Prince’s vault of music in his Paisley Park abode has become something of modern music mythology. Supposedly the vault is filled with albums, music videos, and countless Prince projects that have never seen the light of day. Today we’ve got a glimpse of some of the hidden gems stowed away as the Prince estate shared this morning the Purple One’s original version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” – the Prince-penned song which began a number one hit for Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor in 1990.
This is the first time the original 1984 recording has been released. Not just that, but the estate has also released archival rehearsal footage of Prince & The Revolution at the Flying Cloud Drive ‘Warehouse’ in Eden Prairie. The estate’s vault archivalist Michael Howe describes finding these lost recordings:
“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.”
Watch the video below.
Tune into The Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole on KEXP today from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. for a special re-airing of Cole’s Prince tribute show, also called Nothing Compares 2 U, to commemorate the second anniversary of the legendary Minneapolis songwriters’ death.
On Thursday, April 19th, The Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole will re-air our tribute to Prince on the two-year anniversary of his passing.
Besides being the director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory, and an associate professor at Berklee, Susan Rogers is also the person who worked most closely with the late Prince during quite possibly his most important period artistically. From 1983 to 1988, it was Susan who …
Sad news is spreading quickly across the internet. Prince has died. The 57-year old icon, Prince Rogers Nelson, has been reported by TMZ, and now with many others confirming, to have passed away at his Chanhassen, Minnesota, estate.
