What is the story behind that album? That was released by Warner Bros without any invovlment from Prince right? The songs that are on there, which time eras/album outtakes did they come from?

Upon leaving Warner Brothers in 1996, Prince agreed to let the label release a collection of unreleased recordings from his legendary prodigious vaults at some point in the future. Warner unveiled that collection, unimaginatively titled The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, in the summer of 1999. Instead of an official release for several of Prince's legendary songs though, The Vault is a brief collection (under 40 minutes) of ten songs, recorded between 1985 and 1994 according to the liner notes -- though they all feel like Graffiti Bridge (or maybe Symbol) outtakes. That's not a complaint, actually. There's a wonderful carefree feeling to the record, heavy on jazz and light funk, constantly swinging, and nearly always engaging. Only the title track has the necessary weight to announce itself as a major addition to his official catalog, but that doesn't matter since the songs are all enjoyable. After all, it's hard not to be impressed with Prince's songcraft or the casually sophisticated flair to the musicianship throughout the album. That might not be what most observers expected from The Vault, but consider this -- of these ten songs, eight tracks have never been heavily bootlegged before. That means that even some hardcore followers may not have heard all of this material, which is noteworthy in itself. But the nicest thing about the compilation is that even though it's a minor addition to his catalog, it holds together as an album better than Come or Chaos & Disorder, the two other Warner-era odds-and-ends collections, or even the tossed-off New Power Soul. It's an unassuming, jazzy little record that's damn near irresistible.
~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

@ 'tossed-off New Power Soul'

Believe it or not, I LOVE this album. It was the first Prince music I exposed my fake boyfriend to He loved it. When I played "When the Lights Go Down" he just about shat his pants and asked..who is that? I looked at him and said "PRINCE!!"

I dig it.

I do have to add that the original version of OLD FRIENDS 4 SALE is my favorite Prince song ever.

".....chump change to unravel the mystery.
Life aint no fun without fantasy."


M
[Edited 12/12/05 13:18pm]

gantonio said:

Uptown's 'The Vault' gives the following dates as known origins for recording of this material.

Prince - The Vault… Old Friends 4 Sale (1999)

The Rest Of My Life (1992)
It’s About That Walk (1993)
She Spoke 2 Me (1991)
5 Women (1990)
When The Lights Go Down (Not known)
My Little Pill (1992)
There Is Lonely (1992)
Old Friends 4 Sale (1985)
Sarah (1996)
Extraordinary (1992)

.

It's also worth noting that 'The Vault...Old Friends 4 Sale' were assembled,
sequenced and packaged by Prince himself. WB had no say in what tracks were
included or what the packaging looked like. They simply had the choice to
release it or not. The same goes for 'Chaos And Disorder' as well (as they
were both submitted to WB at the same time).

BorisFishpaw said:

I've heard this many times. How come, in this case, they were able to send back an album like Come and ask him to put different tracks on the album before release?

booyah said:

They can always 'ask'... it doesn't mean they're gonna get it though.
Prince has always had final say on his albums.

langebleu said:

Nice.

they were alot of old unrealeased songs all put together in one album. that song old friends 4 sale was originally intended for the parade album!!!

langebleu said:

For the sake of clarity, the version of 'Old Friends 4 Sale' that featured on 'The Vault ... Old Friends 4 Sale' dates back to the re-recording from 1991.
.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

That version is a masterpiece.