material more exciting and collectible with different covers and exclusive content.  Warner Bros. and Paisley Park were not so generous in '85.  As you can see from the photos in this post, the promotional 7" has the single version of 'America' and the track repeats on both sides.

Another difference is the inclusion of the words, "Promotion Not For Sale" on the label.  These items were never intended for commercial sale.

'America' is considered a group effort by Prince and the Revolution.

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - AMERICA

01. America 03:40 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Matt Fink, Mark Brown, Bobby Rivkin)

02. America 03:40 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Matt Fink, Mark Brown, Bobby Rivkin)