A year has passed since Prince died, but that doesn’t stop the Paisley Park estate from emptying the vaults of more unreleased goodies. This time it is a new EP that hits the shelf on the day of his passing – April 21st.
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED on April 20th – Please read at the end for latest info on the release
The six-track collection is titled Deliverance and was recorded by the late icon during 2006 and 2008, with the help of engineer Ian Boxill. Boxill completed the tracks following Prince’s death last year. Along with the title track, the EP includes a four-movement medley titled ‘Man Opera’ that comprises the songs ‘I Am,’ ‘Touch Me,’ ‘Sunrise Sunset’ and ‘No One Else.’ The EP finishes off with an extended version of ‘I Am.’
If any of the tracks will be even close to some of his most precious moments remains to be seen, of course. Like this one, just to grab one out of numerous hits. The main concern or suspicion you may have around Prince is that his material is extremely uneven, some tracks are timeless while others feel more like uninspired jam sessions.
Sign o’ the Times was the ninth studio album and released on March 31, 1987. To us Sign ‘O’ the Times is Prince’s recorded apex, the summation and greatest articulation of all the musical fusions he’d alchemized up to that point. It’s the album where he does it all – combining his synth-drums and meta-funk explorations with psychedelia, rock-guitar heroics and mainstream pop on the order of 1999 and Purple Rain. Reflecting both hip-hop’s early cutting edge and his own restless muse, with new twists on old themes, Sign ‘O’ the Times was at once more confident, rangy and visionary than its predecessors. It took Prince’s beat-centered, future-forward songcraft not just to the next level but to multiple levels.
On the new EP the title track is available to stream now on Apple Music and iTunes, but according to Prince’s website it is currently only available to stream in the US because of licensing laws. Following the EP’s digital release on April 2, Deliverance will get a physical release on June 2.
However there is a sneak peak on Facebook 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/prince.deliverance/videos/1218677821564713/
The EP is being released independently and the majority of the profits from Deliverance will go to Prince’s estate.
Here’s how a press release describes the EP:
The songs were written and recorded when Prince was an independent artist, protesting what he saw as an unjust music industry. In the spirit of that independence, and in supporting Prince’s opinion of major label contracts, Deliverance is being released independently via RMA, a Vancouver WA based record company. The majority of from all sales of Deliverance will benefit Prince’s estate.
The songs were co-produced by Prince and Ian Boxill, who finished the songs over the last year. “I believe ‘Deliverance’ is a timely release with everything going on in the world today, and in light of the one-year anniversary of his passing,” Boxill said in a press release. “I hope when people hear Prince singing these songs it will bring comfort to many … Prince once told me that he would go to bed every night thinking of ways to bypass major labels and get his music directly to the public. When considering how to release this important work, we decided to go independent because that’s what Prince would have wanted.”
Tracklist:
01. ‘Deliverance’
02. ‘I Am’
03. ‘Touch Me’
04. ‘Sunrise Sunset’
05. ‘No One Else’
06. ‘I Am’ (extended)
Lenny Kravitz performed “When Doves Cry” and “The Cross” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on Friday in honor of Prince, when he died last year at the age of 57. Kravitz was assisted by Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Choir, who imbued the songs with uncontainable fervor.
In the aftermath of Prince’s death in April of 2016, Kravitz spoke to spoke to Rolling Stone about the Purple One’s importance, first as an idol and later as a friend. “[Dirty Mind] was a pivotal moment for me,” Kravitz said. “Just seeing the album cover opened up my imagination. Here was an African-American cat, skin color like mine was, playing the guitar like I wanted to play… he had a very deep impact on me. I was able to see where I could go. The music, the vibe, the color, the hair, the band members, everything, was amazing to me.”
THE ALBUM MAY GET DELAYED OR WITHDRAWN
Paisley Park and Prince’s estate have filed a lawsuit against George Ian Boxill, the former music engineer for Prince.
Boxill plans to release a six-track EP of unreleased material from Prince, titled ‘Deliverance’, on April 21 and now Paisly Park and the Prince Estate are looking to halt the release.
According to ABC News, the lawsuit claims that Boxill is violating a contract with the artist which stated that the recordings “would remain Prince’s sole and exclusive property” and that Boxill “would not use any recordings or property in any way whatsoever”. The contract in question also declared that Boxill “would return any such recordings or property to Prince immediately upon request”.
Those who filed the lawsuit believe that Boxill “is now trying to exploit one or more songs for his personal gain at expense of the Prince Estate” and that the recordings will “permanently and irreparably” damage the Prince Estate as “it deprives Prince (and now the Estate) from choosing what is released to the public and when”.
The lawsuit is seeking to have all recorded materials returned.
Via MixMag