Culture
14:26, 08-Jun-2018
Warner Bros. to release new Prince album in September
["china"]
Share
Copied
On the day that Prince would have turned 60, Warner Bros. Records on Thursday announced a posthumous album that features a frenzied improvisational take on a popular spiritual.
The pop legend died in April 2016 from an accidental overdose of powerful painkillers, leaving behind a vast trove of songs that Prince had stored without any clear release plans.
A fan touches a star bearing Prince's name on an exterior wall of First Avenue, the nightclub where Prince got his start in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, April 21, 2016. /VCG Photo
A fan touches a star bearing Prince's name on an exterior wall of First Avenue, the nightclub where Prince got his start in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, April 21, 2016. /VCG Photo
Warner Bros. Records, Prince's label and sometime nemesis with which he reconciled before his death, said it would release an album on September 21 of nine songs he recorded in 1983 at his home studio in Minnesota.
The album showcases Prince, better known for his theatrical guitar skills, singing as he plays the piano without accompaniment – a format he revived for his final tour before his death.
The songs on the album, entitled simply "Piano and a Microphone 1983," range from a version of Prince's signature hit "Purple Rain" to the never-released "Cold Coffee and Cocaine."
A first song was released on Thursday – Prince's unique take on "Mary Don't You Weep," one of the most celebrated African American spirituals which has been recorded by artists from Aretha Franklin to Bruce Springsteen.
Friends, family and musicians came on stage after the final song "Purple Rain" during a tribute to late musician Prince, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, US, Oct. 13, 2016. /VCG Photo
Friends, family and musicians came on stage after the final song "Purple Rain" during a tribute to late musician Prince, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, US, Oct. 13, 2016. /VCG Photo
Prince was 57 when he died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park recording complex in 2016.
Last year, Warner reissued Prince's 1984 classic album-soundtrack "Purple Rain" with another 11 previously unreleased song.
And in April came the release of Prince's lighter original version of "Nothing Compares 2 U," which became a hit for Sinead O'Connor in one of the many songs he wrote for other artists.
(Cover photo: This June 30, 2011 file photo shows US singer and musician Prince performing on stage at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, France. /VCG Photo)
Source(s): AP
,AFP