Four of the five tracks are named after the location they were recorded in. The album's title is an acronym, taken from the first letters of the five tracks: "Copenhagen", "Nagoya", "Osaka", "Tokyo", and "Empty Room".[citation needed]
The entire album was recorded live from the audio console by Prince's concert sound engineer Scottie Baldwin.
The first four tracks are instrumentals, although the fourth features Prince repeating "Tokyo". The fifth track is a live rendition of "Empty Room" (recorded October 25, 2002 in Copenhagen),[citation needed] though the song was written ca. August 4, 1985,[citation needed] when it was first recorded. The song is reported[by whom?] to have been written and recorded for Susannah Melvoin after relationship difficulty.[citation needed]
The album is highly experimental and reminiscent of the Madhouse project.[citation needed] It was sold in digital format only on Prince's NPG Music Club.[citation needed]C-Note is jazz-oriented along with quiet storm, jazz-fusion, jazz-funk, and smooth jazz. It is also atmospheric and new age-themed.
History
Prince's then-fan club, The NPG Music Club charged $100 for a membership that had advertised that paying members would receive four exclusive albums. After Prince released One Nite Alone... and the three-disc One Nite Alone... Live!, members who felt deceived sent complaints of Federal Mail Fraud to the Minnesota Attorney General's office and the Better Business Bureau after Prince failed to honor the agreement. Some fans speculated that the albums Xpectation and C-Note (slang for a $100 bill) were his response to being forced to comply to these demands.
