Sony releases Prince legacy recordings and a new anthology

Sony Music Entertainment releases Prince legacy recordings and a new anthology in digital formats which are available for streaming and download. Scheduled to be the first of many, Sony have made available 23 back catalogue titles (including rare and out-of-print recordings) plus a newly curated 37 track compilation – Prince Anthology: 1995-2010. The first wave of Prince back catalogue titles focuses on 1995-2010, a crucial time in Prince’s history and adds more than 300 essential Prince songs to the artist’s online repertoire.

For Prince, 1995-2010 was an unprecedented period of sustained and prolific creativity releasing fresh recordings at a rapid-fire pace through a variety of distribution strategies including his own online NPG Music Club. Prince was making some of the most provocative, experimental and soulful music of his career freed from major label demands and expectations, he was able to write, record and release his own music on his own terms.

Assembled and curated under the auspices of The Prince Estate, Prince Anthology: 1995-2010 brings together 37 key recordings from the era. Opening with the title track from Emancipation (‘This is my most important record,’ said Prince when the album was released in 1996) and closing with the anthemic ‘We March’ (from 1995’s The Gold Experience), this new compilation provides a coherent musical chronicle of Prince’s artistic and spiritual evolution through the late 20th and early 21st centuries in songs that continue to resonant in the culture.

Prince Anthology: 1995- 2010 draws spotlight tracks from The Gold Experience, Emancipation, Chaos and Disorder, Crystal Ball, The Truth, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone…, C-Note, N.E.W.S., Xpectation, Musicology (includes 2005 Best Male R&B Performance Grammy winner ‘Call My Name’), The Slaughterhouse, The Chocolate Invasion, 3121 (the first Prince album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200), Planet Earth, LOtUSFLOW3R, MPLSoUND and 20Ten.

Prince back catalogue titles available digitally

1. The Gold Experience (1995) (‘The Most Beautiful Girl in the World’ greyed out, partial album streaming only; album unavailable for download)
2. Chaos and Disorder (1996)
3. Emancipation (1996)
4. Crystal Ball (1998)
5. The Truth (1998)
6. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (1999)
7. Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (2001)
8. The Rainbow Children (2001)
9. One Nite Alone… (2002)
10. One Nite Alone…Live! (2002)
11. One Nite Alone…Live – The Aftershow: It Ain’t Over (Up Late with Prince & The NPG) (2002)
12. Xpectation (2003)
13. N.E.W.S. (2003)
14. C-Note (2004)
15. Musicology (2004)
16. The Chocolate Invasion (Trax from the NPG Music Club: Volume 1) (2004)
17. The Slaughterhouse (Trax from the NPG Music Club: Volume 2) (2004)
18. 3121 (2006)
19. Planet Earth (2007)
20. Indigo Nights (2008)
21. LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
22. MPLSoUND (2009)
23. 20Ten (2010)
24. Prince Anthology: 1995-2010

Prince Anthology: 1995-2010

1. ‘Emancipation’ (from Emancipation, 1996)
2. ‘Black Sweat’ (from 3121, 2006)
3. ‘P. Control’ (from The Gold Experience, 1995)
4. ‘Crucial’ (from Crystal Ball, 1998)
5. ‘The Love We Make’ (from Emancipation, 1996)
6. ‘Eye Hate U’ (from The Gold Experience, 1995)
7. ‘The Greatest Romance Ever Sold’ (from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, 1999)
8. ‘Eye Love U, But Eye Don’t Trust U’ (from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, 1999)
9. ‘Gold’ (from The Gold Experience, 1995)
10. ‘Guitar’ (from Planet Earth, 2007)
11. ‘Dream Factory’ (from Crystal Ball, 1998)
12. ‘The Work Part 1’ (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)
13. ‘Call My Name’ (from Musicology, 2004)
14. ‘Strays of The World’ (from Crystal Ball, 1998)
15. ‘Shhh’ (from The Gold Experience, 1995)
16. ‘Dreamer’ (from LOtUSFLOW3R, 2009)
17. ‘Chaos and Disorder’ (from Chaos and Disorder, 1996)
18. ‘Endorphinmachine’ (from The Gold Experience, 1995)
19. ‘Musicology’ (from Musicology, 2004)
20. ‘Northside’ (from The Slaughterhouse, 2004)
21. ‘When Eye Lay My Hands on U’ (from The Chocolate Invasion, 2004)
22. ‘Beautiful Strange’ (from Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, 2001)
23. ‘Future Soul Song’ (from 20Ten, 2010)
24. ‘Empty Room’ (from C-Note, 2004)
25. ‘3rd Eye’ (from The Truth, 1998)
26. ‘U’re Gonna C Me’ (from One Nite Alone…, 2002)
27. ‘Dinner With Delores’ (from Chaos and Disorder, 1996)
28. ‘Ol’ Skool Company’ (from MPLSoUND, 2009)
29. ‘4ever’ (from LOtUSFLOW3R, 2009)
30. ‘West’ (from N.E.W.S., 2003)
31. ‘Xpedition’ (from Xpectation, 2003)
32. ‘Muse 2 The Pharaoh’ (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)
33. ‘Somewhere Here On Earth’ (from Planet Earth, 2007)
34. ‘U Make My Sun Shine’ (from The Chocolate Invasion, 2004)
35. ‘1+1+1 Is 3’ (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)
36. ‘Chelsea Rodgers’ (from Planet Earth, 2007)
37. ‘We March’ (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

An interesting article reviewing some of this material can be found on a Tidal blog by Jeff Slate – Prince: A decade of following his muse.

All these albums will be available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, YouTube, Napster, Deezer (in the US only), Playstation Music, Soundcloud (premier), Tidal, HD Tracks and TouchTunes/AMI.

The Prince catalogue on Tidal can be found here, Apple Music here and Spotify here.

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