PAINT IT BLACK: Will Prince’s mysterious, much-speculated-upon...

PAINT IT BLACK: Will Prince’s mysterious, much-speculated-upon new album (known to Warner Bros. Records staffers only as “The Black Album”) ever reach our friendly local record stores? And is it really even a Prince record? Originally scheduled to be released last week, the disc now is on permanent hold--which could mean the record, at least in its present form, will never surface. The Purple One’s camp isn’t talking--and ditto for Warners execs.

However, our Prince source (let’s call him Deep Purple) dug up a list of the record’s song titles. That’ll have to suffice till Prince retools and releases the album--which probably won’t happen until Warners has squeezed at least one more single from “Sign ‘O’ the Times,” currently getting a boost from the Prince film of the same name playing in theaters around the country.

The songs titles--which seem to support speculation that the “Black” album had the air of a dark, provocative and very funky statement--go as follows: “Le Grind,” “Cindy C,” “Dead On It,” “When 2 R in Love,” “Bob George,” Superfunkycalifragisexy,” “2 Nigs United 4 West Compton” and “Rock Hard in a Funky Place.” According to our Deep Purple source, that last song is really unlucky. It first appeared on an earlier, unreleased Prince project (under the name “Camille”) that also contained several songs, including “If I Was Your Girlfriend” and “Housequake,” which eventually surfaced on “Sign ‘O’ the Times.”