EmmaMcG said:

About time. I hope its the Black Is The New Black album. As far as I know, that's probably one of the last projects he worked on so it's as close as we'll ever get to a "new" Prince album. The vault stuff from the 80s can come at a later date. I more than likely have most of that already anyway. The priority should be putting music out that's never leaked before.

Here's a quote from Vault Archivist Michael Howe regarding NC2U: “I spotted the 2″ multitrack reel in the Vault some weeks back while doing a 1984-era inventory. After retrieving my jaw from the floor, we took the reel upstairs, analyzed it, put it up on the Studer 24 track machine, and digitized it to 24/192. Even our ‘faders up’ rough mix was compelling enough to indicate that this was something very special indeed." Most likely, it'll be from or around the '84- era.

SquirrelMeat said:

releasing 'The Family Deluxe' with a 2nd disc of Prince/Prince & the Revolution/Family rehearsals, a 3 disc with 'completed' songs with Prince on lead vocals, would be wonderful.

& despite all the sadness & upset on a truly traumatic week.....this brings us all a smile again...the music is everything. Its the connection between us & him.

rogifan said:

I wonder if it could be the stuff he was working on with Michael Nelson? I wonder how far he got with that stuff, if it’s enough for a release.

Would be good to hear Frida Kahlo etc as completed versions....

TrcikyChristopher said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

& despite all the sadness & upset on a truly traumatic week.....this brings us all a smile again...the music is everything. Its the connection between us & him.

Word.

Y'know, there was a bit of a drought around here and I was starting to worry that it would be ages until we got more Prince material. Both NC2U and this have reeled me back in and I'm more hopeful that we'll get a steadier stream of Prince releases sooner than I expected.

[Edited 4/23/18 17:52pm]

"Special enough for fans to hear" has me a little worried. It's ALL SPECIAL to us! RELEASE IT!!!

Could very well be the Family album.

SuperFurryAnimal said:

Could very well be the Family album.

"Unreleased". I would love, but highly doubt, if they'll release his version of that album. I'm still going for 1999 Deluxe or possible the heavily rumored Parade deluxe. I feel like if they strike while the iron is hot, they'll do some Revolution stuff in quick order, then go from there. 1999 isn't Revolution, but it's close.

purplethunder3121 said:

Purplethunder3121, your sig quote.... where is it from?

...I know the world is done
but you don't have to be...

Genesia said:

It's been 7 months and 17 days since I last posted (how fitting) anyway this is great news.

TrivialPursuit said:

Exciting news, mpw september seems so far away.

SuperFurryAnimal said:

TrivialPursuit said:

"Unreleased". I would love, but highly doubt, if they'll release his version of that album. I'm still going for 1999 Deluxe or possible the heavily rumored Parade deluxe. I feel like if they strike while the iron is hot, they'll do some Revolution stuff in quick order, then go from there. 1999 isn't Revolution, but it's close.

Possible. Prince vox version of the Family album all cleaned up and finished if it is wil be ace too. I'd like to see that but yeah those things will happen.

I can't argue with that. While it would be great to have his versions of some of these songs on one (or a 2-disk) CD, from a commercial standpoint it's not as marketable. They have to appeal beyond the fanbase to the mass market as much as possible.

I wouldn't be mad if they tacked something like that onto a regular disk, as a bonus deluxe edition or something. But exclusively that? Nah.

LOL @ people thinking it will be The Family album... I mean come on, the first real unreleased music that will be distributed by WB... It will have to be some sort of commercial gain... I am betting it is unreleased material from the 1999 album era... But a Family album of Prince vocals... Yea that will be real strategical for all the normal folks who know about The Family... Wait how much did the original Family album sell again.

What does it feel like to see and find all these things, and be entrusted with them?

You know what? It’s emotional. I’m very cognizant of how important this role is. I took a trip to Paisley Park to go through the archives, lyric books and letters and photos and mementoes, and I had to stop several times in the process just to breathe a little bit, because it’s heavy — you can still feel his energy in the work. And there was one piece of video that we came across — I got home and popped it in, and it was 11:30 at night, and I had tears running down my face watching this video. It was just incredible that I was witnessing what I was witnessing, just beautiful. His spirit and his creative energy are in the work, and I think you can feel it.

Keep in mind y'all, that what is new 2 most..is old 2 us.

Keep in mnd that it's about $ as well.

Whomever these folks r won't rush 2 put out what WE want, which is non commercialized, recent music.

They have in mind that the 1982 - 1984 era is the most profitable, which is why they defaulted to "Nothing Compares 2 U" as a 1st release.

Do not be surprised if whatever is released is Prince's version of somebody else's work, or is from the Purple Rain era (commercial Prince).

They wanna release what sells...especially if "Warn a brutha" is involved.

Give me "The Undertaker" remastered w/ video package...i'll wait.

New Prince music in September?

Translation: Stuff WE have heard, but the rest of the world hasn't yet

Strive said:

Important thing to note.

"Full-length album of previously unreleased music"

Not bonus disc of a reissue or vaulted/cancelled project Prince put together.

heymistermusic said:

Michael Howe was doing an inventory of 1984 era tracks so I think we can assume that anything being released will come from that period... It's described like it's an actual project though rather than a collection of songs.... could it be the Roadhouse Garden album? I could totally see that being marketed by WB as " the lost follow-up to Purple Rain!"

[Edited 4/23/18 22:43pm]

Well, 'unreleased material' means probably/possibly 9 out of 10 songs we all already have.

Don't get your hopes (yet) too high.

Positive note is that the quality might be better. Although some ultra sound freaks will never be satisfied.

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Let's hope I'm deadwrong ! And it hopefully will be fantastic.

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But why announce it now ?

April 23rd ?

4 months before anything will happen ?

It seems it was just decided right after the release of the NC2U song and video ?

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And then those two websites... i ran through them. Still have to search more thoroughly though :

"...but also two new websites, one of them a deep dive into his discography including rare photos, videos and loads of information; the other a site where fans can share their remembrances called “Prince2me.”..."

The Prince2me doesn't interest me at all.

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Then about the vault, so apparently it was much bigger than i expected :

"...The vault was just one room and that room ran over into multiple rooms, and this was [mostly] before digitization so you have hard drives, and tapes and things like that..."

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And there are hard drives, which means, that on 1 hard drive there could be hundreds thousands of recordings, video information...

Vannormal said:

-

Then about the vault, so apparently it was much bigger than i expected :

"...The vault was just one room and that room ran over into multiple rooms, and this was [mostly] before digitization so you have hard drives, and tapes and things like that..."

-

And there are hard drives, which means, that on 1 hard drive there could be hundreds thousands of recordings, video information...

In the investigation photos, you can see that there was the actual Vault (behind the locked door), and in the room just outside that there were numerous lock boxes that apparently contained hard drives, etc... and the floor was filling up with master tapes and boxes of tapes, and another room labeled Studio Storage that was a full video archive... There's no way they could have organized and handled all this sucessfully in PP without a HUGE $$$$$$$ investment.

FragileUndertow said:

heymistermusic said:

Translation: Stuff WE have heard, but the rest of the world hasn't yet

Right Still cool tho