announcement from the official Prince facebook page:

“America (12” Version)” drops worldwide July 4th 12:00am local time. First released in October 1985, this high-energy track was Prince’s fourth and final single from Around The World In A Day. Described by Prince himself as “straightforwardly patriotic,” it remains a bold statement in his musical legacy.

Finally, something new and fresh we've not all heard before!!!

ShellyMcG said:

Is this the 20+ minute version that's already been freely available on YouTube for years? If so, then how is it "dropping" on July 4th? It's been well and truly dropped for a while now. I get that tomorrow is the 4th of July and that that means something to some people in some parts of the world so I can understand why the estate would want to draw attention to this particular song at the moment. But if this is indicative of their intentions now that the vault is "free" then I am very unimpressed.

.
Hopefully the rerelease means now it's remastered. Also, this version was never released on CD properly (only as a "needle-drop"), so at least we'll have a clean version finally.

peedub said:

I've had this record for more than 30 years...

Still have it sealed and framed !

I'm listening to the hi-res version of the new release, it's pretty nice Finally a clean copy!

jazzz said:

Dolby Atmos as well? Cool! So do we think the stereo mix is a remix or just a remaster?

Edit: probably just a remaster (Bernie Grundman).

[Edited 7/3/25 17:02pm]

Kares said:

Let's see if this leads to anything more substantial or if they're just capitalizing on July 4th weekend before going back to radio silence for the remainder of the year

such an amazing 12", this one.

makes your mouth water for all the other unreleased full length takes before editing, since
it's been reported quite often that songs on an album were 10-20 minutes before the
album edits were made.

but yeah, this one is great. it's nice that it gets it's moment in the sun with a new single
release, remastered and all.

hopefully as the first glimps of ATWIAD reissued with all the bsides and the album proper given
a good remaster.

and dare we hope, for some unreleased stuff.

but for now, this is a good kick off, despite it being 40+ years old. all his released music has to
be put out there, all the singles, the bsides etc, all remastered to it's full potential. his catalogue
deserves nothing less.

all the vault stuff all the concerts all the unreleased albums to come, that's gravy.

[Edited 7/3/25 21:11pm]

Peace!

FrankieCoco1 said:

Looks like the track time for this digital release is 21:41 ( https://www.qobuz.com/nz-...kcoejvfaza ). On the 1985 12” vinyl it was indicated on the label as 21:46 (see images on this eBay listing https://ebay.us/m/ijuLs1 ). Note also that on the version of it on that French Warners compilation CD, ‘Black Archives: Minneapolis Funk’, which apparently is a needle drop rip, the timing states 21:46. However, Prince Vault says that the version on this is a “slightly shortened of 15 seconds (for unknown reason)’ - https://princevault.com/i...polis_Funk So I’m looking forward to the ‘eagle eared’ amongst us, commenting if there is any shortening of this new release, compared with the original 12” vinyl version. Perhaps Bernie Grundman has taken off some of the silence, or worse started the fade too early! [Edited 7/3/25 21:46pm]

it'll play 0.04% faster and people will complain until their jaw falls off.

might not

but they usually do

[Edited 7/3/25 21:49pm]

if this is indeed the first sign of an ATWIAD reissue, it's pretty clever and nice - imo.

releasing all the singles from an album, in reversed order from last to first, before a
new teaser of something unreleased.

that way you drum up some excitement among old and new fans and give these
great songs a new turn in the spotlight.

like a roll out for ATWIAD reissue could possibly be:

week 1:

America

week 2:

America single bsides and edits - so basically the full original single

week 3:

Pop Life

week 4:

Pop Life single bsides and edits

week 5:

Paisley Park

week 6:

Paisley Park single bsides and edits

week 7:

Raspberry Beret

week 8:

Raspberry Beret single bsides and edits.

week 9:

New singel/teaser - an outtake from the album

week 10:

New single/teaser - a live cut or alternate version

week 11:

The full package, album with all the extra stuff.


That way the full history of the album and era gets a bit more spotlight and we get to
relive it week by week, instead of having the anouncement that there will be a box in
like 12 weeks and then 1 single and 6 weeks later another and it being outtakes, which
for us is cool just for the moment, but for the catalogue as a whole and for his output
being complete on streaming and other platforms, it would be nice if all the singles got
their own reissue as well, and having them tied to a count down to the reissue of their
respective album would be a nice touch.

Personally, I think this is one of his worst extended versions. The video version is much better.

Having said that, Chris James actually did a great job with the Atmos mix. The lead vocal is super clear, without the instrumental taking a backseat.

But, of course, it's another missed opportunity for this Estate. This single release should have included the album version, video version and both edits of Girl. And that's just the bare minimum.

bluegangsta said:

bluegangsta said:

Personally, I think this is one of his worst extended versions. The video version is much better.

Having said that, Chris James actually did a great job with the Atmos mix. The lead vocal is super clear, without the instrumental taking a backseat.

But, of course, it's another missed opportunity for this Estate. This single release should have included the album version, video version and both edits of Girl. And that's just the bare minimum.

The single "edits" of both America and Girl are merely early fades, which ine can do many manipulating the volume button. Can't wait to hear that Atmos mix tho.

dave1dmarx said:

bluegangsta said:

But, of course, it's another missed opportunity for this Estate. This single release should have included the album version, video version and both edits of Girl. And that's just the bare minimum.

The single "edits" of both America and Girl are merely early fades, which ine can do many manipulating the volume button. Can't wait to hear that Atmos mix tho.

It's a single re-release. That's where edits belong - not wasting space as an extra disc/LP on a bloated boxset.

This is a fantastic surprise, I love this 12" which I have also had for many years! Time to ditch that weird 'Minneapolis Funk' version from 2002 (which actually clocks at 21.32, as opposed to 21.41 on this release).

Weirdly, I am actually a litte optimistic right now...

Scrivello said:

This is a fantastic surprise, I love this 12" which I have also had for many years! Time to ditch that weird 'Minneapolis Funk' version from 2002 (which actually clocks at 21.32, as opposed to 21.41 on this release).

Weirdly, I am actually a litte optimistic right now...

The version on the 20-disc five-volume Singles Collection is 21:41 and sounds great, though I imagine it will be bettered by the remaster.

bluegangsta said:

dave1dmarx said:

The single "edits" of both America and Girl are merely early fades, which ine can do many manipulating the volume button. Can't wait to hear that Atmos mix tho.

It's a single re-release. That's where edits belong - not wasting space as an extra disc/LP on a bloated boxset.

The single version of America = the LP version, so no need to include it twice. Of course the single version of Girl has been on The Hits/B-Sides for 32 (!) years now.

ooooooooh and I just got the e-mail from the Prince store with the t-shirts with the America cover art on it.

J*sus C*r*st what is wrong with these people