Prince Estate Issues 2 Record Store Releases
Paisley Park has opted to release two very rare Prince compilation releases for Record Store Day 2019 that were previously distributed in very limited distribution.
The first is a 2 disc set entitled “His Majesty’s Pop Life,” which was a 1985 compilation from Japan that some hardcore fans may have seen that include exclusive remixes. The images below were from the original release of this collection which features a portion of the Around The World In a Day album cover. Additionally, each album would include pieces of the artwork on the center disc labels as shown per Discogs where the full title of the release is “His Majesty’s Pop Life / The Purple Mix Club.”
If the track listing for the release stays the same, the album discs would feature;
Disc One, Side A
Pop Life (Fresh Dance Mix) 9:07
America (Album Version) 3:42
Disc One, Side B
Raspberry Beret (New Mix) 6:33
Paisley Park (Remix) 6:58
Disc Two, Side A
Let’s Go Crazy (Special Dance Mix) 7:35
Little Red Corvette (Dance Mix) 8:00
1999 (Album Version) 6:17
Disc Two, Side B
I Would Die 4 U (Extended Version) 10:00
Erotic City (“Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive”) (Long Version) 7:24
When Doves Cry (Album Version) 5:52
As mentioned, it’s unknown whether this is simply a re-release of that limited Japanese release or if it will feature new mixes or songs. However, since the release shares the same title, it would be assumed that the release should be very similar. Most of these mixes have been in heavy online rotation for quite some time although avid collectors that didn’t own the original Japanese release will still want an official copy.
The second release is titled Prince: The VERSACE Experience, which many Prince fans are familiar with and was originally handed out via cassette at a 1995 Versace fashion show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France.
It was designed to promote the upcoming release of Prince‘s The Gold Experience, although it did showcase tracks from Madhouse 24, Kamasutra and NPG‘s Exodus albums.
Strangely enough, this Record Store release is only being released in the cassette form and not on vinyl or CD. Out of the two releases, this one is certainly the most compelling due to the inclusion of tracks that were not previously readily available.
If the track listing stays the same as the original release, it will include the tracks below, but it is unknown whether they will opt to include the full song versions of some of the tracks which were previously only released as excerpts on the original release;
Cassette Side One
Pussy Control (Club Mix Edit)
Shhh (X-cerpt)
Get Wild In The House
I Hate U (Remix)
319 (X-cerpt)
Shy (X-cerpt)
Cassette Side Two
Billy Jack Bitch
Sonny T. (X-cerpt)
Rootie Kazootie (Edit)
Chatounette Controle
Pussy Control (Control Tempo Edit)
Kamasutra Overture #5
Free The Music
Segue
Gold (X-cerpt)
Whatever the decisions were, the new releases are refreshing, although they still leave grieving fans aching for more unreleased material that they haven’t already been accustomed to hearing previously. Rootie Kazootie and Chatounette Controle are great deep track inclusions, but might fall short of quelling the purple beast.
Additionally, the Prince estate also chose to release legacy reissues of Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, 3121, Musicology, and Planet Earth. All of which are on purple vinyl.
