Prince Estate Makes Surprise Announcement And Will Be Releasing Unheard Songs That Date Back To 1983
Today is a great day for Prince fans everywhere as the Prince Estate and Warner Bros. Records have just made the surprise announcement that they will be working together to put out a new Prince record called Piano & A Microphone 1983, which will be released on September 21.
According to Super Deluxe Edition, the new Prince album will capture a very private and special moment in time back in 1983 when Prince was using home studio cassettes in Chanhassen, Minnesota, to record his melodies, tracks which up until now have never been heard by the public.
Troy Carter, who is the entertainment adviser for the Prince Estate, explained that Piano & A Microphone 1983 will give fans of Prince’s music a chance to see how the artist began with a piano and, ultimately, ended with one, as evidenced by his last tour.
“This raw, intimate recording, which took place at the start of Prince’s career right before he achieved international stardom, is similar in format to the Piano & A Microphone Tour that he ended his career with in 2016. The Estate is excited to be able to give fans a glimpse of his evolution and show how his career ultimately came full circle with just him and his piano.”
Gold from the Prince vault: 'Piano & a Microphone 1983' LP coming Sept. 21 https://t.co/w99sWnXEYF pic.twitter.com/ys4V1rsskS
— Star Tribune Variety (@entertain_mn) June 7, 2018
The new Prince record will feature a cover song with the artist’s take on Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” and fans will also be able to hear “Mary Don’t You Weep,” a track that Spike Lee will be featuring in his new film BlacKkKlansman.
Other songs to be found on Piano & A Microphone 1983 are “Purple Rain” and “17 Days,” both of which were recorded by Prince at this time, but not released for another year.
The full tracklisting of Prince’s Piano & A Microphone 1983 will include:
- 17 Days
- Purple Rain
- A Case Of You
- Mary Don’t You Weep
- Strange Relationship
- International Lover
- Wednesday
- Cold Coffee & Cocaine
- Why The Butterflies
The September release of the new Prince record will include a 12-inch booklet complete with new liner notes, and Prince fans will be especially delighted to discover that there will also be a multitude of new photographs of the artist here as well. One of these includes a backstage shot that was captured by photographer Allen Beaulieu while Prince was on his 1999 tour.
Be aware that if you decide to pre-order Prince’s Piano & A Microphone 1983 in its digital download format, you will be gifted immediately with a downloadable version of the new track “Mary Don’t You Weep.”
