Of all the interesting promotional strategies Prince attempted over the course of his career, 20Ten – his 35th full length studio album – has to be the most unique. 20Ten was released in July of 2010 through Belgian and British newspapers. 12 days later copies of the 20Ten CD were available in an issue of the German version of Rolling Stone. That’s it. No singles were released. Prince was on a tour of Europe at the time and one would’ve thought that he was there to promote the album, but he only played two songs from the album on the tour. It was not eligible for Billboard charts because it never had an official release.
All of this is a shame, because 20Ten is a cool album. A better version of 2009’s MPLSound, it’s a throwback electronic funk album. My favorite song on the album happens to be today’s track, “Sticky Like Glue.” Another staple of the Prince catalog, this song is somehow mellow and funky at the same time. It’s a song about staying in love despite not always being on the same page, and it’s catchy as hell. I’ve always said that you can’t label Prince’s music as any genre because he blends so many of them together. He’s his own genre by himself. That said, Prince was funky.
Since I don’t have a lot more to say about this song, I’m going to throw an idea out to the Prince Estate on the one-in-a-million chance they’re seeing this: Start a Prince vinyl subscription service. They’ve been cranking out albums like crazy in the past 2-3 years anyway. Why not create a service like Vinyl Me, Please (or partner with them) and release a different Prince vinyl every month? Maybe one month you get a 7″ or 12″ single. Other months you get a full LP. Some months you get something like 20Ten, which was never pressed on vinyl. Other months maybe you get a classic album, but an exclusive pressing on a different color. How about a peach colored version of Sign O’ the Times? Batman on black and gold? Make them 180 gram with gatefold sleeves featuring cool photography and liner notes. Throw in some of his side projects like The Time, Vanity 6, The Family, Appolonia 6, Sheila E, etc. I would sign up for that in a heartbeat and eagerly await it every month. I’m certain that I’m not alone.
Anyway, let’s get 20Ten available on vinyl. It’s an album that deserves far more recognition than it got.
mookiefantana 
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